More recent Tahawi acquisitions of asil Arabians from the desert

Read this entry in the stud book of Faysal ‘Abd Allah Sa’ud al-Tahawi, excerpted from the tribe’s website:

“Then, in the year 1356 H, we bought the bay ‘Ubayyah Sharrakiyah from Ibn Samdan, when she was in foal, and she gave birth, while in our ownership, to a chestnut colt whose sire is the [Kuhaylan] Nawwaqi who was [standing at stud] with the Arabs of Sba’ah, and whose owner was Fanghash, on the first day of Rabi’ al-Awwal 1356 H [equivalent to the 12th of May, 1937]. And we solt that colt to Cairo.”

And further down:

“And on July 27, 1949, Faran Ibn Samdan came to us, and we each took our shares [in horses], and he gave up his shares in al-‘Ubayyah and received from us 172 pounds. This was the bay ‘Ubayyah which came from Salih al-Misrab at the hand of Husayn Abu Hilal in 1356 H.” 

Now please tell me, how many people in 1950, just over sixty years ago, had the luxury of receiving Ibn Samdan, the breeder of the best and most authenticated marbat of ‘Ubayyan Sharrak among the Sba’ah, in his own house, to pay him his share of the ‘Ubayyat Ibn Samdan, herself the daughter of the Kuhaylan al-Nawwaq, the Bedouin herd sire owned by none other than Fanghash al-Nawwaq himself?

The Tahawy were indeed dealing with the most respected Bedouin breeders, and the most authentic strains of desert Arabia. I, who was born as late as 1978, grew around the very last of these prestigious horses; check here the story of another stallion of Fanghash al-Nawwaq (by then an old man), which was almost mine.

2 Replies to “More recent Tahawi acquisitions of asil Arabians from the desert”

  1. Dear Edouard,

    Glad you reached these conclusions. This what we have been saying for decades. But I would like to bring to your attention that Shaikh Abdullah Saoud is just one of the Tahawy breeders. There were tens on just the same level. You have Smeda family (Nasr Smeda, Qwaita Smeda), Mazin Amer and his son Fergani, Menzai Amer, Abdul-Hamid Rageh, Ghanim Barkat, Soliman Eliwa, Matroud family, Sultan family, just to name a few. All were great and wealthy Shaikhs who had similar herdbooks and dealt with the same figures from Eneza and the desert breeders. The horse certificates and Ali El-Brazi book show a sample of these Tahawi names. We are talking about hundreds of mares!

    Hope people on EAO and WAHO will realize their big mistake, after the extinction of more than 90% of the horses, and decide to do the right thing before the very few remaining are also gone.

    Best Regards,
    Yasser Ghanim

  2. This is fascinating stuff. Will all of it be translated ?? I would love to be able to read it all.
    I am SO glad that the Tahawi horses were accepted to AK last year and hope to see many more of them given recognition soon. I wonder if there is any way that WAHO could be persuaded to open the book again. It does seem a travesty to exclude there horses.

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