I grew up reading Lady Wentworth’s massive book “The Authentic Arabian Horse” as well as Robert Mauvy’s little book “Le Cheval Arabe”. I had a great deal of trust in the first, and the second was bedtime reading for me for many years. Both books featured intriguing mentions of an Arabic legend about “Hoshaba” and “Baz”, a pair of free-roaming wild horses in Yemen that were tamed by Biblical characters of same name (?), becoming the ancestors of today’s Arabian horses. Baz was supposed to be the female progenitor and Hoshaba the male one. The legend, according to both Wentworth and Mauvy, led credence to the belief that the Arabian horse was indigenous to the Arabian peninsula from time immemorial. I remember searching for both characters in the Bible and not finding anything remotely related, but still trusting the authorities’ word on it. A cursory Google search for the “Wild Mare of Baz” shows that, from the “Horse Encyclopedia” and “The Story of America’s Triple Crown” to the “Ultimate Guide to Horse Breeds”, the legend of Hoshaba and Baz is alive and well in recent mainstream equine literature, having spread well beyond Arabian horse books. See here for instance: …
In the French “Journal des Haras” much is said about the French Government missions to purchase Arabian stallions (and sometimes a couple of mares) during the 19th century. Although private initiatives may have occurred before, the first and oldest record I have found so far is the breeding program of Count of Tocqueville, with a strong emphasis on purebred Arabian breeding. The Count of Tocqueville was then owning the castle of Gueures in Normandy (photo above). Besides being involved in his earlier years in Arabian horse breeding, he also held in Gueures, the first racing events that would lead to the famous Dieppe City’s Racing Events in Normandy. The Count owned also talented Thoroughbred horses but he is likely one of the very first horsemen of his area to purposely create a separate breeding program focused on Arabian horses. By the late 1820’s he had managed to secure a group of Arabian mares and stallions. He thought of them as a “superior quality” compared to the oriental ancestors of the English Thoroughbreds and possessed “authentic titles” certifying their origins (probably some hujjaj which are left to be found!). Let me introduce them to you, translating their review in a 1828…
An excerpt by the French Gamont, who was in charge of Mehemet Ali’s stud of Choubra between 1828 and 1842. Google Translate will get you a good translation. Haras d’abas-pacha. — Le haras d’Abas-Pacha est situé dans une plaine de sable, auprès d’Héliopolis. Ce haras est une copie de celui de Choubra. Longtemps, Abas-Pacha a tenu ses chevaux en plein air, au soleil, à la pluie, sans qu’il en résultât d’accidents. Juments et étalons du Nejd; les plus belles variétés. La direction du haras est confiée à un homme de l’Hedjaz. On n’y voit point de maladies de misère, comme morve et farcin. Beaucoup de naissances, mais moins qu’à Choubra. Les poulains sont nourris avec du lait de chamelle et des dattes; Orge concassée; luzerne; paille hachée. Admission de quelques principes mis en pratique par nous. Appareillements comme à Choubra. Bonne tenue des écuries. Poulains en liberté. Pas d’entraves. Très beaux produits. C’est le haras le plus riche de toute l’Egypte, par la qualité très supérieure des étalons et des juments. Cet établissement renferme de cent cinquante à deux cents têtes. Abas Pacha aime extraordinairement les chevaux. De tous les enfants de Méhémet-Ali, c’est lui qui les connaît le mieux.…
Finally, a photo of Shaykh Ahmad al-Taha, leader of the Juhaysh tribe in Northern Iraq. The Juhaysh were a large sheep-herding tribe. The belong to the larger Zabid confederation, which migrated northwards from Yemen to the Euphrates valley some 500 year ago. Only the leaders of the tribe kept horses. The Juhaysh had two main strains: Kuhaylan Da’jani (of which the RAS El Nasser, bred by Ahmad al-Taha, was the best known representative) and Hadban al-Malali. They also had a Dahman ‘Amir strain, which I think they got either from their Shammar or their Jubur neighbours. The leaders of a Juhaysh peasant subtribe, the Bu Mutaywit, owned a strain of Shuwayman Sabbah which is they got from the Jarba Shammar in the early 1900s. This is the strain of the stallion al-Khaldi, who is now in most Syrian pedigrees.