There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
I am off to Kuwait for two days on Saturday, and I was just back from a week in Yemen before going back there in three weeks.. I am longing for a pause.
A reader had asked about a photo of Azyya (Kenur x *Aziza by Gamil Manial), the dam of Faziza by Fa-Turf in Germany (the line in the US is extinct). Here is a photo, from the Khamsat archives, courtesy of Jeanne Craver.
Qubbah Gardens was the upscale Cairo neighborhood surrounding the Khedivial Palace of Qubbah/Qubbeh. This list (in French) of the neighborhood’s residents in 1936 and their profession (if “Crown Prince”, “member of the royal family” or “Rentier” are professions) reads like a Who’s Who of Egypt’s rich and famous of that time. Note the diversity of backgrounds that was characteristic of the upper echelons of Egyptian society at that time: Jews, Christians, Muslims, Levantines, Westerners, etc. The list includes “Ibrahim Khairi Pashja, Lewa” (Lieutenant General) of Badaouia fame (the dam of Kheir who was likely named after his dam’s owner) and “Mohammed Nafea Pasha, Rentier” of Nafaa El Saghira fame, who seem to have been neighbors, as well as co-contributors to RAS foundation breeding stock.
He is the Mohammed Abu Nafie Pasha that is connected to the RAS foundation mares Nafaa El Saghira and (the elusive) Nafaa El Kabira, both of which are named after him. The banner above reads: “The late Mohammed Nafea Pasha established this cemetery in 1921″, and the one on the left has his date of birth and date of death but these are not legible, in addition to his name.
In memory of the late Mostafa Al-Jabri, this blog will feature a photo of one of his horses every day for fourty days.
Triermain CF (Javera Thadrian x Demetria by Lysander), born in 1988 is arguably the premier Davenport stallion alive today. He is the regal son of his regal sire, the unforgetable Javera Thadrian. Photo by Anita Westfall (who else?). Another in a long line of Kuhaylan Hayfi horses right out of the stud of the “Queen of Elfland”..
An immense veil of sadness looms over my old father today, who lost one of his best friends. Long time family friend and premier Syrian Arabian horse breeder Mustafa al-Jabri passed away three days ago in Gazi Antep, Turkey. My thoughts are with his family now in exile.
So the other day I attended the event where the Arabian Horse Website of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina was launched, thanks to the efforts of Amr Shalabi. It is a nice portal that ambitions to gather the existing archives and documentation pertaining to Arabian horse breeding in Egypt. The event included a number of presentations, including an interesting one about equestrian matters in the Mamluk era by a local university professor, and an comprehensive one about Tahawi Arabian horse breeding by Yasser Ghanem. The Tahawis are supplying some archival materials including copies of hujaj to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina project. To me the most interesting aspect of that evening was the venue in which it took place. That’s the house (well, the palace) of Ibrahim Katkhuda El Sennari, which is now the Cairo antenna of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and is located in an Old Cairo street known as Harat Monge (Monge’s street). This Monge is none other than French mathematician Gaspard Monge, the father of differential geometry, who along with a host of other scientists from all disciplines, accompanied Napoleon Bonaparte on his Egypt campaign. The house, known as Beyt El Sennari, was built by Ibrahim Katkhuda El Sennari, a wealthy occultist-turned-politician…
Bushra, the Ju’aythniyah mare of Tahawi lines of Yasser Ghanem Barakat produced this nice colt by an Egyptian stallion last week. The foal looks more like his dam than his sire, and that’s a good thing. Note the big black eyes and the long ears on this superior war mare of pure Tahawi lines.