Al-Harqan, foundation stallion of the Saudi Stud Book
Those of you who have looked at the Saudi Arabian Stud Book may have noticed that most of the horses registered in it trace back to a grey horse by the name of Al-Harqan, born in 1947. This horse is the sire of 25 horses in Volume I of the Saudi Stud Book.
Pure Man, who by virtue of his knowledge of asil Arabians in Saudi Arabia, is a main contributor to this blog, tells me that Al-Harqan is Kuhaylan Harqan by strain. He also tells me that King Abdel-Aziz Aal Saud (d. 1953) asked a Bedouin from the tribe of Harb by the name of Ibn Fadliyah for a stallion from his famed Harqan horses, and that Ibn Fadliyah gave the king his best stallion: Al-Harqan.
Pure Man also tells me that before Al-Harqan, the House of Saud maintained two other stallions of the same strain, but that they don’t appear in modern pedigrees because Saudi authorities did not keep written stud records back then.
I think the strain of Kuhaylan Harqan is extinct in the tail female today, but I may be wrong, because there might still be desert horses of this strain in Saudi Arabia which I would not know about. In the tail male, the strain is represented in modern pedigrees by the Ali Pasha Sharif stallion Harkan (Zobeyni x Harka) who was the sire of Aziz in Egypt and the grandsire of the Crabbet foundation stallion Mesaoud.
Dear Edouard,
I stumbled onto your magnificent site last week and have since spent hours here. I also came across Jeanne Craver here, who I know through years of e-mail and phone contact, though sadly never in person. I have tried to register on your site, but never received the e mail with the password. I now find myself in the Catch 22 situation of not being able to log on (no password) and not being able to re-register as I am already registered. Can something be done to correct this? I would greatly appreciate it as I have many, many questions to ask. I had a Davenport mare (though Charles said he thought she wasn’t all Davenport, but she was asil) who was killed in a terrible road accident nine years ago this August. I miss her more than I can say. Thank you for this wonderful blog with all its videos, photos and poetry. It brings me great pleasure.
Elena Latici
Bologna, Italy
Hi Elena,
Thanks for the nice words, and welcome here. Your comments now appear instantly. There is nothing more you need to do. Just let others know about this site. The more you read, the more I write.
Thank you Edouard! I am humbly grateful to be included. I hope you will not tire of my many questions.
Elena
Dear Elena,
I am happy to see,that the Blog of Edouard has a visitor from the wonderful Italy,where the breeding of the arabian horse is very important,as we know.But I know not too much about the italian breeders and the bloodlines.Can You send any informations about asil-breeding in your country?
Best wishes,
László