Small number of tail female lines at Ali Pasha Sharif post 1875 disease
This morning I was reflecting on the number of tail females left at the Stud of Ali Pasha Sharif after the plague which ravaged his stud around 1875, until his death in 1897. It is surprisingly small:
1) Ghazieh line (Saqlawi Jadran ibn Sudan); mares: Horra, Helwa, Bint Helwa, Johara, Bint Horra, Yemameh (dam of Mesaoud); stallions: Wazir, Amir (Aziz x Horra) offered for sale to Blunts but declined; young stock: Ghazala, Mesaoud, Ibn Johara, Ibn Helwa, Ibn Yemameh Sr, Ghazieh, etc.
2) Nura line (Dahman Najib); mares: Bint Nura Esh-Shakra, various Bint Nura mares (a brown, a bay and a white); stallions: Ibn Nura; Ibn Bint Nura El Hamra (offered for sale to the Blunts March 5 1891 but declined); young stock: (ibn) Mahruss; Abu Khasheb; Kaukab
3) Faras Naqadan line (Dahman Shahwan); mares: Bint ‘Azz (went to Amato the dealer), Mumtaza, Bint Mumtaza (Badiaa); stallions: Aziz, Azz (Aziz x Mumtaza) offered to the Blunt who delined, Nasrat; young stock: Bint Bint Azz; Sahab;
4) Arussa line (Kuhaylan Nawwaq); mares: Noma, Bint Arussa (Harkan x Arussa);
5) Jellabiet Feysul line (Kuhaylan Jallabi); mares: Bint Bint Jellabiet Feysul; Makbula; El Argaa; Yamama; young stock: Khatila; (Bint) Makbula; Kasida; Manokta; Jellabieh; Merzuk; Yatima (the orphan, missed getting); Kasida’s brother at Moharrem Pasha’s, Feysul, etc.
6) Samha line (Saqlawi Jadran ibn Sbeyni); mares: Bint Fereyha; Bint Jamila; Fulana; Fasiha; stallions: … ; young stock: Bint Bint Jamila; Aziza; Jamil; etc.
7) Zarifa line (Saqlawi Jadran Semni); stallions: Ibn Zarifa Sr (Aziz x Zarifa); young stock: Ibn Zarifa Jr. [perhaps same line as Samha line, perhaps different]
8) Faras Bandar ibn Saadun (Wadnan Khursan); stallions: Mahruss (Wazir x Mahrussa); mares: Bint Mahrussa (non asil); young stock: Bint Bint Mahrussa (non asil);
9) Faras ibn Khalifeh (Dahman Shahwan); stallions: Shahwan (Wazir x mare of Muhammad Sadyk Pasha); [perhaps same line as number 3, perhaps different]
10) Selma line (Hamdani Simri); mares: Sobha; Safra; young stock: Ibn Safra; Antar; Sherif;
11) Roga El Beda line (Saqlawi Jadran): mares: Roga (at Ahmed Pasha); [perhaps same line as #6 or #7, perhaps different, no way to check]
12) Sabha El Zarka line (Saqlawi Jadran): mares: Sabha (at Ahmed Pasha) [perhaps same line as #6 or #7 or #12, perhaps different, no way to check]
Given this small number, it would seem possible that the Dahmah Shahwan mare presented by Ali Pasha Sherif to the Khedive Abbas Hilmi (or more correctly, to his father Khedive Tewfik) is from the line of Faras Naqadan/’Azz/Mumtaza. Too bad the line died out and we can’t test this hypothesis with mtDNA analysis.
In bold horses bought by the Blunts (non-exhaustive list).
I have three mares and some foals out of the strain: Seglawieh Jedraniewh of Ibn Sudan ( Bin Helwa) Perhaps it is spelled a bit differently other places. I was wondering if you can tell me a bit more about the history of this strain or if you know of any links with information.
I also have another mare of the strain Keheilet Dajani ( Dajani oa 1876) If you know of anything regarding this strain I would be grateful to know.
I find the original desert horses very interesting, and if there is anything I can do in my breeding to help to preserve those, I would be happy to do so.
Thank you for your help.
Warm regards
Merete
I have a question about Mahrussa, which has been niggling for the last few days, and stumbling across this list makes me wonder some more. How many Mahrussas were there in Ali Pasha Sherif’s stud?
I ask this because of a reference in the GSB Vol. 15 p. 597 to a mare called Aida, described as follows: “A Bay Mare (foaled in 1873), got by Vizier, out of Mahroussa, bought by Mr Baird from Ali Pacha Sherif. This mare, which is Hamdani breed, is descended from the stud of Abbas Pasha, Viceroy of Egypt.”
Her importer was Mr Alexander Baird of Urie, Scotland. He also imported a stallion, Posta, described as “a chesnut horse, foaled in 1867 or 1868, a pure Arabian, bought by Mr Baird, in Egypt, from General Stanton, C.B., H.B.M., Agent and Consul General in Egypt” (GSB Vol. 14 p. 605). In England, Aida was bred to Posta and produced three named colts, Nadir, Vizier and Hadeed, as well as several fillies, before she was sold, and used for part-bred breeding. Her son Hadeed was bought by Lord Arthur Cecil, who used him mostly for crossing on Highland and Icelandic mares, but who also bred him twice to Kesia II, by whom he sired two fillies Nowagieh and Dabéh.
Going back to Aida and her parents, Vizier, I suspect, is an anglicised version of Wazir, the son of Zobeyni and Ghazieh, who (I believe) was owned by Ali Pasha Sherif at this point. Ali Pasha Sherif also owned Mahrussa, the Wadnah Khursaniyah; Wazir and this Mahrussa produced Mahruss in 1875, who sired in his turn the Blunts’ stallion Mahruss. Which leads me to speculate that the Mahroussa who is the dam of Aida is this same Mahrussa, and that the strain Hamdani in the GSB is an anglophone substitution for the rarer Khursaniyah, which would make Aida a full sister to the first Mahruss.
But this then leads back to the initial question, did Ali Pasha Sherif have two mares called Mahrussa in his stable at the same time, one the dam of Mahruss, the other the dam of Aida? What information do we have on his horses in the 1870s?
Hi Kate, I just saw this post. You raise excellent points. I remember seeing this mare in the GSB and asking myself the same question about her relation to the Wadna mare Mahrussa. Like you I really doubt APS would have given two mares with different strains the same name at the same time. We’re left with your assumption that the owner or someone else opted for a more familiar strain.
In that case, it is a real pity that Aida’s daughters were unregistered and that even Hadeed’s bloodline seems to have died out, as I can find no reference to Dabéh having foals, while Nowagieh had two sons, one of which (Jingu/Jinghu) was exported to Jamaica, as was Nowagieh herself. Moira did find a photo of Jingu in Jamaica, though, which shows a very solid horse with substantial bone and really quite big feet.
Photo of Jingu
Photo of accompanying pedigree