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

Since I am back talking about Ma’naghi Sbayli stallions (see yesterday’s short post on RB Bellagio), I thought I’d bring up a picture of the stallion Dakhala Sabiq (Prince Hal x Sirrulya by Julyan), a 1975 stallion bred by Jeanne Hussong, when she was just about to become Jeanne Craver.

A coouple of years ago, I was seriously considering to buy a daughter of Sabiq’s sister Soiree (Sir x Sirrulya): Dakhala Sahra is a lovely 1985 chestnut mare by Plantagentet out of Soiree, and is owned by Crista Couch. Perhaps I should have made a move.

Dakhla Sabiq and RB Bellagio who was featured below, are closely related, since their respective dams Sirrulya and Sirrunade are sisters, both out of Jane Ott’s broodmatron Sirrulla (Sirecho x Drissula). Unfortunately, Sabiq never had the opportunity to be used as a stallion

 I have always had a soft spot for Ma’anaghi Sbayli stallions. It dates back to the time I read a story by Ali al-Barazi, an old-time Syrian horse breeder, about one of the last ghazus (Bedouin raids), in the early 1940s. That was just before the French, who were ruling over Syria at the time, put an end to all raiding activity and imposed peace upon the tribes of the Syrian desert: a large party of Sba’ah Bedouin horsemen had just raided a Ruwalah camp, and were returning with a large booty of Ruwalah camels. A group of Ruwalah warriors then chased them, eventually taking the camels back, and capturing or killing a large number of Sba’ah horsemen. The Sba’ah suffered a severe defeat and by the end of the day, only 37 Sba’ah Bedouins had returned to the camp; of their 37 horses, 34 were daughters and grand-daughters of the one stallion: Funaytil, a Ma’naghi Sbayli, and one of the herd sires of the Sba’ah. As to the other 3, one was Funaytil himself. That story really stuck in mind since, and I was not surprised when I later read that *Haleb, yet another Ma’naghi Sbayli stallion from the Sba’ah imported by Homer Davenport to the USA in 1906, had covered no less than 200 mares the year before he left the desert.