An Ubayyan Suhayli stallion in 1959

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 lit room beside his shop and as we stepped to the doorway, a light whinny greeted us. Staring right at us was a superb silvery white stallion who seemingly irradiated his drab mud surroundings. An elegant head with large dark intelligent eyes and a soft grey muzzle reached over and gently nuzzled us as we entered. His long forelock played on a wide forehead, almost reaching the slight dish below his eyes, while he intently watched us studying him. Appearing about 14 hands, he was very fine boned with favorable width of chest and depth of loins, and beautiful shoulders. His high-crested graceful neck met with good withers and his back suggested just enough curve to indicate springiness. His croup was wide and level and his tail flared high when he jogged about outdoors. Proper care throughout his nine years had kept him in good flesh and his manners reflected kind treatment. Hew as the picture of an ideal desert bred Arabian. What a cruel stroke of fate that he should be a cripple!

His right foreleg had been broken when he was six months old and why he wasn’t destroyed remains a mystery. The blacksmith cared for him until the leg healed, but due to the permanent deformity he could only be used at stud. He was the loveliest desert bred stallion we saw. His dam was an Obeyya Sehayli and his sire a Hamdani Simri.

Owing to a dearth of both good and bad stallions, it was a stroke of luck to find three others of excellent quality in the same village. The smithy also owned an admirable grey Seklawi Jedran Ibn Nederi who was almost comparable to the Obeyyan. About 14.2 hands, he was also fine-boned, of excellent conformation, with lovely head and regal carriage. His full brother was also a classic stud, and there was a very good white stallion who was a full brother to the Obeyyan of our choice. All four stallions were aged. We also looked at numerous mares which were assembled at the smithy shops as well as some at the surrounding farms, but none of the mares were very commendable with the exception of one who was in pitiful condition.

Now me thinks — without being able to prove it — that the white horse Judi saw, or his full brother, was the white Ubayyan Suhayli [alt. Sehayli] of Abd al-Aziz al-Maslat, Shaykh of the Jubur tribe. This was the foundation stallion of Syrian Arabian horse breeding in the prime horsebreeding area of Syria known as the Upper Jazirah, or Northern Mesopotamia between Tigris and Euphrates. If you flipped through Volume 1 of the Syrian Studbook, you would see that only few Arabian mares from that area of dense Bedouin settlement did not trace to him. He bred many of the mares of the Shammar, Tai, Jubur and other smaller tribes. His sire was a Hamdani Simri and his dam a Ubayyah Suhayliyah of the Shammar. His sons and daughters were born between the early 1960s and the mid 1970s.

This would mean that a young and adventurous Judi would have had to secretely sneak into Syria to see him. I should ask her if she did.