An article about Syria: Home of Horses by Hylke Hettema on her blog, got me to think about other references to horses in ancient times from what today is Syria. The following reference from the Archives Royales de Mari [ARM], with its mention of the chiding of king Zimri-Lim of Mari (1776-1751 BCE) by one of his senior officials for riding a horse is very significant: [My lord] must honor the head of his kingship. [Just as] you are the king of the Hana, you are secondly the king of the Akkadian. [My lord] must not (therefore) ride a horse. My lord must (rather) ride [on] a litter and mules, if he is to honor the head of his kingship. Source is ARM VI 76, letter to Zimri-Lim from Bahdi Lim, governor of Mari district. The word ‘Hana’ , meaning ‘tent dwellers’ is a general reference to nomadic tribesmen, as opposed to the Akkadian, the settled urban inhabitants of Mesopotamian cities. Of course, Zimri-Lim himself was from the Bani Sham’al, a nomadic tribal group of ‘Hana’. Nomads rode horses at that time. More on what this means later. Just noting here that an evaluation of the severe damage brought upon the…
I am thrilled about my leasing the chestnut 2015 Ma’naqiyah Sbayliyah mare Daughter of the Pharaohs from DeWayne Brown. Pippa (her barn name) is by the handsome Doyle stallion Chatham DE (Huntington Doyle x Gulida Tara) and out of De Wayne’s mare SS Lady Guenevere, a close relative of my own Southern Springs black Ma’naqiyah mare SS Shadows Aana. I have been a fan of little Pippa since she was born, even after she injured her leg in a pasture accident. She has both good substance and style, depth of girth and depth of jaws, roundness of barrel, that long Crabbet hip, dark skin around the eyes and muzzle, and proud tail carriage. She is a testimony to the hybrid vigor that closed Doyle breeding adds to other lines. Pippa also represents hope for the Ma’naqi strain, a favorite of mine, but one I have been unlucky with so far. She is indeed the fifth and by far the youngest mare from that strain I have been associated with, and there is a change in tactics here. The four that preceded her were all in their high teens and twenties (Dakhala Sahra and SS Juans Aana were 25 were I…