A blog on desert arabian horses, past, present and future
Nureddin II was born in 1911 at Crabbet Park in the UK. He was reported to have been sired by Rijm out of Narguileh, and thus a full brother to Nasik. He was bought by Roger Selby and exported to the USA in 1933. He was a big horse, measuring a full 16 hands, but … Read more
I am excited because I finally found pictures of two asil mares I had never seen before: the two Kuhaylat al-Hayf sisters Iras (El Alamein x Portia by Tripoli) and HB Octavia (Ibn Alamein x Portia), both bred at Craver Farms and the founders of dynasties of their own within Davenport breeding in the USA. … Read more
Ansata Shah Zaman, by Morafic out of Ansata bint Mabrouka by Nazeer. Photo in 1972 from the Billy Sheets photo collection.
The four shots of Ansata Ibn Sudan (Ansata Ibn Halima x Ansata Bint Mabrouka by Nazeer) were taken in 1972, and are from the photo collection of the late Billy Sheets. They were taken in 1972.
I don’t think these two photos of the Egyptian stallion Ansata Ibn Halima (Nazeer x Halima by Sheykh El Arab) have been published before. They were taken at the 1972 nationals, and are from the photo collection of the late Billy Sheets.
Since we have been talking about the Hadban Enzahi strain in “Davenport” breeding in the USA, here is a photo of the 1959 stallion Trian (Tripoli x Ehwat-Ansarlah by Kasar), an earlier representative of this strain. He was the result of a collaboration between Liz Paynter who owned his dam, and Charles Craver who owned his … Read more
There are basically two groups of Davenport mares of the Habdan strain. One group traces through the Trisarlah daughter Waddarlah, then to Bint Oberon, then to two daughters who bred on: DDA Hadba and DDA Shalaana. Bint Oberon’s third daughter, ACDS Bonne Jour, has had no foals. DDA Hadba (no longer producing) has one daughter, R … Read more
Few people outside the group of North American Davenport breeders are aware of the existence of a fourth tail female of asil Arabians entirely tracing to the 1906 importation of 27 desert-bred horses from North Arabia. The Kuhaylan Haifis, the Kuhaylan Krush, and the horses tracing to Schilla are well known, but the Hadbans not … Read more
The third lesson I took from my observation of Davenport breeding in the USA over the last ten years or so is the openness and transparency of the research on these horses. Research — both scientific and historical — is an essential element of preservationist and conservationist organizations. Most preservationist organizations in the USA are … Read more
This picture is from the Craver photo collection, courtesy of Jeanne Craver. It is another one of my favorite pictures of Arabian stallions of Davenport lines.. Lysander (Sir x Dhalana by Salan), was one of the main stallions at Craver Farms in the 1970s and 1980s.
The first lesson I took from from the success of “Davenport” breeding in the USA is connectedness, and I talked about it in an earlier entry. Another lesson is that it’s a nice story that was also nicely told. The history of every single Arabian horse breeding group is equally fascinating: Egyptian Arabians and the … Read more
I am a relatively recent addition to the group of North American-based breeders of the Arabian horses known as “Davenport Arabians”, since I bought Wisteria CF in from Charles and Jeanne Craver in 2006. “Davenports” are a very special group of horses descending from the horses imported by Homer Davenport from the Northern Arabian desert … Read more
Ambar reminded me of this 1994 video by Carol Mingst, where some of the Davenport Arabian stallions in the North-West USA appear. You will see the magnificent stallions Kuhaylan Haifi stallion Audobon (Iliad x Audacity) and a paternal grandson of Monsoon, SA Apogee (Ascendant x Copper Hill Rysa by Flight Plan), as well as Al … Read more
Bon Vivant CFÂ was bred at Craver Farms by Lysander out of Bonne Fortune by Dharanad. He looks splendid in that picture.
There is this photo of the beautiful asil stallion Sumeyr (Bango d.b. x Jamnia by the Algerian asil Oukrif out of Taflia by the Egyptian Ibn Fayda) on allbreedigree here. He was bred at a private stud in Tunisia, then exported to France where he stood at the government stud of Pau, in the South West. His … Read more
Iricho was born in Tunisia in 1959 at the stud of French Navy Admiral – and otherwise master Arabian horse breeder – Anatole Cordonnier, who sold him to the French government a few years later. Iricho, a Jilfan Dhawi tracing to Wadha, bred by the Fad’aan Bedouins and imported from the Arabian Desert to Algeria in 1875 … Read more
Arnault Decroix send me this picture of his very promising 2005 stallion Dahess Hassaka (al-Ameer Dahess x Oghareet by Marzouk out of Hanadi by Krush Juhayyim), which was bought from Radwan Shabareq and imported to France in 2009. An asil Kuhaylan al-Nawwaq from the very old marbat of the Naqashbandi sufi mystics of the Middle Euphrates valley, … Read more
Dahess (Awaad x Al-Jazi by the Ubayyan of ‘Atnan al-Shazi) was a 1987 grey stallion. He was bred by sayyid Muhammad al-Shaykh Salim a Tufayhi, a non-Bedouin from a family of religious notables in Upper Mesopotamia, as so was his dam. He was a ‘Ubayyan Sharrak by strain, tracing to the marbat of ‘Awwad ‘Azzam al-Sahlan, or … Read more
J’aimerais revenir sur le cheval Tunisien nommé Jehol Sahraoui (Ouaffar x Kalthoumia par Sabour), un bai soutenu né chez M Heinz Gerd Bergmann… J’ai eu loisir de monter cet étalon en 1989 lors d’une visite chez les Ghobber, éleveurs semi nomades à l’époque dans la région de Maknassy. Sortie en compagnie du Chef de Tribu Rhida … Read more
The first and only desert-bred Syrian stallion we ever owned. More on him later, as I dig up better photos. This one was taken in 1995 at the farm of Mustafa Jabri in Aleppo, where Dahess was standing at stud. My father is teasing him..
Starting in the 1950s, so-called “Iraqi Arabians” swept across the Middle East race tracks of Lebanon, and, to a lesser extent, of Egypt and the Sudan. Until then, the overwhelming majority of the racehorses involved in the racing industry of these countries were asil desert-breds from the Northern and Central Arabian deserts. The Iraqi Arabians were … Read more
The 1943 mare *Kouhailane (photo above, not flattering) was one of the 14 horses to be imported to the USA by press magnate W.R. Hearst in 1947. She hails from the Lebanese plain of Akkar, north of Tripoli and close to the Syria border. ‘Akkar is the prime horse-breeding area in Lebanon. It is a very … Read more
I thought I’d gather in one place all the relevant information on this blog about those asil lines that just about to vanish. In most cases, the line is down to one single individual horse. You’ll find that information by scrolling all the way down the middle column, in a series of link called “Rare … Read more
The desert-bred Saqlawi Jadran stallion Ihsan (Hamdani Simri x Nadya, a Saqlawiyah Jadraniyah) was the second stallion at the Jabri stud in the 1990s. He was mainly used as an outcross to Mahrous daughters. What I liked about him was his large expressive eye, his huge half-moon cheekbone, his nice croup, as well as his … Read more
This mare was mentioned several times on this blog. She is a Kuhaylat al-Wati of the marbat of Hakim al-Ghishm of the Shammar Bedouins in Nort-Eastern Syria. Her sire, dam, grandsire and granddam, and her ancestors beyond that are from the same marbat, and bred by the same family. She was owned by Mustafa Jabri … Read more
This is the unbeaten racehorse Al Sakbé (Kesberoy x Morgane de Piboule by Djourman), born in 1995. This is Akim de Ducor by Akbar (Djelfor x Fantasia by Gosse du Bearn) out of Ishra, who is by Tornado de Syrah (by Djourman), born in 2005. This is Elios de Carrere, 1992, by Manganate out of Nerva … Read more
Al Khamsa has a new website, larger, slicker, with tons of information and at your fingertips. The education section is particularly rich, with articles, lists of foundation horses and a preservation section about endangered lines.
From now on, I will use the term “Pseudo-Arabian” to refer to horses that are registered as Arabians in a WAHO-approved studbook, but are in reality part-bred Arabians with varying amounts of non-Arabian blood running in their veins. They are part-breds in disguise. The Qatari horse Amer (by Wafi x Bushra on paper), the Saudi … Read more
This photo is from the collection of the late Mary Gharagozlu, through Brigitte Killian. It pictures the Bahraini Kuhaylat al-Mulawlish mare Mlolesh Al-Yatima (Jellabi al-Asil x Mlolesh).
Fancy Flight (Tripoli x Ceres by Aramis) was a full sister to Monsoon. Asil Kuhaylah Hayfiyah bred by Craver Farms, and founder of a family of herself. Photo courtesy of Jeanne Craver.
This is a Kuhaylah Hayfiyah at the stud of the late Alaa Din Jabri (Mustafa’s uncle), east of Aleppo. I forgot what her name was, but you can easily find her in the first Volume of the Syrian studbook. Her sire was Mahrous, and her dam one of the two bay Kuhaylah Hayifiyah mares daughters … Read more
This mare is a desert-bred Hamdaniyat al-‘Ifri, bred by a Bedouin named Mus’ir Hamad al-Sakran, who also bred her son *Ta’an. *Ta’an was imported to the USA in 1994. Her sire was the grey Kuhaylan al-Wati of Diab al-Sbeih of the Shammar Bedouins, a stallion who was used over a short period of time, but … Read more