Preservation emergencies in North America
I have drawn a list of 5 asil mares in the USA, which if lost, would represent a huge loss of diversity in the asil Arabian horse in the USA. None have been replaced so far, and four out of five are old mares. Many of them have been mentioned on the website before. In order of decreasing preservation priority, they are:
1. Sarita Bint Raj (Rajmoniet RSI x Nejd Sahra Nisan by *Faleh), unregistered, 12 years old, last extant asil link to the imported stallions *Al-Mashoor and *Euphrates, one of the last asil links to the legendary *Mirage. Tail female to the Blunt mare Basilisk (but not through Pritzlaff’s Rabanna), a Saqlawiyah Jidraniyah. In California now, with a preservation breeder but not being bred.
2. Princess Asjah (Asjah Ibn Faleh who is by *Faleh x Cardinelle by *Saba El Zahraa), 20 years old, last asil tail female line to the Blunt mare Rosemary (Jeroboam x Rodania), through Rayyim from the Fred Glass program of the 1930s and 1940s. A Kuhaylah Rodaniyah, now in Kentucky, owned by a lady who takes good care of her but does not breed her.
3. Halley (Audobon x Peta by Lysander), 25 year old, one of three last mares from King Ibn Saud’s *Samirah tail female, and the only one not in a preservation program. A Hamdaniyah Simriyah, now in Missouri, and a favorite riding horse for her owner’s children.
4. Cinnabar Myst (ASF David x Mystalla by San Luis Jacob), 18 year old, one of five last asil horses (inlcuding a sister, below), to carry a line to both the desert bred *Kesia of Captain Upton, and to *Mameluke, through the famous 1927 stallion Gharis (Abu Zeyd x Guemura by Segario). A Kuhaylat al-Krush from the otherwise extremely thin line tail female to Davenport’s *Werdi through *Werdi’s grand-daughter Kapiti. Now in Canada with a preservation breeder, who has not bred her.
5. Bint al-Barra (ASF David x Mystalla), 19 year old, full sister of the above. With the same owner, who has not bred her.
If 1) cannot be registered, then she might as well be counted lost already. It will not, after all, get *easier* to register her offspring down the line.
My response to the news that asil Arabian registrations are down by 50% between 2009 and 2010 is “well, 50% of breeders are smart.” Not that this is desirable in the long term, but breeding horses with no market that you can’t afford to keep yourself is just as undesirable, and the results come faster and closer to home.
Seems to me what’s needed is people to step up and say they want foals from these mares (by complementary stallions). If the present owners have all the horses they want, and there’s no place for offspring to go, why go to the trouble of breeding?
that’s a very pragmatic approach and one I am increasingly getting to agree with. Foals made to order from specific bloodlines essentially… and the rest can wait for the market to recover.
So how do you find out how to do this? Get foals from some of these horses. It would be necessary to go and look at them and then try to line up a stallion or two that would fit their phenotype. Plus I’ve had in mind a certain Davenport Haify- Krush blend stallion for some time now to be used as a good rejuvenator..
Best Wishes
Bruce Peek
I think a lot of people here would very interested in hearing more about the physical attributes you have for this rejuvenator. Can you tell us more?
Well lets see his cannons were 7 and 5/8ths and he weight taped at 875.. This was years ago now. Beleive the weight is less nowadays but the legs still have that Davenport substance. And of course his disposition always has been good. Mandarins coupling is very good indeed. Need to get ahold of Marge and find out whats doing with those folks now that some of my work issues seem to be resolving themselves. The thing is he’s getting some age on him now too.
Further confirmation points -Mandarin is certainly a three circle horse. Need to check out his pedigree some more, but I suspect most of the Haify stallions bred by the Cravers are going to nick quite well with several of the Asil families.
Best Wishes
Bruce Peek
So are these owners interested in selling them or ? Just curious. Thanks
They might be, Martha. It never hurts to try. I would if I were you.
Cinnabar Myst and Bint al-Barra were listed in a Khamsat issue from last year as being for sale…
Bruce, Mandarin CF was recently euthanized (2011).