A blog on desert arabian horses, past, present and future
It looks like some of you are enjoying the occasional digression from pedigree and geneology stuff. Yesterday, Anita Westfall sent me two nice pictures of some of her horses: This picture is of her very pretty Miss Attitude (by Lorenzo CF x Dawn’s Attitude SF, also by Lorenzo CF), a Kuhaylat al-Hayf of the line … Read more
Another Hearst import to the USA in 1947 is *Bint Rajwa, who came with her dam *Rajwa, and her full brother *El Abiad. There were essentially two groups of Hearst horses: one group was bred in Lebanon, from well-established Lebanese asil lines, and included the horses: *Bourhane, *Kouhailane, *Layya, *Lebnaniah, *Mansoura, *Nouwayra, *Najwa, and *Mounwer; another … Read more
Here’s a YouTube video of the magnificent asil stallion Sportin Life (Brimstone x Asallah Al Krush), a Kuhaylan al-Krush tracing to the mare Werdi, imoprted by Homer Davenport to the USA in 1906. He passed away recently at Pamela Klein’s, but there are still some of his get and grandget.
All you need to know about this horse is in the photo’s legend. Nice horse. Line extinct like all the horses of the Strognaov/Sherbatov importation of 1888.
Arabian horses do not come in one type or form; rather they are of many, many types; unfortunately, in this day and age, one type has come to dominate and has spead everywhere; it is the type associated with the dished profile, so popular in show contests. According to a number of oral stories from old Bedouin … Read more
This is Atiq Ayla (Laheeb x Al Hambra B by Salaa el Dine out of 228 Ibn Galal I to Bint Azza I, from the Egyptian Dahman Shahwan line tracing to Bint El Bahreyn). Â Ayla has a very large, expressive eye of the ‘human type’ with plenty of white showing and long eyelashes. She is … Read more
Hence read the start of a journal entry Lady Anne Blunt wrote in 1911 (Lady Anne Blunt, Journals and Correspondence, edited by Rosemary Archer and James Fleming, 1986). The entry, brisking with excitement and enthusiasm, recorded the arrival at Sheykh Obeyd, Lady Anne’s Egyptian studfarm, of five of the choicest, best-authenticated desert-bred Arabian horses ever to get out of the … Read more
Check out the new photo galleries of horse pictures at the revamped website of the Davenport Conservancy. One of my favorite is this photo of the magnificent Craver stallion Sir (Tripoli x Dharebah) in old age. How I wished I was around to see him live.
Clothilde Nollet of Maarena Arabians in France, just sent me this link to the website of a young Syrian lady, Dr. Ghasoub al-Abrash Ghalyoun, who moved to Spain and brought with her an asil mare from Syria, Karboujah (Sa’d x Roudeinah by Mas’huj), and her grey asil son Najm Ya’rob, by the stallion Fawwaz (Ayid x … Read more
In the entry below, I wrote about how I liked arabian mares that have long eyelashes, which magnifies the human-like expression many of these mares have anyway. Below is a picture of of such mare. Bint Mawj al-Athir was an asil (heck, she is the mother of all asil) Kuhaylat al-Nawwaq (that’s the right spelling, other spellings include Nowag, … Read more
Jeanne Craver just sent me this headshot of my Wisteria CF (by Triermain x HB Wadduda by Mariner), which Charles Craver took a couple days ago at Craver Farms. They made my day. There is something unique about the eyes of every Arabian horse. Sometimes it’s the shape. Or the size. The darkness. The bulge. The sparkle. The … Read more
I recently shared with you my plan to propose the mare *Lebnaniah for inclusion in the Roster of Al-Khamsa horses as of 2010. The process is very thorough, usually involving several individuals putting their research skills together. It typically takes several years to complete. As part of this process, I will be sending the Al Khamsa … Read more
This little lady, Labwah al-Shaykhah (DB Krush x HS Marayah), Â represents a new ray of hope for the endangered Shaykhan (a branch of Ubayyan, formed in Lebanon and named after a Ubayyah mare called al-Shaykhah) strain. Only two or three mares of breeding age are know to be alive today, in the USA, one of … Read more
Pure man just sent me this small photo of the masculine stallion Al Fateh, a Ubayyan from Saudi Arabia, by the stallion El Basheer, a Suwayti, out of the Ubayyah mare Al-Sayida. I like this horse.
Kuwait recently announced the launch of its brand new state stud, Bayt al-Arab, to replace its older Arabian Horse Center. Their nice website includes an interesting — but too sketchy — historical timeline. Most of the founding stock is of Egyptian bloodlines, and was imported from Germany, Qatar and the USA, mainly from Ansata Arabian … Read more
If any of you want to know what it feels like for a Western woman to live in today’s Saudi Arabia, then you ought to check out Susie of Arabia’s Jeddah Daily Photo Journal. Nothing to do with Arabian horses, but interesting still 😉
This is another picture of the beautiful Hearst stallion *Mounwer (b.1942), the subject of a recent entry. The picture is from the website of Ariena Arabians, and is courtesy of Nyla Eshelman. *Mounwer’s handwritten pedigree by his Lebanese breeder George Khamis indicates that he was sired by the stallion Kayane, out of the chestnut mare Bint … Read more
Did you know that there were monkeys in Arabia? Hamadyas baboons live — proliferate — in southwest Saudi Arabia and in Yemen. Check these pictures out! and this video too:
Commenting on a recent post, RJ Cadranell mentioned the CMK Record, a publication that replaced the Arabian Visions Magazine. Below, a scanned article of the CMK Record, Fall 1988 issue, courtesy of Michael Bowling, where he discusses the 1942 asil stallion *Mounwer. *Mounwer was imported to the USA by W. R. Hearst in 1947. He … Read more
These days I seem to have less and less time to devote to writing longer articles that aim to make a point in a well-documented, systematic way. That’s why you’re seeing more and more photos and videos these days. It’s not that I ran out of things to say. I just ran out of time … Read more
… and this is Mazfufah (Haleem x  Ma’zufah), who is Matrubah’s full sister. Matrubah was featured in an another post I wrote earlier today. Pure Man, who sent me Mazfufah’s picture, also told me the two mares are almost total look-alikes. Of course, one needs to recognize that Matrubah’s picture was taken by a professional, … Read more
“Pure Man” sent me this beautiful picture of the desert-bred mare Matrubah (Haleem x Ma’zufah), an asil Kuhaylat al-Krush from Saudi Arabia. Matrubah is owned by Prince ‘Abd al-‘Aziz Al-Sudayri and graces his new Aziziyah Stud. More on this original branch of the Kuhaylan al-Krush strain in this earlier post here. I know there is … Read more
Those of you who have looked at the Saudi Arabian Stud Book may have noticed that most of the horses registered in it trace back to a grey horse by the name of Al-Harqan, born in 1947. This horse is the sire of 25 horses in Volume I of the Saudi Stud Book. Pure Man, … Read more
Every time I look for a substantive article on Arabian horses online, I Â keep stumbling on something that was written in “Arabian Visions” like this informative article on the Perdue’s Rudalaro breeding program in Lamar, Colorado. I am a big fan of this program by the way, and especially of one of its flagship stallions: … Read more
This is a rarely seen picture of the very pretty asil Babolna mare 25-Amurath Sahib (Amurah Sahib x 221 Kuhaylan Zaid, by Kuhaylan Zaid), courtesy of Jeanne Craver. The blood of legends like Kuhaylan Zaid, Siglavy Bagdady, Kuhaylan IV, Amurath 1881, Jussuf,  Tajar, and Ghadir, to name but a few, flows in the veins of this mare … Read more
Here is the comment from Jehangir Rustomjee, Bahrain Royal Stud registrar: “It is with great regret that I inform you that neither of the Royal studs have any female Dhahma (Dahmeh) descendants left, my eyes well up and my chest tightens as I convey this to you. I am so pleased at the international interest … Read more
Jean-Claude Rajot, who has lately been a frequent visitor of Syria (more on these visits later, including from Jean-Claude himself), sent me these photos of a couple horses in the stud of Hussain al-Ghishm in North Eastern Syria. Both horses are of the Kuhaylan al-Wati strain. The al-Ghishm, a family of ranking shaykhs of the … Read more
I am done reading my latest issue of the Khamsat magazine, which features the WAHO 2007 conference in Syria. Joe Ferriss has a nice article on “Some Reflections on the Continuity of the Desert Horse”, and Hazaim al-Wair and I have an article in that same edition with some nice photos too. Below is a photo of … Read more