The one below is of Nauwas and her colt Princeton Kadil:

The story of Kuhaylan Abu ‘Arqub involves central Arabian tribes such as the Qahtan, the Bani Khalid and the Mutayr, as well as the House of Saud, who were major breeders of the strain in the 1850s. The Manuscript’s account of the strain stops around this time.

There are conflicting accounts of what happened to the strain after that, but what is clear is that the strain reappears in areas of the desert further to the north, with the “northern” tribes of the Bani Sakhr in today’s Jordan and the Hadideen in today’s central Syria.

More recently, and according to author Khalid Bakr Kamal in his book “the Arab Horses” (p.133), King Faysal ibn ‘Abd al-’Aziz Aal Saud received two Kuhaylat Abu ‘Arqub mares from Jordanian leader Bassam Ismai’l al-Majali of the small Majali tribe in 1971.  The two mares, whom Khalid Bakr Kamal says were Bassma and Baseema, are the matriarchs of the modern Abu ‘Arqub horses in Saudi Arabia today, of which the stallion Al Hazim Al Thani is a handsome representative (check his pedigree here). The quote from Khalid Bakr Kamal is also from Hamad al-Jasir’s “Usul al-Khayl”.

Not sure whether the Majali still breed the strain in asil form today. It would be fantastic if they still did.

Here are the main is what the Manuscript has to say about this strain of Kuhaylat al-Fajri or Umm ‘Arqub, around 1840-1850, which is when the manuscript was compiled:

– it goes back to Kuhaylat al-’Ajuz, and is ‘to be mated in the darkest night’ (which means that the tribe could use males from that strain as stallions).

– it is of a precious stud (or marbat in Arabic).

– it is originally of the ‘Abidah sub-tribe of the great Bedouin tribe of Qahtan (where a lot of the best and most ancient strains seem to have hailed from — stay tuned for a list of these ‘Abidah strains).

– it passed from the ‘Abidah to a man of the Bedouin tribe of Bani Khalid then to another from the clan of Ibn Fajri of the same tribe, at a time Eastern Arabia was ruled by the Ottoman Turks (referred to in the Manuscript as the “Rum”).

– a mare from Ibn Fajri was sold to Sayf al-Sa’dun, the leader (i.e., ‘master, ‘ruler’, ra’i in Arabic) of al-Hasa, one of the oldest towns in Eastern Arabia, which gave its name to the entire region. A mare from Ibn Sa’dun was sold to ‘Ali ibn Sha’lan (no relation to the Ruwalah Bedouin leading family) of Bani Khalid, and from this man to Ibn Khalifah, ra’i of the archipelago of Bahrain.

– from Ibn Khalifah, a filly went back to Sayf al-Sa’dun (see above) and from him it went to the House of Sa’ud, who gave it to one of its in-laws from the clan of Aal Mandil of Bani Khalid. At this time it was still known as Kuhaylat al-Fajri.

– from Aal Mandil of Bani Khalid it passed in battle to the al-Dawish leading clan of the great Mutayr Bedouin tribe, on the “day” of al-Radimah, which is one of the most famous and significant Bedouin battles, pitting the Mutayr and their allies against Bani Khalid and their allies. A “day” in Bedouin parlance is a specific episode in Bedouin warfare that could last for days or even weeks.

– This  Kuhaylat Ibn Fajri mare was wounded in the battle of al-Radimah, which the Bani Khalid lost, and could not walk anymore. The Bani Khalid decided to kill her so that al-Dawish does not take her. They struck her hock (‘arqub in Arabic) and left her for dead, and retreated. Yet the mare survived in the ownership of the victorious Faysal al-Dawish, who gave her to one of his men, Duwayhi Ibn Kan’aan of Mutayr, with whom she recovered, and eventually produced nine fillies and colts, some of which went to the High Stud of Abbas Pasha, with the others going to Faysal Ibn Turki Ibn Saud, or being sold to India. Her descendants then spread among the tribes.

– The mare whose hock was struck was known as ‘mother of hock’ or Umm ‘Arqub in Arabic, and her descendants were named after her too, but they are originally Kuhaylan al-Fajri.

*Taamri, Rudann, and *Halwaaji were all imported to the USA in 1960 by Sam Roach from the Saud Royal Stud of al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia. The hujjah (certificate of authenticity) of *Taamri was featured here.

Nabeh was the most beautiful desert-bred we saw on our trip, with small and tippy ears, a pretty face and also special action. He had less cadence and a longer stride trotting. By the way all the stallions at the Najd Stud are ridden daily. They looked like they could make perfect dressage horses.

Of the 300 asil horses in that private stud, about 20 were from the Kuhaylan Krush strain, 20 of the Hamdani Simri strain, 5 of the Suwayti al-Firm strain, 4 of the Kuhaylan al-Musinn strain, 4 of the Shuhayb strain and all the rest of the Ubayyan al-Suyayfi strain.

The mare is a Dahmat Shahwan, AAS Sawannah, by AAS Hezzez out of DB Jasidah by Desert Jalam. Prince Turki bint Fahd Al-Jalawi told us that this mare traces to the horses of his family’s stud in al-Hufuf, and that he had bought her because this line had died out in Saudi Arabia.

Prince Turki also imported two ‘Ubayyah mares from his grandfathers’ horses: Sahar Ataeq and DB Faimah, both from the *Muhaira tail female.

It is nice to see that least one member of the Saud Royal family obtained horses preserved with us Westerners back their homeland, and is proud to continue the horsebreeding tradition of his family.

We saw very nice stallions that could have stepped out of the historic photographs of the Blunts and others. Below is the bay stallion Alfat, 12 years, by Al Beshir out of Al-Sayeda, from the strain of ’Ubayyan al-Suyayfi.

Matthias

Not sure why the Dirab folks insist on mimicking the West by putting this stupid makeup on their desert-horses; it makes sick to see this proud asil steed, this son of the desert, this Kuhaylan (he who has beautiful eyes [naturally] with black around them, as if it was kohl), Kuhaylan by strain and by soul, so painted like a vulgar show horse. 

More soon on the background of the Kuhaylan Abu ‘Urqub horses of the Dirab Stud, and on that strain in general.

Bahri was bred by Lee Oellerich in Canada, and is still doing great at 28 years old. His color certainly comes from his double grandsire *Taamri, whose name means ‘date-color’ from ‘tamr’, dates in Arabic.

There are surviving first-hand accounts of how Farhan al-’Ulayyan, one of the most trusted slaves of Miqhim ibn Mhayd, who was the leader of the Fad’aan Bedouins during much of the first half of the XXth century, organized the collecting and the shipping of hundreds of  ’Anazah’s desert-bred horses from Syria to Saudi Arabia, in batches of ten, during the 1960s and 1970s and well up to the 1980s. Farhan would buy all the horses he could find, coaxing the impoverished ‘Anazah (but also Shammar) Bedouins out of their horses, and send them to the stables of the Saud family. He would use intimidation when owners did not part with their mares.

The stud of Dr. Iskandar Qassis in Aleppo, in Aleppo, became known as a last refuge for ‘Anazah Bedouins who did not want to see their horses gone to Farhan, and who would lease their mares or sell them in shares to Qassis. In the early 1980s, the late Qatari consul in Damascus Yusuf al-Rumaihi, who was a true passionate and connoisseur of the real desert-bred Arabian horse, caught the tail end of the exodus of the Syrian desert-bred horses to Saudi Arabia, and was able to persuade Farhan to part with two or three older mares.

The video below is one of the outputs of this rich conversation: it features the 2002 dark chestnut asil stallion Haziz (Bahri x Hulaifah by Naizahq), of the precious Bahraini Dahman Shahwan strain that is now extinct in Bahrain.

mikarrun, miffarun, muqbilun, mudbirun, ma’an // kajulmudi sakhrin hattahu al-sayllu min ‘ali

This very roughly tranlates as: “[My horse] attacks, and retreats, he runs forward and bounces backwards, all at once, like a big rock which the floods have driven down from above [the mountain]“. I will look for a more exacts translation in the orientalists’ publications.  

Also, have you ever thought of comparing Manak, a Hamdani of Ibn Ghiam (which by the way is the same marbat as Mrs. Danah Al-Khalifa’s desert-bred foundation mare Seetah), to *Munifan, the desert-bred Kuhaylan stallion bred by the same Crown Prince Saud to George O’Brien and imported to the USA in 1947 (photo below).

She may or may not have been of the strain of Kuhaylat al-Ajuz al-Shaykhah, Kuhaylat al-Shaykhah for short, or Szeikha (Shaykhah) may just be her name. She is the quintessential war mare, and I am a strong advocate of breeding back to this type of Arabian mares – the upright neck aside.

No picture of the horses are available here, but both the senior stallion and the senior mare are out of Desert Kalila, also dam of the mare DB Kalila pictured below. The line is a distinguished ‘Ubayyan line, from the horses of Prince Saud ibn ‘Adballah ibn Jalawi, governor of Eastern Saudi Arabia, in the 1930s and 1940s. Back there, it is highly valued.

Compare with the Davenport stallion Tripoli (Hanad x Poka), a Saqlawi al-’Abd.