Month: February 2013

I grew up in Lebanon during the civil war, witnessed my shared of charred bodies and bloodstains on the sidewalks, and consider myself rather immunized against violent sights, but this photo of a little one sobbing after Thursday’s suicide bombing near a school in Damascus (83 dead, including several dozen children) broke my heart, and … Read more

Some time ago, I announced on this blog a series of blog posts on “ten myths about Straight Egyptian pedigrees”, which I contended were harder to dispel than misconceptions about other groups of Arabian horses (see here, and the ensuing discussion). I did not plan to start with this one, but a recent side discussion about … Read more

Is anyone interested in going through the online roster and tracking down how many tail female Rabanna mares of breeding age?    

Then send US$ checks payable to Al Khamsa Inc. designating the money for the Preservation Task Force. Send by postal service to Al Khamsa Business Office, 7275 Manchester Road, Capron, Illinois 61012, USA.

Photo by Syrian traveler Hussain Ibish, who was accompanying faculty from the American University of Beirut (AUB, my alma mater) to a trip to the Syrian desert in 1935. I am sure the AUB library has a lot of hidden treasures about this period and part of the world.

Gleaned off the internet.. an announcement about the spring festival of 1937 in Deir El Zor, Syria.

See what you could with mtDNA? Modern breeders who knowingly cheated with Arabian female lines should be scared… “Despite this, a team of enthusiasts and historians traced the likely area – and, crucially, also found a 17th-generation descendant of Richard’s sister with whose DNA they could compare any remains recovered. Genealogical research eventually led to a … Read more