As I put the final touches of the fourth and last entry of the feature on the Krush al-Baida strain, take a second look at the three previous entries on this precious strain, here, here, and here. Also, check out this account of a conversation about Krush al-Baida with Shaykh Faysal ibn Sattam ibn Mayzar al-‘Abd al-Muhsin al-Jarba. By the way, the Royal Stud of the Kingdom of Bahrain still retains a line from the Kuhaylan al-Krush strain, from the same branch as Krush al-Baida, “the White Krush”. Here is an exerpt from the Krush page of the Royal Stud’s website, followed by a picture of a Bahraini representative of this strain: “It is said by some that the original Krushieh mare came from the Muteyr tribe – and by others that the original came from the Al Rasheed, Amirs of Hail from 1835-1924. Yet everyone agrees that the strain has been in Bahrain since the 1850’s. This old family of Krush is perpetuated through the tail female line, and is predominantly of bay colour.” Note that the Krush al-Baida horses of the marbat of Mayzar al-‘Abd al-Muhsin al-Jarba of the Shammar tribe in Syria are from the very same fountainhead – that…
This paint horse has 99.8% Arabian blood. If he were to be crossed with an Asil mare, the offspring would be a 99.9% Arabian horse, much like more than 95% of all WAHO-accepted horses. Count Alexander Dzieduszycki, the president of the Arab Horse Breeding Society of Poland from 1925 to 1945 called such horses “full blooded Arabs”. Now someone try and explain this to a Bedouin!!
I just bought Edward Skorkowski’s “Arab Breeding of Poland” from the website of a bookstore in Iowa. I read many excerpts of it before, but was never able to put my hands on a copy. My first reaction was: “okay, so that’s where all these old photos of Polish Arabians on the Net comefrom..”. My second reaction while browsing through the book was one of astonishement at the enormous amount of information squeezed between the two covers. Then I started reading, and I was quickly turned off after a few pages. I need to vent my frustration on someone, and you, my patient reader, are going to be that someone. So, what’s this whole business of linking strains to types based on skull measurements? “The family of Milordka is a Saqlawi judging from the measurement of the skulls”. Really? The last I heard was that Milordka was an indigenous Polish mare. Not a desert-bred mare. Not an Arabian mare. A mare with no origins. A kadeesh, in my language. Appending Arabian strains on indigenous Polish mares to turn them into Arabians, and using some pseudo-scientific way such cranial measurements to justify this new “metamorphosis”, is a smart trick indeed. Nice try.…
Kuhailan Haifi I is the only son of the desert bred import Kuhailan Haifi out of the Babolna mare Mersuch 1-3-1 (Kohejlanka in Polish breeding). He was exported to Babolna in 1938, where he was renamed “Tajar”. He left two Asil mares: 21 kuhaylan Haifi I, which left no Asil progeny; and 250 kuhailan Haifi I the dam of the Stallion Siglavy Bagdady VI which Edouard recently wrote about. This leads me to surmise that there may be Asil horses from Babolna lines left, trough the Babolna mares taken by the Germans during WWII, rescued by the Poles, who returned them in 1951 to Babolna. Maybe Tzviah can help ?
The three mares Rabda Khuszaiba, Hadba Inzihi, and Szeikha were bought by Zientarski and Raswan in the same mission as the stallions Kuhailain Haifi, Kuhailan Zaid, Kuhailan Kruszan and Kuhailan Afas. The photos of these 3 mares are taken from Britta Fahlgren’s “The Arabian Horses Families of Poland“. All three mares were bred by and bought from the large Muntafiq Bedouin tribe. Rabda Khuszaiba (by a Kuhailan Krush x Rabda Khuszaiba) had a small breeding record, and all her progeny seems to have been lost during World War II. Hadba Inzihi (by a Kuhailan Krush x Hadba Inzihi) was also lost during the war with nothing left from her (neither Asil or non-Asil). Szeikha (by a Dahman Shehwan x Kuhailat Adjouz) produced three mares by Kuhailan Kruszan OA. Only one mare, Udzda, left some non-asil progeny: that was the asil mare Ferha by Kuhailan Abu Arkub (himself by Kuhailan Zaid db).
Some time in 1998 I had dinner with Sheikh Hmeidi al-Daham al-Hadi al-Jarba supreme sheikh of the Shammar tribe (qabilah) and its “satellite tribes” (acha’ir), as per his visiting card… When I asked him about the ghazu (tribal raids), Sheikh Hmeidi (Abu Faris) told me the following: “The ghazu between large tribes was not quite an act of war but rather a kind of competition the aim of which was to send the message to the raided tribe: “we are stronger than you”. The ghazu between the major tribes followed certain codes and regulations, at last between the Major tribes. Minor tribes and marauders raided to steal. Not major tribes. The raiding tribe had to inform the raided tribe of the ghazu, and it didn’t matter if the ghazu took place one year after the information was sent. The ghazu must take place in daylight to avoid colleteral damage like hurting women, children, or elderly people. Any such death led to all-out war, something nobody wanted. The ghazu was done through a combination of camels and horses. 90% of the distance was covered on camelback, and war mares were only used for the last part: the sudden attack and the escape.” That’s why…
Kuhailan Afas (by a Kuhaylan Wadnan x a Kuhaylat Aafess) came to Poland from the island of Bahrain in 1931. This stallion, along with Kuhailan Haifi, Kuhailan Kruszan, Kuhailan Zaid and a few mares, were bought by Bogdan Zietarski and Carl Raswan for the Gumniska stud. The Gumniska stud was owned by the Sanguszko princely family of Poland. Kuhailan Afas left three asil sons: -Bad Afas 1940 x Bad by Diab db -Drop 1939 x Donia by Koheilan Haifi db -Don Afas 1940 x Donia by Koheilan Haifi db Donia is out of Donka (Schehan Shammar db x Koheilan II), she is Babolna bred; this is the same dam line of the asil mare 25 Amurath Sahib.
Pictures taken at Mustapha al-Jabri’s farm in 1991-92. Later, a photo of Al Ward el Mayel was widely used, especially in the “Arabian horse world” were he was pictured jumping in front of a wall, if somebody can remember. Please Edouard give us the pedigrees and strain of the grey Taan and of Al Ward al-Mayel. Thank you.
Thanks Edouard so much for your wonderful post on Mubarak. It was not until 1996 that I had the pleasure of seeing this copper chestnut stallion of Ibn Ghurab at Al Basel the new government stud at the time. When I saw him I had the same reaction as you regarding how much like the Davenport stallion Plantagenet he appeared. Similar color but also similar charisma particularly in the eye and expression. He was quickly presented in hand and then his handler jumped on him for a quick bareback ride back to his stall. I thought I would share a photo of him I took in the late afternoon of that November 1996 day. Those who are familiar with the Davenport horses in the U.S. will certainly see the similarities. You can see the wonderful expression. It is so refreshing to see such continuity of centuries
The blog entry “Amer: a Saudi race stallion” and the ensuing online conversation has generated a heated debate, with potentially explosive consequences for many involved. To summarize using politically correct language: the stallion Amer, currently owned by Umm Qarn farms of Qatar, is an extremely controversial horse, owned by extremely powerful people. He has dozens of offspring around the world. Many people have questioned Amer’s purity over the years, more or less openly. Many people have written to WAHO about him (good luck with that…). There is lots of big money involved, and a lot of vested interests at stake. Fraud, when it does take place, takes place behind closed doors. You will not see the real pedigree in any WAHO-approved studbook records, and I don’t imagine anyone putting their lives and jobs on the line to enter a royalty-owned stud (how?), ask for DNA sample from Amer and his likes (how?), receive it, compare it with DNA sample from English Thoroughbreds in Jordan or elsewhere (which ones? how? culprits died long ago), send the whole package to labs for analysis (which labs?) and publis the results somewhere (where?). So all that’s left is people word, good faith, reputation, and…
I first saw Mubarak in 1989 when an old truck disembarked a batch of three horses at the farm of Hisham Ghurayyib in Damascus, Syria. I was told that the truck had just come from the desert area of al-Jazirah, “Upper Mesopotomia”. It was my first encounter with Arabian horses born and raised in the desert. I was 11. My father was breeding Asil Arabians back then and I was familiar with the first generation offspring of desertbred horses, or horses born on the fringes of the desert, but I had never seen the “real thing”. My very first reaction was one of disappointment. Not only were the three horses – a black Kuhaylat al-‘Armush mare, a fleebitten Kuhaylat ibn Mizhir mare, and a chestnut Hamdani Ibn Ghurab stallion – tiny, they were worn out, and extremely thin. They feet were badly damaged, and the hooves were so overgrown that the poor horses could badly walk. Were these the “horses of the desert” (khayl sahraa)? My father had given me his Nikon and asked me to take photos of all the horses, while he was checking them out and asking about their origins. I took a rapid photo shot of the…
(See the comments section below for a translation of this blog entry to English) A l’origine, en tant qu’améliorateurs des races locales, essentiellement en vue de fournir des produits pour le service de la guerre. La base de nombreux élevages a été les animaux pris dans les combats contre l’Empire Ottoman. Il en est résulté dans de nombreux pays une jumenterie plus ou moins pure que l’on a tenté de conserver par l’achat d’étalons importés d’Orient. La Hongrie avec la race Shagya a été éminemment honnête. La France, avec deux variétés régionales, le Tarbais et le cheval du Limousin a eu la même démarche. A partir de Napoléon III, le pays a cherché à se constituer une jumenterie pure (Asil) afin de pouvoir disposer de reproducteurs pour améliorer la race Barbe en Afrique du nord et perfectionner l’Anglo-arabe naissant. Les établissements les plus remarquables ont été Tiaret en Algérie, Sidi Thabet en Tunisie et Pompadour en France. C’est à partir de cette époque que l’on s’est rendu compte de la différence de qualité entre les produits de la métropole et ceux des deux autres établissements (dégénérescence rapide sous l’influence des sols et du climat). Entre les deux guerres et surtout…
Another favorite photo of a second generation offspring of four desert breds. This is Ibn Taamrud (b. 1988), an Asil Hamdani, by Taam-rud (Taamri x Rudann) out of Alwal el Shahhat (Jalam al-Ubayyan x Sindidah). All four grand-parents are either from the stables of the Royal House of Saud and their close relative Ibn Jiluwi. My translation of the hujaj of both Taamri and Rudann is in Al Khamsa Arabians III.
Question : Quand a eu lieu la dernière razzia en Syrie ? Réponse : La dernière razzia a eu lieu en 1943, des Shammar sur les Sba’ah. Ils sont partis d’ici (Hassakè ou al-Hassakah) avec 100 cavaliers le matin. Ils sont tombés sur le campement Sba’ah distant de 40 miles, à midi. Tous les cavaliers étaient de retour dans l’après-midi. Question : Vous voulez dire dans la nuit ? Réponse : Non, non dans l’après-midi. Je me suis permis d’insister : mais vers les 8 ou 9 heures du soir ? Réponse empreinte d’un certain agacement : Non dans l’après-midi vers les cinq heures ! Voilà ce qu’aux yeux des Bédouins leurs chevaux pur sang sont à même de faire naturellement. Il est à noter qu’à l’heure actuelle cette moyenne horaire correspond à ce que l’on fait avec les 4×4 en dehors des pistes.
Edie Booth of Antique Arabian Stud, Canton, Texas, just posted this video of three of her Asil stallions on the comments section of this blog. The black stallion is AAS al-Sakb, and the grey one is AAS Enan. I don’t know who the third one is. [Update Nov. 18, 2008: Edie Booth tells us the third horse is AAS El Hezzez]
I love this picture, and I love this horse. Alwal Bahet (Jalam al-Ubayyan x Sindidah), an Asil Hamdani Simri, the son of two desert-bred horses imported from Saudi Arabia to the USA, is just magnificent. Click on his parents’ link to learn more about his background. I read somehere that this picture was taken a few days (hours?) before he died, at the venerable age of thirty.
I am starting a series on the desert-bred Arabians imported to Poland and Hungary in the twentieth century. The first I will highlight is Kuhailan Zaid. This stallion came to Europe in 1931 at the same time as Kuhailan Haifi and Kuhailan Afas. He was purchased by Bogdan Zietarski and Carl Raswan for the Hungarian stud of Babolna. He was bred by the Ruwalah Bedouin tribe, by a Kuhailan Abu Junub out of a Kuhaylat al-Zyadah. Here’s Zietarski’s account of his purchase: “At last they bring a stallion of Kuhailan Zaid strain; bay, stripe, black legs over the knees, a splendid line of the trunk, a long strongly expressive neck, a dry head, legs somewhat worn out, hoofs in awful condition, but on the whole with much type, a first class sire, as created for Babolna… We buy him without any bargain.” Kuhailan Zaid was a herd sire at Babolna between 1931 and 1946, and 26 of his daughters were used for breeding, but only a handful of his sons (none in Hungary, only in Poland). Of these Kuhailan Abu Urkub (b. 1935) out of 22 Kemir, and of Kuhailan Said (b. 1934) out of 204 Kemir were perhaps the most influential. Both of them are asil.
Amer is one of the most successful current arabian racing sires and has produced nearly 300 offspring to date. His progeny has raced in Europe and Middle East and currently more than 80 offspring have won a total of 339 races. 40 of these wins are Group 1 wins, 39 by horses bred and raised at Umm Qarn’s farms in UK and Qatar. His progeny have additionally been placed in 25 Group 1 races, won 4 Group 2 races and 6 Group 3 races. The text and photos are taken from Umm Qarn Farms, Qatar, Amer’s owners (joe)
The first Saudi Arabian Stud book was issued in 1991 by the “Dirab Arabian Horse Center” later named the King Abdul-Aziz horse Center. In 1935 Dr. Mabrouk of the Royal Agricultural Society of Egypt, traveled to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on a horse-buying mission. He wrote about and took pictures of the horses he saw, from the stud of Prince Faysal in Taif near the Red Sea to the stud of Ibn Jiluwi stud near the Persian Gulf. As I’m now in Beirut and the book is in my stables in Damascus ,a post will follow with pictures from Dr. Mabrouk’s trip (if they are good) inshallah. In 1936 a lot of Saudi horses died of a horsesickness, so King Abdul-Aziz received as a present a lot of mares and stallions of Syrian origin,especially from Ibn Mehayd, the sheikh of the Fad’aan Bedouins, Looking at Volume I of the Saudi Arabian studbook one notices the following : The strains are Hamdani Simri, Kuhaylan Abu Arqub, ‘Ubayyan al-Saifi, Kuhailan Suwayti al Firm, Kuhaylan al-Sekti, etc. Saqlawis are very rare. A quick survey of the 1980’s Saudi mares gives the following: Daughters of Safeer (100) a Hamdani Semri: 474 Farasha Kuhaila Sowaitia; 476 Soad Kuhaila Um Arqub; 481 Afeefa Kuhaila Sowaitia; 503…
… occurs in the archives of Dur-Sharrukin (today’s Khorsabad), the capital of Assyrian King Sargon II (721-705 BC). It dates from around 715 BC. It mentions king Sargon II exacting tribute from “Pir’u king of Musuri, Shamsi queen of the Arabs (a-rib-bi in the original text), Itamra king of Saba, the kings of the coast and the desert I received gold, products (?) from the mountain, precious stones, ivory, all kinds of perfumes, horses, and camels as their tribute.” The same tablet mentions “the distant Arabs, dwellers of the desert, who did not know learned men or scribes, who had not brought tribute to any king”. In other words, these Arabs are the Bedouins. Horses? Yes! Horses as tribute from the Queen of the Bedouins to the allmighty Assyrian king! (There is some speculation as to whether “Pir’u king of Musuri” is one of the Pharaohs of Egypt). Of course, a large number of earlier ancient Middle Eastern sources mentions horses, but this one is the earliest one where the mention of horses is paired with a mention of the ” dwellers of the desert”. Perhaps the coolest thing is that these Arab Bedouins were ruled by a woman. I…
I am no “expert” on Polish Arabians (and I have a lot of trouble with the concept of “expert” in general anyway), so don’t expect these posts will tell you anything many of you don’t know already. I am writing them for the record only. As a reminder to reader that there was a blessed time when some Arabian horses from Poland – this great horsemanship country – were Asil. Then there was a time when only, or two, or perhaps three Polish Arabians were Asil. That was in the 1960s and 1970s, not such a long time ago. When Arwila, Rozka, Lassa and a few others were alive. Now that time is gone. This new series of posts will feature the last Asil mare from each desert-bred line imported to Poland or the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Lets start with Arwila (Amurath Sahib x Wilga, photo above from Skorkowski’s book, I think), a Kuhaylat al-‘Ajuz tracing to the desert bred Gazella, imported by Count Juliusz Dzieduszycki in 1845. Her pedigree is one of the 24 extended pedigrees originally compiled by Ursula Guttmann in her 1968 book Arwila was born in 1947 and exported to England in 1965. She did not leave any Asil progeny. The…
A beautiful representative of the Shaykhan strain tracing to the Lebanon-bred mare *Layya imported by W.R. Hearst is the 1992 mare Nile Swan (Ansata Nile Comet x Fadda Laila). Congratulations to Michelle, her new owner. I hope this mare and others from her strain, like Jenny Krieg’s HS Marayah, contribute to a renaissance of this rare and precious strain.
This morning I was talking to Jean-Claude Rajot over the phone and I asked him if he would agree to write on Daughter of the Wind. I didn’t think he would, but I still asked. He agreed. And I am happy he did. Jean-Claude, a French breeder of Arabian horses, is the president of USCAR (Union pour la Sauvergarde du Cheval Arabe). USCAR is a grassroots preservationnist organization of the old kind (the good kind), in many ways the French version of the US-based Al Khamsa. Jean-Claude was also a disciple and one of the closest people to master breeder Robert Mauvy, during the last 11 years of Mauvy’s life. Mauvy called Jean-Claude “mon fils” (‘son’). Jean-Claude and friend Louis Bauduin, USCAR’s vice-president, owned several of Mauvy’s horses. Their offspring now constitute the nucleus of their breeding programs. Mauvy’s teachings have had a most profound influence on me. His small book “Le Cheval Arabe” is my Arabian horse Bible since I was ten. One of the book’s photos features the stallion Cherif (by Saadi x Zarifa, by Matuvu), bred by Mauvy in 1967. A chapter of the book is dedicated to the nursing of Hamada (by Irmak x Shawania by Amri),…
I’ve just geotagged several photos in my Flickr roll. You can now see the horses’ photos on a map, according to where they were bred. I will add more geotagged photos as we go.
“Excellent horse, but his grey color makes him unusable”. So the French government, prompted by the cavalry’s dislike of the color grey, sold the stallion Burgas to Poland in 1923, without using him. Burgas, a Saqlawi Jadran by a ‘Ubayyan Sharrak, born in 1907, was one of 20 Arabian stallions imported to France in 1914, just before World World One. Of these, ‘Adwan, Ghoumar, Madfah, Nazim, Taleb, and Burgas went to the stallion depot of Pau, in southern France. Below are pictures of the last two. The sale of Burgas was a obviously a mistake, since he went on to sire Federacja for the Poles. She was the dam of Witez II. Taleb, a Ma’naghi Sbayli, sired the stallion Rabat, who is the represented in the pedigree of the handsome stallion Nichem.
One more French desert-bred import. This one is Nibeh. All I know about him is that he was bred by the Fad’aan Bedouin tribe and imported to France in 1912, where he stood at the government stud of Tarbes (one of the three main Arabian stallions depots in France, with Pau and Pompadour). If anyone knows anything else about him, please let me know. I am trying to compile a list as comprehensive as possible of the desert-bred Arabians imported to France that still have descendents alive today (Asil or not). Not sure all would qualify as Asil (the criteria being the existence of good original documentation), but many probably would. Notice the nice, prickled ears this one has. Nibeh was the sire of Nedjari, exported from France to the Breniow stud in Poland.
I thought I’d share this photo of Nawal with you, after the mention of the strain of ‘Ubayyan ibn Duwayhiss in a previous post of mine. ‘Ubayyan ibn Duwayhiss is a branch of ‘Ubayyan Sharrak owned by the Sba’ah tribe. Nawal was bred by Khairi Ajil al-Dibs, of the Aqaydat semi-nomadic sheep herding tribe, on the Euphrates valley not from the border between Syria and Iraq (lately a hotspost of military activity). Her sire was al-Ma’naqi al-Najrissi, a famous Ma’naqi Sbayli stallion, known throughout the Syrian desert for producing extremely typey and good-moving broodmares. The Aqaydat obtained the two strains of ‘Ubayyan ibn Duwayhiss and Ma’naqi Sbayli directly from the Sba’ah tribe, whose seosonal migration routes spanned Aqaydat territory. Nawal was later acquired by Mustapha al-Jabri of Aleppo, for whom she went on to produce several good broodmares. Mustapha once told me a couple of nice stories about the pride in which Sba’ah Bedouins took in the particular strain of ‘Ubayyan ibn Duwayhiss, in the contexts of their wars against the Ruwalah tribe, but I am afraid I don’t recall any of these stories in enough detail to relate it here. Will ask him next time we speak over the phone. I took this photo at Mustapha’s in the spring of…
Well, after that introduction, I probably shouldn’t write my first post about the location of the gray gene in the horse. (That’s Michael’s cue, anyway.) Instead, let’s talk about one of the joys of backyard stallions. Here at Deferred Maintenance Acres, the stallion pens are seven feet from the bedroom window. Being able to glance out the window at Palisades is an unqualified delight. (The shot, below, of Palisades enjoying breakfast in bed was taken through said window.) At night, the occasional contented snort or thump on a feed tub is soothing. Stallions exchange news and views over the fence, the wind blows, the birds sing. All is well in California in the autumn. However, pasture breeding season is another story — time to break out the earplugs and the bedtime whiskey. Three AM seems to be a favored time for noisy couplings. I’m sure there’s a paper in this somewhere — Conception Rates Considered As a Function of Time of Day of Service or some such. That would require Data, though, in the form of enough pregnancies to bring any statistical link to light. While Palisades would serve enthusiastically, I’m sure, I’m a bit short of minions for such…
Kuhaylan al-Mimrah: so where were we? In the last post about this strain, we had left it in the hands of the Muwayni’ section of the Sba’ah tribe, to which the Mimrah clan belongs. Today, the noble section of Al-Muwayni’ is split between Syria and Saudi Arabia but no longer owns horses from this famous strain. Sometime during the twentieth century (not sure when, but earlier rather than later), a branch of this strain passed to the al-Mazhur clan of the Shammar tribe, and then, about fifty years ago to the Jawwalah section of the Tai tribe, among which it could still be found until very recently. Below are photos of two fine specimen of the Kuahylan al-Mimrah of the Jawwalah marbat. The one above is a picture of Aminah (Hayfi Juhayyim x Kuhaylat al-Mimrah, by the grand Saqlawi ‘Ibbo, more on all these great old timers later), the founder of a prominent dynasty at Mustapha al-Jabri’s stud in Aleppo, Syria. The second is Za’rur al-Barari, a grandson of Aminah, and a stallion at Radwane Shabariq’s stud, also in Aleppo. Za’rur is the younger brother of the stallion Basil, which Joe Ferriss recently wrote about, here and here. Za’rur has been…
Of course it is not. This is Shagya XVII, from the Hungarian Arab-related Shagya breed. You have to give credit to the Hungarians for being honest about the Thoroughbred and other non-Arab blood they infused in these horses.
The dark chestnut stallion Shaykh al-‘Arab is one of the foundation stallions of the (now defunct) Lebanese Asil Arabian horse breeding. Born in the desert somewhere between Hims and Palmyra, he was bred by Rakan ibn Mirshid, Shaykh of the Gomussah section of the Sba’ah Bedouin tribe in the 1930s, then sold to Beirut for racing. His sire was a desert-bred Ma’naghi Sbayli, the stallion of ‘Awdah al-Mis’ir of Sba’ah, and his dam a ‘Ubayyat al-Usayli’, one of the best marabit (pl. of marbat, i.e., desert stud) of ‘Ubayyan Sharrak among the Sba’ah tribe. [Other equally good marabit of ‘Ubayyan Sharrak with the Sba’ah tribe ainclude ‘Ubayyan ibn Duwayhiss, ‘Ubayyan al-‘Awbali, ‘Ubayyan ibn Thamdan, and ‘Ubayyan ibn ‘Alyan, the latter being the strain of the Blunt import Queen of Sheba, then owned by Beteyen Ibn Mirshid, Rakan’s ancestor.] In Beirut, the horse was successfully raced by Henri Pharaon under the name of Shaykh al-‘Arab (a reference to his prestigious breeder), and then given to the Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture as a breeding stallion. Shaykh al-‘Arab’s sons and daughters became good race horses, so much so that veteran Syrian racehorse owner Ali al-Barazi recalled attending race in Beirut where the top…
Do you visit Ralph Suarez’s blog? I think you ought to.
Musette (b. 1932), a Saqlawiyah by strain, is a good specimen of the Asil Arabians bred by the French government stud of Pompadour in the first half of the twentieth century. She reminds me of some of the first and second generation offspring of the horses imported by Homer Davenport to the USA in 1906. She was by the desert import El Sbaa (strain: Ju’aitni) out of Musotte, who was by the famous Dahman (strain: Rabdan, sire: a Dahman) out of Mysterieuse. Mysterieuse was by yet another desert bred stallion, Enwer – a Ma’naghi, bred by the Shammar Bedouin tribe like Dahman, and like him imported to France in 1909 – out of Mysie. Mysie was by the desert-bred Beni Kaled, a chestnut Hamdani, out of the imported desert-bred mare Meleke. Meleke was imported to Pompadour in 1891, a Saqlawiyah by a Ma’naghi, himself by a Hamdani Simri (or by a Hamdani Simri by a Ma’naghi, the French importation records are ambiguous). This precious line has unfortunately completely died out by the 1940s, and only survives in the middle of the pedigrees, through the Asil stallions Matuvu, and Minos. Matuvu (by El Sbaa out of Manon, by Dahman out of Mysterieuse), stood at…