A blog on desert arabian horses, past, present and future
By Sheikh El Arab out of Ragia by Ibn Rabdan. Dam of Ibn Halima by Nazeer, who became Ansata Ibn Halima in the USA. Long ears (good, an indication of asalah), long face (good), narrow forehead (less good). That type of Straight Egyptian horses disappeared in one generation. Mares like these were absorbed in the … Read more
She is perhaps the very last one from that strain left in the desert, and a distant relative to the Davenport Hadbans.
The picture is not so good, but the mare pictured is interesting. She is the only offspring the Shuwayman stallion Mahboub Halep produced in Syria before leaving for France. Her strain is Kuhaylan al-Wati (same strain as Kuhaylan Jallabi, by the way) Sire: Shuwayman, Mahboub Halep (a maternal grandson of Al-Aawar with another cross to … Read more
An very early photo, taken in 1857, of this superb Mamluk Sultan mausoleum, which now lies in the heart of Cairo. Abbas Pasha had just died afew years earlier.
Tamaam DE died a couple days ago at the Doyle ranch in Oregon. I am happy the two leased Ma’naqiyah mares are in foal to him for next year. I hope one of them produces a colt so I could use him as a stallion. What a dream to have one’s own Ma’naqi stallion.
A fascinating article in the BBC.
On Bogdan Zientarski and Carl Raswan’s expedition to Syria and Iraq, to find horses for Prince Roman Sanguszko’s Gumniska Stud, one of their first stops was Egypt. There, they saw a number of horses from different studs and stables, including the Astraled son Rustem, the Crabbet-bred mare Bint Riyala, a grey son of the Sheykh … Read more
This Rabdan stallion’s name is Jurnass. He is the most noteworthy Syrian stallion of the last couple years. His current owner is Dham al-Ahmad al-Daham al-Hadi al-Farhan al-Jarba, Sheikh of the Shammar. A few years ago, some Syrian Bedouins started started mating Rabdan stallions from Tai marbats, probably because they are so handsome. It was … Read more
How do they manage to produce horses of this caliber, amidst war, insurgency, uncertainty and the absence of the rule of law?