Al-Aawar, a Shammar herd sire
Looking back at more than thirty years around Arabian horses, I still remember the grand old Hamdani Simri stallion al-Aawar as one of two or three desert-bred horses I have admired the most in my life.
He had this way of looking at you with a hint of disdain, as if he was the king and you were his subject. When he was led out of his stall, the third from the top at Radwan’s, he would walk slowly to the middle of the arena, then he would pause and gaze at the horizon, his head high. Every movement, every twist of his head was so dignified and majestic that you felt you were in the company of an important representative of his ‘people’. He demanded respect, and obtained it. The photo below, from 1995, captures some of that aura. I don’t think I published it before.
THAT was a magnificent horse!
You did capture his aura in that picture. Must have been really something to be around him in person.
I am very impressed by the contrast between this photo of Al Aawar from 1995 and the one which is in the book “desert legacy” from 1989 where it appears quite different: It was very, very dry and very thin but also with a lot of presence.
Makes me think of the Thoroughbred stallion Man O’ War, who also had that high-headed stance, and a sense of presence and dignity that can be felt through a photograph. As John Taintor Foote is supposed to have written, “About the head of a truly great horse there is an air of freedom unconquerable. The eyes seem to look on heights beyond our gaze. It is the look of a spirit that can soar. … It is the birthright of eagles.” I think that applies to Al Aawar!
Well put, Kate! This horse fills my eyes, literally and figuratively.
Good thinking, Kate. It’s the shoulder, too. Man O’ War had a shoulder that just went on and on, and so did Al-Aawar.
As Joe Ferriss put it on this blog some 11 years ago, Al-Aawar is a horse one needs to see in person.
http://daughterofthewind.org/joe-ferriss-on-al-aawar-the-desert-bred-hamdani-simri-stallion/