Second Guest Blogger: Joe Ferriss

Today I am pleased to introduce my second guest blogger, Joe Ferriss.  Joe is known to most breeders and enthusiasts of Asil Arabian horses, East and West; he needs no introduction.

Joe’s reputation extends to unlikely places.  In the fall of 2006, I was in the desert near the Syrian-Iraqi border with some friends.  We were gathered around a camp fire on a late afternoon, sipping coffee and talking horses.  Some Bedouins from the neighboring village had joined us, and one of them asked me where I came from. When I mentioned that I had lived in the USA for some time, the Bedouin, who was from the Tai tribe, told me of an American man he had come to meet a few years back: “Ju Faris”.  He said of Joe: “Hada Faris”, which roughly translates into: “Now that’s a horseman”. I thought it was funny that Joe’s last name translated in to the Arabic word for “horseman”.    

Joe and I go back a long time. When we started corresponding in 1994, I was still living in Lebanon, and email had not been invented yet.  We did not meet in person until the year 2000, when Joe visited me at the University of Chicago, and I returned the visit to his home in Quincy, Michigan.  I am thrilled to resume our correspondence on this blog.