Jilfan and Shuwayman lines from France
Adrien Deblaise breeds Arabian horses of Tunisian, Moroccan and Algerian bloodlines in Western France. His father Philippe was a bookseller that specialized in equine literature. Philippe’s inventory contained one of the largest collections in France books on horses in general and Arabians in particular. Below are pictures of two of Adrien’s mares: B’Oureah Marine (by Ourki x Bismilah by Irmak), and Qhejala (by Fawzan x Jelala II by Abouhif).
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.
Most interesting and handsome horses. I really need to learn more about these North African desert lines! Thank you for continuing to bring them forward.
Dear Jeanne,what says the Al Khamsa for these group of horses?
László
Dear Jeanne,
you’re absolutley right! 🙂 I too, need to learn so much more about these bloodlines… 😉 and i have a Jilfat Dhawi mare myself… so, thanks again for Edouard to share some insight on these horses! Please continue to do so! 🙂
Regards
Sandra 🙂
Al Khamsa was founded for North American bloodlines, and so it looks at other bloodlines only when those lines have come to the US. That does not mean we are not interested!
Personally, I don’t know anything about the North African desert lines, except what I am learning on this blog, which is just fascinating.
Thanks Edouard for posting this. Personally I was very impressed with the Shuwaymah mares that I saw in Syria, both those with the Tai tribe and those with private breeders.
As for the Babson mare Fada. I saw her in person, also took movies of her. She was the tallest mare at Babson’s in 1976 when I filmed her. She was about 15.1, but not unusual considering that Faddan sometimes sired considerable size. His son Ali Pacha (Faddan x *Bint Serra) was said to be about 15.3 hands tall. The very few pictures of Fada show her heavy in foal but she was not in foal when I saw her. She had great depth of girth and long, powerful shoulders reaching well back into her withers. Though her quarters were sloping she was strong behind with tail carried high. She was more refined than her mother Aaroufa appeared to be. I think she shows some of her grandmother Bint Saada’s features. Bint Saada was by Ibn Samhan who also sired Zarife and Balance who were very athletic good movers and no doubt Fada was likely also a good mover in her prime. I know that the Faddan son Saafaddan was a very impressive mover as well. To me Fada struck me as more “Bedu” like in person. What never shows in her photos is the fact that she retained the very large, deep round jowls usually associated with her sire and dam line to Bint Yamama.