Much of Arabian horse breeding program in the West follows patterns based on the exclusion or inclusion of specific horses or groups of horses: within the Babson Egyptians, for example you have the non-*Maaroufa, which is a sub-group that excludes lines to this mare. The Babson Egyptians are themselves an artificial sub-group of Egyptians Arabians, tracing in all lines from the horses imported by Henry Babson. Here’s what I mean by artificial: had Mr. Babson imported another mare than *Bint Bint Sabbah, the descendants of this other mare would have been labeled as Babson Egyptians, and the otherwise eligible descendants of *Bint Bint Sabbah would not. Within the Davenports Arabians, you have the non-Fasal, all without lines to this mare, even though the ancestors of Fasal (*Hamrah x Amran by *Deyr *Wadduda), are present in the pedigree of all non-Fasal Davenports. These groups and sub-groups have their own logic, and are usually meant to preserve different phenotypes. The Sharp breeding program is one of those rare artificial Western-created breeding groups that I think are worth breeding in isolation and preserving, when the bigger picture of Arabian horse breeding is taken into consideration. The Sharps are basically Al Khamsa Arabian horses…
This is a bottle in the ocean.. about whether anyone knows anything about a 1999 grey Al Khamsa Arabian mare oddly named Kiefer El Sherif (Hadaya Nile Anwar x Sherlaila by Sheriz) tail female to the W.R. Hearst import *Layya, hence an Obayyan by strain. Jenny Krieg — who owns her sister Maraya and Maraya’s daughter Labwah pictured below — and I were wondering if that was not a stallion mistakenly registered as a mare, because of the name, but then again you never know.