Below is her pretty mare Akhesa Beni Sakr, by the Tunisian stallion Hadhr El Basher (Chedi x Loubna by Oramin0) out of her mare Akaba Beni Sakr (Jahir x Loubia Bint Breek by Breek), a Jilfat al-Dhawi that blends Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian and Egyptian lines. The foal in the photo was by Fabienne’s Shuwayman Sabbah stallion Hortal El Din (SEA Asal x Thallame by Breek).

His sire Iricho was imported from Tunisia to France, and has close lines to the desert. His grandsire, the Hamdani Simri Ghalbane, and his great-grandsire, the Saqlawi Jadran Masbout, and his great-great-grandsire, the Ma’naqi Sbaili Bango, all came from the Syrian desert, and were among the last imports to French Algeria. So much pure, authentic, well-ascertained blood flows in his vein, so close to the original desert source.

Adrien tells me the first photo was taken at Louis Bauduin who was standing him at stud, while the second was a show contest, much earlier.

His sire Bango was a Ma’naqi Sbaili from the Shammar, was imported to Algeria in the 1920s, and this makes Sumeyr very close to the desert. Photo from the Deblaise collection on their  site Lozanne Publications.

Now this one is of the very desert looking Tabriz (Oukrif x Hama by Agege out of Taflia by Ibn Fayda), a close relative of Sumeyr who had all this sallion career in Tunisia. He is also very close to the desert blood, his grandsire being the stallion El Managhi, imported from Hama, Syria, at the same time as Bango.

He did produce three asil Arabian stallions: Zab in 1971 (out of the beautiful Izarra), Jahir in 1975 (out of Ciada), and Nichem (out of Caida). Very little asil blood if anything at all, remains from Iricho today.

Photo from the collection of Pierre-Henri Beillard of Le Sureau, France.

Mauvy was a big advocate of the idea of re-invigorating old European Arabian bloodlines with fresh desert-bred blood at leart every three generations, as as to sustain the physical and mental characeteristics of the Arabian horse of Arabia Deserta. Mauvy’s friends and students adhered to this theory early on, and bred some of their mares to desert-bres stallions such as Mokhtar, and now Mahboob Halab.

 Bossa Nova, together with the Hamdaniyah Simriyah mare Ablette (photo below, by Sumeyr x Attique by Meat), was deemed the “best”, ”purest”, and “most classic” mare in Pompadour” by master-breeder Robert Mauvy. Now I see why.

I guess that’s where my heart really lies. This is where France sent its best desert-bred imports and its best horsemen. This is where, in my opinion, some of the most authentic, true-to-type Arabians were bred. Every mare at the the West-Algerian stud of Tiaret was a gem.

Of course, following their country’s independence , the Algerians went ahead and imported “Arabians” from Spain, the UK and elsewhere, effectively putting an end to some 100 years of asil breeding. I wanted to see what remained of the Tiaret breeding, which up to the 1980s was centered on the two magnificent stallions Larabi (Fil x Ledmia by Ghalbane) and Guercif (Ghalbane x Gaila by Bang0). The news is not good, but there may be two or three mares of breedable age still alive, with progeny in 2000. I feel like jumping in an airplane..

Is that a good Arabian horse conformation wise, judging from the photo? What do you think?

Mahiba’s sire Shams El Arabi (Farouk x Bint El Arabi by El Araby)  is of Egyptian bloodlines, her dam’s sire El Aswad (Ibn Galal x 10 Hosna) is also Egyptian, but her grand-dam Malaga (Madani x Berriane by Titan) was bred in Tunisia from predominantly Algerian bloodlines (and some old French through Mossoul). Malaga traces to several desert-bred imports featured on this blog, such as Bango, El Managhi, Ghazi, and others. She was a Jilfat Dhawi by strain, and so is Mahiba. She was exported to Germany in the 1960s.

Egyptian and Algerian/Tunisian lines tend to blend very well with each other, further empasizing the added value of “combined source” breeding.

The French imported well over a hundred stallions and mares to their studs in Algeria. Not all of these were equally good. Some were outstanding, like Ghazi. Some were average, like Salamie here. He does have a short back, deep girth, strong legs, a nice hindquarter, and a well placed neck. That said, his eyes are placed too high and his head is somewhat plain. The French, who were seeking stallions to produce cavalry horses (typically Arab-Barb crosses) to police their Algerian possessions, couldn’t care less about a good head, although they sometimes imported pretty typey individuals such as Aziz, featured earlier.

Salamie left some progeny at the French government stud of Tiaret, in Algeria. Most notable is his daughter Kabla, out of the Aziz daughter El Kaira. Kabla is the dam of the stallion Bouq (by the desert-bred Hellal), really influential in early Tunisian pedigrees, and the maternal grand-dam of the stallion Fendeq (by the desert-bred El Nil), represented in Algerian pedigrees.

All I know is that he is present in the back of the pedigrees of some really good Tunisian and Algerian horses, like the pretty Kuhaylat al-’Ajuz mare Hadia (Kefil x Rafiaa by Bango) from Tunisia, pictured below. Hadia has three lines to Aziz, though his three daughters El Keira, Fakhera, and Gueddima.

He sent me a set of very rare, old pictures of desert-bred Arabians imported to France, Tunisia and Algeria in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Some time ago, I started a series of blog entries featuring photos of some these outstanding and so little known desert-breds (Dahman, El Sbaa, Nibeh, Burgas, Taleb, Niazi, El Managhi, etc), but I ran out of original photos to share. I am happy I now have a few more pictures to resume this series. Merci Adrien!

This is Ghazi. Chestnut; desert-bred; born in 1901; recorded sire: “Arkoubi”, a Kuhaylan al-’Ajuz; recorded dam: “Zarifa”, a Kuhaylat al-’Ajuz; raced successfully in Egypt; imported by the French government to Algeria (then a part of France) in 1909; head sire at the Tiaret stud for many years. Robert Mauvy, who knew him well, said of him:

“Alezan dore, trois balzanes et liste, et dont presque toutes les juments nees a Tiaret descendent. Couvrant beaucoup de terrain avec de tres grandes lignes, il brillait par l’elegance de ces gestes et de ses allures … Ce fut, en outre, un excellent performer.”

By 1954, on the eve of the bloody (more than a million dead) Algerian eight year war of independence from France, it was difficult to find a mare at Tiaret that did not trace to Ghazi. Today his blood can be found in Tunisia, Morocco and France.

To look at pictures of other horses featured in this series, go to this blog’s middle column, under “Themes”, and click on “France”. A new page will open, scroll down, and look for the relevant blog entries.

B’Oureah is shown here competing for a 60 mile endurance race (which she won). She is a Jilfat Dhawi by strain, tracing to the mare Wadha imported by the French government from the Fad’aan tribe in 1875. Qhejala traces to Cherifa, a Shuwaymat Sabbah imported by the French from the Sba’ah tribe in 1869. Note the resemblance between Qhejala (who is 75% Egyptian) and the Babson (a group of asil Arabians of Egyptian bloodlines) broodmatron Fada (Faddan x Aaroufa by Fay El Dine). Fada’s rare photo below is from the late Billy Sheets’ photo collection.

While Mauvy is little-known outside of France and North Africa– despite his longtime connections with some of the fathers of the Asil Club movement in Europe, such as Foppe Klynstra, I am certain that his fame will skyrocket when an English translation of his small yet gigantic book “Le Cheval Arabe” will become available. This masterpiece was my Arabian Horse Bible, from age 10 until today.

One of the key teachings of Mauvy, as laid out in his book, is that the Arabian horse, like all things living (plants, animals, and even humans) is the outcome of the environment in which it is bred. If you take it out of its original environment, it will live certainly live and it may even prosper, but it will soon loose the specific characteristics that make it an Arabian horse. This seemingly simple and straight-forward notion has some important consequences; it means that Arabians bred outside of their original environment — the steppes of Arabia — can no longer be considered to be true Arabians. The remedy Mauvy proposes to Westerners who want to breed Arabian horses that retain their original desert characteristics is three folds: 

1) First, these breeders need to breed their horses on dry terrain, the nature of which is as close to the limestone terrain of the Arabian desert;

2) Second, they need to select their stallions the same way Bedouins used to select theirs: since ghazus and desert warfare is no longer an option, a good proxy is endurance racing (as opposed to halter shows). Mauvy and his supporters have eloborated a series of tough guidelines for such endurance races; some of these involve competitions where horses are supposed to gallop non-stop for more than 10 miles. Any horse that reverts to trot is immediately disqualified. The horses that successfully complete competition like this one and others can be used as stallions.

3) Third, they need to go back to the desert every 3 generations to infuse the blood of desert-bred Arabians into their horses. If a horse-buying expedition to Arabia Deserta is not possible, then a less desirable, but still acceptable recourse is the importation of Arabian horses bred in North Africa, the climate and terrain of some parts of which closely resemble Desert Arabia.

Since they started breeding Arabians, Jean-Claude Rajot, Louis Bauduin and their friends have been turning the teachings of Mauvy into practice — at least the first and the second ones, above. As far as the third axiom – breeding back to desert-bred stallions each three generations — was concerned, Rajot and Bauduin were using the stallions Ourki (Ourour x Oureah by Ghalbane)  and Jazour (Saadi x Izarra), as well as other sons of the stallion Saadi, Ourki’s older full brother: Cherif (Saadi x Zarifa) and Shawani (Saadi x Zarifa). Saadi, Ourki and Jazour were the sons of mares bred in North Africa (Oureah in Algeria and Irarra in Tunisia), and hence were “second-generation desert”, Oureah aslo being the daughter of the great Hamdani Simri stallion Ghalbane imported from Syria/Lebanon in 1945. By the time the daughters of these stallions came of age, Rajot and Bauduin were faced with the need to “go east” and look for desert-bred stallions to breed them. The next blog entry tells the story of the outcome of their search…

Jenny Lee’s weanling Amr, from the UK, has a different yet equally interesting pedigree. His sire is the Egyptian stallion Goudah (Gad Allah x Ramiah), and his dam Jenny’s Bahraini mare Shuwaimeh Bint Warda. 

“Renouvelant mon cri d’alarme, mon cri de désespoir ! Il faut absolument et à tout prix sauver ce qui reste du véritable Pur Sang Arabe. Il est impossible de laisser disparaître l’une des plus belles oeuvres du Créateur. Que l’initiative privée, que les amis et admirateurs du Noble Cheval se resserent et prennent en main cette admirable mais dure tâche : Sauver à tout prix le Cheval Arabe ! Je les en supplie car demain … demain il sera trop tard !…” 

Monsieur Robert Mauvy qui avait plus de quatre vingt années d’expérience a fait éditer un petit livre; oh, non pas un album de photos ni même une encyclopédie mais le contenu en est d’une très grande richesse : “Le Cheval de Pur Sang Arabe” chez Crépin Leblond. 

Il est très néfaste et dangereux pour la race chevaline entière de vouloir élever l’Arabe en fonction d’une mode ou d’une discipline ! L’Arabe est et doit rester le cheval de chasse et de guerre des nobles Bédouins d’Arabie. c’est le “Don d’Allah”. “L’Arabe de Sang Pur” est fait pour l’attaque et le repli avec ses démarrages, accélérations et arrêts violents. Dans l’obscurité, il voit mieux que quiconque. Nanti de la plus grande rapidité, vivacité, maniabilité et souplesse, il choisit ses allures et son terrain. Il es intelligent et participe à la chasse comme au combat car monté libre. Dévoué à son cavalier et ami mais jamais soumis, c’est “une gentille brute”. 

Elever le Cheval Noble en fonction de nos caprices, d’une raison financière imbécile et sur un terrain qui n’est pas le sien, nous en feront un dégénéré. La discipline, les réglementations, l’abrutissent et l’agressent. Ce n’est pas un cheval de caserne, de concours ou de loisir au sens actuel du terme, encore moins de club. 

C’est le “Cheval Etalon” seul régénérateur. Pour conserver cette Valeur, il nous faut calquer au mieux malgré tous nos handicaps l’élevage Bédouin. Cela ne peut se faire qu’avec des origines irréprochables, ce qui est très rare. On ne fait pas de chevaux de guerre avec des sujets de show, voire même de course, ces deux espèces dégénérées inondent le marché et noient le “prototype”. 

Il tombe sous le sens que le métabolisme du cheval oriental soit tout à fait particulier ! La “saillie de minuit” qui n’est pas une légende, n’est pas toujours l’auteur responsable de l’abâtardissement de la race, le mode d’élevage, et tout particulièrement le régime alimentaire, peut l’être tout autant. 

Deux orientaux donneront facilement un rejeton qui toisera 10 cm de plus qu’eux, il suffit pour cela d’un gavage aux “aliments complets”, fourrages, mauvais foins, pâture à discrétion, compléments en tous genres, une pharmacopée à portée de main et pour bien assurer ce massacre l’abandon des géniteurs et du produit à l’inaction. 

L’Egypte ne possède pas ou qu’imparfaitement sol, climat et atmosphères rencontrés en berceau de races voir même dans les pays du couchant (le Maghreb: Algerie, Tunisie, Maroc) ou la Libye. Dandy de l’espèce, le cheval égyptien, outil de parade plus que monture de guerre fut certainement avec le Polonais qui lui n’intéresse pas ces lignes, l’étincelle de la dérive puis l’embrasement vers le Show. 

La Syrie peut s’enorgueillir d’avoir perpétuellement été terre de prédilection aux transhumances des tribus Nobles productrices du Cheval Pur. Berceau de Race sans contredit, des spécialistes veillent scrupuleusement à la pureté des lignées, s’inquiétant des méfaits que pourraient causer ces modes et besoins occidentaux, business destructeur de vérité avec pour seules foi et loi le profit maximum. Néanmoins, nombre de Bédouins n’ayant que faire de papier ou reconnaissance mondiale, aidés par la foi, préservent la Race Pure près d’eux. 

Ce mode d’élevage existait encore il y a quelques années à Maknassy, en Tunisie. Il semblerait depuis que la sélection dans ce pay n’ait cessé de s’effectuer essentiellement sur hippodrome. Comment oublier cette irréprochable fille d’Aïssaoui et ne pas penser à sa production. A quel Sires a pu être confiée cette exceptionnelle jument grise rencontrée à Sidi Thabet ? 

Image indélibile que celle de Guelta, superbe fille de Zilzal âgée de 26 ans, parée de cette séduisante robe grise truitée de larges pastilles, beauté avec qui nous avions fait connaissance à la jumenterie de Tiaret voilà bientôt trois décennies. Ses soeurs et cousines étaient toutes filles, petites-filles et arrière petites-filles d’orientaux, tels Ghalbane-Masbout-Safita-Bango, etc… Leurs descendants ont-ils conservés cette authenticité ? Qui a pu prendre la suite des étalons Larabi et Guercif résultant eux aussi d’une cascade d’orientaux ? 

Pharisianisme exclu, ces pays peuvent-ils toujours prétendre au titre de succursale de l’Orient, de pépinière du Pur Sang Arabe ? Des connaisseurs avisés et clairvoyants comme le commandant Bardot et Robert Mauvy rêvaient de voir naître en ces pays bénis, mieux que des Haras Souche : une Jumenterie Nomade ! 

De l’air, de l’espace, de l’ensoleillement, une nourriture tonique, une présence humaine constante, de l’exercice dès le plus jeune âge. Monter les mâles étalons au pas ainsi que les femelles vides, pleines et suitées. La Cavale Arabe n’est pas un “sac à poulain”, le plus gros du travail se faisant avec et grâce à elle. Proscrire l’abandon au pré… 

Avec toutes ces précautions, il ressortira certainement quelques sujets d’exception qu’il faudra impérativement juger sur le terrain. Les épreuves seront dénuées de toutes règles, si ce ne sont celles de la bienséance, seuls la cravache et l’éperon seront prohibés sur ces 5 à 15 000 m de galop. L’homme de cheval pratique le respect, il aime sa monture, connaît et en apprécie la valeur. Ensuite, une “cueillette” pourrait s’effectuer suivant la morphologie, le caractère et surtout les aptitudes. Certains sujets plus maléables pourraient être dirigés sur l’endurance qui n’est qu’un pis-aller. 

Des épreuves restent à instaurer comme des raids d’une cinquantaine de kilomètres et plus, d’une traite, allure libre en terrain varié mais relativement plat. L’Arabe est un cheval de plaine, laissons la montagne et ses cailloux aux mules. La majorité des produits qui découleront de ce mode d’élevage sera constitué de toute façon d’excellents chevaux de randonnée, voire même polyvalents dans la fourchette de leurs possibilités. 

Il n’est pas aisé de placer les sujets d’exception, ne connaissant que leur cavalier, ils le protègent jalousement. On peut tout leur demander, même si parfois ils ont quelques velléités… “j’y suis, j’y reste”. Ce sont des sujets à part entière, des personnalités, ils ne leur manquent souvent qu’un cavalier. 

Il est possible que ces réflexions fassent sourire certains “professionnels” du cheval qui ne manqueront pas de baver quelques niaiseries, je leur rétorquerai simplement : ON A LE CHEVAL QUE L’ON MERITE !

Notice the striking physical resemblance between Mohalhil and another stallion that was featured on this blog, Bango. But the similarities in their backgrounds is even more striking.

Like Mohalhil Bango was a grey, desert-bred Ma’naghi Sbayli; like him he was bred by the Shammar tribe, at around the same time (Bango in 1923 and Mohalhil in 1922); like him he raced in Egypt.

Great. Now the Yemenis can safely import and register Polish and Spanish “Arabians” from the Gulf countries and cross them with whatever asil Arabians Yemen has left, in the name of “improving the heads of their horses”. 

Let me make a forecast, and I really hope time will prove me wrong: there will be no asil Arabians left in Yemen ten years from now. That’s how long it took to destroy the remnants of asil Arabian breeding in countries like Lebanon and Algeria.  Asil Arabians in these two countries survived two civil wars (Lebanon: 1975-1990; Algeria: 1991-2004), looting by militias, air raids and bombings, famine and government neglect. By the time Lebanon was a full WAHO member, in 1992, non-asil stallions of Russian, French and Spanish lines had been imported to the country and crossed with the remaining elderly asil mares.  By 2000, not one asil horse was left in Lebanon (save for the Egyptian imports). Algerian asils suffered exactly the same fate. Lets hope Yemen doesn’t follow suit.

In Algeria, El Obayan sired the Jilfat Dhawi mare Baraka, who in turn sired the mare Gafsa by Bango. Gafsa was owned by master breeder A. Cordonnier of the Sidi Bou Hadid stud in Tunisia, and was the dam of the Cordonnier stallion Inchallah, exported to France, where he stood at the government stud of Pau. I need to scan a picture of Inchallah and share it with you.

There is another picture of him in F. Klynstra’s book “Nobility of the desert”. Note that according to R. Mauvy, there is no indication that his strain was Ma’naghi, as his name may suggest.

Most Tunisian Arabians now include his blood yet El Managhi’s most important product was perhaps the Asil Jilfat Dhawi mare Saponnaire, dam of Bassala which was acquired by the Pompadour stud in France. Here is an incomplete list of El Managhi’s progeny.

Of the Arabian horses bred in the three North African countries of Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, the latter is the only one that did not develop its own “brand” of Arabians. Rather, Morocco relied on importations from its two North African neighbors as well as France and Egypt.

Lets look at the pedigree of a typical modern Moroccan-bred Arabian horse: Fata, a chestnut stallion of the Jilfan Dhawi strain imported in utero from Morocco to France in 1976. Fata’s dam Tobiha was actually sold by the Moroccan Government stud of Meknes to French breeder jean Deleau, the founder of Haras de la Lizonne, in Western France. 

Fata is by El Sud El Aaly (Nazeer x Lateefa), an Asil stallion born in Egypt and gifted to the King Mohamed V of Morocco (a full brother to SF Ibn Nazeer, by the way). Fata’s dam Tobiha is by Burhan (Morafic x Mona by Sid Abouhoum x Moniet el Nefous), another Egyptian Asil, and also a present from Egypt to the Moroccan King.  

Fata’s maternal granddam, Mousson is by Murols, a stallion bred at the French stud of Pompadour and imported from France to Morocco. Murols is by Abel, a Denouste son (hmmm…) and out of Musette, a true Asil Arabian (at least by my standards).  Lets give Musette, one of the jewels of Pompadour, a closer look. By the magnificent desert import El Sbaa, out of Musotte, herself by the even more magnificent desert import Dahman out of Mysterieuse, by Enwer (a grey Ma’naghi Sbayli imported to France) out of Mysie, by Benikaled out of Meleke, both desert bred.  The three best desert imports to France (El Sbaa, Dahman, Enwer) all in one mare! I will try and dig her picture out.

Mousson’s dam, and Fata’s maternal great grand-dam in the tail female is, in case you are still following me, the Moroccan mare Rose Etoile, by the French Arabian stallion Ordizan, also from Pompadour. Ordizan is by Abel (again) out of Danae III, who is herself by Soukne (a desert import, and Ma’naghi by strain) and out of Dourka. Dourka was acquired by Pompadour from a French private stud. Still she traces entirely from old, well authenticated lines, all the way back to the foundation mare Warda, from the horses of baron Fechtig (this guy needs an entry for himself).

Mousson’s maternal grand-dam, and Fata’s great-great grand-dam (I must have lost you by now) is Koura by Aiglon out of Amana. Aiglon is another French stallion imported to Morocco. He is not from Pompadour, but rather from French private breeders. This is not the same Aiglon as the Egyptian horse, sire of *Exochorda. I know nothing about him and have never seen a picture either.

The mare Amana, Fata’s g.g.g. grand-dam, is the last horse we’ll be looking at. She was imported to Morocco from the stud of Tiaret in Algeria. She traces exclusively to high-quality desert-bred horses:  El Obayyan, (a Ubayyan Sharrak from the Syrian city of Hama) Venture (a Hamdani Simri from Lebanon), Quatre As (a Dahman from the desert), etc. The tail female is that of Wadha, a Jilfat Dhawi from the Fad’aan tribe.

To sum up: Fata is 75% Egyptian Arabian (and Asil), and 21.875 French (of which some is Asil and the rest I don’t know), and 3.125 Algerian (Asil, in my opinion). He carries two lines to Abel and one line to the French stallion Aiglon. Subsequent posts will try to focus on these two stallions, after I do some research. Lets see where this will take us.

I reread the posts I have been writing on French Asil horses to refresh my memory. Most are “gloom and doom”, with words like “lost” and “last” all over the entries’ titles. The sad reality is that this grim assessment is true, and that French Asil are on the brink of extinction, despite the enormous number of desert horses imported to France and to its former North African possessions over the last two centuries.

Arabian horse in France were – and are still – bred by two categories of breeders: the Government and private breeders. Since Napoleon’s time and until WWII, the French government has been importing and maintaining desert Arabian stallions in stallion depots across the country, as well as a small herd of broodmares in the stud of Pompadour. Arabian stallions and, to a lesser extent Arabian mares, were bred to English Thoroughbreds to produce Anglo-Arabs, a breed France is credited for creating and developing. A small nucleus of Arabians was also bred separately.

Private breeders, many of whom have been breeding horses for  generations, typically bred both Arabians and Anglo-Arabs for racing purposes. This focus on short-distance racing, and the breeders’ feeding and breeding conditions, meant that the classic type(s) of Arabian horses was overlooked, and that another type prevailed. Such seems to be the case of the stallion Denouste, a most important horse in French Arabian breeding, of the Mukhallad strain. He seems to be okay pedigree wise, but as a 2 years old he certainly did not look like a pretty Arabian horse (judge for yourselves below: photo taken from the French site Forum sur le Cheval Arabe, where it was posted by Orient Arabians.. ). He will be the subject of a next post,. For now I have just left him out of the list of horses I have considered Asil…

In addition, at several junctures during the twentieth century, Arabian races came to a halt, and breeders had to enter Arabian horses in the same races as Anglo-Arabs, in which the latter clearly had an advantage… Some breeders – not all, only some – went ahead and bred their arabian mares to Anglo-Arab stallions and registered the progeny as Arabian.

The bottom line is that it is difficult to trust most bloodlines of Arabian horses of “Old” French bloodlines bred by French private breeders. The only stud I trust blindly is that of Mr. Robert Mauvy, as it relied on North African Asil bloddlines in addition to authentic bloodlines from the Pompadour government stud. It is worth noting here that Mauvy himself ascertained the purity of specific mares of French bloodlines at specific points in time, which doesn’t mean these lines are still Asil today. Examples include Djerba, a Mukhalladiyah by strain, and Dragonne, of the “strainless” Warda line. Warda was imported to the desert by Baron Fechtig in 1824.

Pompadour maintained two female lines of unquestionably Asil origins: the line of Bassala, a mare born in Algeria and tracing to the desert-bred mare Wadha (a Jilfat Dhawi), and that of Adana, an “old french” line, tracing to the desert-bred mare Zenab (a Hamdaniyah). The other female lines of But Pompadour were from private breeders and their authenticity of breeding has been questioned by purist breeders.

Of these two lines, that of Adana-Zenab has died out in Asil form: its last Asil representative was Ablette, which was bred to stallions of questionable purity (e.g, Ba Toustem). Ablette’s dam Attique was also bred to questionable stallions (e.g., Abel). The line to Bassala-Wadha was more fortunate as it benefited from the arrival of several Tunisian Asil stallions to Pompadour in the 1960s, and one Egyptian stallion, Fawzan (Tuhotmos x Fayrooz) in the 1970s. Now this line is down to two or three aged mares of unquestionable purity of bloodlines.

Finally, in the 1960s, some breeders imported Asil broodmares from North Africa: Tunisian Asil mares as Hallouma, Izarra, Naziha and Algerian Asil ones such as the Ghalbane daughters Achra, Oureah and others came in. Some were bred to Asil stallions, others were not. But not much is left of that blood either..

Bucolique is not quite representative of “Old French” bloodlines: both her sire Besbes and her maternal grandsire Irmak (a gorgeous horse of the most classic type, pictured below) were born in Tunisia (at Sidi Thabet and Sidi Bou Hadid, respectively), and her maternal granddam Bassala was born in Algeria (at Tiaret). All three were subsequently imported to the French goverment stud of Pompadour, where they conspired to produce Bucolique and her full sister Best, pictured below. Best’s picture was sent to me by her owner Rose Cambon.

Best, born in 1981, was still alive in 2006, but had stopped breeding. She is pensioned at Jean Cambon’s stud in South-Western France, after having produced a string of race winners in France and the United Arab Emirates, none of them by Asil stallions (I am being polite here: saying that some of these stallions are non-Asil is a euphemism).  At the time, Ms. Cambon was open to the idea of trying to breed here again, this time to an Asil stallion.

Both mares trace to the root mare Wadha, a Jilfat Dhawi bought by the French from the Fadaan Bedouin tribe and imported to Algeria in 1875.

Some of the comments I received go a step further, and ask practical questions, for example about what can be done to save the remnants of these horses, before it is too late. Here is a lead:  

While I was still based in France, I tried to lease one of the last Asil mares, Bucolique (Besbes x Berthe by Irmak), a gorgeous 1981 bay mare of the Jilfan Dhawi strain, and the dam of many racehorse champions, with the aim of breeding her to Rubi de la Mouline (Ilamane x Hamma by Raoui), a 1983 chestnut stallion of the Kuhaylan al-’Ajuz strain .  

Her owner, Jean-Marie Baldy, of the Haras du Cayrou in the Cantal area of central France, was willing to lease her, and the owners of Rubi de la Mouline were also willing to let him breed her, despite his old age.  Agreements were reached, transportation arrangements were made, but the project eventually failed to materialize because the next month I had to leave France for the USA.

I wish someone could revive this project, and take it forward, and I am willing to help in every way I can. It is an endeavor worth pursuing. I believe that a good case can be made for these horses: the supporting documentation exists, and the horses speak for themselves.

I have a dream that one day breeders of Asil Arabians worldwide will rise above specific labels, breeding groups and sub-groups, and will start breeding their horses to each other to produce the best Asil Arabians possible, the Straight Arabian.

I have a dream that one day the remaining Asil horses of Algeria, Bahrain, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and other Arab countries will be recognized for what they are, true authentic Arabian horses, on par with Asil Arabians bred in Egypt, Europe and the USA.

Let us work together towards that dream.

In 1877, the French Ministry of War (the equivalent of a Department of Defense), established a breeding stud near the town of Tiaret, in the mountains of central Algeria. The objective of the “Jumenterie de Tiaret”, which later became the ”Haras de Tiaret-Chaouchaoua“, was to produce Arabian stallions, which were sent to local stallion depots, where they were used on Barb mares. The result was a sturdy Arab-Barb cavalry horse.

Hundreds of Arabian stallions and dozens of mares were imported to Tiaret (and its equivalent in neighboring Tunisia, Sidi-Thabet) from the deserts of Arabia and the racetracks of Egypt and Lebanon.  Depending on the expertise of the horse-buying commission and its budget, imports ranged from the outstanding to the mediocre.  Overall, Algeria received much better quality desert-bred imports than Tunisia or even France. Outstanding genitors included: Bango, a grey Ma’anaghi Sbayli from the Bedouin Shammar tribe, bought at at an Egyptian racetrack and perhaps the most famous Tiaret import; Safita, a bay Kuhaylan Khdili from the desert; Ghalbane, an Asil Hamdani Simri and Masbout, a Saqlawi Jadran, both winners of many races on the Beirut racetrack, etc.

Below is the wonderfully refined and feminine Fadd’a (Baleck x Foul), a 1907 mare representative of the  Asil Arabians typically bred by Tiaret.  Fadd’a was the first mare owned by Robert Mauvy. She traced to the desert-bred Yamouna, born in 1869 in the Najd area of Arabia, and imported to Algeria in 1876.

He left too few offspring behind, including the stallions Nemer (out of Ninon), Khartoum (out of Kioumi), the full borthers Medard and Meat (out of Medea), and the dark brown stallion Matuvu (out of Manon).  Nemer was exported to Poland, and Khartoum to Romania, where they both started famous racing lines that endure to this day (although not in Asil form).  Meat was retained for the Stud of Pompadour, where he took over from his sire, and Matuvu was sent to the stallion depot of Blois, where only a handful Arabian horse breeders used him.

Two Asil lines to El Sbaa survived well into the 1970s: one old French dam-line at Pompadour, and another Algerian dam-line with the French breeder Robert Mauvy.

At Pompadour, the last Asil to carry a line to El Sbaa was the very typey mare Ablette (by Sumeyr out of Attique by Meat), born in 1954.  This mare, one of the best ever bred at Pompadour, was from the female line of Zenab, a grey Hamdaniyah bred by the Sba’ah Bedouin tribe and imported to France in 1880, with seven other mares, and eleven stallions. Ablette, pictured below, is reminiscent of the some of the old American-bred Asil Arabian horses of Davenport bloodlines.  Sadly, Ablette was only bred to non-Asil horses, even though Pompadour did maintain a couple of Tunisian Asil stallions at the time.

Robert Mauvy kept a small collection of some of the purest bloodlines in France in his estate in Central France. His pride was the chestnut mare Zarifa (by Matuvu out of the Algerian Asil Iaqouta), born in 1946, and her full sister Aouda El Habiba, born 1941.  They were from the female line of Cherifa, a bay Shuwaymah Sabbahiyah also bred by the Sba’ah Bedouin tribe born in 1869, and imported by the French to Algeria.  Aouda El Habiba had a few Asil offspring which did not breed on, and Zarifa had offspring whose Asil status is pending (in my opinion), and subject to further research.  More on this reseach later.

Look at the picture of the magnificent El Sbaa below: a French government commission led by M. Rieu de Madron purchased this Asil Ma’anaghi Sbayli stallion straight from the desert in 1925. El Sbaa stood at the Stud of Pompadour, France, but he was ill suited for its humid climate, so he developed a form of asthma and died a few years later.

He left too few offspring behind, including the stallions Nemer (out of Ninon), Khartoum (out of Kioumi), the full borthers Medard and Meat (out of Medea), and the dark brown stallion Matuvu (out of Manon).  Nemer was exported to Poland, and Khartoum to Romania, where they both started famous racing lines that endure to this day (although not in Asil form).  Meat was retained for the Stud of Pompadour, where he took over from his sire, and Matuvu was sent to the stallion depot of Blois, where only a handful Arabian horse breeders used him.

Two Asil lines to El Sbaa survived well into the 1970s: one old French dam-line at Pompadour, and another Algerian dam-line with the French breeder Robert Mauvy.

At Pompadour, the last Asil to carry a line to El Sbaa was the very typey mare Ablette (by Sumeyr out of Attique by Meat), born in 1954.  This mare, one of the best ever bred at Pompadour, was from the female line of Zenab, a grey Hamdaniyah bred by the Sba’ah Bedouin tribe and imported to France in 1880, with seven other mares, and eleven stallions. Ablette, pictured below, is reminiscent of the some of the old American-bred Asil Arabian horses of Davenport bloodlines.  Sadly, Ablette was only bred to non-Asil horses, even though Pompadour did maintain a couple of Tunisian Asil stallions at the time.

Robert Mauvy kept a small collection of some of the purest bloodlines in France in his estate in Central France. His pride was the chestnut mare Zarifa (by Matuvu out of the Algerian Asil Iaqouta), born in 1946, and her full sister Aouda El Habiba, born 1941.  They were from the female line of Cherifa, a bay Shuwaymah Sabbahiyah also bred by the Sba’ah Bedouin tribe born in 1869, and imported by the French to Algeria.  Aouda El Habiba had a few Asil offspring which did not breed on, and Zarifa had offspring whose Asil status is pending (in my opinion), and subject to further research.  More on this reseach later.

Yet before delving into a discussion of these little-known Asil Arabians, let me share with you a few pictures of some of these horses, to give you a feel for what they look like.

Below is the magnificent Nichem, a 1970 Asil stallion, bred in France from Tunisian and Algerian bloodlines. Nichem was by Iricho and Caida, who was Rabat and Salammbo, by Bango.

Nichem’s sire Iricho was born in Tunisia in 1959 at the stud of French Navy Admiral -  and otherwise master Arabian horse breeder - Anatole Cordonnier, who sold him to the French government a few years later.  Iricho subsequently stood at the Haras de Pompadour for most of his breeding career. Although a horse of excellent conformation and irreproachable bloodlines, Iricho was shunned by French Arabian (?) horse breeders who preferred taller stallions of racing (i.e., highly dubious) bloodlines. 

In addition to a number of non-Asil horses, Iricho did produce three Asil Arabian stallions: Zab in 1971 (out of the beautiful Izarra), Jahir in 1975 (out of Ciada), and Nichem. Unfortunately, none was replaced in French Asil Arabian breeding — a real blunder.

Nichem’s dam Caida was imported to France by a family from the “pied-noirs”, the returning descendants of the French settlers of Algeria.  She was bred at the Tiaret stud, in the western Algerian mountains.  Tiaret’s was France’s main Arabian horse breeding center in Algeria.

Nichem has three close crosses to Bango, perhaps the most prominent desert-bred stallion to be imported to Tiaret.  Bango was a grey Ma’anaghi Sbayli bred by the Shammar in 1923, was sold to Egypt for racing, and was imported to Tiaret in 1928. Below is a picture of him, courtesy of Pierre-Henri Beillard, who breeds Tunisian, Moroccan and Algerian Arabians in France.