It’s all in the title. Mokhtar is the black desert-bred Kuhaylan al-Krush stallion bred by the Shammar, and has been a recent fixture on this blog.. His owner Chantal Chekroun says that professionally frozen semen will be available for him this coming September, to respond to international demand. The horse is turning 24 next year, so the clock is ticking.. Soon, with Bedouins becoming sedentary and more integrated in the global economy, the notion of a desert-bred horse born under a tent will itself come to and end. Below is a photo of one of Mokhtar’s sons in France, the stallion Quarzai, who recently earned third place at a 90 miles endurance race.
Below is a photo of Hijab (Ward Al Mayel x Nisreen by Mubarak), an asil Saqlawiyah Jadraniyah now in France, with Chantal Chekroun, who sent me this picture. Chantal also owns the black Kuhaylan al-Krush stallion Mokhtar. Note the similarity between this photo of Hijab and some of the Priztlaff horses of Rabanna bloodlines (especially the progeny of Kuval RSI) The bay Hijab was born in Syria, by Mostafa al-Jabri’s asil Kuhaylan Ibn Jlaidan stallion Al-Ward al-Mayed (Mahrous x Nadrah), out of Basil Jadaan’s Saqlawiyah Jadraniyah mare Nisreen (Mobarak x Marwah). Basil gave Hijab and the black Mokhtar to Mrs. Mennings who took them to France. They were later acquired by Chantal Chekroun, who bred them to each other. The breeding of Mokhtar to Hijab produced the dark bay Menjad Maram al-Baida (photo below, by Sophie Lacarre) now a stallion at the Balthasar’s Haras de la Lizonne in Western France. I first wrote about Menjad on this blog several months ago (click here to read). Then I wrote about him and his grand-dam Marwah again here. Chantal retained Manjad’s full sister Quokriya Al Shatane (Mokhtar x Hijab), whose headshot below she also sent me. The long established marbat of the Saqlawi…
This is not so good photo of what is certainly a very nice colt. This young fellow was bred by Pam Baker of South Carolina. He is the result of breeding the Kuhaylan al-‘Ajuz stallion Salil Ibn Iliad, who traces in tail female to the mare *Nufoud of the Saudi royal stables, to the mare Atah Saqlawiyah, actually a Hamdaniyah by strain, tracing back to *Galfia of the Hamidie Society importation of the USA in 1893. Salil Ibn Iliad, one of the few asil stallions in the USA not to carry Blunt bloodlines, is owned by Lesley Detweiler and is standing at stud at Pam Baker’s. Atah Saqlawiyah was bred by Jackson Hensley of New Mexico and carries a rare line to the precious Saqlawi al-Abd stallion Zarlan (Mistlany x Zarieha by Kahar), a product of Jane Ott’s Blue List program. This colt, which is in my eyes illustrates Combined Source – for lack of a better term – breeding at its best, is looking for a new home.