Wujra Al Arab

On July 27 — my birthday — Wadha foaled a chestnut filly, sired through artificial insemination by the Bahraini stallion of Jenny Lees, Shuwaiman Al Rais (photo below). Further news about this loooong-awaited filly will be shared once she is out of the woods (i.e., the U Penn vet hospital in New Bolton, PA), so no photos just yet. In keeping with the W line back to her granddam Wisteria CF and her great-granddam HB Wadduda, I named her Wujra — which in Arabic means “the one fed or medicated by mouth”. She will pull through.

Monologue CF, at 21

The horse I enjoyed seeing the most yesterday was Monologue CF. He has never looked better since Darlene Summers and I acquired him from Pamela Klein in 2011 [I think 2011, I have been getting all mixed up with dates lately]. You can click on the photos to enlarge them. His eye was shining and so was his coat, despite the dusty winter coat, and his gorgeous neck crest is back. It is hard to imagine a broader forehead, a larger eye, a deeper jowl and more balance in any horse. He is a model of balance, harmony and proportions. I will have him bred to Barakah next spring. I wish Davenport breeders used him more, and I wish I had more mares for him.  

Jadaan at the Valentino memorial

This beautiful photo of the Saqlawi Al-‘Abd stallion Jadaan (Abbeian x Amran) in older age standing by the memorial dedicated to early Hollyoowd star Rudolph Valentino was posted by Andrea Kaiser on Facebook and relayed by the Davenport Arabian Horse Conversancy. Jadaan is represented in a small number of Arabian horses of Davenport lines, especially those from the Krushan strain Fun fact: the term “latin lover” was apparently first coined for Valentino

Muddy yet magnificient Wadhah

Wadhah is now 11, and looks truly magnificent. She is in foal to Monologue CF, and due in mid-May for her first foal. She really looks like the Thadrian daughter that she is. She has fully transitioned from the zarqa (darker, blue-grey) to the safra (light grey, almost white, with yellowish mane and tail) shade of grey. That’s when you wish you had brushed her before the photoshoot.

Stating the obvious

I am about to state the obvious about horses that combine different, well-established bloodlines: sometimes they look like horses of one bloodline, and sometimes like horses of the other bloodline, depending on the angle, the stage of growth, the light, etc. Jamr, who is roughly half Davenport, half Doyle (i.e., Blunt), sometimes reminds of me his sire Vice Regent CF, like in the picture below; at other times, he reminds me of his paternal grandsire Regency CF (but he’s not nearly as good); and yet at other times, he looks like his material grandsire Dib, a Crabbet/Doyle horse. Vice Regent has a longer neck; his son has a better coupling, and longer hip (at least in this picture of Vice Regent, I have never seen him in real life). Both are smooth-bodied. The heads also look the same, with the small muzzle and the deep jowls. Vice-Regent’s eye is larger, but I think it’s because the muscles around the eyes, including those of the eyelids, are stronger and more dense in Doyle horses than in Davenports.  

Monologue CF two years later

Monologue CF still looks his same old self at 20. If anything his eyes look even more bulging with age. I like the balance on this horse so much, and I wish he was used more. Wadha is in foal to him. I think I will breed him to Barakah next. Because of his high percentage *Wadduda blood (18.8%) he is being used by other Al Khamsa breeders on their *Wadduda tail female mares through Sahanad.

Barakah yesterday after two years

I was pleased to see how my 2016 mare Barakah Al Arab (Wadd Al Arab x Jadah BellOfTheBall) had developed over the past two and a half years. I left her a gangly two year old, and she has filled up since. She certainly has some more growing to do. Wadd improved the shoulder angle and the length of the shoulder, added much needed depth of girth and breadth of ribcage; he left the head pretty much the same as her mother’s, except for adding more distance between the eyes, the ears are as long and prickled as her mother’s. On the other hand, Belle’s beautiful level croup and highly set tail are gone; instead Barakah inherited Wadd’s slightly sloping croup and the short hip which is a legacy his dam Wisteria. When going you don’t notice it as much. I did not pay as much attention to her feet as I should have. Overall, Barakah is an improvement over Belle, without having lost her “desert” look. By the way, I feel breeders needs to be as openly candid about their horses as they can, if they want to improve on them in the long term, especially if they do…

Climate and terrain variation in the USA and its impact on horses

The dry, arid climate and terrain of the South Western USA are much closer to that of the steppes of Arabia than the wetter climate and more lush pastures of, say, the mid-Atlantic region or the plains of the Midwest. I have observed that these drier conditions are resulting in Arabian horses that look much closer to the horses raised in Syria and Arabia, and to those raised in Namibia and the drier parts of South Africa. Drier skin, stronger, more solid bone, more visible tendons, and something different in the way the eyes shine that I cannot describe. This observation is a central tenet of the writings of French master breeder Robert Mauvy, based on his empirical observations. I would like to read any scientific papers on the climate and terrain impact on horse phenotypes, if anyone knows of any. The mare below, Roxana Star (Personic LF x Jauhar Al Khala by Sportin Life), a Kuhaylah Hayfiyah of Davenport bloodlines born in 2005, illustrates this observation. She is in the Southwestern USA, with Christine Emmert. Photos by Christine.

Ajman, Hamdani Simri of mainly Saudi lineages in Ireland

Jens Sannek sent me these three photos of a stallion of his breeding in Europe. The bloodlines lines are absolutely unique in Europe. Ajman (Maamoun Tarik x Bint Aja by Mirath x Aja by El Haml) is a 1996 liver chestnut of the Hamdani Simri strain that traces to the *Halwaaji, a mare of Saud stock imported to the USA. His dam Bint Aja was bred by Lee Oellerich in Canada in 1980 and imported to Europe. Lots of old Saudi blood up close in that pedigree: *Al Hamdaniah, *Turfa, *Muhaira, *Nufoud, *Taamri, *Rudann and *Halwaaji. The sire of Ajman, Maamoon Tarik, carries even unique and interesting bloodlines. He is of predominantly Olms lineage, which means that on top of the EAO and Babson Egyptian blood (Kaisoon, Farag, Negem) he carries additional Saudi lines to *Sunshine, *Nufoud, and *Tairah through mares of Krausnick breeding imported from the USA to Germany, as well as a hint of Davenport through Shiba (Hanad x Schilan). The cherry on the cake of this pedigree tapestry is the line to Gazala, a 1967 desert-bred mare of Shammar breeding imported from Hail, Saudi Arabia to Germany in 1971. Jens, who also bred Ajman’s sister Ajibah by Wahhabit,…

Little Bassma

A quick snapshot of little Bassma from two weeks ago. She is unfolding slowly. I will be back in the USA in July and will take good pictures. I just love the combination of bloodlines this filly brings. A Saudi tail female to *Nufoud with a cross to *Turfa in the bottom, a female line to *Wadduda on her sire’s side, plenty of Davenport blood all over (11/16), and a dose of Doyle lines (3.5/16) for good measure. So proud to have been able to continue this wonderful *Nufoud line, walking in the footsteps of the late Carol Lyons.

Jabinta, 1969 Saqlawiyat al-‘Abd

Lyman Doyle sent me these scanned photos of grand mare Jabinta (Jadib x Bint Malakah by Subani), a 1969 Saqlawiyat al-‘Abd tracing to Homer Davenport’s *Wadduda. She has my Jadiba (by Dib) at her side. Jadiba and Jabinta are the kind of mares that should have produced ten foals not one, and certainly not by the same stallion. As my father would say: “Ya hayk faras ya bala!“, or “Either a mare like that, or none at all!”

Inaam Al Krush, a Monologue son

It is that time of the year in the USA, where the weather is nice, the grass green, and the cameras out. Kim Davis, who has a talent for taking good photos, recently took these of the 2011 bay Krushan stallion Inaam Al Krush (Monologue CF x HH Noura Krush). At ten years old, he is in his prime. Monologue has another Krush offspring of Davenport lines on the way, from Laura Fitz’s mare HH Karisma Krush.

Davenport/Doyle crosses at the Doyle Farm

The first crop of Davenport/Doyle crosses has arrived at the Doyle farm. It is absolutely first class. En Pointe CF (Triermain CF x Pirouette CF by Javera Thadrian) produced a superb, very well-balanced filly Chatham DE (second from top), and her daughter Andorra DL (Dubloon CF x En Pointe CF) produced an excellent colt by Tamaam DE (first from top). Photos by Lyman Doyle. Lyman correctly points out that the colt’s head looks more like Doyles, while the filly’s head looks more like Davenports.

Announcing Zalfa Al Arab, 2019 Hadba Enzahi filly

This morning Carrie Slayton announced to me the birth of a filly out of her grand old broodmare RL Zahra Assahra (Portent x Antezzah by Grand Pass). She is to be named Zalfa, with the suffix Al Arab. Zalfa means “the one who draws near” in Arabic. That’s because she came from so far away, and just about everything about her was far fetched. I am so excited about her. Notice the low set eye, the deep girth, the far-extending withers, the short back and the croup typical of this dam line. I obtained her elderly dam from the late Marilyn McHallam, at her farm dispersal, and had her brought from Canada to California. First to Northern California, where she was bred to Michael Bowling’s Latitude but did not take. Then to Carrie Slayton’s in Southern California, who first boarded her for me, then asked me if she could have her, and if I would take a filly from her. Carrie bred her to Porte CF (Portico x Recherche), for three close crosses to the grand Portia, and other crosses further back. A colt would have remained Carrie’s, and Carrie will get, if she wants, the first filly from this filly.…

Monologue CF in Michigan

I am happy to report that Monologue CF (Riposte CF x Soliloquy CF by Regency CF), now 18 years old, has been busy pasture breeding two precious mares at Laura Fitz’s, her HH Karisma Krush and her Mi Blue Angel. Monologue has been doing so much better since going to Michigan with Laura on lease from Darlene Summers and I. As a youngster he was just gorgeous, below at Jackson Hensley’s in New Mexico.

Damascus SF, 2006 Davenport stallion

Damascus SF (Memoir UF x Neroli CF by Regency CF) is a very smooth stallion of Davenport lines, bred and owned by Aida Schreiber in New Hamsphire. Through a close cross to Bint Ralf, he has a rare line to the Davenport desert-bred import *Farha, and most probably, the last line to *Haleb in Davenports, too. I loved that crested, muscular neck.

The King is dead, long live the King!

This morning I woke up to a message from Jeanne Craver to the Davenport Owners list serve on Google Groups that Triermain CF had died the night before. Her message, titled “Another end to another era”, was: I went to feed about 30 minutes ago, and Triermain was gone. It looks like he strolled out to the water tank and was heading back to the shed and just dropped. No sign of struggle. He ate his breakfast with his usual gusto, and had seemed well. I am glad he went so quickly. Jeanne The passing of the last senior stallion at Craver Farms indeed marks the end of an era. Triermain was my personal favorite, after his sire Thadrian. He will forever have a special place in my heart. He was just perfect. First photo by Anita Westfall. Second photo from the Craver Farms collection. Of his several sons and successors, Aurene CF (below, photo by owner Hannah Logan) is, in my opinion, the new king. Long live the king! In homage to Triermain, a quote from the poem of Walter Scott “the Bridal of Triermain” after which Charles Craver named him, because only him was worthy of Plantagenet daughters:…

A new mare

A new mare has joined my preservation herd of old American Arabian bloodlines. In what is by now a long-standing Edouard practice, she is 23 years old.. She is a Kuhaylat al-Krush tracing back to *Werdi. Her name is Nuri Al Krush. She was bred by Trish Stockhecke of Ontario, Canada, from the Krush stallion Janub Al Krush out of the Krush mare Mystalla. She carries some of the very last lines to the desert-bred imports *Haleb and *Azra in Al Khamsa. She has produced two outstanding colts before, one for Trish, gelded, and another for Kim Davis in Illinois. This latter one, dead in a freak accident, was the colt of the century in my opinion (photo below). I also owned her two half-sisters, and still own a daughter from one of these sisters, Mayassa. She will be bred to my Jamr al-Arab, to line-breed to Hanad (Tripoli, Sanad, Mainad, Ibn Hanad, Ameer Ali), but also he will complete her physically, with his short back, stronger coupling, and long hip. I am grateful to Laura Fitz for letting me have her.

Wadduda of the “Wild East”

I was patiently waiting for a larger digital copy of this photo, which has just been sent to me by Heritage Auctions to be shared. The photo is of [Left] Buffolo Bill Cody aboard *Muson with [Right] Said Abdallah aboard *Wadduda. It very clearly evokes the grainy image from the Annotated Quest that I have always seen labeled something along the lines of “Wild East meets the Wild West.”

Zubaida Assahara, 2010 Hadba Enzahi mare

I spent part of the weekend at Hazaim’s house and small farm in North Carolina, and got to see his five Davenports, four Kuhaylan Haifis and a Hadba Enzahi. The best part was a trail ride around the subdivision, him on Gilad Ibn Dubloon and me on Una CF. Below are two photos of his 2010 Hadba Enzahi mare, Zubaida Assahara (RL Thunder Cloud x RL Angel Girl by Letarnard), with 4 lines to *Hadba. She was in many ways my favorite, despite being the smallest of the lot. A war mare, built like a tank, with a broad chest, a deep girth and a broad, round rib cage, exuding stamina and power, with a pleasing and dry head, a big eye and prominent eye socket, a dry bony face, an elegant arched throat, hair fine like silk, a shiny copper coat, overall not without style, and so reminiscent of the small and valiant desert horses of my childhood in Syria.  

Aurene CF and the survival of old desert Arabian type

The photos Hannah Logan posted on her Facebook page made my day this morning. Hannah is a new breeder who acquired several horses from Marilyn McHallam’s herd in British Columbia, and they seem to be thriving. I was particularly pleased to see this nice photo of the 2004 Kuhaylan Haifi Davenport stallion Aurene CF (Triermain CF x Aureole CF by Fair Sir) after all these years; I had seen him at Craver Farms as a two year old in 2006 — I had mentioned the possibility of exporting a Davenport stallion to Syria, and Charles Craver suggested Aurene. Charles thought highly of him. I saw Aurene again at Pamela Klein’s in Southern Virginia in 2010 (I think) and liked him even better. In 2012, Pamela drove Aurene up to Pennsylvania for breeding to one of my older mares, Bint al-Barra. She took, but then absorbed the pregnancy. Five things amateurs of the old type of Arabian horses would like in this photo of Aurene: first, the long forelocks, a sign of asalah — authenticity, and a favorite feature of the Prophet Muhammad; second, the prominent facial bones between the eyes and the muzzle that make the face look so dry, another sign of asalah; third,…

Goodbye Wadd

Wadd left to Oregon last week. He will live with Jessica Heinrick in the High Desert, not far from the Malheur wildlife refuge, and he will be ridden regularly. I retain breeding rights. Jessie has been sending me casual photos of him on the way, and should be picking him up today. It’s sad to see him go, but he leaves behind a promising filly, Barakah (from a rare Kuhaylat al-‘Ajuz line from Najd), and he covered Thalia (a Kuhaylah Hayfiyah like him) right before leaving. I also keep his precious sister Wadha, which I also bred. The filly, a year old in June, inherits his strong, straight short back and his extra deep girth (first picture), both improvements over her dam. She also has his big eye, his long, highly set neck (second picture), and his silk-like skin.  

Laura’s Major WA

This is a photo of the 2004 Hamdani stallion Laura’s Major WA, a horse of Davenport bloodlines. A closely bred stallion by Sergeant Major CF out of Miss Laura SHF by Mimic out of Kestrel by Saluation out of Trill by Tripoli. I saw this stallion last summer at the farm of Dawn Woods in Parker, CO. He was  bred by Mary Gills from horses tracing to the program of Fred Mimmack. Fred was asking me about this horse, and at the time I did not appreciate enough the combination of power and refinement he exudes. The muzzle is small, the eye placement low, and the eye big and expressive.

Probable Origin of the Hadban strain of the Jarba — Shammar

From the Abbas Pasha Manuscript — that bottomless treasure — page 546: “and we mated her a second time to the Hadban horse of Saffuq al Jarba, and he is of the horses of al Jaless of al Kawakibah” Elsewhere in the Manuscript it is recorded that the stud/marbat of Hadban Enzahi of the al-Kawakibah section of the Ruwalah belonged to Nahi al-Mushayteeb of al-Kawakibah, and that it was an old stud. Al-Mushayteeb obtained them from al-Nazahi of the ancient Bedouin tribe of al-Fudul. That Hadban stallion in the testimony was the great-grandfather of a horse that was three years old in the early 1850s.  This means that in the 1830s or early 1840s at the very least, there was already a branch of the Hadban strain of the Kawakibah with the Jarba leaders of the Shammar, and that one of the horses of this Shammar branch of that Hadban strain was used as a stallion. Saffuq al-Jarba, nicknamed “al-muhazzam”, meaning “Saffuq of the belt” because he was so warlike that he reportedly never left his military gear, died in 1843. This is very consistent with the testimony of the Jarba leaders of the Shammar in the mid 1980s about their prized Hadban strain…

Wadd at five

Wadd, who is now five years old, is maturing into a handsome, masculine stallion in the line of the Kuhaylan Hayfi sires of Craver Farms. He is more reminiscent of his grandsire Javera Thadrian than he is of his sire Triermain CF. Large eyes, broad forehead, prickled ears, bony face, arched neck, curved throat, short back, deep girth, broad chest, sloped shoulder, silky hair, fine skin, solid tendons, short cannon bones, high tail carriage, and good movement. I would have preferred a deeper jowl, a longer hip and a straighter croup, but I can live with that, because when moving the slightly droopy quarter does not show. His daughter has both his many qualities and his few shortcomings.  

Mayassah nearing 3

This is my 2013 Kuhaylat al-Krush filly, Mayassah Al Arab (Clarion CF x Cinnabar Myst by ASF David). Three years old this summer. I am very proud of this filly I bred for several reasons. She embodies my preservation efforts. The antiquity of her bloodlines is an obvious reason: for instance, Abu Zeyd (Mesaoud x Rose Diamond), b. 1904, is just five generations away. For comparison, he is thirteen generations away in a stallion like Marwan Al Shaqab. The extreme rarity of her lines, too: the stallions Gharis (Abu Zeyd x Guemura by Segario), Fartak (*El Bulad x *Farha), Abu Selim (*Azra x Domow), Tabab (*Deyr x Domow), Royal Amber (Ribal x Babe Azab), and Oriental (Letan x Adouba), were all popular stallions in early Arabian breeding in America, with thousands of descendants in general list Arabians, and she is very much the last Al Khamsa horse that traces to them — and pretty closely too. The effort I went through to make that breeding happen is a third reason. I leased, then acquired her dam and her dam’s sister from Trish Stockhecke in Canada. They were 19 and 20 years old, and had never been bred before. The older…

Meet Thalia CF 1992gm, Davenport, A Rehabilitation Project

Meet Thalia CF, a 23yo 100% Davenport mare of very old lines whom Edouard stepped up to give a home to and also hopes to get a foal from in the future. He officially became her owner when I recently picked her up in Virginia and brought her to my place for “rehabilitation”. All Edouard and I knew about the mare aside from her pedigree, before picking her up, was her age and that she’d had laminitis (founder) in the early fall of 2015. We had seen a couple of pictures of her taken by friends who visited the farm where she lived with her then owner. They had noted Thalia, at that time, resting in a laminitic stance. This resting stance is recognized by the front legs being extended out in front of the body to take weight off the toes, and the hind legs camped under the body to support the weight of the body. This was in mid-October 2015. Thalia had recovered from that laminitic episode enough to be safely trailered by the time I picked her up on December 28, 2015. What I saw when she was led out to the trailer, for her trip to…

Enter Flourishes CF

One of the most striking stallions bred at Craver Farms is the 2001 grey Flourishes CF (Lydian x Fragrance by Regency) with Randal Abler and Gail Wells in Georgia. Jeanne Craver, Jenny Krieg and Darlene Summers who saw him on the way back from the Al Khamsa Convention In Floriad were all taken by him. Jeanne even said that he looked like those paintings of the legendary Weil stallion Bairactar. I never saw him but the photos below, by Jeanne and Darlene, are a testimony to that.  

Solenn on Wadha!

The day before yesterday marked a milestone in my breeding career: it was the first time I horse I bred (Wadha in 2010) was ridden by a girl I bred (Solenn in 2012). Solenn was feeling very proud, and it was the first time Wadha was around children, let alone being ridden by someone other than her trainer, Sue. She turned out to be very accepting of young children screaming and running around her. Sue says she will be very reliable as a mount for children.  

Beautiful Jadiba

I am digging into older pictures of Jadiba and reminiscing about how grand a broodmare she is. Too bad I came across her in her later days and that she only produced one foal. By the way, there is something special and attractive about the shape, thickness and setting of the tail in these horses of predominantly Blunt bloodlines. The thickness of the muscle around the tail was a feature the Bedouins of Arabian held in high esteem in their horses. See close up below.

Interested in starting your own preservation program?

If you happen to take good care of your horses, or you if you know that you will take of your first horse, and are interested in starting a new preservation breeding program centered around the esteemed Arabian horse strain of Ma’naqi Sbayli, please contact me: ealdahdah@hotmail.com I have a mare from that strain, 10 months pregnant, and she and/or her foal would be available to the right home to start such a program. Below is a noted in Arabic penned by one of Homer Davenport’s Arab guests during his 1906 trip to North Arabia to buy desert-bred Arabian horses. Part of it — the second paragraph — reads: “There is no better and more authentic strain to be found among the Arabs [Bedouins] than that of the Ma’naqi Sbayli which Mr. Davenport purchased. The Ma’naqi is from the Arab [Bedouins] of Gomussah, from the tribe of the Sba’ah ‘Anazah, and he is from the best strain in their possession; the name of his owner is al-Sbayli.”      

Jamr this afternoon

Jamr will be three years old very soon. He is coming along, but still needs more time, at least two more years to show his full potential. He’s always had nice ears, tipped inwards and slightly backwards at the top, that deep jowl keeps getting deeper, and the eye is showing better. Jamr al Arab is by Vice Regent CF out of Jadiba. He is a Saqlawi al-Abd tracing to *Wadduda, the war mare of Hakim (“Hatchim” in Bedouin dialect) Ibn Mhayd, the leader of the Northern ‘Anazah in 1906 (Nuri Ibn Sha’lan was the head of the southern ‘Anazah then). So far he looks a lot like his maternal grandsire Dib, overall. There is a bit of the Regency CF too.

Wadha this afternoon

So yesterday and today I went up to Pennsylvania to see my horses, and Jeannie Lieb met me there. I learned a lot from Jeannie about proper nutrition and hoof care, and I took hundreds of photos of my horses — with the iPhone unfortunately. Still, many are not that bad. Here are a couple of Wadha. Click on them to enlarge them. Wadha, born in 2010, is by Javera Thadrian out of Wisteria CF, by Triermain CF. They are three of my four favorite Davenport Kuhaylan Hayfis. Wadha is now being trained with the lounge; she has learned to lead, trot and canter, and just had a saddle put on her.