Here’s a photo of three sons of the influential mare Domow (registered as *Abu Zeyd x *Wadduda, but may well have been *Astraled x *Wadduda), all three important early American Arabian horse sire. Check out their names: Mahomet, Abu-Selim, and Ahamed. What a change in the culture between then and now: now the big names are Versace, Armani, and other haute couture references. It signals a shift in the marketing and perception of the Arabian horse: from an animal connected with its original Arab environment and simple Bedouin culture, to a global luxury consumption good. Yikes.
This 1948 Hanad son, out of Chairmain (Abu-Selim x Aatika by Tabab) is in the pedigree of two of the mares I am trying to preserve today: the full sisters Bint al-Barra and Cinnabar Myst. Mainad traces to *Urfah in the tail female and has two lines to the desert-bred import *Azra, a Saqlawi Ubayri from the Fad’aan Bedouins.
One of the only Davenport horses to stay out of the preservation adventure launched by Charles Craver, Fred Mimmack, Reba Troxell and a handful others in the 1950s and 1960s was the 1955 stallion Sunny Acres Darius (Ibn Hanad x Gamil by Kasar), bred by Margaret Shuey. I never had the chance to ask why this was so. All but three of his offspring were non-asil.
A minute of walk at the end of a nice workout. He’s a work in progress, of course, but I’m enjoying the steady improvement.
I have written about the 1982 “war mare” LD Rubic (Plantagenet x Tarrla by Tarff) several times on this blog. She is the kind of mare I wish I had owned or bred. She is a great-grand-daughter of the desert bred mare *Nufoud, a Kuhaylat al-‘Ajuz from the Saud royal studs. *Nufoud was imported to the USA by Albert Harris in 1932 through Amin Rihani. At that time, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was still the Sultanate of Najd and Hijaz. LD Rubic is also a great-grand-daughter of another Saudi royal mare, *Turfa. LD Rubic was bred by the late Carol Lyons, out of the last Al Khamsa mare of that strain, Tarrla. Carol saved that line and many others from extinction. Rubic left two sons and five daughters: of the sons, Salil Ibn Iliad produced a number of asil mares here and there. He is getting older. The other son AB Razeel, is younger but has not had progeny as far as I know. The five daughters of LD Rubic are: MSF Rubie, Bint Rubic CHF, MSF Shamis, AB Dafiinah, and Belladonna CHF. MSF Rubie is a problem breeder, and has not had a foal in a long time.…
This stallion is still going at 31 years old. A direct son of mare Sahanad (Abu Hanad x Sahabet by Tanatra), a Saqlawiyat al-‘Abd tracing to the desert-bred *Wadduda, and sired by the Egyptian sire Khemahr Moniet (Khemahr x Khe Miss Moniet by Ibn Moniet El Nefous), he is a foundation sire for the Sahanad Preservation Group that was built around that mare. Photo from the Howard photo collection, with Robin Howard handling the stallion.
A handsome horse of old Blunt lines, the 1929 Ma’naqi Sbayli stallion Farana (Nasik x Farasin by Rasim) stood at the Kellogg Ranch in California. He was a popular sire, but is barely represented in modern asil breeding today. I know Rebecca Quick has a line to him through the 1944 Kuhaylat Rodan mare Suebe (Feyd by Farana, x Gisela by Akil x Shemseh by Nasik x Rifla by Rasim), who was double Nasik. There is also a line to him through Milanne (Feyd x Kishta by Akil). The line still goes in tail female, through Milanne who also goes back to Ferida, but I feel it’s lost its type as a result of being diluted in an ocean of Egyptian blood. I feel that the Blunts could have made a better use of this Ma’naqi Sbayli line to Ferida while the line was still at Crabbet and before to migrated to the US. If I am not mistaken, the first stallion from this line at Crabbet was Faris (Nureddin II x Fejr).
The other day I was look at the remaining asil lines to the legendary stallion Hanad in the United States. I came across his lines through the mare Schiba (Hanad x Shilan by Antez), who was one of the foundation mares for the Krausnick’s Shar Char Farms. The line produced well for the Krausnicks (Mistlany, Shar Hiba, Shar Moliah and Char Mist come to mind), but has become very thin today, especially in the tail female. Then I remembered that at least two mares from this line were exported to Germany and become the foundations for Dr. Walter Olms’ Hamasa Stud: Shar Duda (Negem x Shar Hiba by Fa Turf) and Shar Zarqa (Negem x Shar Turfa by Fa Turf), who is below. The same day, Monique from the Netherlands sent me a message asking me to highlight the stallion Maamoon Tarik (Maamoon Ibn Gazala x Hamasa Tulayha by Tufail) who is from the line. He has two lines to the two mars from Schiba that were exported from the USA to Germany, including one in the tail female, but also a line to Faziza (Fa Turf x Azyya by Kenur), who also came from the Krausnicks to Germany, and graces…
My young daughter on Cinnabar Myst (ASF David x Mystalla), a Kuhaylat Krush tracing to *Werdi and many other old lines, two weeks ago.
The Al Khamsa Preservation Task Force has put together a “Code Red” list of the most endangered Al Khamsa bloodlines, which consists of those Foundation Horses (that is, desert-bred imports) that have less than 100 descendants alive today. Here is the link. By order of scarcity — and hence, emergency — these are those that count less than 20 Al Khamsa descendants alive today: 1. *Al Mashoor 1. *Euphrates 1. *Mlolshaan Hajar Solomon 4. *La Tisa, *Mahsuda, and *Mohalhil 5. *Layya 6. The Babolna/Weil horses 7. *Samirah 8. Kesia I, Kesia II and Mameluke 9. *Bedowiya Al Hamdani and Walid El Seglawi 10. *Azra Jenny Krieg is leading the preservation of the first three (with Cathy Fye on *Mlolshaan) and #5 (also with Michelle Tennyson); The 4 left from #4 are with Candace Callegari; the #6 with Marilyn McHallam in Canada; the #7 between Stephanie Theinert and the Institute for the Desert Arabian Horse; the #9 are with Edie Booth; and I am handling #8 and #10, with some of the latter also with Elizabeth Ford Pade, that other quiet hero. Note that one horse can combine several of these extremely rare lines. For instance, the first two are found…
Don’t you just love the tail carriage on that horse? HR Judaan (Fadaan x Jusera by Julyan) is 50% Julyan (Julep x Bint Maaroufa) and as such carries two close lines to Gulastra (Astraled x Gulnare) and a total of 10 lines to Astraled. See how reminiscent that is of his double great grandsire Julep (Gulastra x Aziza).