I found the photos I was looking for, so I will stop scanning for the night. They don’t do justice to the effect this horse had on you. This is Qayss, by Mahrous out Zabbaa’, a stylish bay mare registered in the studbook as a Kuhaylat al-‘Ajuz, but actually from the prestigious branch of Kuhaylan Junaydi. The authorities in Syria registered many horses from unfamiliar strains under the generic Kuhaylan ‘Ajuz, including horses of the Rishan Shar’abi, Mlayhan, Kuhaylan Junaydi, Kuhaylan al-‘Anz and Kuhalyan al-Sharif strains. According to Abbas al-Azzawi’s masterful ‘Asha’ir al-Iraq (Volume 1, under the Shammar section), the war mare of Beneyeh Ibn Quraymis al-Jarba was a Kuhaylah Junaydiyyah. Beneyeh was killed in war in 1231 Hijri (1815 CE). He was the paternal cousin of Sfug al-Jarba, the Shaykh of the Shammar whom the Ottomans treacherously murdered in 1847. Qayss’ eye was placed high, and his head was plain, but what charisma he had and what impression he made on you! What personality and what strength!
Layth, by Mahrous out of Hallah, was spectacular. He was the prototype of the masculine stallion. I had never seen a neck like that on a Syrian horse. Photo from my 1995 visit to Mustafa al-Jabri’s stud. His strain goes back to the Khallawiyyaat marbat of the Ja’alifah of the Northern Shammar in Iraq, through the Tai. Anything from that marbat is now gone, I believe. I am not sure if the Khallawi strain is a branch of the Kuhaylan strain (the Abbas Pasha Manuscript says it is) or a strain of its own. Below, one of his daughters, out of a Kuhaylat al-Wati mare, either Dawhah or one of her daughters. She was very impressive too. Photo from my last visit to Jabri’s, in 2000.
I have written frequently about this horse. In my opinion, Saad II was one of the three best sons of al-Aawar. He was out of a grand mare, Leelas, a Kuhaylah Khdiliyah of ‘Abbud al-‘Ali al-‘Amud of the ‘Aqaydat. That strain harked back to the Kuhaylaat al-‘Ajuz of the Khdilat section of the Fada’an. It was held in high esteem by all the Bedouins across Arabia. Indeed, I have rarely seen such unanimity about a strain. I took these pictures at Mustafa al-Jabri’s farm in 1997. Saad II was in poor condition then. My father, who really had an eye for picking good stallions for his mares, thought the world of him. He sent his favorite mare, a bay Saqlawiyah Sha’ifyah of Ibn Bisra from Rayak, Lebanon all the way to Aleppo, Syria, to be bred to him. She produced that gorgeous colt, below. Photos at the farm of Michel Pharaon, then leased by Husayn Nasser. I never knew what happened to him. My father probably gave him away to someone.
Also at Hisham Ghorayed. Sire: Sa’ad, a Saqlawi Sh’aifi son of Mahrous; dam: a desert-bred Kuhaylat al-Wati mare of the marbat of Hakim al-Ghishm of the Shammar, acquired by Hisham Ghorayeb. Sa’ad produced so well.
This mare was one of the most sought after in Syria. I took this photo in 1992 at the stud of Hisham Ghorayeb in Damascus. Her dam was a Ma’naqiyah Sbaliyah of the marbat of Turki al-Najriss of the ‘Aqaydat Bedouins, a prestigious strain that goes back to the Rasaalin of Sba’ah. Her sire was the Saqlawi Sh’aifi of Diban al-Ka’r. He traced to the horses of Hajjo Ibn Mahel of the Shammar. I recall that Hazaim Alwair and I spent an entire summer in 2005 making phone calls to multiple Bedouins to verify the authenticity of this horse. I have it all written somewhere.
I used to have a photographic memory. One glance at one of the thousands of pictures in my archives and I could tell you the name of the horse, his owner’s name, his parents, and his entire pedigree. Lately I have been catching myself gazing at a photo and asking myself: “who the hell is this horse?”, before reaching for the back of the photo in the hope of finding a handwritten note. I guess it’s called ageing. I thought it would never happen.