Teymur, from Germany, sent me this picture of the Turkish Arabian mare Halepguzeli 3 (in Turkish, the “Beauty of Aleppo”), a Kuhaylat Umm Junub by Fis Fis (Hilaluzzaman d.b. x Macera d.b.) out of Halepguzeli 2 (Kurus, i.e., “Krush Halba” x Halezguzeli d.b). The original “Beauty of Aleppo” who was the grand-dam of the mare in the photo was a Kuhaylat Umm Junub born in 1930 and bred by a Nuri Effendi of Aleppo, Syria, and later imported to Turkey. So know we know at least two surviving lines for the precious strain of Kuhaylan Abu Junub, one in Saudi Arabia (but came from Syria in the 1960s-70s), and one in Turkey, which also came from Syria in 1930. I am simply amazed at the resilience of these rare strains that were so prevalent before and which at some point were thought to be lost. It’s like new sightings of birds everyone thought were extinct.
My Saqlawiyat al-‘Abd mare Jadiba (Dib x Jabinta by Jadib), who I went to see last weekend, is in foal to the Hamdani Simri stallion Vice Regent CF (Regency x Violetta by Salutation), who was bred by Craver Farms and is owned by Randal Abler and Gail Wells. Vice Regent recently had his first foal at age 20, and it’s a colt, Laarado (x Laarisa EAF, who is by Alaadri), who is owned by Kathy Kelly in Georgia. Photos below
Yesterday, a reader, Kim Fortune, sent me this New York Times article (I am using her words here) “recognizing the late mother of Anne Blunt, Augusta Ada King, and her amazing mathematical skills and her development of the computer.
Last weekend I went to Pennsylvania to see Jadiba, and I stopped at Monica Respet’s farm. Monica and some of her friends are specializing in breeding a small and increasingly rare group of horses who are tail female to *Urfah, a Saqlawiyat al-‘Abd imported from Arabia by Homer Davenport in 1906. One of these mares is JDA Husaana (Salil Ibn Iliad x Saafadda CHF by Fiddlesticks), photo below, a 1999 chestnut mare who was bred by Pam Baker. Just like the Davenports or the Doyles, or like my own Jadiba and Sahra, JDA Husaana is Early American Foundation, meaning that she traces 100% to the horses listed in AHR Volume V, registration numbers 1-2924. These are basically the Arabian horses found in the USA by and before 1944. Lots of very, very old American Arabian horse blood flows in her veins. In addition to her two “Davenport” grandsires, she carries the blood of three stallions bred by Jane Ott and her mother, who launched the first large-scale asil preservation effort in the USA: Joramir (Sirecho x Fad Roufa), Dahrecho (Sirecho x Dahma Al Zarka), and Zarlan (Mistlany x Zarieha), as well as the Ott mare Blue List (Saafaddan x Zarieha by…