Daughter of the Wind: a blog on desert arabian horses, past and present

I wish to introduce my friend, Dr Mohamed Abd el Aziz  Al Nujaifi, from Mosul, Iraq. Dr Mohamed’s father is the Sheikh of the Bani Khaled tribe in Iraq; the Al Nujaifi’s are the paramount Arab race horse breeders in Iraq, some of their horses are Asil some not ,as they have infusion of French, Russian blood. Dr Mohamed is British educated: PhD in agriculture from Oxford, Magister in agricultural engineering, Newcastle university and more.. He is a high ranking official in the Islamic Development Bank, K.S.A

Dr Mohamed lately published a book on the Iraqi Arab Horses. I don’t agree with some of his view on the Iraqi horses and I let him know that.  I took the liberty in picking some passages which I found interesting.

 On the Hamdani el Efri:

Quoting a conversation his father, Abd el Aziz, had with Sheikh Mite’eb Ibn Hazzal “Sheikh of Sheikhs” of the Anezeh : ”The Hamdani el Efri horses never had blood on them” meaning that never a rider mounted on a Hamdani el Efri was killed due to their speed and to their faculty to save their rider in any battle. Sheikh Mite’eb told the story of a the inhabitants  of village club together  in order to buy a mare of this strain due to her fame and to her high price 350 gold pounds.

 Some of the strains found only in Iraq  are Kuhailan el Anz; and El Shikharat,the Al Nujaifi sold in 1931 a mare of this strain to the Turkish mission, this mare entered the Turkish Stud book under the name of “Acbe”.

Some of the strains belonging to Al Nujaifi’s:

Maanaki Hadraji :In Iraq this strain belongs to them, as Sheikh Mohamed al Nujaifi ,one of their grand- fathers use to breed Maanaki Hadraji,He offered one mare of this strain to Saadun Pasha who in his turn offered her to Ibn Rashid, in Hail. Later Sheik Ukab el Ojeil Sheikh of the Abda Shammar told Sheik Mohamed al Nujaifi that this mare was the favorite mount of Ibn Rashid during his war with the “Al Sherif” during World War I . Al Sherif is the Al Sherif al Hussein family of Hedjaz who later became Kings of Iraq and Jordan