British Arab Horse Society Studbook (Vol. 6, 1944) entries for eight desert breds from Najd and Bahrain

The eight are *Turfa, Hannah, Faras, Nuhra, Bahrain, Kasim, Khaibar and Manak. Four females and four males. Nuhra and Bahrain were from “H.H. the Sheik of Bahrain, Persian Gulf, South Arabia”. *Turfa, Hannah, Faras, Kasim, Khaibar and Manak were from “His Majesty King Ibn Saoud of Nejd, Arabia”. Concerning *Turfa, as indicated before, Al Khorma is a town east of Mecca where a stud of the Saud family was located, not a strain or marbat.

The most impressive horse on the farm..

.. was Shaykhan Al Bahrain, a.k.a “Robbie” (Kuhailaan Aladiyat Hashal x Labwah Al Shaykah), a three year gelding of the Ubayyan Sharrak strain owned by Jenny Krieg. He was just stunning: tight, compact, powerful, stylish and well built. I missed the opportunity to get him when he was a stallion (I had a lot on my plate then), and I now regret it.

AAS Nelyo yesterday

AAS Nelyo who is eleven this year, looks like a *Muhaira reincarnation, the color, the body, the style, the bump on the nose, etc. His is closely linebred to her — I counted seven crosses including the tail female — so that’s no surprise. He is dark (no white marks) and was standing in the shade so I could not get better photos. I also realize that most of my bodyshots are titled upwards because I am tall, and that the headshots are better because the head is at my level. Nelyo is a good horse overall: flat croup, high set tail, good length of hip, deep girth and deep loins (very important to me), strong backbone, deep jowls, pleasing dry face with a lively, soft, intelligent eye, nice throat arch and long neck. Also good movement and carriage of tail. The downsides are a neck that’s relatively low set when at rest, long ears (a defect in a stallion but a desirable feature in mares), a slightly longer back and a chest that’s a bit narrow. Not major defects by any means but I need to be careful to which mares I breed him to. I would love to…

Barakah Al Arab and Badia Al Arab yesterday

Badia Al Arab (Monologue CF x Barakah Al Arab) looked great for a growing two year old; she has substance, style and a good temperament all at once. She is an improvement over her dam, especially in the length of hip, the depth of the jowls (to me very important) and the breadth of the forehead between the eyes. I never cease to marvel at the consistency and quality of Monologue’s offspring, and wish I had more of them. Her dam Barakah who is ten years old this year. She has a certain style and dryness that reminds of me desert horses. She transmitted her round barrel and deep girth to her daughter. Looking at her face (the eyelids, the fleebites on the face, the black skin around the eyes and muzzle and the soft look in the eyes) brings back childhood memories of times spent around horses in Syria and Lebanon.

Lizaar today

The second new *Turfa mare, Lizaar Del Siksikas, is four years old. I could not get good body shots of her because she was just beginning to learn to trust new people so she kept hiding behind the other *Turfa mare. Lizaar has 87.5 percent desert blood and 12.5 percent Egyptian blood (*Fadl and *Nasr only). She has a tremendous girth, long ears, good legs, and a short back, but it’s too early to judge the rest. I feel that the croup in particular is work in progress. She is also quite tall. I think I will change her name in the AHA registry into a name more befitting of her noble origins.

Nejed Cupid today

Today Jenny Krieg and I drove up to Pennsylvania to see my horses and her colt. First time in a year and first time since my return to the US. It was also my first time seeing the two new *Turfa mares, who are very different from each other. I first saw Nejed Cupid, who is in foal without a precise due date. She is twenty years old but does not look her age. She is 95 percent desert bloodlines — the main reason for my getting her — and only 5 percent Egyptian (*Fadl and *Nasr). Her *Turfa crosses are in the back of the pedigree, including the female line, but she looks a lot like horses with *Turfa up close (e.g., Ibn Sirecho, a *Turfa grandson). Like most *Turfa horses, she has a pleasing head that’s a tad too short and a tad too square, but with a small muzzle and deep round jowls. Now I am not sure how much of that head shape is attributable to *Fadl as opposed to *Turfa, because as you know, one can’t get *Turfa in Al Khamsa pedigrees without *Fadl. Like most other horses with *Turfa, she also has a flat,…