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

I have been telling you about that Hamdani Simri line in Europe, the one from the mare Sobha of Ali Pasha Sharif, which went to the Crabbet Stud and eventually to the Courthouse Stud. A Hungarian preservation breeder, Laszlo Kiraly, bought what seems to be the last three registered asil mares from that line, Saraly El Shahin. The other two still need to be located. There might be a couple more who are not registered. The mares have been through a lot, after leaving the care of their breeder and last preservation owner, Penelope Pembleton.

Laszlo sent me pictures of Saralee, who is still recovering and still in poor shape, some of which are below.

I also found some pictures of one of Saralee’s ancestors in the tail female, the beautiful and very desert-like Courthouse mare Somra II (Fedaan x Safarjal by Rasim). He sire was the desert-bred Saqlawi Jadran of Ibn Zubayni stallion Fedaan, imported by Mr Clark of the Courthouse Stud to the UK in the 1920s.  With desert-bred, well authenticated, beautiful grey horses like Fedaan and Mirage in the UK in the 1920s, there was really no need for Skowronek. Oh well.

Ten days ago, on April 8th, Pamela Klein drove to Pine Grove PA, with her Kuhaylan Hayfi stallion Aurene CF (Triermain CF x Aureole CF by Fair Sir) pictured below, and he bred the Kuhaylat al-Krush mare Bint al-Barra (ASF David x Mystalla by San Luis  Jacob).

Monologue CF (Riposte CF x Soliloquy CF by Regency CF) is coming along, and is closer to what he used to look like some years ago. I hope he will breed a couple mares this year.

The best news for 2012 on the preservation front came yesterday from Hungary, and I am not quite over it yet. Preservation breeder Laszlo Kiraly was able to acquire a precious treasure: the 18 year old Hamdaniyah Simriyah mare Saralee El Shahin (Ansata Aly Jamil x Saree, by Salaa El Dine x Selmah by Shakhs x Sappho by Bleinheim), one of the two or three European asil descendants left to the Ali Pasha Sherif mare Sobha (Wazir x  Selma).

From a sheer preservation perspective, this mare is precious is so many ways: first, because of its tail female; second, because of the extraordinarily high amount of Ali Pasha Sherif bloodlines she carries through her great grand dam Sappho (Bleinheim x Selima by Bahram x Siwa II by Rheoboam) pictured below; third, because of the two lines she carries to the asil Courthouse Stud desert bred imports Nimr and Fedaan, who have virtually disappeared from the global asil gene pool (save for another line in South Africa to Nimr but also to the third Courthouse desert bred import Atesh); fourth, because of the last asil line left to the Blunt desert import Meshura; fifth, because this is the only asil Crabbet damline left in Europe…

I am so happy Laszlo was able to acquire this mare, and I wish him all the best in breeding her and reviving that glorious old line.. pictures of Saralee coming soon, says Laszlo.

Today Wisteria CF left the care of Craver Frams in the trailer of her proud new owner Kathy Busch. Along with her rode Enchante CF (Zachary x Velveteen by Sir). I am sad to see Wisteria go but I am very happy that Kathy is the one who has her now, because Kathy keeps her horses for a long time and takes great care of them. Wisteria leaves behind a colt and a filly, and I could not wish for more. I am also forever grateful to Charles and Jeanne Craver for having kept her at their place, after selling her to me, and having taken such good care of her over the past five years.

The day before, Javera Chelsea (Thane x HB Diandra by Mariner) and Dakhala Sahra (Plantagenet x Soiree by Sir) left Craver Farms to go to Tom and Jess Maiyer in Galion, Ohio, for embryo transfer.

Hussain Ghasemi sent me these head shots of the 1999 Hamdani stallion Jenan (Assad x Venus by Dowran) in Iran. Many of his ancestors including the Arras, Samarquand, and Dowran have been featured here before.

I am off to Morocco this weekend, for about a week, so these two pictures of a stallion partly of Moroccan Arabian lines are fitting.

This is Fabienne Vesco’s Djoar Beni Sakr (Jahir x Loubia bint Breek by Breek), a Jilfan Dhawi by strain, as a younger horse, and as a 16 year old stallion. Both his maternal grandparents, Breek and Rihya, came to France from Morocco with Jean Deleau, and trace to combined Egyptian, Tunisian and French lines.

The French born stallion Agres (photo below, by Sumeyr x Altise by Abel x Attique by Méat), which was a sire at the Moroccan Royal stables, and traces to a Hamdaniyah Simriyah mares imported from Syria, is well represented in his pedigree.

Another Hanad son is the 1930 ‘Ubayyan Sharrak stallion Sanad (Hanad x Saba by *Deyr). I had never seen a picture before. Here’s one, not very good.

Here’s a photo of three sons of the influential mare Domow (registered as *Abu Zeyd x *Wadduda, but may well have been *Astraled x *Wadduda), all three important early American Arabian horse sire. Check out their names: Mahomet, Abu-Selim, and Ahamed.

What a change in the culture between then and now: now the big names are Versace, Armani, and other haute couture references. It signals a shift in the marketing and perception of the Arabian horse: from an animal connected with its original Arab environment and simple Bedouin culture, to a global luxury consumption good. Yikes.

This 1948 Hanad son, out of Chairmain (Abu-Selim x Aatika by Tabab) is in the pedigree of two of the mares I am trying to preserve today: the full sisters Bint al-Barra and Cinnabar Myst. Mainad traces to *Urfah in the tail female and has two lines to the desert-bred import *Azra, a Saqlawi Ubayri from the Fad’aan Bedouins.

One of the only Davenport horses to stay out of the preservation adventure launched by Charles Craver, Fred Mimmack, Reba Troxell and a handful others in the 1950s and 1960s was the 1955 stallion Sunny Acres Darius (Ibn Hanad x Gamil by Kasar), bred by Margaret Shuey. I never had the chance to ask why this was so. All but three of his offspring were non-asil.

A minute of walk at the end of a nice workout. He’s a work in progress, of course, but I’m enjoying the steady improvement.

I have already mentioned the 1982 “war mare” LD Rubic (Plantagenet x Tarrla by Tarff) a number of times on this blog. Rubic is the kind of mare I wished I had owned or bred. She is a direct great-grand-daughter of the desert bred mare *Nufoud, a Kuhaylat al-’Ajuz from the Aal Saud family, imported to the USA by Albert Harris in 1932 through Amin Rihani. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was still called the Sultanate of Najd and Hijaz. She is also a great-grand-daughter of anothe Saudi mare *Turfa. LD Rubic was bred by the late Carol Lyons from the last mare of that strain, Tarrla. Carol saved that line from extinction, as well as many others.

Rubic left two sons and five daughters: Of the sons, Salil Ibn Iliad has produced a number of asil mares here and there. He is getting old. The other son AB Razeel, is younger but had not had progeny as far as I know. The five daughters of the LD Rubic are MSF Rubie, Bint Rubic CHF, MSF Shamis, AB Dafiinah, and Belladonna CHF. MSF Rubie is a problem breeder, and has not had a foal in a long time; her current owner believes her to be a hermaphrodite (even though she has had one foal in her life). Bint Rubic CHF has registration papers problems, which we trying hard to solve … in addition to locating her. She has had no replacement to date. MSF Shamis, who is dead, had a son, AEP Kamar, now a stallion at Monica Respets’. AB Dafiinah is with Linda Uhrich but has not had a foal yet. Belladonna CHF (Audobon x LD Rubic), now dead, is the main progenitor of this family. She has had three fillies and two colts, for her owner Randall Harris (no relation to Albert Harris above). One filly, Jadah Nufoud, died young. The other two, Jadah Necessity and Jadah BelloftheBall, are still alive, and I will hopefully be able to report on them soon. They, as well as AB Dafiinah, are the only remaining hope for this strain, yet none has produced a filly yet. The two sons of Belladonna, both special, especially the black one, are still with their breeders, Randall and Mary Sue Harris.

Most of the horses mentioned above (except MSF Shamis, and AB Dafiinah and AB Razeel) have the particularity of having no Blunt/Crabbet bloodlines, which makes them an outcross to the vast majority of Arabian horses alive today. Back in 2001, when I was 23 and still a newcomer to the universe of Arabian horse breeding in the USA, I saw Belladonna at Randall’s and I offered him a good price  for her. She was the first mare I wanted to  own in this country. Randall either did not take me seriously or did not want to sell her, and nothing happened. I regret not having insisted more. When you see the photo below (courtesy of Jeanne Craver), you will understand why.

This stallion is still going at 31 years old. A direct son of mare Sahanad (Abu Hanad x Sahabet by Tanatra), a Saqlawiyat al-’Abd tracing to the desert-bred *Wadduda, and sired by the Egyptian sire Khemahr Moniet (Khemahr x Khe Miss Moniet by Ibn Moniet El Nefous), he is a foundation sire for the Sahanad Preservation Group that was built around that mare.

A handsome horse of old Blunt lines, the 1929 Ma’naqi Sbayli stallion Farana (Nasik x Farasin by Rasim) stood at the Kellogg Ranch in California. He was a popular sire, but is barely represented in modern asil breeding today. I know Rebecca Quick has a line to him through the 1944 Kuhaylat Rodan mare Suebe (Feyd by Farana, x Gisela by Akil x Shemseh by Nasik x Rifla by Rasim), who was double Nasik. There is also a line to him through Milanne (Feyd x Kishta by Akil). The line still goes in tail female, through Milanne who also goes back to Ferida, but I feel it’s lost its type as a result of being diluted in an ocean of Egyptian blood.

I feel that the Blunts could have made a better use of this Ma’naqi Sbayli line to Ferida while the line was still at Crabbet and before to migrated to the US. If I am not mistaken, the first stallion from this line at Crabbet was Faris (Nureddin II x Fejr).

The other day I was look at the remaining asil lines to the legendary stallion Hanad in the United States. I came across his lines through the mare Schiba (Hanad x Shilan by Antez), who was one of the foundation mares for the Krausnick’s Shar Char Farms. The line produced well for the Krausnicks (Mistlany, Shar Hiba, Shar Moliah and Char Mist come to mind), but has become very thin today, especially in the tail female. Then I remembered that at least two mares from this line were exported to Germany and become the foundations for Dr. Walter Olms’ Hamasa Stud: Shar Duda (Negem x Shar Hiba by Fa Turf) and Shar Zarqa (Negem x Shar Turfa by Fa Turf), who is below.

The same day, Monique from the Netherlands sent me a message asking me to highlight the stallion Maamoon Tarik (Maamoon Ibn Gazala x Hamasa Tulayha by Tufail) who is from the line. He has two lines to the two mars from Schiba that were exported from the USA to Germany, including one in the tail female, but also a line to Faziza (Fa Turf x Azyya by Kenur), who also came from the Krausnicks to Germany, and graces Dr. Klynstra’s book “Nobility of the Desert” with her photo. She was the dama of the typey stallion Tufail, by Kaisoon (below), bred by Dr. Olms.

Most interestingly, the striking Maamoon Tarik (two photos below), whose color is a fiery shade of brown, carries a close line to Gazala, a desert-bred mare with lines to the Shammar of Hail, imported to Germany by a doctor who had worked in Saudi Arabia. I had featured Gazala here a couple years ago, but I had never come across her grandson before. I am not sure if the photo in Allbreedpegidree.com is his (looks like the background of the Egyptian Albadeia Stud), but the photos below are striking enough.

My young daughter on Cinnabar Myst (ASF David x Mystalla), a Kuhaylat Krush tracing to *Werdi and many other old lines, two weeks ago.

The Al Khamsa Preservation Task Force has put together a “Code Red” list of the most endangered Al Khamsa bloodlines, which consists of those Foundation Horses (that is, desert-bred imports) that have less than 100 descendants alive today. Here is the link.

By order of scarcity — and hence, emergency — these are those that count less than 20 Al Khamsa descendants alive today:

1. *Al Mashoor

1. *Euphrates

1. *Mlolshaan Hajar Solomon

4. *La Tisa, *Mahsuda, and *Mohalhil

5. *Layya

6. The Babolna/Weil horses

7. *Samirah

8. Kesia I, Kesia II and Mameluke

9. *Bedowiya Al Hamdani and Walid El Seglawi

10. *Azra

Jenny Krieg is leading the preservation of the first three (with Cathy Fye on *Mlolshaan) and #5 (also with Michelle Tennyson); The 4 left from #4 are with Candace Callegari; the #6 with Marilyn McHallam in Canada; the #7 between Stephanie Theinert and the Institute for the Desert Arabian Horse; the #9 are with Edie Booth; and I am handling #8 and #10, with some of the latter also with Elizabeth Ford Pade, that other quiet hero. Note that one horse can combine several of these extremely rare lines. For instance, the first two are found in a single mare alive today, and all the #7 also have lines to #8 as well (but not visa versa).

The overall situation is still very dire, but better than last year, with several efforts currently underway to get the few remaining descendants of these Foundation Horses bred.

I should have added another Foundation Horse to the list, *Lebnaniah, but the line is probably extinct by now.

Don’t you just love the tail carriage on that horse? HR Judaan (Fadaan x Jusera by Julyan) is 50% Julyan (Julep x Bint Maaroufa) and as such carries two close lines to Gulastra (Astraled x Gulnare) and a total of 10 lines to Astraled.

See how reminiscent that is of his double great grandsire Julep (Gulastra x Aziza).

A lady from Illinois recently sent me these snapshots of Wilbur Coates Ma’naqi Sbayli stallion Dakhala Sabiq (Prince Hal x Sirrulya by HJulyan), bred by Jeanne Craver. They were taken at a local show in Illinois. I now own Sabiq’s niece, Dakhala Sahra, by Plantagenet out of Soiree by Sir x Sirrulya.

I must say that this specific type of Arabian horse strikes a strong cord with me, because it’s reminiscent of the horses of my childhood, the ones I learned to ride on. The horse riding clubs around Beirut were full of former racehorses that hailed from Syria, had moderate or no success on the racetrack — which by then was dominated by the part-bred Arabs from Iraq. so the asils had no chance of winning — and ended their careers as children mounts.

Each club appeared to have its own old grey Arabian horse, a dream-like individual of regal type, worthy of Cindarella’s carriage that was the favorite of all the children. In East Beirut during the civil war (1975-1990), it was Sultan, on whom I learned to ride ( I will try to dig up a photo); in West Beirut after the war (1991-2000) it was Burhan, on whom I had my first jumping competitions; in Aleppo it was Mabruk. They were of perfect temperament and conformation, impossible to fault, and I had always wondered, without ever daring to ask my father, why these superior horses were not breeding stallions everybody rushed to breed from, and what they were doing in these god-forsaken riding clubs. The naive pre-teenager I was assumed that that they somehow deserved to be where they were, because they had defects I couldn’t see, or because their origins were unknown. I tried hard to identify these defects. Sometimes I would ask about their origins and the groom would give me their strains and previous owners. I didn’t know what to make of all this. It was only as I grew up that I realized that some horses are simply unlucky, and that people don’t always choose the best horse, or the purest, or the most authentic to become a stallion. Recently, I had a flashback of these thoughts when I saw the 25 year old stallion Medici (Florentine x HB Wadduda by Mariner) at Shirley Jacobsen’s in West Viriginia. He had spent all his career at the circus without ever having a foal, and I thought he worthy of being a well-used stallion.

The stallion Dakhala Sabiq in these amateur pictures reminds me a lot of these horses of my childhood. It’s that gentle look in the eyes (“come on, let me take you on a ride”), that dark skin around the eyes, that straight yet handsome profile, these long eyelashes and mobile eyes, large sockets, huge cheekbones, silky skin, straight legs, balanced conformation, tail set high in the air even when walking, upright carriage, and overall look of a “big small horse” that never tires, and patiently tolerates all your newbie mistakes.

Chapter IV: “Visit to the Sabaah”, Gleanings from the Desert of Arabia, 1881.

My friend Jenny Krieg has suggested the Kuhaylan Hayfi stallion Port Angeles CF (Portico x Aureole CF) as a horse I might want to consider breeding from in the spring. He is a brother of Porte CF from his sire, and a brother of Aurene CF from his dam. Here is a photo, gleaned off the website of his owner Randall Abler, at Eden Arabian Farms in Georgia.

It’s that exciting time of the year when one starts to make plans for breeding the mares, before budget constrains kick in.. and this year there are many more mares at the virtual Aldahdah stud.. So here’s the wish list:

– K. Haifi: Javera Chelsea to Triermain CF, the next best alternative to full brother/sister mating since Javera Thadrian, Triermain’s sire and Chelsea’s brother, died.

– Ma’naqi Sbayli: Dakhala Sahra also to Triermain CF, so as not to add any new bloodlines into this line, and change the existing type (Sahra is by Plantagenet, out of a Sir daughter). Her own son Rahim Regency WAF (by Regency CF) would have been nice, but it looks difficult to pull through, given her age (27). Both matings by embryo transfer.

– K. Haifi: Wisteria CF: many options possible: Porte CF (Portico x Recherche), Aurene CF (a half brother and close relative, by Triermain CF x Aureole CF) within the strain, in addition to her own sire Triermain, like last year, because I was pleased with the outcome; Mi Majest Prince (Fair Sir x Fairy Princess, 50% Tripoli) would also be nice, if he were set to ship from; outside the strain, the list is endless: Monologue CF, Firebolt CF, Clarion CF, etc.

– Saqlawi al-’Abd: Jadiba: ditto: Porte CF, Aurene CF, Presto CF (Ibn Alamein x Pretty Fancy) or perhaps Monologue CF (Riposte CF x Soliloquy CF). She is currently in foal to Vice Regent CF. Ideally, this mare would go to a Davenport/Blunt stallion but there are none around; the 1971 stallion Ibn Tirf (Sutan x Shillala by Gulson) was the last one, so I am set to recreate that cross, once a staple of American Arabian breeding.

– K. Krush: Bint Al Barra: a Core Haifi, probably Aurene CF, or a Core Kurush stallion, or a mix of both, so as not to add any new lines; she already has Hanad, Poka, Harara, Babe Azab, Letan, Hasiker, and all the other building blocks of modern Davenport pedigrees in the back on her own pedigree.

– K. Krush: Cinnabar Myst: ditto, as she is a full sister of the above. Perhaps these two can be serviced by the same semen shipment.

I have never thought about it in these terms before pulling this list together, and it may seem obvious to some of you, but I am coming to realize how much of my plans to contribute to the revival of old American asil Arabian horse breeding (think Kellogg and Maynesboro) revolve around Davenport Kuhaylan Haifi stallions. They are the least common denominator to all the other existing old American asil bloodlines.

The other, smaller discovery, is my realization — just as I write this — of the relevance of the lines to the Davenport Jilfan Sattam al-Bulad import *El Bulad in old asil pedigrees, outside the “straight Davenports”; he is present in the pedigrees of three of the mares now with me: Jadiba, where he comes in twice through Dahura (*El Bulad x Nanshan), and the two Krush full sisters, where he appears through Fartak (*El Bulad x *Farha). Not sure what I should be doing with this realization. Nothing, perhaps.

Two photos of the Tiaret bred mare Malika, a Jilfat al-Dhawi, b. 1949, by Masbout d.b., out of Themis, by Bango d.b., out of Abaka by Ghazi d.b. The grand-dam of the stallion Jahir discussed below.

Teymur from Germany sent me these photos of the very correct and well balanced stallion Akman, an Arabian horse of Turkish breeding. I know close to nothing about the pedigree, except that that the tail female mare, Matra, a bay 1927 Ma’naqiyah came to Turkey from the Bagdad area in 1931, and was bred by a certain Husayn al-Ali (of which there are a million people with the same name in Iraq). Here is a link to his pedigree. Thanks Teymur.