Haykal Al Arab, 2015 Ma’naqi Sbayli colt

The fifth horse I have bred since coming to the USA fifteen years ago was born August 11, a bay Ma’naqi Sbayli by Monologue CF out of CSA Baroness Lady. A Davenport and Egyptian cross with a tail female to Lady Anne Blunt’s Ferida. He was born three weeks early. At first his mother refused to nurse him and he was too weak to stand on his own, but thanks to the heroic efforts of Sue Moss, who held him up and fed him every two hours for thirty six hours, he survived, and has since caught up, and is now doing very well. His name will be Haykal Al Arab. In old Arabic Haykal means strong and tall, and that’s what I want him to become, after being born weak and small. Sixth century AD poet-king (and king of poets) Imru’l Qays composed this famous verse about his stallion: wa-qad aghtadi wa-al-tayru fi wukanatiha bi-munjaridin qayyada al-awabidi haykal-i I set off in the [early] morning, when the birds are [still] in their nests, on a strong and tall short-haired [horse] [whose speed is such that] it makes [fast moving] wild animals [seem] shackled and motionless In Arabic, Haykal also means temple, as in a strong and…

Hansi

Hansi Heck-Melnyk is one of two women (the other being Tzviah Idan) behind my acquaintance with Asil Arabian horses in the USA. In 1994, at the WAHO conference in Morocco, she saw a teen-ager sitting on his own at a dinner, started talking to him, then after he went back home in the pre-internet age, started to supply him with articles and books about asil Arabians. In 1995, she introduced him to Joe Ferriss and a long correspondence ensued before they finally met in the US in 2000 (Tzviah was there too). In 1996, she made that teen-ager an offer to study at the University of Florida in Jacksonville, which he declined. That teenager was me.

Domow as an *Astraled daughter

I was thinking this morning, after re-reading this entry here; the shape of Domow’s head as seen in these early twentieth century pictures provides an additional argument for her being by *Astraled (Mesaoud x Queen of Sheba), who had a large, long and rather plain head, instead of Abu Zeyd (Mesaoud x Rose Diamond) who had a much shorter head and a finer muzzle.