Photo of the day: Almohada, black Hamdaniyah Simriyah in the USA
I just saw this nice photo of Michael Bowlings’ black mare Almohada, a Hamdaniyah Simriyah of ‘Davenport’ bloodlines. I don’t know where the black gene in ‘Davenport’ horses comes from, but I will make I ask Michael next time I talk . Ambar Diaz tells me this mare has a really nice 2009 colt.
I wondered whether you knew Michael. I love his Davenport and old English stock. One day I will buy a horse from him…
Letan, Hasiker, and Hanad all had black offspring.
It’s just an educated guess, but I think this black gene must have come from a strain from the Shammar, and most likely from the Hamdani Simri marbat of Ibn Ghurab, from which both Jedah (dam of Letan) and the “Great Hamdani”, grandsire of Hasiker and Hanad. May of the today’s Ibn Ghurab horses still carry that gene.
The black gene is easy to figure, there are a lot of bay horses in this group, many have 2 agouti genes but some have only 1, Aa means that a small percent of foals, under 25% will be black rather than bay. There are chestnuts who are AA that can never produce a black as well since it’s the agouti gene that limits the black on a black horse to only the mane, tail and legs. Testing is the only sure way to know if a bay or chestnut can produce a black. Blacks are “aa” so they have none to give a foal so any black to black breeding will only produce black with a miniscule chance for chestnut with “aa” if either parent is not EE (homozygous for the black)