Dahriefa and the endangered tail female line to *Urfah
Robin Weeks sent me this photo of Dahriefa (Dahrecho x Zariefa by Zarlan), a 1975 Saglawiat al-‘Abd and one of the few sources left to the Davenport import *Urfah in tail female, bred by Mrs. John Ekern Ott and her daughter Jane Ott, and the holder of one of my favorite asil pedigrees. One of the collateral implications of the mtDNA-based findings that the Davenport horses descending from the mare Schilla do not trace back to *Urfah in tail female (but rather do the Hamdaniyah mare Galfia), is that the remaining number of tail-female descendants of *Urfah left has automatically gone down to a couple dozen horses at best. The only remaining line to *Urfah — one of the foundation mares of American Arabian breeding — is through her 1931 great-grand-daughter Ferka (Ferdilan x Poka by *Hamrah), Tripoli’s maternal half-sister. Dahriefa one of the main progenitors of this line, which Pam Baker in South Carolina and Monica Respet of Pennsylvania are among the few breeders perpetuating. I am currently involved in an Al-Khamsa effort to identify and map out critically endangered asil lines in the USA. Mapping the tail female lines horses to both *Urfah and *Waddudah (both Saqlawiyat al-‘Abd by strain) is actually on top of my to-do list for this weekend.
Kalima Lulua RW 1997 GM. Based on data source, she should be in Alabama. She is one of the few mares that do not have Nazeer. It is also good to know all living stallions that are *Urfah tail female.
Yes, you’re right. I will check that too. Tell me did you get my mail about the nomination thing?
Well, it’s my photo and I never really considered it a “bad” photo! I do have lots others… as well as a group of photos that I got from the farm that had her when I got her… and a bunch of her progeny and relatives… will have to look them up. Robin L. Weeks (by the way, that’s pretty much the way she looked!)
She was also quite an aged mare here…
My apologies, Robin. I did not mean to offend.. I just meant that the mare seems to be much prettier in the face than the photo does show. I will rephrase. I will also add the photo credit
No need Edouard! *laughing* The head shot that Jeanne sent you (that was also used in the Khamsat) is indeed the best head shot of her. I can’t say that she really “looked” like that. It was a great photo and she was a rather plain headed mare. But I just sent you a bunch of Sugar Hill photos… hope you enjoy them. I bet you like Abay Hami!
Hello, Edouard, you must come see my tf Urfah girls. they too are more plain headed but are lovely, full bodied girls. I feel graced that both JDA Husaana and MSF Karima had fillies who are with Linda Uhrich (nearby). Next year i hope to breed one or both again. Do you know of any tf Urfah Stallions that might be a good match? All my best, your blog is fantastic and inspiring! thank you! Monica
To look at Monica’s mares standing still, one can appreciate their excellent conformation and gentle dispositions. Their true beauty is fully revealed only when they spring into motion.