Kayane

“KAYANE: a grey Asil stallion;

Strain: Hamdani Simri.

Sire: Ghazal, a desert-bred Hadban al-Fawa’irah, bred by the Fawa’irah Bedouin tribe, (also know as Ghazal al-Jawlan, i.e. “Ghazal of the Golan”; al-Jawlan, “the Golan Heights”, indicates the origin of the horse);

Dam: a Hamdaniyah Simriyah. [She was bay, according to the certificate George Khamis gave for her granddaughter Layya]

Racing and Breeding career: Kayane raced in Beirut and was later owned by Rida Hamdar of Rayaq (Rayak in the Bekaa or Biqa’ valley of Lebanon) who used him as a stallion. Several Rayaq breeders used Kayane to cover their mares.

Progeny: Kayane produced among others the mare Nijmah, a Ma’naqiyah Hudrujiyah from the horses of the ’Araji family of Rayaq, Lebanon. Kayane is also the sire of the stallion *Mounwer, and the mare *Layya both exported from Lebanon to the USA and part of the W.R. Hearst importation in 1947.

Comments: Sayyid Husayn Nasir of Rayak, a breeder and horsetrader aged 66 in 2008, used to watch Kayane breed mares as early as 1948, on his way back from the Rayak primary school to his house; he remembers Kayane as a handsome ‘pure white’ horse who was made to stand in a pit when breeding mares. Kayane was the first stallion Husayn Nasir, who was then 6 years old, saw breed a mare and he has kept a vivid image of this sight.”