“It’s been a long December, and there’s reason to believe Maybe this year will be better than the last.” — Counting Crows, “A Long December” Saqlawi al-’Abd Tripoli, a cornerstone of the straight Davenports as they exist today (images in the left column), and his Kuhaylan Hayfi grandson Memoir UF, called Rory by those who loved him (images in the right column). Do click through that last shot of Rory, he’s all there and very admirable to boot. Tripoli is serving as a lesson horse in his under-saddle photo, with Tom Neese up; Rory as a show horse, though I don’t know the rider’s name or the photographer. Thanks to Aida Schreiber for taking the conformation shots of Rory, and for bringing Rababe CF and Neroli CF to him in his old age, producing his two sons Firewater SF and Damascus SF respectively. (You saw his daughter, ADA Recapitulation, earlier in the series.) One last thought for the year to come, from the TB Friends (a Thoroughbred rescue) sort-of blog: Another of my favorite comments from 2010. A family in Davis greeted an older thoroughbred mare from the Wilton feed lot. A young boy, 9 or 10, walked up to…
A father-son pairing this time, both Kuhaylan Hayfi. Atticus (Dharanad x Fairy Queen) is 24 in the first image. Attikos (Atticus x Marigold CF) is three (and, I think, in the middle of a trot-canter transition—). See how Attikos is using his LS joint, “sitting down” in the rear to push off? A quick look found this image showing the ideal LS joint as being over the point of the hip, creating a short, strong loin and a long hip (the illustration says “long croup“). Attikos is pretty close to this ideal.
I have drawn a list of 5 asil mares in the USA, which if lost, would represent a huge loss of diversity in the asil Arabian horse in the USA. None have been replaced so far, and four out of five are old mares. Many of them have been mentioned on the website before. In order of decreasing preservation priority, they are: 1. Sarita Bint Raj (Rajmoniet RSI x Nejd Sahra Nisan by *Faleh), unregistered, 12 years old, last extant asil link to the imported stallions *Al-Mashoor and *Euphrates, one of the last asil links to the legendary *Mirage. Tail female to the Blunt mare Basilisk (but not through Pritzlaff’s Rabanna), a Saqlawiyah Jidraniyah. In California now, with a preservation breeder but not being bred. 2. Princess Asjah (Asjah Ibn Faleh who is by *Faleh x Cardinelle by *Saba El Zahraa), 20 years old, last asil tail female line to the Blunt mare Rosemary (Jeroboam x Rodania), through Rayyim from the Fred Glass program of the 1930s and 1940s. A Kuhaylah Rodaniyah, now in Kentucky, owned by a lady who takes good care of her but does not breed her. 3. Halley (Audobon x Peta by Lysander), 25 year old, one of…
The 1911 Ma’naghiyah mare Abbess has no remaining descent, and her sire *Abbeian‘s sire line in the straight Davenports died out with Ibn Ralf. Her dam, *Farha, has a thin line remaining (both in straight Davenports, and another family in Al Khamsa more generally) through Ralf. I don’t know if Abbess’ age in this picture is known, but she looks young to me, perhaps two or three. Photo courtesy of Jeanne Craver.
Michael Bowling tells me this historic image, previously published as *Urfah, is now believed to be Freda (the markings don’t match *Urfah’s in any case.) Freda, it is hypothesized, had her identity confused with Saleefy’s when both mares were sold in 1918. Freda descends entirely from the Hamidie Society importation of 1893. The markings of the foal with her do not match any of her registered Arabian produce—per Michael, this is probably the Anglo-Arabian Frecon (by Consider). The modern image is an October 2007 shot of Freda’s presumed tail female descendant, the splendid mare Jonquil CF, producer of Eldar HD (featured yesterday) among others. You can’t see it as well as I could wish, but that beautiful shoulder (and neck, and loin coupling, and…) have come right down the line. Her sire Ibn Alamein had it as well, and was generous with it.
For today, the 1904 Saqlawi al ‘Abd stallion *Hamrah, of whom much has been said previously, and his century-later echo, the 2004 Hamdani Simri stallion Eldar HD, bred by Michael Bowling. In 2003, I wrote of the 22 year old Palisades CF, “I want a magic wand so I can have another twenty years with this horse.” Replied Michael, “I guess that’s what we breed them for.”
It’s Boxing Day, so you get a bonus Davenport. (Actually, I ran across a series of comparisons between historic and modern Davenports that some Davenport people did in email in 2006, and I’ll try to share the ones I can illustrate.) Sotamm, 1919 brown mare (*Hamrah x *Farha) ADA Recapitulation, 2003 chestnut mare (Memoir UF x Capucine), age 2. When I first saw the Sotamm picture, I was initially shocked by the resemblance, then gratified to realize that we really are doing more than just preserving names in pedigrees.
For our faithful readers who may be taking a break from unwrapping, photographing, and/or toasting, I’m offering a Davenport photo a day for the next twelve days. Do you know anyone who needs yet another partridge in a pear tree? Thought not. Rababe CF, 1987 Hamdaniyah Simriyah (Lydian x Fiddledeedee). When not caring for small children, as in this photo, I understand she has a pretty impressive spin and sliding stop.
The Beirut, Lebanon, race track built in 1910 was a rare piece of Levantine-Florentine architecture that was destroyed in 1982. The Baghdad, Iraq, race track was built in 1920. When the Bagdad racetrack was closed due to political upheavals in Iraq, horse racing in Beirut flourished. Many of the Iraqi racehorse owners began racing their horses in Beirut, where they spent the hot summer months. Iraqi horses began to come to Beirut in the end of the 1940’s. These horses were often from a different type than the desert Syrian horses who until then were a majority at the Beirut racetrack and the Iraqis began to win nearly every race. In 1953, Gilbert Asseily, the well-known journalist in charge of the horse racing section of the French speaking news paper “L’Orient” wrote an article with the title “Why Iraqi horses are beating our horses”, where he said: “these horses are from the progeny of the Anglo Arab “Tabib” and I suggest that they run in separate races”. Of course, nobody took his advice seriously and the Iraqi horse invasion amplified after 1958 when the new Iraqi military leader Abdul Karim Kassem closed the Baghdad racetrack. When in 1987 the Syrian Ministry of Agriculture, followed in 1990 by the Lebanese SPARCA…
In the interest of resurrecting, if only for the duration of a minute or two, a now defunct component of the Bedouin heritage on desert-bred Arabian horses, I am starting this new series on extinct or uncommon strains. It will consist of a mention of the strain, and a couple anecdotes about it. The first such strain I will mention is Hazqan, which is now extinct. The only known marbat of Hazqan that I know of was that of the Masaribah clan of the Sba’ah tribe, and it was called after their name: Hazqan Misrabi. The Dandashi landlords of Tall Kalakh in Western Syria had a branch of that marbat, which they celebrated in their poetry. Interestingly, the stallion Shour, first owned by Lord Herbert Kitchener (d. 1916) and later given to Egypt’s RAS as one of its foundation stallions, was from that strain, which the RAS refers to as “Kuhaylan Hazakan”. Shour qualifies as “Straight Egyptians. Not that it matters, because he did not leave any modern descendents.
The very feminine Chablis CF (Sir Marchen x Sauterne by Tripoli), a Hamdaniyah Simriyah of Davenport bloodlines bred by Craver Farms in 1981. The strain goes back in tail female to the Bani Sakhr Bedouins, through the mare Schilla.
Another beautiful asil stallion of the same generation as El Iat is Greggan (Ibn Gulida x Gharida by Bidaj), a Saqlawi Jadran who traces entirely (as in 100%) to the Crabbet Stud lines of Lady Anne and Wilfrid Blunt. The Doyle breeding program, which celebrate its sixty years in 2009, is based on the three foundation horses Ghadaf, Gulida and Nusi, is the only Arabian horse breeding program in the world to descend from old Crabbet (i.e., no Skowronek, no Dargree) lines only. The Doyle Arabians are a true time capsule.
A good photo of the stallion El Iat (Ibn Fadl x Bint Turfara by Sirecho), a Kuhaylan stallion tracing to the desert-bred mare *Turfa of Ibn Saud, “imported in 1937 to England as a gift to the royal family, imported to Canada c1941, and imported in 1941 to the USA by Henry Babson”. He is survived by a son out of a mare of very similar pedigree: Ibn El Iat, born in 1992, when his sire was 26.
The 1981 mare Bucolique (photos below) by the Tunisian stallion Besbes (Esmet Ali x Karaouia by Loubieh) out of Berthe (Irmak x Bassala by Masbout d.b.) is one of the last asil representatives of the highly regarded “B” line of the French government stud of Pompadour. The line traces back in tail female to Wadha, a desert-bred Jilfat al-Dhawi, bred by the Fad’aan and imported by the French government to Algeria in 1875. In France, this line was inaugurated by the importation of the Algerian asil mare Bassala (Masbout d.b. x Saponnaire by El Managhi d.b.) to Pompadour. Bassala produced three remarkable asil daughters: Belle de Jour (by the asil Iricho), Berthe (by the asil Irmak) and Bossa Nova (by Iricho), which Robert Mauvy held in very high regard. I wrote about Bossa Nova here. The second daughter, Belle de Jour in turn produced two daughters by Irmak: the bays Belkis and Bismilah, both of which went to preservation homes, with Jean-Claude Rajot and Adrien Deblaise, respectively. Both Jean-Claude and Adrien bred the line pure for a couple more generations during the 1980s and 1990s. The third Bassala daughter produced two daughters by Besbes: Best and Bucolique. The first one I…
Matthias prompted me to tally the asil tail males in the West, following the series of entries on asil tail females. I just did it, and it was even faster than I expected: 1) Zobeyni, Saqlawi Jadran, imported to Egypt around the 1850s and bred by the Fad’aan (‘Anazah). Update 2023: My recent book, “The Arabian Horses of Abbas Pasha; New Discoveries: The 1860 Abbas Pasha Sale List and Other Original Documents”, published in 2022 by Ansata Publications, showed that this Zobeyni sire line is very possibly a sire line to Abbas Pasha’s senior stallion Ghadir, a Saqlawi Jadran of the Simni strain, not to Zobeyni. 2) Saklawi I, a Saqlawi Jadran bred by Ali Pasha Sharif from original Abbas Pasha stock, likely to trace to other foundation stock of Abbas Pasha, possibly even Zobeyni or Ghadir. 3) Jamil El Kebir, Saqlawi Jadran, imported to Egypt around the 1880s and bred by the Fad’aan (‘Anazah) 4) El Deree, Saqlawi Sha’ifi, imported to Egypt around the 1920s and bred by the Jubur Bedouin tribe. 5) *Deyr, ‘Ubayyan Sharrak, imported to the USA in 1906, from the ‘Anazah. 6) *Muson, Kuhaylan al-Musinn, imported to the USA in 1906, from a line going…
If we add up the numbers of asil tail female in the four previous entries (Egyptian lines, in Europe, in the USA, and in South Africa), and remove the redundancies associated with the Rodania and Ghazieh lines that appear in both Egyptian and non-Egyptian breeding, we end up with 42 asil tail females in the “West”. Note: This number does not include North African, Saudi, Bahraini and Syrian lines which are more or less recent import to Western Countries. Note: There is nothing asil left from the old South American and Australian lines, so our survey of Western lines ends here.
Now this is the list of asil tail female Egyptian lines around the world (including Egypt). This list has been compiled many times before, including by J. Forbis in Authentic Arabian Bloodstock and by Colin Pearson in the Arabian Horse Families of Egypt. Kuhaylan 1) Rodania, Kuhaylah Rudaniyah, imported to the UK in 1881, through descendants Bint Rissala and Bint Riyala, and bred by the Ruwalah (‘Anazah) 2) El Kahila, Kuhaylah (maybe Krush), imported to Egypt in 1927, from the House of Saud 3) Nafaa, Kuhaylah, imported to Egypt around 1945, from the House of Saud 4) Futna, Kuhaylah Khallawiyah, from a line imported to Egypt by the Tahawi from either the ‘Anazah or the Mawali ca. 1910 Saqlawi 5) Ghazieh through Bint Helwa; Saqlawiyah Jadraniyah, Ghazieh imported to Egypt around 1850, bred by the Ruwalah (‘Anazah) 6) Roga El Beda, Saqlawiyah Jadraniyah, from the Stud of Ali Pasha Sharif in Egypt; research on tribal connection ongoing. 7) Mabrouka, Saqlawiyah, imported to Egypt in 1945, from the House of Saud. 8 Hind, Saqlawiyah, imported to Egypt in 1945, from the House of Saud. 9) Bint Barakat, Saqlawiyah Jidraniyah, from a line imported to Egypt by the Tahawi tribe from the…
In Keeping with the two previous entries, here are the non-Egyptian asil tail female lines remaining in South Africa today: Kuhaylan 1) Rodania, through Rosina (Saoud x Ruth by Bendigo), Kuhaylah Rudaniyah (branch of K. al-‘Ajuz), imported to the UK in 1881, bred by the Ruwalah (‘Anazah) 2) Freiha al-Hamra, through Barakah, Kuhaylan Mimrihiyah, imported to Egypt in the 1880s, and bred by the Fad’aan (‘Anazah)
This entry expands the list to non-Straight Egyptian asil tail females in the USA to lines surviving in Europe and South Africa. It ties together several other blog entries that preceded it. So in Europe, and also excluding relatively recent Tunisian, Algerian, Moroccan, Bahraini, Syrian and Saudi imports to European countries, you have the lines of : Kuhaylan: 1) 60-Adjuse, Kuhaylat al-Shaykhah (a branch of K. al-‘Ajuz), imported to Hungary in 1885, with female descendants only through 25-Amurath Sahib, from the Sba’ah (Anazah) Hamdani: 2) Sobha, Hamdaniyah Simriyah, imported to the UK in 1891, a handful asil descendants in Austria now. No Strain recorded: 3) Murana I, imported to what is now Germany in 1816, female descendants through Soldateska only, mainly in Germany. All three lines are accepted by Al Khamsa, including n. 2, which has lines to the Courthouse desert-bred stallions Nimr, and Fedaan, who were accepted by Al Khamsa in 1987.
I now realize that I’ve never listed tail female asil Arabian lines in the USA in one place before. I want to make up for this omission. As “Straight Egyptian” horses constitute the overwhelming majority of asil Arabians in this country (more than 95%??), I thought I’d list the Straight Egyptian female lines in a later blog entry. Here’s the list, by strain, and you can click on the name of the original mare to learn more about her: Kuhaylan: 1) *Nufoud, Kuhaylat al-‘Ajuz, imported the USA in 1931, from the House of Saud. 2) *Reshan, Kuhaylah Hayfiyah (branch of al-‘Ajuz), imported to the USA in 1906, bred by the Fad’aan (‘Anazah) 3) Rodania, Kuhaylah Rudaniyah (branch of al-‘Ajuz), imported to the UK in 1881, bred by the Ruwalah (‘Anazah). 4) *Werdi, Kuhaylat al-Krush, imported to the USA in 1906, from a line originally tracing the Sba’ah (‘Anazah). 5) *Turfa, Kuhaylat al-‘Ajuz, imported to the USA in 1941, from the House of Saud. Saqlawi: 6) Basilisk, Saqlawiyah Jadraniyah, imported to the UK in 1879, bred by the Sba’ah (‘Anazah) 7) Kariban, Saqlawiyah Jadraniyah, imported to Argentina in 1898, bred by the Ruwalah (‘Anazah) 8- *Urfah, Saqlawiyat al-‘Abd, imported to the USA in 1906, bred…
Did you read the blog entries on *Turfa and the desert-bred Hamdani stallion Manak on Ralph Suarez’ blog? Also, have you ever thought of comparing Manak, a Hamdani of Ibn Ghiam (which by the way is the same marbat as Mrs. Danah Al-Khalifa’s desert-bred foundation mare Seetah), to *Munifan, the desert-bred Kuhaylan stallion bred by the same Crown Prince Saud to George O’Brien and imported to the USA in 1947 (photo below).
Recently, I was looking at the list of horses with a line or more to the 1911 Crabbet stallion Nureddin II (Rijm x Narguileh), and a quick look at his offspring led me to believe that there were none left who only traced to Al Khamsa-accepted foundation horses plus Nureddin II. In other words, I thought there were no living descendants of his which, if Nureddin II were ever to be accepted by Al Khamsa, could be added to the Al Khamsa Roster. I was wrong. They may two or three left. Some of the last otherwise Al-Khamsa-eligible Arabians with a line to Nureddin II traced to the ‘Ubayyah Sharrakiyah mare Laida and those of her descendants who were bred at Anchor Hill Stud, from the tail female of the desert-bred Davenport mare *Abeyah. These no longer have otherwise Al-Khamsa eligible offspring. But there is another line of horses that trace exclusively to Al Khamsa-accepted Arabians plus Nureddin II, and this one might have a handful descendants still living. This is the 1970 mare GC Faseema (Fa-Rousse x Raseema by Indrage out of Kaffa by *Sunshine), a Kuhaylah Hayfiyah tracing in tail female to the desert-bred mare *Reshan. Her grandsire,…
I am pleased to see Thea Isis featured on Edouard’s site and I could not resist offering a few more images of her. The first is of her in a pasture, the second is of Thea Isis in 1983 at Carol Lyon’s farm in the spring with her filly LD Abba Isis sired by the Babson stallion Ibn Mahrouf (Mahrouf x Serr Abba), and the third is a close up of her head from the second photo. I used this close up of Thea Isis’s head in my presentation in Minnesota on desert Arabian type because I wanted newcomers to appreciate how beautiful an Arabian can be with very little hint of a dished face. Note not only the beautiful large dark eye but the harmonious placement of the eye in relation to the ears and the nostrils. These are the “Chorus Girl” eyes that Homer Davenport wrote about. Thea Isis was a timelessly magnificent mare in the same way as the stallion Javera Thadrian also was. I also used his image in my Minnesota presentation because when one sees these images they first see the original magnificence of the traditional Arabian, the timeless look, without my even identifying the…
Per Jenny Krieg’s suggestion, the Iras full sister Thea Isis, and her daughter, the iconic JAL Athena. Now all we need is a good shot of Portent, HB Octavia’s full brother, and we can complete the set. P.S. I’m sorry about the cropping, but I couldn’t quite get the gallery to do what it said it would do. If you click through each image, you can see the whole thing.