I am honored to introduce “Pure Man” as the latest addition to the growing list of the “Daughter of Wind” guest bloggers. Of all the distinguished ladies and gentlemen who have contributed (and still contribute for some) to this blog from time to time, “Pure Man” is the one I know least. In fact, I know about him just as much as most of you do. I know that he is a citizen of the Kindgom of Saudi Arabia, that he breeds desert-breds (real ones, not Egyptians labeled as “desert Arabians” for marketing purposes), and that he hails from the one of the largest, most noble and most powerful Bedouin tribes of Najd. I know he has the courage and the intellectual honesty to speak his mind, and that he is a straight shooter. I know that he comes from a civilization _ the Bedouin civilization – where being politically correct is certainly less valued than being honest and true to ones beliefs. His name and the name of his tribe will not be disclosed here, to protect him, unless he chooses otherwise. His opinions – and I do not necessarily agree with all of them — and his style have…
This mare is one of my all-time favorites. I had featured her earlier on this blog, here. Her name is Reem al-Oud [see correction below, actually this is Reem’s daughter Bint al-Oud], she is a Ubayyah Suhayliyah (a branch of the Sharrakiyah) from the tribe of Shammar in Syria. She is currently owned by Shaykh Mayzar al-Ajeel al-Abd al-Karim al-Jarba. Shaykh Mayzar is a direct descendant of the famous Shaykh ‘Abd al-Karim al-Jarba, who led a bloody rebellion against the Ottoman Turks. The Turks quelled the rebellion, hung ‘Abd al-Karim on a bridge in Mossul, Iraq, in 1874. They put his half-brother Farhan in charge of the Shammar in North Arabia. ‘Abd al-Karim’s mother, Amsheh al-Husayn (a daughter of Husayn al-Assaf, the Shaykh of Tayy) then fled North Arabia with her younger son, Faris, and sought refuge with Ibn Rashid, the ruler of Hail in Central Arabia, and the leader of the Shammar there. Years later, Lady Anne Blunt met both Amsheh and Faris. Faris became Wilfrid Blunt’s “blood brother”. Back to Reem al-Oud. She is from the marbat of Maskawi al-Ju’aydan al-Shammari, whose clan, al-Ju’aydan, breeds some of the best Ubayyan Suhayli horses among the Shammar. Maskawi’s father Madfaa…
This is Ahazeej, an asil desert-bred Ubayyat al-Suyayfi from Saudi Arabia. Sire: Qais (by Safeer x Mohret Qais by Bahar), a Suwayti; dam: Azheeq, a Ubayyat al-Suyayfi.
“Pure Man” told me about Jafil (El Basheer x Hadha), an asil Arabian stallion from Saudi Arabia, of the ‘Ubayyan al-Suyayfi strain (that’s how it’s pronounced by the way) that was gifted to a European Royalty. He doesn’t know the name of the King, but thinks it’s either the Netherlands or Belgium or Luxemburg. If someone from any of these countries happens to read this entry (Patrick?), it would be great if they could look him up. I would also try looking in Denmark and the othern nordic kingdoms. It would be great news if Jafil, who was bred by Prince Turki ben Fahd ben Mohammad, would be made available at public stud. If anyone knows about Jafil, please feel free to let us know.
By now you know where the photos come from. This is Al-Hazim (Al Wadah x Khuzama) from the King Abd al-Aziz Arabian Horse Center in Dirab, Saudi Arabia. His strain is Kuhaylan Abu Arqub. By the way, the photo of Al-Hazim’s sire Al Wadah, also an Abu Arqub, grace one of the volumes of the Asil Arabian Club, which means that the Dirab horses horses have the European label “Asil”. “Pure Man” can you tell us where the Abu Arqub horses of Dirab came from?
The string of beautiful photos through “pure man” continues. I am glad readers are enjoying it, because one of the main objectives of this blog is to make the case for the desert Arabian horse in its homeland today, and a picture is worth a thousand words. This is ‘Ajibah, a Hamdaniyah, daughter of Haleem. Haleem was featured in a video in an earlier post.
I finally had a chance to look at the lengthy section on the strain of al-Shuhayb in “Kitab al-Usul”, which is Saudi historian Hamad al-Jasir’s edition of the Abbas Pasha Manuscript (the copy of Khayd al-Din al-Zarakli). Al-Shuhayb is the strain of the beautiful mare Sarkhah featured here. I will provide you with a detailed account at some other point, but for now suffice it to say that Kuhaylan al-Shuhayb is a branch of Kuhaylan Ibn Wabera (rather, the two are one and the same strain), and that the strain belongs to the ‘Ajman Bedouin tribe. The strain originated with the Sharifs (descendents of the Prophet) of the Yemeni region of al-Jawf (Jawf al-Yaman), which is as far south in the Arabian Peninsula that Arabian horses can get. It’s so nice to see that this strain is still in existence.
Another photo coming through “pure man” is that of the beautiful asil Arabian mare Al-‘Aadiyah (Al Wadah x Afaf), from the King ‘Abd al-‘Aziz government stud of Dirab, in Saudi Arabia. Al-‘Aadiyah is a Kuhaylah Umm ‘Arqub by strain. I recall reading somewhere that this particular strain had been owned by the Saud Royal Family for a long time. Other, separate branches of the strain are still present in Syria too. Enjoy!
Since we are talking about Ubayyan al-Suyayfi, here are a couple pictures, also from Pure Man, of another stallion from this srain. This is Taj El Melook, by Haleem (Saudi Stud Book #862) who was featured here, and out of Al Hafna (Saudi Stud Book #1915). Since we are talking about Ubayyan al-Suyayfi, here are a couple pictures, also from pure man, of another stallion from this srain. This is Taj El Melook, by Halem (Saudi Stud Book #862) and the horse feature here, and in this video, and out of Al Hafnaa (Saudi Stud Book #1915).
Another nice picture from “pure man” features Afruq (Al-Ahzum x Afaq), a desert-bred stallion ‘Ubayyan from Saudi Arabia. His sire’s strain is Suwayti, and his dam’s strain is ‘Ubayyat al-Suyayfi, a famous strain in Najd. The strain of ‘Ubayyan al-Sufayfi is that of the sire of a number of mares that were sent as a gift from the King of Saudi Arabia to the King of Egypt in the early 1940s: these were Nafaa, a Kuhayklah; Hind, a Saqlawiyah; and a third mare and probably a fourth mare whose lines died early, and the names of which escapes me now (I think one was out of a mare by the strain of “Saada al-Debdab”, and the second one out a mare by the strain of “Sowaytiyat Ben Kowayed” – Ref. “The Arabian Horse Families of Egypt”, by Pearson, Archer and Mol). From this, it seems that ‘Ubayyan al-Suyayfi was a strain much favored by King ‘Abdul Aziz ibn Saud and his sons from early on. I haven’t quite yet figured out how to transcribe the marbat in English, and there may be a variety of possibilities: al-Sayfi (least likely); al-Saiifi, al-Sayayfi, al-Sayifi, or al-Suyayfi (most likely). It’s a detail really, but I will try…
Today is a happy day. Over the past few days, a string of photos and videos has been coming from “Pure Man”, with awesome images of desert Arabian stallions. I mean, real desert Arabian horses. Born there, raised there. A delight to watch as they move and prance. “Where are the mares?” I thought. Well, here they are. This is one of the most beautiful desert mares I have ever seen. Some months ago, I put in a list of my 10 ten favorite mares, a list that had taken years to coalesce in its present form. That was before I see this picture of Sarkhah (Qais a Suwayti x Sahwah a K. al-Shuhayb), a stunning Kuhaylat al-Shuhayb from Saudi Arabia. This mare instantly skyrocketed on top of my all time favorites. Wow. I confess knowing close to nothing about the strain of Kuhaylat al-Shuhayb. I know that the late Saudi Arabian erudite Hamad al-Jasir, in his original Arabic edition of the Abbas Pasha Manuscript (the Khayr al-Din al-Zarakli copy, not the Gulsun Sherif copy; sorry to get so technical on you guys, but this matters) has dedicated many pages to Kuhaylat al-Shuhayb, or al-Shuhaybah. I never bothered to read the section on al-Shuhaybah,…
Below is the hujjah (authenticity certificate) of the desert-bred stallion Taamri, imported to the USA by Sam Roach in 1960. Hujjah translation mine (cf. Al Khamsa III, p. 216). In the name of God, the Most Merciful and Compassionate, City of Riyadh, Region of Najd Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 12 Rajab 1376 corresponding to February 12th 1957 I, the undersigned, Mutlaq al-‘Atawi, supervisor of the Royal Stables of the Horses of his Royal Highness King Saud Ibn ‘Abdul ‘Aziz, declare that the following pieces of information are true The horse “Tamri” and his characteristics are as follows: The color of his body is “Tamri [“date-colored”, from ‘tamr’, date]; and his mane and tail are red; and he has a star and a white spot on his forehead, and a thin line of white hair on his left shoulder, and a small line of white hair toward the end of his mane; and a dotted line of white hair on both sides of his belly, exactly on the place of the strap, and a white hoof on his rear hind leg; as to his other hoofs, they are dark-colored, and he has a marking in the shape of an _] in the…
Someone guessed (or knew) that the “mystery mare” was a ‘Ubayyah. She is indeed a ‘Ubayyah Sharrakiyah of the marbat of al-Sahlan of Shammar al-Jazirah, or a ‘Ubayyah Suhayliyah. If you are that someone, just respond to this thread.
In 2000, while I was still living in Lebanon, I recall taking a trip to the area of Byblos, north of the capital Beirut, with my father, General Salim al-Dahdah, to see two young stallions that had recently been imported from Bahrain to Lebanon. The stallions were a gift from HH Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salman Aal Khalifah to a Lebanese engineer by the name of Riad Az’our. There was a bay and a grey; and one was a Rabdan and the other a Hamdani. They both were quite tall, and stood high on the ground. I also recall their highly expandable nostrils as they moveed, and their high tail carriage. I am sorry I don’t have pictures at the present time. I don’t know whether they are still alive, and still in Lebanon. If so, then someone should use them. HH Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salman Aal Khalifah is the same person who provided Jenny Lees of Pearl Island with some of her Bahraini stallions and mares. He is also the same person who gave Bill Biel in Michigan his stallion Mlolshaan Hager Solomon (Rabdan Al-Wasmy x Mlolesh Asila) in 1988. The stud of Shaykh Muhammad has a new webiste, which is…
Three desert-bred stallions from Najd, a Kuhaylan (called Namar), a Hamdani (called Robban), and a Ubayyan (called Hardane) are featured in this recent Youtube video. I wonder what marbat of Kuhaylan Namar is from.
In a recent post, I was expressing the hope that *Kola, the Arabian mare of French bloodlines imported by W.R. Brown to the USA in 1921, had left some living asil progeny. If that was the case, I had proposed to submit a proposal for her inclusion in the Al Khamsa Roster. It now looks like I was being too optimistic. Jeanne Craver was too kind to go through the progeny of *Kola in the AHA Datasource, and just told me that nothing is left that would be otherwise Al Khamsa eligible (i.e., Al Khamsa + *Kola). Everything was “completely wiped out in the *Raffles/*Raseyn movement of the 60s”, wrote Jeanne. Not only is there nothing left from *Kola’s two daughters Fath and Fadih, but nothing remains either from her influential son Kolastra (by Gulastra), and his own son Chepe Noyon (out of Guemura). What a shame.. The mare Hallaba, b. 1970, by HMR Haltak (who by the way also carries rare lines which I think were recently lost to Al Khamsa) was one of the last asil mares carrying a line to *Kola, through Chepe Noyon. Take a look at her stunning pedigree here. One more line gone down…
I just found the pedigree of the handsome Saudi stallion Haleem (Qais x Nawal by Eidan), whose video was featured earlier. He is #862 in the Saudi Stud book. There is a picture too, and a list of his progney, which includes the stallion Lazam Najd, also featured in a video below:
Two other Youtube videos from the same provenance, show the handsome desert-bred stallion Lazam Najd, a Suwayti al-Hafi by strain. He is a son of the Hamdani stallion Haleem, featured in an earlier video posted here. This is the first time I hear from the strain of Suwayti al-Hafi, although I am familiar with that of Suwayti al-Farm, which was the marbat of Muhsin al-Farm, the Shaykh of the Bani ‘Ali section of the Harb tribe. Suwayti al-Farm is one of the mains strain currently represented in Saudi Arabia. But what is Suwayti al-Hafi, the strain of Lazam?
Someone just sent me this You Tube video of a superb 19 year old Hamdani stallion by the name of Haleem. It looks like the video was taken in Saudi Arabia. I wish someone could share more information about this horse, his background, his registration number (if he is registered somewhere..). We need horses with the masculinity and the stamina of Haleem to to rejuvenate the blood of degenerate show animals.
Sandra Uhlig’s mare Djoumanah El Nil, from Germany, has an interesting pedigree: Egyptian bloodlines on top, and a Jiflan Dhawi tail female from Tunisia through the mare Malaga and her dam Berriane. Berriane was bred in Algeria and imported to Tunisia by Admiral Cordonnier for his Sidi Bou Hadid stud). Note the line to the stallion Barr in her pedigree, through his grandson Koraich. More about Barr later. Jenny Lee’s weanling Amr, from the UK, has a different yet equally interesting pedigree. His sire is the Egyptian stallion Goudah (Gad Allah x Ramiah), and his dam Jenny’s Bahraini mare Shuwaimeh Bint Warda.
In 1921-22, W.R. Brown imported a number of Arabian horses from France to the USA, for Army Remount purposes. Two of these horses, the mares *Kola (Latif DB x Destinee by Maksoude DB) and *Balkis II (El Hassan DB x Bedadine by Edhen DB) have left important lines in mainstream US Arabian horse breeding, *Kola through her daughters Fadih (by Sargon) and Fath (by *Rodan), and her son Kolastra (by Gulastra); *Balkis II through her daughter Fenzileh (by *Rodan). Balkis II also came with a colt (*Babel, b. 1921) [correction, *Babel was a filly] by the desert bred stallion Gadban, imported to France in 1902. I don’t know whethe any of *Kola, *Balkis II and *Babel have surviving asil progeny today. It wonder if anyone has gone through the trouble of looking for their progeny from Al Khamsa eligible horses. It would certainly be worthwhile to do so. If they do, I am going to try and put together a submission for inclusion into the Al Khamsa Roster of the following nine desert-bred horses, all of them included in the pedigrees of *Kola, *Balkis II and *Babel: — Latif, a desert-bred a Hamdani from the Fida’an tribe, imported to France in 1909 — Maksoude,…
The horses of Tzviah Idan are now on Facebook. One link includes horses of Egyptian bloodlines that Tzviah imported from Babolna, and the other is a link to their progeny. Tzviah, I like them all, and feel that you’ve been doing an outstanding job, but I can’t help feel that there is something extra special about Hila B and her progeny. PS — social networking sites are all over now. I never thought I’d be linking to Facebook on an desert Arabian horse blog..
I personally believe that the strains of Arabian horses are mere family names, created to identify lineages of asil horses in an oral society. I have had the occasion to make my case in other venues. I also believe that strains and types are to be dissociated, and cannot be related to each other in general. Finally, I don’t believe that anyone, however expert they are, can guess the strain of a horse simply by looking at him. So lets play a little game: the first reader to guess the strain of the mare in the photo below gets to write post (or an article) on Daughter of the Wind on the topic of his/her choice (related to Arabian horses of course). The possible answers are in a poll which you can find by scrolling down, on the bottom right of the website. Good luck (since it’s a matter of luck and not more)! Note: the sire, the dam and the maternal grandsire of the mare are from the same strain and marbat. In case some of you are tempted to say that a horse is only representative of the type of the strain which is most represented in its pedigree, and…
Yet another great article by Joe Ferriss, this time in the Khamsat magazine (scroll down), with comparisons, pictures and descriptions asil Arabian horses, old and new.
As I get ready to post the second entry on Kuhaylan al-Wati, after weeks and week of delay, you can read the previous entry as a refresher..
The mare *Amiraa was a 1959 grey Hamdaniyah bred by the Sa’ud royal family and imported in 1960 to the USA by Sam J. Roach. Below is her hujjah, as I translated it into English for Al Khamsa Arabians III: “In the name of God the Most Merciful and Compassionate Riyadh, Region of Najd, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 11 Jumadah al-Akhar 1380 I, Mutlaq al-‘Atawi, head of the royal horse stables of His Highness King Saud ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz, declare that the following testimony is correct: On the 11th of Rabi’ al-Thani 1378, the ownership of the red Hamdaniyah mare “Halwaaji” was transferred to Sam Roach. And it was know that this mare was in foal to the grey Hamdani horse “Mas’ud” at the time of the transfer of her ownership. And the horse “Mas’ud” covered the mare “Halwaaji” onthe date of the 14th of Dhu al-Hujjah 1377, and he covered her another time on the date of the 16th of Dhu al-Hujjah 1377. And I certify in front of God Most High that the mare “Halwaaji” and the horse “Mas’ud” are both from pure blood and a noble origin, tracing to horses whose purity of blood and lineage have been preserved by the Saud family.” [Signature of Mutlaq al-‘Atawi] Witness: [signature], The Secretary.” Translation ends here. Photo…
Another nice article by Joe Ferriss in the Arabian Essence online magazine, on the desert-bred stallion El Deree and his get.. Joe’s articles, always insightful and often filled with old pictures I have never seen before, are the only thing I read in this magazine. To me, everything else is glossy pictures of poor four-legged creatures forced to adopt artificial pauses, with shaved ears and make-up on their nostrils and their eyes. But the most appalling sight is no doubt that of these poor little foals with shaved heads and faces. For heaven’s sake, these are Arabian horses, not sheep! Not sure if this is the right time to start another war — I feel I have been provocative enough here — but I happen to have to lot to say about El Deree and his origins. Maybe another time.
Louis Bauduin sent me this picture of the stallion Ya’sub in old age. Ya’sub (Shawani x Belkis by Irmak), now deceased, was bred by Jean-Claude Rajot, and owned by James Legros. He combines two of the best Tiaret (the famous French government horsebreeding stud in Algeria) bloodlines: the Shuawyman Sabbah line to Cherifia (b. 1869, bred by the Sba’ah tribe, imported to Tiaret) through his sire Shawani (Saadi x Zarifa); and the Jiflan Dhawi line to Wadha (bred by the Fad’aan tribe, imported to Tiaret in 1875( through his dam Belkis (Imark x Belle de Jour by Iricho).
I am back on the map, and slowly emerging from processing a couple hundred emails that have piled up in my inbox during my absence. I am looking forward to the new Khamsat issue, with a focus on the WAHO 2007 conference in Syria. Hazaim al-Wair and I have an article in there on Arabian horse strains represented in the Syrian Arabian Horse Studbook, in which you will see some of the pictures you’ve already seen and liked on this blog, and some which you haven’t seen yet, like the one below. This is Hallah, a Kuhaylah Khallawiyah bred by the tribe of Tay in North eastern Syria in 1983, and owned by Mustapha al-Jabri, who sold her to one of the Gulf countries (I think Kuwait) in the mid-nineties (not sure of the exact date, either). Enjoy the picture which I took in 1993, and more on the strain and the mare later..