From Judi Forbis’ Hoofbeats Along the Tigris, her first and in my opinion, best book: The greatest number of horses bred by Arabs [ie, Bedouins] seems to be found in practically a direct line from Mosul to Aleppo and above that area into Turkey along the Turkish-Syrian-Iraq border, where horses are still occasionally used for transportation as well as racing. Among the tribes still inhabiting or migrating in those areas and breeding Arabians are the Northern Shammar, […] Amarat, Fidaan, and others of first and second rank. It was during one of our sojourns in Northern Mesopotamia near the Euphrates River that we located two exceptional stallions bred by the Northern Shammar. We had been traveling in this area while war clouds resulting from the King Feisel II’s and Nuri es Said’s tragic deaths hovered above the borders. After searching for days and finding the usual common animals, we came upon a small well-vegetated village situated amid the hot cheerless waste. Our friend the “Pasha” knew the village and suggested we stop at the local blacksmiths who reputedly owned several good horses. We did, and the animals far exceeded our expectations. The affable mustachioed smithy motioned us to a dimly…