Tuwaisan, asil 1955 stallion from Bahrain
The photo and info are from the Khamsat magazine, Volume 6, Number 3, July 1989
A blog on desert arabian horses, past, present and future
The photo and info are from the Khamsat magazine, Volume 6, Number 3, July 1989
I have admired this picture of this horse since I first saw it in 1977. The Amiri Arabian Stud Book of Bahrain states that the Bahraini Tuwaisan strain originated with two mares bred by the Anazah and brought to Bahrain in the early 20th century.
Looking at the stallion chart on page 10, Tuwaisan pictured above was possibly a son of Jellaby Wazmieh, a c.1943 bay used in Shaikh Isa’s stud, sired by Dahman I c.1938 (Mlolshan Speckled x Dahmeh el Shagara).
The information on the two Tuwaisan mares coming from the Anazah is also in Forbis’ article, “Pearls of Great Price”, from the 1960s.
I have always loved this photo, also. Just a perfect photo of a handsome horse.
je le trouve très beau avec une belle arrière main et une très belle épaule.
The 1971 photo booklet The Living Treasures of Bahrain includes another picture of this horse, taken when he was still in Bahrain, and captioned, “Tuwaisan: A treasured racing stallion of Bahrain, was a royal gift to a private stud in South Africa.”
His South African owner stated in the article reprinted in Arabiana that shortly after a trip to see the horses of Bahrain, “I received a cable informing me that His Highness had graciously decided to present me with Tuwaisan, an old retired Arabian racing stallion I had particularly admired. He had raced for 10 years and won over 50 races, but had never been used at stud.” He arrived in South Africa in 1968.
As far as I remember, his descendants in South Africa have done particularly well in endurance.
Two of his sons, Sahiby Shaikh Hamed and Sahiby Rifaa jointly won the South African Endurance National Championship in I think 1975. In the same race a daughter placed 10th. The next year another son, Sahiby Shaikh Sultan won the endurance championship. This all the more remarkable since he only sired 7 foals in his life. We still use his offspring extensively in our stud, although they are very rare. About ten years ago we received another Tuwaisaan stallion as gift from the Amiri Court (as well as a Mlolshaan colt) after we presented as a gift the stallion Saruk Tuwaisan, a great grandson of the original stallion. Our one, Tuwaisaan 406 was a grandson of Jellaby al Wasmiya, sire of 1955 Tuwaisaan. He was imported to South Africa at 19 years old and lived to 30, siring many, many foals. He had no offspring in Bahrain.
Dear Pienaar
I was told that I have the last living male offspring of this sire in my posession. His name is Skaikh Sham Rajah-Tuwai. His Sire was Zabubega Rajah-Tuwai, son of Sahiby Shaikh Hamed.
He is standing on my farm in Namibia. Unfortunately due to circumstances he is not registered as I could not get DNA from his father after his death and although Rajah has been registered, at that time they did not ask for DNA and I did not know that this was necessary when he died. You are more than welcome to contact me at the above mail adress.
Dear Pienaar, is the Mlolshaan colt still alive?
@ Edouard
Yes Mlolshsaan Mutab is still alive. He is 14 years old now and is used as a sire at Saruk Stud.
@ Babette
We have 2 full brothers of the stallion we sent to Bahrain still at the stud, one of whom we use extensively. They are Saruk Jellabi and Saruk Al Amiri. Their Dam, Sahiby Zeyna was a daughter of Sahiby Shaikh Hamed by Sahiby Sebeka. So they are inbred to old Tuwaisaan on the damline. Their sire is SAF Firstaar.
I have a Tuwaisaan 406 daughter whom I baught from Saruk.Her grandmother is the legendary Darsi.She is 7 years old.We live in Oudtshoorn in the Little Karoo.