A lady from Illinois recently sent me these snapshots of Wilbur Coates Ma’naqi Sbayli stallion Dakhala Sabiq (Prince Hal x Sirrulya by HJulyan), bred by Jeanne Craver. They were taken at a local show in Illinois. I now own Sabiq’s niece, Dakhala Sahra, by Plantagenet out of Soiree by Sir x Sirrulya. I must say that this specific type of Arabian horse strikes a strong cord with me, because it’s reminiscent of the horses of my childhood, the ones I learned to ride on. The horse riding clubs around Beirut were full of former racehorses that hailed from Syria, had moderate or no success on the racetrack — which by then was dominated by the part-bred Arabs from Iraq. so the asils had no chance of winning — and ended their careers as children mounts. Each club appeared to have its own old grey Arabian horse, a dream-like individual of regal type, worthy of Cindarella’s carriage that was the favorite of all the children. In East Beirut during the civil war (1975-1990), it was Sultan, on whom I learned to ride ( I will try to dig up a photo); in West Beirut after the war (1991-2000) it was Burhan,…
Chapter IV: “Visit to the Sabaah”, Gleanings from the Desert of Arabia, 1881.
My friend Jenny Krieg has suggested the Kuhaylan Hayfi stallion Port Angeles CF (Portico x Aureole CF) as a horse I might want to consider breeding from in the spring. He is a brother of Porte CF from his sire, and a brother of Aurene CF from his dam. Here is a photo, gleaned off the website of his owner Randall Abler, at Eden Arabian Farms in Georgia.
It’s that exciting time of the year when one starts to make plans for breeding the mares, before budget constrains kick in.. and this year there are many more mares at the virtual Aldahdah stud.. So here’s the wish list: — K. Haifi: Javera Chelsea to Triermain CF, the next best alternative to full brother/sister mating since Javera Thadrian, Triermain’s sire and Chelsea’s brother, died. — Ma’naqi Sbayli: Dakhala Sahra also to Triermain CF, so as not to add any new bloodlines into this line, and change the existing type (Sahra is by Plantagenet, out of a Sir daughter). Her own son Rahim Regency WAF (by Regency CF) would have been nice, but it looks difficult to pull through, given her age (27). Both matings by embryo transfer. — K. Haifi: Wisteria CF: many options possible: Porte CF (Portico x Recherche), Aurene CF (a half brother and close relative, by Triermain CF x Aureole CF) within the strain, in addition to her own sire Triermain, like last year, because I was pleased with the outcome; Mi Majest Prince (Fair Sir x Fairy Princess, 50% Tripoli) would also be nice, if he were set to ship from; outside the strain, the list is endless:…
by Adrien Deblaise Two photos of the Tiaret bred mare Malika, a Jilfat al-Dhawi, b. 1949, by Masbout d.b., out of Themis, by Bango d.b., out of Abaka by Ghazi d.b. The grand-dam of the stallion Jahir discussed below.
Two photos of the Tiaret bred mare Malika, a Jilfat al-Dhawi, b. 1949, by Masbout d.b., out of Themis, by Bango d.b., out of Abaka by Ghazi d.b. The grand-dam of the stallion Jahir discussed below.
Teymur from Germany sent me these photos of the very correct and well balanced stallion Akman, an Arabian horse of Turkish breeding. I know close to nothing about the pedigree, except that that the tail female mare, Matra, a bay 1927 Ma’naqiyah came to Turkey from the Bagdad area in 1931, and was bred by a certain Husayn al-Ali (of which there are a million people with the same name in Iraq). Here is a link to his pedigree. Thanks Teymur.
The 1976 stallion Kamil Ibn Sahanad (Kamil ibn Salan x Sahanad by Abu Hanad), pictured below at the ripe old age of 25, was the last direct tail female descendant of entirely Davenport bloodlines of the desert-bred Saqlawiyat al-‘Abd mare *Wadduda, imported by Homer Davenport to the USA in 1906. He was a son of the beautiful black mare Sahanad, often mentioned on this blog. She has other sons and daughters, including the stallion Black Lightning (Khemahr Moniet x Sahanad) who I think is still alive. His blood represents an out-cross to current Davenport lines, and the one descendant of his I saw, the 1998 mare JEN Beauty A Saha (Sergeant Major CF x Sida Saha by Kamil Ibn Sahanad), now boarded at Craver Farms, is significantly different from other Davenport horses I have seen.
Following the discussion about the Jahir son Murad Ghazi, below, I found the following photos online, of his half brother Djelid (Jahir x Djenissa, by Doum x Djayda, by Shawani x Miloudia, by Moulouki x M’Rabbia, by Saadi x Hammada by Madani), a stallion in central France, who is bred very closely within the Mauvy lines, with three lines to the Mauvy foundation mare Zarifa, two to Izarra, and one in the tail female to Hammada, the latter two coming from the Cordonnier stud in Tunisia. His strain is Mukhallad (Mokladie, as spelled in French), tracing to Merjane, imported to France from the Naqab/Sinai desert.
Trish Stockhecke’s two Krushat mares are now with me, on lease. I went to see them yesterday. Both are strongly built mares of the “Old American” type, with a pedigree straight out of the 1950s that also jumps back to the early 1900s in three or four generations. That’s how I like my pedigrees. Look at this one line of genealogy, for instance: Bint Al-Barra (that’s one of the two mares, photo below, b. 1991), was sired by ASF David (b. 1966); his dam was Dihkenna (b. 1946), whose sire was Gharis (b. 1927), a son of Abu Zeyd (b. 1904). I don’t know how many living Arabian horses trace back to the mythical Abu Zeyd (Mesaoud x Rose Diamond) in just four generations. The early American sires Mainad (b. 1948, by Hanad x Charmain by Abu-Selim), a great grandsire, and Royal Amber (b. 1938 by Ribal x Babe Azab by Letan), a great-great-grandsire, are not too far away, either. The pedigree is essentially half Babson/Brown and half very early American foundation bloodstock (Davenport, Crabbet, Harris, Borden, Huntington, Hamidie, etc.), with almost every Al Khamsa Ancestral Element represented, including the Borden one, the rarest of all (that’s the line to Kesia,…
This morning Adrien Deblaise, from France, sent me two photos of his superb stallion, Murad Ghazy. Ghazy was bred by Louis Bauduin, by Jahir (Iricho x Ciada by Ghalbane, d.b.), out of Murad Hadra (Medicq Allah x Hamada by Irmak), of Algerian and Tunisian lines. He traces to all three Cordonnier-bred stallions (Iricho, In Chaallah, Irmak) the French Government brought from Tunisia in the 1960s, sparking a small revival of asil Arabian breeding in France. Note also the not-so-distant line to the great desert import Nibeh in Murad Ghazy’s pedigree: Murad Ghazy — Murad Hadra — Medicq Allah — Medica — Meziana — Messina — Nibeh.
Many of you have been writing to or hearing about Yasser al-Tahawi who is one of the main persons behind the recent revelations about the original horses of the Tahawi tribe. Well here’s a picture of him, riding bareback on his Kuhaylah Ju’athiniyah mare Bushra.
Fabienne Vesco, from France, shared these two informative videos about Barb and Arabian horse breeding in North Africa. It mainly talks about Arabian horses in the context of Arab Barb breeding for remounts, but also in the context of preservation breeding. Le Barbe – Cheval Des Berbères – Part 1 by NacirAdhrar Le Barbe – Cheval Des Berbères – Part 2 by NacirAdhrar
Teymur from Germany sent me this picture of the Arabian mare Cehide (pronounce it Jahidah), born in 1915. She was at the Ottoman Sultans’ stables until she joined the Turkish state studs when the Empire era came to an end. She was a Saqlawiyah Jadraniyah by a Saqlawi Jadran.
Hussain Ghashemi from Iran sent these pictures from Iran. Not an Arabian horse obviously, but a gorgeous specimen of an Iranian Turkmen horse.
I think I may have already written that this mare was one of my favorite living asil mares, on pedigree, on photo, and in real life (I saw her at Carol Lyons in 2003 or was it 2004? I don’t remember): En Pointe CF is a war mare the likes of which seldom exist today. An ‘atiq (antique, ancient in Arabic) mare of the ancient desert type, reminiscent in her style and class of the Old Blunt mares of the Rodania tail female like Risala and Rissla. Her dam Pirouette CF is my all time favorite living Davenport mare, and her sire Triermain CF is my favorite living Davenport stallion. Her double grandsire Javera Thadrian is simply my all time favorite asil Arabian stallion in the West (but you knew that already). By the way, I do believe that linebreeding to Javera Thadrian does produce outstanding horses. En Pointe CF is one example; Tantris CF is another, and my own Wadha (Javera Thadrian x Wisteria CF by Triermain CF, by Javera Thadrian) and Wadd (Triermain CF x Wisteria CF by Triermain CF) are not bad at all, either. Not sure who owns her today, but she is lucky.
Cindy, who trains the stallions at Desert Bred Arabians in Illinois sent me this impressive video of the horses of Rodger and Mimi Davis displaying their versatile athletic skills. Just watch it.. and watch it again.
I really like this small photo of the Kuhaylan Haifi stallion Fair Sair (Sir x Lady Fair by Tripoli), whom I saw at Alice Martin’s in 2005. I find him very reminiscent of his grandson Aurene CF (Triermain CF x Aureole by Fair Sir), who is at Pamela Klein’s.
Tomorrow I am going to Tunisia for work, for a week. Back next Saturday.