Month: May 2010

Photo of the Day: GTS Hawa El Adhar, 2004 Ma’naghi Sbayli gelding

by

I am a big fan of the breeding program of Terri Somers at Royal Blue Arabians in New Jersey. Terri is the owner of the striking grey Ma’naghi Sbayli stallion RB Bellagio (photo below, in harness, by Arabi Fadh Onyx x Sirrunade by Faaryan), and has been breeding classic and athletic horses of this Ma’naghi Sbayli strain for some … Read more

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

by

From left to right: Lirac HD (Shiraz CF x Bint Meringue), ADA Selene (Ascendant x Petit Point CF), Celestia (Cantador x Laikah, non-asil). Here’s a Youtube link to about a minute and a half of these three fillies rocketing around on a beautiful May morning.

Turfa: Rise, fall … and rise again?

by

Now if there is one Arabian mare that needs no introduction, it’s *Turfa. Ever since her importation by Henri Babson to the USA in 1941, almost seventy years ago, this pretty Kuhaylah mare has continued to embody the ideal desert-bred Arabian mare. Her famous picture trotting in the snow-covered paddocks of the Babson Farm (below) … Read more

Photo of the Day: El Reata Juan, 1968 Dahman Shahwan in the USA

by

Oregon breeder Joan DeVour recently circulated this picture of the beautiful black stallion El Reata Juan (Julyan x Mist Aana by Hallany Mistanny), a 1968 black Dahman Shahwan of old US Egyptian lines, with the particularity of being one of the handful of stallions to still carry the prized Mesaoud sire-line through his grandsire Julep (Gulastra x … Read more

Photos of various horse breeds from Iran

by

Blog reader Francois Julien, from France, sent me a link to a photo album about equine photographer Bob Langrish’s visit to Iran in 2007. The album has nice photos of Iranian bred horses of various breeds, including Arabians (called Asil in Iran), Kurdish, Turkmen and other local breeds of horses. Check it out by clicking … Read more

More on Kuhalyan al-Jalala

by

I found some of my notes on the subject of the now extinct strain of Kuhaylan al-Jalala. Victor Muller, a French army intelligence officer who had overall responsibility over the Syrian desert area at the time of the French Mandate on this country authored an authoritative book on the Bedouins of Syria. In one chapter, … Read more

Photo of the Day: Samura, Kuhaylat al-Jalala, from Russia

by

Samura, a chestnut 1895 mare, is a first generation offspring of two desert-bred Arabians imported to Russia by Count Stroganov and Prince Sherbatoff, and was bred by the former at what is now the Tersk Stud. Stroganov’s breeding program was completely wiped out in the events that led to the bolchevik revolution of 1917, and nothing remains … Read more

Looking for Tabbou

by

If anyone who reads this website and lives in the USA knows where the 1987 stallion Tabbou (Saddat x Rose Al Badi by Shaikh Al Badi) and his 1985 sister PH So Uneeq (Imperial Faneeq x Rose Al Badi), both of the rare and coveted Shaykhan/’Ubayyan strain which hails from Lebanon, please email me privately: … Read more

Photo of the Day: Monar, Hamdani Simri stallion from Iran

by

From reader Monique in the Netherlands comes this picture of the impressive dark bay Hamdani Simri stallion Monar (Kheibar x Aaghigh by Haddad). Click here for his pedigree, which is unusually long and detailed from an Arabian from the Middle East. Below is also a picture, also from allbreedpedigree.com, of his very typey great-grandsire Arras, … Read more

Effort underway to identify and preserve Pritzlaff bloodlines

by

Al Khamsa President Pam Studebaker, her daughter Jill Erisman, and a few other dedicated breeders have began an effort to identify, locate, and preserve the remaining horses of Richard Pritzlaff’s breeding in the USA, which includes the bloodlines from Rabanna (Rasik x Banna by Nasr), pictured below. I wish them good luck. RJ Cadranell wrote … Read more

Photo of the Day: AAS Ghazala, Dahmat Shahwan of Saudi/Bahraini lines

by

Reader Regina from Germany sent me this picture of her 2001 mare AAS Ghazala (Ibn Taamrud x DB Jasidah by Desert Jalam).  Regina’s mare is special for many reasons: first, she is one of the very few asil Arabian horses — less than 10, I think — of the Dahman Shahwan line to *Sawannah, a mare imported … Read more

Barely Surving Lines: Kesia I, Kesia II, Mameluke

by

In 1874 and again in 1875, Captain Roger Upton traveled to the Syrian desert and purchased a number of Arabian horses from the Bedouin tribe of Sba’ah, which he imported to Great Britain. One of the mares he bought for a Mr. Sandeman, was the Ma’naghiyah Sbailiyah Haidee. Another was the mare Kesia (I), which he bough for a certain … Read more

New Khamsat

by

I got my copy of  the Khamsat magazine in the mail two days ago. Articles by Jeanne Craver, Joe Ferriss and RJ Cadranell on rare asil lines of yesterday and today, plus a primer on genetics and color inheritance by Michael Bowling, and much more. I waited till everyone was asleep and locked myself down … Read more

The story of Kuhaylat al-Musinn of Ibn Saud

by

[Edouard’s note: the story below was sent to me to Pure Man in Arabic, and is posted here under his name. Translation mine. It was first published a year ago, almost day for day and is being republished now]

These horses, al-Musinnat [plural form of Kuhaylat al-Musinn or al-Musinnah] are very ancient. They are from the horses of ‘Abdallah ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Faysal ibn Turki Aal Saud, the brother of King ‘Abd al-Aziz Aal Saud.

Prince Abd Allah, the brother of the king, had kept his horses in a private, separate farm. Upon his death, the horses went to his son, Prince Abd al-Rahman, and then to his grandson, Prince Faysal. And Prince Faysal is now aged. Then the horses went to Prince Turki Ibn Fahd Ibn Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Faysal ibn Turki, who is now preserving what remains from the asil horses, per God’s will.

Some of the Musinnat horses of Prince Abdallah, the brother of King Abd al-Aziz, participated in the Hedjaz campaign [i.e., the takover of the Hedjaz region from the Sharif of Mecca by the army of Ibn Saud in 1924].  Two men from Ibn Saud’s army fought particularly well in some episodes of this campaign: the first was Badi ibn Dhubyan from the tribe of Subay’, and he was riding a Musannan stallion that belonged to Prince Abdallah, the king’s brother. The second was Ibn Wareek, a Qahtan Bedouin from an ancient horsebreeding family.

Both fought pitched battles on horseback against one of the Sharif’s toughest warriors: Kharbush al-Dhuwaybi of the Harb tribe, who was riding a black stallion. Badi killed Kharbush in one of the battles, and the Sharif’s troops and Bedouin auxiliaries were defeated.

Read more

A detailed look at *Urfah’s hujjah

by

[This article, first published on April 16th, 2010, was just updated and expanded, and is being reposted now]

The inquiry on the “Davenport Arabian” hujaj begins with *Urfah, who is present in the pedigree of our “case study” mare Jauhar El-Khala 75 times. My own Wisteria has a 151 crosses to *Urfah, and her newborn daughter Wadhah traces to *Urfah a stunning 219 times (!)

Click here for what the reference book Al Khamsa Arabians III has to say about *Urfah. Most of the information is essentially extracted from the hujjah itself, a translation of which is below (translation mine, adapted from the version I did for Al Khamsa Arabians III in 2005, which was a word-to-word translation):

“I, Dhidan, testify by God that she came from [the clan of ] ‘Abdah from the tribe of Shammar; they [i.e, the clan of ‘Abdah] testified to my father Jar Allah al-‘Awaji, the father of Dhidan al-‘Awaji; they testified to my father that she is the Saqlawiah from the horses of al-‘Abd;

I testify by God on the testimony of my father that she is Saqlawiah from the horses of al-‘Abd; I swear by God, I o Dhidan al-‘Awaji that she is Saqlawiah al-‘Abd; she is to be mated and we have mated her; she is Saqlawiah al-‘Abd, protected, with us for forty years.

Dhidan al-‘Awaji Sheykh of Wuld Sulayman, the owner of the stud [seal],
Mishrif ibn Huraymis Sheykh of al-‘Ajajirah [seal]

I, Malik ibn Fardh (illegible word, maybe al-Buhi), testify on the testimony of Dhidan al-‘Awaji: I testify by God

The witnesses of the situation: Nahar al-Haj Sheikh of Shammar

We testify on the testimony of Dhidan al-Awaji that she is Saqlawiah al-‘Abd and that she is to be mated: Mohammad Aal Hamad and Uthman Aal Hamad from the village of Khirbat Kayar, Uqlah al-Dhul’ubab, Haj Umar ibn Haj Makki [from] Halab, Haj Ahmad Bat-hish from the village of al-Bab, Mohammad ibn Haj Ahmad (illegible word) Halab

That was the front page of the hujjah document; there is more writing on the back of the hujjah:

As for the two stallions, the first is bay, his age two years and the second is chestnut his age is one year and a half, I swear by God that they are the sons of the bay mare referred to on the inside of this [document] and she is Saqlawiah, protected, her strain was not hit [with accusations of impurity] and I testify that the [persons] referred to are just and that their testimony is acceptable.
Ahmad Hafez [seal]

I will use two methods to read this text: first text analysis, and second, context analysis. The first focuses solely on what is written in the document; the second, on how what is written in the document relates to other things we may know from other sources.

Read more

Asil Crabbet damlines one hundred years later

by

Recently, I have been re-reading a lot of the old articles RJ wrote for Arabian Visions magazine, to refresh my memory as I start working on an Al Khamsa project on rare lines (more on this later). One of my favorite RJ articles is “The Blunts and Crabbet Stud: An Abbreviated History and Description of the … Read more

Photo of the day: Javera Thadrian

by

In tribute to one of the best stallions in America, the stallion Joe Ferriss says  ‘comes out of a 19th century engraving’ … and the sire of my little Wadha (and grandsire of her dam Wisteria). Javera Thadrian, a 1982 asil Kuhaylan Haifi stallion. Photo taken by either Charles Craver or Anita Westfall (photographer supreme).

Wadha page

by

As Jeanne Craver sends me and more pictures from Wisteria’s new daughter Wadha, I thought I’d create a new page especially dedicated to her, instead of keeping to bug readers with new pics every other day. Here’s the link, which you can check for updates from time to time.

error: Content is protected !!