The 26 year old chestnut Ma’naqiyah Sbayliyah mare Dakhala Sahra (Plantagenet x Soiree by Sir) just joined the group of old broodmares whose lines I am trying to preserve. She was bred by Jeanne Craver in 1985, and then went to Charles’ cousin Crista Couch, and then to Kathryn Busch, who sold her to me. I was about 10 or 12 the first time I came upon a horse of that line. That was before the internet, and before DVDs too. I was going through the Asil Club’s publication Asil Araber II, when, buried in a sea of Egyptian pedigrees, I found the photo of Erika Schiele’s stallion El Beshir (Faaris x Sirrulla by Sirecho), bred by Mrs Ott. The photo was in black and white and it showed a dapple grey horse, and I was taken by the horse as much as by its unusual strain (recorded as Ma’naqi Hadraji, but it’s actually Sbayli) and pedigree. There was also that famous photo of the Kuhaylan Hayfi stallion Lysander at Craver Farms, and I wondered about that unusual (ie, non SE) pedigree too.. She is by Plantagenet, and according to Charles, “more like Plantagenet than Plantagenet himself”. Her dam was…
Another of the handful of remaining asil Tahawi mares in Egypt is Mayssa, of the Kuhaylan al-Nawwaq strain, tracing to a marbat from the Sba’ah tribe. Mayssa belongs to Mrs. Helga al-Tahawi, the German wife of the late Sheykh Soliman al-Tahawi. Mrs. Helga is on the far left of the picture with Yehia, Sheykh Soliman’s nephew, and otherwise a breeder of registered (WAHO, EAO) Straight Egpytian Tahawi horses from the three Hamdan lines. Mayssa is not registered but is very asil. Forgive the quality of the photo please, and try to look at the mare itself.
I am very proud to share with you some photos of the remaining asil horses of the Tahawi clan in Egypt. These horses are the very last remaining asil descendants of the large breeding program of the Tahawis, based exclusively on desert-bred Arabians imported from the tribes of Sba’ah, Ruwalah, Fad’aan, Hssinah and Shammar between the 1880s and the 1940s. This one is a Kuhaylah J’aithiniyah, a grand-daughter of the mare Bombolla (Rock x Masquerade by Ibn Bakhshish), of Sheykh Soliman ‘Abd al-Hamid Eliwa al-Tahawy, and tracing to the desert-bred mare “J’aithiniyah al-Kabira”, brought by the Tahawis from the ‘Anazah in the 1920s. I, Yasser, am the proud owner of this mare. She is one of the handful mares that has been recognized as “horses of interest” by Al Khamsa at their last annual convention.
Nice photo by Christine Emmert in 2007 of the 2000 bay Kuhaylat Krush mare Cataree (Mandarin CF x Minaret CF by Heir Apparent). The photo appeared this week on the Davenport Arabian Horse Conservancy website.
I am happy to introduce Yasser Ghanim Barakat of the larger Tahawi clan in Egypt as a guest blogger on Daughters of the Wind. Yasser, his cousin Mohammad Mohammad Othman al-Tahawi and Yehia Abd al-Sattar Eliwa al-Tahawi have been working with Bernd Radtke, Joe Ferriss and myself as well as a number of others to further the cause of the remaining asil horses of the Tahawi (some 20 plus mares and a stallion), as Yasser put it so well in his post on the StraightEgyptians.com: “The great and historical decision taken by Al Khamsa to recognize all the remaining Tahawy horses renews hope in preserving these asil and rare bloodlines of desert Arabians (see: https://daughterofthewind.org/tahawi-tribel…is-is-historic/ ) Tahawy Arabians were dominating the race in Egypt in the period between the 1880s and 1960s. They were an important source for most of Egypt’s famous breeders such as Lady Anne Blunt, the Egyptian Royal family and the members of the Jockey club. The Tahawy horses descend from some of the finest desert bred horses acquired by the Tahawies from the best strains of the notable Sheikhs of Eneza and Shammar tribes. Original certificates stamped by Eneza and Shammar Shaikhs were issued for the Tahawy horses…
It’s no secret that the asil lines in the West are increasingly tightly bred, so much that many equine scientists believe this is a major concern for the sustainability of the breed in the medium and long terms. More than ninety five percent (and maybe more!) of asil horses in the West (the USA, Europe, Australia, etc) are Straight Egyptian or Egyptian related. All Straight Egyptian and Egyptian related horses carry a non-trivial measure of Blunt blood from the Crabbet and Sheykh Obeyd Studs. The influence of the Blunt’s breeding program is arguably the most pervasive of any Arabian horse breeding program so far. All “New Egyptian” horses carry Blunt blood through Rustem (Astraled x Ridaa), Kazmeen (Sottam x Kasima) who is Nazeer’s grandsire, Hamran (Berk x Hamasa), Bint Rissala (Ibn Yashmak x Rissala), Bint Riyala (Nadir x Riyala) and others. “Old Egyptian” (i.e., “Babson”) horses carry it through Bint Serra I (Sottam x Serra). “Babson-Browns” carry it through Gulastra (Astraled x Gulnare), and so do “Doyle” horses, which are the only 100% Blunt horses in existence. In short, Blunt blood is all over the place. There is a tiny group of asil Arabian horses in North America that does…
Yesterday, as I received the papers of the 26 year old Dakhala Sahra from Kathryn Busch, I said to myself: “Heck, this is the sixth horse I’ve owned in this country” (Wisteria, her filly and her colt =3; Jadiba =4; Monologue jointly with Darlene =5; Sahra =6; plus Chelsea who is a lease from Doris); then came this second thought, immediately after the first one: “I don’t own these horses, they own me”. I think about them day and night. Third thought, just now: “There must be something wrong with me, really”.
I don’t normally do ads, but this is just to let you know that there is a good asil Kuhaylan Hayfi stallion from the Craver Farms breeding program available in Illinois. Audacious CF is a 1998 grey stallion (Telemachus x Audacity by Lysander) from the Bint Dharebah (Monsoon x Dharebah) sub-family. I don’t know the owners, but the link to the ad is here. He has no progeny and judging from his outstanding pedigree, he would be a good stallion for any Davenport breeding program.
Jenny Krieg’s Ubayyat al-Bahrain (*Mlolshaan Hager Solomon x DB Kalila by AAS El Hezzez) has an impressive croup and shoulder, reminiscent of the progeny of another desert bred, the Syrian stallion Mahboob Halab, now in France.
RJ Cadranell just circulated this picture of the Kuhaylan Hayfi stallion Capulet (Lysander x Silvia by Sir) from the Arabian Horse World magazine.
The below standing rule has been unanimously adopted by the Al Khamsa Board, and concerns recognizing the remaining, surviving, original, tribal, authentic, asil horses of the Tahawi clan of Egypt as “horses of interest to Al Khamsa”. They are not registered by the Egyptian Agricultural Organization (EAO) and therefore not accepted by WAHO (long and sad story). They include some 20-25 mares of four different strains and one stallion. Whereas Al Khamsa, Inc. has an interest in and a history of saving bloodlines of horses of bedouin tribal background outside of North America, and Whereas expanded communication offered by the internet allows for availability of documentation beyond what could have been imagined when Al Khamsa, Inc. was founded, and Whereas the standing of Al Khamsa, Inc. allows it to exert peer pressure on international organizations, and Whereas the status of some of these bloodlines outside of North America is at a critical point, but an amendment to Article I of the Al Khamsa bylaws requires greater than a two-year lead time, be it resolved that: 1) Al Khamsa will recognize the last few remaining asil horses of the Tahawi tribe in Egypt as being “Al Khamsa Horses of Interest” on a preliminary…
The Kuhaylat al-Hayf mare Enchante CF (Zacharia x Velveteen by Sir) was bred at Craver Farms, and then sold to Shirley Jacobsen who then gave her to Pamela Klein.. She is now at Craver Farms, where this photo was taken last week by Nancy Becker. I saw this mare three times, and she never looked as good as in this picture.. Darlene Summers has the only foal of hers, a daughter by Triermain called Elegance, and everyone in the Davenport breeders community agrees that this grand and precious mare should have more foals.
This is Hart Asheera (Rafeer x Nisrs Asha by Ansata El Nisr), a 1986 Saqlawiyat al-‘Abd bred by Sheila Hart, and owned by Megan Detweiler, who is the lady in the picture. Click on the picture to enlarge it. This lovely mare is a cousin of my Jadiba, as both their great-grand-dams come from Fred Glass’s old breeding program which was centered around the mare Serije (Letan x Sedjur by *Hamrah). There is a relatively large group of Saqlawiyat al-‘Abd horses who trace to *Wadduda through Sahanad (Abu Hanad x Sahabet by Tanatra x Jadur by Jadaan x Sedjur by *Hamrah) via Jadur, but Hart Asheera and Jadiba are the only two left tracing to the other branch through Jadur’s sister Serije. Asheera is Megan’s favorite riding mare, and I wish she could leave her with a last foal, a filly this time (she had two colts who were gelded).
Photo from the Tahawi family website, maintained by Mohammed Mohammed Uthman Abdallah Saoud al-Tahawy.
The Hearst mare *Lebnaniah (Sergent Major x Ma’naqiyah) was the other addition to the Al Khamsa Roster this year. There are two horses, one stallion, and one mare tracing to her who are potentially alive, and we need to find them. Here is the text of my Roster proposal in 2009.
Jeanne Craver sent me these fresh pictures of my little Wadd (Triermain CF x Wisteria CF by Triermain CF), which Nancy Becker photographed last week. I like the broad, muscled chest. The white around the eyes seems characteristic of Wisteria’s progeny (see Tantris CF as a foal, here, scroll down to the end).
I also saw many nice horses at the Al Khamsa Convention. One of my favorites was the 24 year old mare Ebonys Doyle LHF (Ebony Nefous RSI x Larkin DE by Greggan), bred by Vincent Melzac, from two of his favorite horses, and now owned by Lesley Detweiler. She traces twice to the grand Rabanna (Rasik x Banna by Nasr), and her dam is a Doyle mare of 100% old Crabbet breeding. In my opinion, and regardless of the petty politics of what is “Straight Egyptian” and what isn’t, the more Rabanna blood in a horse, the better the horse. Also, Carl Raswan and Richard Pritzlaff did not save Rabanna in the 1950s, so that we waste her blood away in 2010. We cannot pay continuous lip service to their legacy, and do nothing about it in practice. Not sure how many horses with Rabanna blood remain today (someone needs to do a headcount), but something really needs to do something about that. And by the way, I don’t believe that the head of an Arabian horse needs to be more “extreme” than that. Anything beyond that becomes distortion.
Monday mornings are rough. This one was all the rougher because the weekend that preceded it was so good. Yesterday afternoon, I came back from the Al Khamsa Convention in Pennsylvania, where I saw old friends and made new ones. Many important things took place at this Convention, including the unanimous acceptance by Al Khamsa’s Board and General Assembly of the three Tahawi mares (Folla, Futna, and Bint Barakat) and their otherwise Al Khamsa eligible descendants as Al Khamsa Arabians Horses. All three mares trace their origins to horses imported by the Tahawi clan of Egypt from the Northern Arabian desert (to which the Tahawis had many connections, all documented) and more specifically from the ‘Anazah tribes of Sba’ah (mainly), Fad’aan, Hssinha, Wuld ‘Ali, Sawalimah and Ruwalah.
Darlene Summers and I are the proud new co-owners of the 2001 bay stallion Monologue CF (Riposte CF x Soliloquy CF by Regency CF), a Hamdani Simri tracing to *Galfia from the Bani Sakhr Bedouins. Monologue came as a generous gift from Pamela Klein (who maintains one of the largest and best herds of Davenport Arabians in the US today) to Darlene, who then kindly agreed to share him with me. He is now standing at stud at Craver Farms in Winchester, IL, and is available to Al Khamsa mares. Darlene and I plan to freeze his semen to make it available to future generations of asil breeders.
Here is a rare photo of the Moroccan bred 1972 stallion Breek (Burhan x Pascaline by Agres), imported to France by Jean Deleau. Morocco has a relatively small number of Arabians, and the original nucleus comes from four countries: Egypt, France, Algeria and Tunisia. Breek is no exception: his sire is the Egyptian Burhan (Morafic x Mouna by Sid Abouhom), gift of Pres. Nasser to the King of Morocco; his maternal grandsire Agres (Sumeyr x Altise by Abel) came from Pompadour in France; his great-grandsire Ras (Kriss II x Ambria by Nasr) came from Tunisia, his great-great-grandsire Aiglon (Othello III x Kasbah II) was a race horse from France , and his great-great-granddam Naaoura was the offspring of the desert bred Kuhaylan al-Nawwaq stallion Muslimie, who had come from Syria to Morocco through Algeria, and of a Shuwaymah mare, Nafa, who was bed by the French in Algeria.
Last year, Jenny Krieg and Rodger Vance Davis teamed up to take two of Rodger’s mares to be bred to the old Bahraini stallion *Mlolshaan Hager Solomon, in Michigan. This stallion, who came from Bahrain as a gift to his present owner Bill Biel, is currently the only stallion in the USA who was born in Arabia Deserta. Until then he had produced one asil mare, and Jenny decided to do something about the 24 year old stallion got any older. Rodger’s Dahmat Shahwan mare foaled a big handsome colt with the foot turned the wrong way who had to be destroyed. But his Ubayyah mare, who is tail female to *Mahraa of Ibn Jalawi of Saudi Arabia, foaled a very special filly for Jenny last month, named Ubayyat al-Bahrain, below. I wished we had more fillies displaying as much character and true Arab features as this one. Jenny even tells me there are plans to bring two other Saudi mares from Rodger’s to Solomon this year. Fingers crossed for that, and for more Solomon foals. Photo by Jamie Lamborn.
Fall foals have arrived, and this one was born last month at Janelle Wilde’s in Washington state Jackson Hensley’s in New Mexico, and is by Monologue (Riposte x Soliloquy by Regency) out of HH Noura Krush (Bayou CF x Topaz by Sportin Life). I am a big fan of Monologue.
I am thrilled! At 1.00 am this morning, Wisteria foaled a handsome colt, by her own sire Triermain. Jeanne Craver, who brought him to the world, with Charles, wrote: At 11 she was starting to think about it; at 1 she had a nose and one leg out and was lying on her back up against the wall. The hardest part was rolling her down off the wall, and then the other front foot was bent back at the pastern, and once I straightened that out, out he came with Wisteria doing most of the work. At one hour, he is up and walking on his own, he has had a bottle of mom’s best, and the mare has almost finished cleaning, I took a few iPhone photos in the dark. He is a handsome boy, withers at about my waist, legs straight, close coupling, nice neck…. everything looking good! Oh, and he’s grey. Surprise! In keeping with the W pattern of his dam, his granddam HB Wadduda, and his two sisters Walladah and Wadhah, he shall be named Wadd, the name of the ancient (before Islam) Arab god of love, whose sanctuary was located in the oasis town of Dumat al-Jandal…
Some time ago, I wrote about how the 1964 mare Carila (Caravan x Akila by Akil), the last asil mare from the female line of the Davenport mare *Abeyah was lost in the 1990s despite a last minute preservation effort.. Recently, while going through Datasource, I was thrilled to find out that an asil line to *Abeyah has actually survived, through modern show ring lines and outside any preservation program. This is the line of the 1963 mare RO Jameelah (Faaris x Ramleh, by Ghazi x Fersaba, by Ferdin x Saba), who has a line to Nureddin II through his son Ferdin, which means she is not Al Khamsa, because Al Khamsa does not accept Nureddin II. Now the case of Nureddin II (Rijm x Narguileh by Mesaoud) is a long and complex one, and a painful one at that. In my opinion, he is who the studbooks say he is, that is, the 1911 son of his two parents, the Crabbet horses Rijm and Narguileh. I have seen all the documentation available, and I don’t buy the arguments of either Carl Raswan or his disciple Jane Ott, about him being the son of an English Thoroughbred. This theory has been refuted many times by all serious researchers.…