On the elusive strain of Kuhaylan al-Kray

In his 1936 book “Rihlah ila Bilad al-‘Arab” about his journey to Arabia in search for Arabian horses, Dr. Ahmad Mabrouk of the Royal Agricultural Society of Egypt mentioned two mares of the Kuhaylan al-Kray strain in the stud of Prince Saud ibn ‘Abdallah Ibn Jalawi, governor of the Eastern region of the then newly established Kingdom of Saudi Arabia [translation mine]: “Krush al-Kray, golden chestnut, no white on the face, pretty head, nice legs but short neck, five years old, her dam the bay Kray, and her sire the bay ‘Ubayyan.” “Bay Kray, white on the hind legs, pretty, eight years old, not to be mated.” This seems to suggest that the strain of Kuhaylan al-Kray (or Karay), was actually an offshoot of the more famous strain of Kuhaylan al-Krush, but was not to be mated for some reason. As I came back from Bahrain where I saw representatives of this rare strain, I dug a bit deeper and found the following in the ‘Abbas Pasha Manuscript, in the section on Kuhaylat ibn Jarshan, the Jallabiyah: “and we [several elders from the ‘Ajman testifying] mated her to Kuhaylan al-Karay, the horse of Ibn ‘Ulbah of Aal Mu’yid of Al ‘Ajman” This reference constitutes…