I went to see the horses a few days ago. They looked wonderful. The younger ones have finally matured into what I was expecting of their bloodlines. I felt so vindicated, in terms of the breeding decisions I took over the past decade. I had remained uncertain about these decisions until recently. Jamr, albeit small, looks magnificent. I waited almost ten years before seeing him mature into his current state. He is very masculine and tightly build; he has the deepest of jowls; a small muzzle; a naturally arched neck; a very broad forehead; large, prominent, bony eye sockets, and a straight profile — the way I like it in stallions. And he moves with so much power and style. When I remember Lady Anne Blunt’s quote ““A straight profile should not be a defect if the forehead is very broad, the eyes placed low and very large, and the muzzle small”, it’s him that I have in mind.
A very good endurance riding friend of ours is sending her mare to visit Gülilah Sawwan , the last living SE son of the German import Mahib. Assad Princess Surrayah is sired by the noted endurance sire (and all around sweetheart) Sidi el Nabiel out of the Maistro[imp] daughter Sidi Halima. She’s not exactly a spring chicken, but we’re hoping for the best. Helping to save the Mahib[imp] line for asil breeding out of a Freiha Al-Hamra (APK) tail female mare could have been worse. Assad Princess Surrayah
Below is a photo of the Kuhaylan Haifi stallion Marouf/Maroof, photographed in 2008 at the Pure Syrian show. Picture purchased from In The Focus.
From the 1936 book of Dr. Ahmad Mabrouk of the Royal Agricultural Society of Egypt, “Rihlah ila Bilad al-‘Arab”, comes this picture of a stallion of King Abd al-‘Aziz Aal Saud at the al-Kharj stud in Najd. Arabian horse fans would do well to carefully study the horse in this picture: he was the senior stallion in the senior stud of the most senior person in Arabia at the time. You’re looking at the archetype of the breed in its native homeland. Note the power, length and slope of the shoulder, the pointy ears, prominent withers and the length of hip. Note the straight profile and the strong neck. Neither swan necks nor extreme dished profiles were not a thing. Ten years later, in 1946, the archetype at al-Kharj did not look much different.