This is what winter looks like in Northern California. And this is what a 19yo Davenport mare looks like when training a young eventer (note stirrups crossed over withers). Bruce Peek will immediately note the reach of her inside hind. 🙂 Blessings of the new year to you all — Ambar
Lorien HD (Trilogy x Jonquil CF) 2006 gray mare. 2012 photo by Carol Mingst. Her sire Trilogy (Prince Hal x Trill) 1980 grey stallion. 2003 video capture by Kat Walden.
… a Kuhaylan Hayfi grandson of Portia. This was taken yesterday (22 Sep 2012) at the New Albion Stud in Davis CA. (Also recently confirmed by a repro vet: Porte’s semen should ship well.)
Today I am crossing my fingers that Pirouette CF, shown below with her 2012 gray filly ADA Sareeah (by Dubloon CF) will check in foal to the late Palisades CF. Another of Sareeah:
Photos by Chris Emmert, taken at the 2007 Al Khamsa Convention in Paso Robles, CA. Polynesia LD, a 1993 bay Saqlawiyah Jidraniyah, is one of the glories of the late Carol Lyons’ “Sharp” program (Al Khamsa Arabians with no Blunt ancestry). As mentioned in the comment thread on his entry, her dam was a granddaughter of Mista-Bin. The gray with her is the Blue Star yearling filly Awasef, a ‘Ubayyan who is tail female to *Muhaira, previously discussed here.
A minute of walk at the end of a nice workout. He’s a work in progress, of course, but I’m enjoying the steady improvement.
Speaking of jewels (Confetti CF is on the left, Provance CF on the right): Edouard, take this out if you want — but their owner, Mary Ann Brewer, has decided to stop breeding, and is offering these two Kuhaylat, and Tokens Ceelen (a straight Davenport mare, tail female to Schilla) on a free lease to interested Davenport breeders. Contact her for details — she’s in Texas.
Monika Luft writes: A sensational discovery: Unknown letters of Bogdan Ziętarski and Carl Raswan from their expedition to Arabia! Polskiearaby.com have unearthed documents which cast a new light on the famous horse-buying expedition for the stud of Prince Roman Sanguszko in Gumniska near Tarnów. Several letters, discovered 80 years after being written, bring surprising details on one of the most extraordinary expeditions of the 20th century. More here: http://www.polskiearaby.com/?page=ludzie_i_konie&lang=en&id=52 See Edouard’s previous quote from Bogdan Ziętarski.
This is the Kuhaylah Haifiyah GH Janet (Javera Thadrian’s full sister), welcoming her 2005 gray daughter (by Ascendant), Brighton TAH. I’m not sure who took the photo — probably Tanya Hardin, the breeder. (Because it’s a little bit of an obsession with me lately, I want to point out that Janet’s head has never seen an #40 clipper blade, and doesn’t need it to show off her beautiful eye and fine dark skin.)
Between the photo of Aghal and the one of Audacity, I had to share this one taken of an Audacity granddaughter in 2007, as a long yearling. This is ADA Skylarking, a Kuhaylah Hayfiyah, as photographed by the talented Christine Emmert.
Edouard’s posting of the mare Afaf reminded me strongly of En Pointe CF. She is a 1998 chestnut Kuhaylah Hayfiyah, by Triermain CF out of Pirouette CF. The first photo gives a better sense of her style; the second of her conformation (although note that she’s not standing on level ground, so don’t be fooled into thinking she’s butt-high; she’s not. Blame the photographer. *raises hand*) The background for these photos is Homer Davenport’s childhood home, Geercrest Farm, in Silverton Oregon. They were taken in 2006 during preparations for “Davenport’s Arabian Quest”, a “living history experience” retelling the story of the importation for busloads and busloads of visitors.
With thanks to Jeanne Craver, a photo of the 1911 chestnut mare Satwan (*Deyr x *Haffia), a Ubayyan. Satwan persists in the straight Davenports through the Bint Ralf descendants; her full brother Harara is everywhere, most notably as the sire of Antez.
The camels were white and elegant, fast and enduring, as befit the mounts of kings. The mare, tethered to the saddle of the first camel, was as white, as elegant, as enduring, and even faster. Her ancestors had traveled the same way, tethered to camels, waiting for the shock of the rider’s leap and the joy of racing into battle. The journey was strange to her, familiar to them, but their presence comforted her. It was a long journey, and there were many stops. At each stop, there were sleeping children. Under the beds were boxes filled with wilting grass; the camels shared their sustenance with the mare. Once emptied, the boxes were filled with gifts from the camels’ packs. The kings, splendid in their eternal service to children, remounted, and the journey continued. Over and over, the motion and the halt, the children and the boxes, the grass and the gifts. Until they arrived at a black iron bedstead. Here, the box of grass was presented to the mare alone, as she was tethered by the heel to the bedstead. The kings and their camels continued on their patient, joyful journey. For the mare was a gift too. Footnotes…
Nine, ten, eleven, …many. Let’s throw counting to the winds, shall we? (Bonus Red Dwarf humor included, because that’s the way my mind works.) The mares say: This is mine:1 And this is mine:2 This is mine too:3 In fact, all this here is mine:4 Except that. But he can nurse anyway.5 Key Capucine and 2005 filly ADA Intuition, photo by JC Dill. Petit Point CF and 2004 colt ADA Point Reyes, Diaz photo. Fay and 1950 colt Tirf-Aynad by Hanad. Larry Kenney photo via Arabian Horse News via Datasource. Fay is not a straight Davenport, but is heavily Davenport-bred—a hasty calculation puts her at 71% Davenport, with close lines to Domow (*Astraled? x *Wadduda) through three separate offspring. I was struck by her resemblance to both *Wadduda and the modern En Pointe CF. Bint Meringue playing pied piper to four of the five 2009 foals at New Albion. Somewhere in the scrum are her Lirac HD (by Shiraz CF), ADA Selene (Ascendant x Petit Point CF), Poeticus HD (Latitude HD x Brandy Sioux Jeannate), and Celestia (Cantador x Laikah, non-asil). Yes, she let them all nurse. Photo by Kat Walden. From left to right, Amador HD (Shiraz CF x…
If I want to guess at the looks of a Davenport I only know from their pedigree, I look at their grandparents. This is the 2004 Hamdaniyah Simriyah Lili Marlene SHF, granddaughter of Major Barbara and Trill, of Ibn Alamein and Salutation. She certainly is. Lili Marlene is the work of the hands and hearts of Dr. Fred and Barbara Mimmack, Smoky Hill Farm. Photo by Linda Sherrill.
This photograph, found in the WR Brown Collection (owned by AHOF), is labeled *Urfah, and has the left fore and two white hind feet as described in the studbook. *Urfah is wound around and through the straight Davenports through her son *Hamrah and her daughter Sheria. Says the DAHC pedigree site (which is a bit behind the times): “Total descendants: 1437.” “As we departed the mare was a picture. She walked with the grace of a well-bred woman; her tail would gracefully sway from side to side, her ears were ever in motion, and her eyes sparkled. The very sight of her rested us from the long day’s ride of the day before and then she broke into a gallop and her swinging tassels were soon lost sight of as she disappeared on the horizon.” —Homer Davenport, My Quest of the Arab Horse
Not a straight Davenport this time, but too good to keep to myself: the 1987 Kuhaylan Hayfi stallion Audition LD (Audobon x Leafs Echo). This is one of Carol Lyons’ “Sharps” (no Blunt breeding). I know very little about him, other than his location (Illinois—these images look like StarWest to me), his pedigree, that he’s been shown in training level Dressage, his registered progeny (none, alas) and that he’s well-loved. Maybe Jeanne or Alice Martin knows him and can fill us in a bit more.
A picture of a new foal for a new year. Hang in there, spring is coming. This is the 2009 Hamdaniyah Simriyah filly, Lirac HD (Shiraz CF x Bint Meringue), shown at two days. The bare patch on Bint Meringue’s cheek is from the Breeder Alert sensor taped to her halter during foal watch.
“It’s been a long December, and there’s reason to believe Maybe this year will be better than the last.” — Counting Crows, “A Long December” Saqlawi al-’Abd Tripoli, a cornerstone of the straight Davenports as they exist today (images in the left column), and his Kuhaylan Hayfi grandson Memoir UF, called Rory by those who loved him (images in the right column). Do click through that last shot of Rory, he’s all there and very admirable to boot. Tripoli is serving as a lesson horse in his under-saddle photo, with Tom Neese up; Rory as a show horse, though I don’t know the rider’s name or the photographer. Thanks to Aida Schreiber for taking the conformation shots of Rory, and for bringing Rababe CF and Neroli CF to him in his old age, producing his two sons Firewater SF and Damascus SF respectively. (You saw his daughter, ADA Recapitulation, earlier in the series.) One last thought for the year to come, from the TB Friends (a Thoroughbred rescue) sort-of blog: Another of my favorite comments from 2010. A family in Davis greeted an older thoroughbred mare from the Wilton feed lot. A young boy, 9 or 10, walked up to…
A father-son pairing this time, both Kuhaylan Hayfi. Atticus (Dharanad x Fairy Queen) is 24 in the first image. Attikos (Atticus x Marigold CF) is three (and, I think, in the middle of a trot-canter transition—). See how Attikos is using his LS joint, “sitting down” in the rear to push off? A quick look found this image showing the ideal LS joint as being over the point of the hip, creating a short, strong loin and a long hip (the illustration says “long croup“). Attikos is pretty close to this ideal.
The 1911 Ma’naghiyah mare Abbess has no remaining descent, and her sire *Abbeian‘s sire line in the straight Davenports died out with Ibn Ralf. Her dam, *Farha, has a thin line remaining (both in straight Davenports, and another family in Al Khamsa more generally) through Ralf. I don’t know if Abbess’ age in this picture is known, but she looks young to me, perhaps two or three. Photo courtesy of Jeanne Craver.
Michael Bowling tells me this historic image, previously published as *Urfah, is now believed to be Freda (the markings don’t match *Urfah’s in any case.) Freda, it is hypothesized, had her identity confused with Saleefy’s when both mares were sold in 1918. Freda descends entirely from the Hamidie Society importation of 1893. The markings of the foal with her do not match any of her registered Arabian produce—per Michael, this is probably the Anglo-Arabian Frecon (by Consider). The modern image is an October 2007 shot of Freda’s presumed tail female descendant, the splendid mare Jonquil CF, producer of Eldar HD (featured yesterday) among others. You can’t see it as well as I could wish, but that beautiful shoulder (and neck, and loin coupling, and…) have come right down the line. Her sire Ibn Alamein had it as well, and was generous with it.
For today, the 1904 Saqlawi al ‘Abd stallion *Hamrah, of whom much has been said previously, and his century-later echo, the 2004 Hamdani Simri stallion Eldar HD, bred by Michael Bowling. In 2003, I wrote of the 22 year old Palisades CF, “I want a magic wand so I can have another twenty years with this horse.” Replied Michael, “I guess that’s what we breed them for.”
It’s Boxing Day, so you get a bonus Davenport. (Actually, I ran across a series of comparisons between historic and modern Davenports that some Davenport people did in email in 2006, and I’ll try to share the ones I can illustrate.) Sotamm, 1919 brown mare (*Hamrah x *Farha) ADA Recapitulation, 2003 chestnut mare (Memoir UF x Capucine), age 2. When I first saw the Sotamm picture, I was initially shocked by the resemblance, then gratified to realize that we really are doing more than just preserving names in pedigrees.
For our faithful readers who may be taking a break from unwrapping, photographing, and/or toasting, I’m offering a Davenport photo a day for the next twelve days. Do you know anyone who needs yet another partridge in a pear tree? Thought not. Rababe CF, 1987 Hamdaniyah Simriyah (Lydian x Fiddledeedee). When not caring for small children, as in this photo, I understand she has a pretty impressive spin and sliding stop.
Per Jenny Krieg’s suggestion, the Iras full sister Thea Isis, and her daughter, the iconic JAL Athena. Now all we need is a good shot of Portent, HB Octavia’s full brother, and we can complete the set. P.S. I’m sorry about the cropping, but I couldn’t quite get the gallery to do what it said it would do. If you click through each image, you can see the whole thing.
Since we were discussing Monsoon, here is his most influential daughter, Bint Dharebah (x Dharebah). The DAHC pedigree database credits her with 7 registered foals and a total of 74 descendants as of the 2006 update. I have heard RJ quoted to the effect that she is the modern echo of *Reshan — perhaps he will expand on that for us. Photos courtesy of Jeanne Craver.
We had a brisk discussion in the comments of an earlier posting about whether the leg faults apparent in the photograph were actually characteristic of the subject. While we did touch on age and injury, I wanted to point out another way in which photos can misrepresent a horse. Herewith, two photos of a nine-year-old Davenport stallion, HF Shaton (Wotan x Chiffon CF, Hamdani Simri): Same photographer (Anita Enander), same equipment, taken within a minute of each other. But see how a tiny change in the viewing angle stretches out the middle of the body, narrows the neck and shortens the hip? The effect can be even more exaggerated with the wide-angle lens in consumer cameras. This is not to say that we should not discuss or judge horses from photographs, but a healthy awareness of the limitations of the medium helps. How else can we reconcile *Wadduda’s reputation as a great beauty with the rather indifferent images we have of her?
From left to right: Persephone CF (Hamdani Simri), Tapestry CF (Kuhaylan Haifi), Chiffon CF (Hamdani Simri). Photo c1986 in Las Vegas, NV. Chiffon was at one time the mascot for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She carried the flag and was ridden around the track at football games, and in parades. Persephone has founded a family in her own right. Chiffon breeds on only through one son, Ibn Don Carlos, but her presence makes herself felt two and three generations down. (See the photos from the 2007 Al Khamsa Fantasia for many of her descendants.) Thanks to Jeanne Craver for providing the photo! (There are more of Chiffon at the DAHC photo archive.)
From left to right: Lirac HD (Shiraz CF x Bint Meringue), ADA Selene (Ascendant x Petit Point CF), Celestia (Cantador x Laikah, non-asil). Here’s a Youtube link to about a minute and a half of these three fillies rocketing around on a beautiful May morning.
So the farrier came at his appointed time. With the farrier came the farrier’s apprentice. With the apprentice came her 2yo daughter, Jesse. Now, Jesse has spent a lot of time around horses, and obviously adores them, but she’s still two and needs to be reminded to approach them from the front, not the back. (A photograph that I missed taking: Jesse, in the hay feeder which is a repurposed water trough almost as tall as she is, squealing with delight as Recap ignored the old hay she was being offered in favor of wiggling her upper lip in Jesse’s hair.) And she was pretty good for a while, but there were four mares to trim and Jesse was gaining speed, so we put her on top of Petit Point. Petit Point was perfectly agreeable about balancing the child while her front feet were being done, but Jesse’s wiggling was picking up again, and she was slowly working her way back, until she was nearly sitting on Petit Point’s loins. The farrier’s apprentice asked for a back foot, and Petit Point — refused. She apparently calculated that the child was going to pitch off her back if she didn’t stay…
ADA Intuition (“Poppy”) is the 2005 chestnut daughter of Atticus and Capucine, a straight Davenport Kuhaylah Hafiyah. This is her third ride after a year in pasture after just three months of under saddle work, so she is quite green still, but well behaved through an arena with jumps (and a neighboring goat pen, and 3 braying miniature donkeys, and let’s not forget the flocks of brightly colored bicyclists whipping down the road past the arena!) If you get tired of watching her balance herself in the arena, skip to about 6:20 and watch her stroll across the little stream and head up into the hills… If you want more, here she is on the longe line, a scant hour after getting off the trailer:
This photo shows Brass Band CF and Charles Craver in what Americans call (Arab) “native costume”. As this photo shows, Brass was an exquisite mover. I remember my first afternoon at the Cravers in 1999 (it had been raining in the morning and we had looked at stallions inside the barn, but it had stopped raining after lunch and we’d moved to the little arena next to the barn to turn stallions loose). Brass came out and enjoyed his liberty just like the others, but once Charles had caught him, the routine changed. Charles shook the lead line a bit (I remember no other cue), and Brass started to piaffe. My jaw dropped — flies buzzed in and out — possibly I stopped breathing, I don’t recall. Another quiet request, and he halted. Wow.
Since we were admiring Fragrance, I thought I’d share this one, taken by Anita Enander this summer, of Fragrance CF in her summer coat . Though unfortunately the shot is not perfectly framed, the mare’s style comes through.
Since it’s been busy out, another round of horses and rider — this time Charles Craver with horses of his breeding, born in 1957, 1958, and 1983: Aramis: Fairy Queen (dam of the previously featured Atticus): Brass Band CF:
This video was taken in August at the open barn session hosted by Diane Lyons of Desert Lily Arabians. Lustre CF, Affinity CF’s full sister, is seen about 4:30 into the video. (I have it on good authority that Affinity is an even better mare–) Right after her is Javera Thadrian’s full sister, GH Janet. Enjoy! Desert Lily Arabians Open House 2009 This video was taken in August at the open barn session hosted by Diane Lyons of Desert Lily Arabians. Lustre CF, Affinity CF’s full sister, is seen about 4:30 into the video. (I have it on good authority that Affinity is an even better mare–) Right after her is Javera Thadrian’s full sister, GH Janet. Enjoy!
This was taken at StarWest Stables, New Berlin, Illinois USA, in 2001 during the Al Khamsa convention (I think; maybe someone else will correct me). The horse is the 1982 Kuhaylan Haifi stallion Javera Thadrian; the rider is Edouard.
Blog contributor RJ Cadranell with his 1980 Davenport stallion, Atticus. I’m guessing Edouard is having a busy few days, so I thought I’d try to collect photos of participants here on horseback. If you have a photo to share, feel free to mail it to ambar@ambararabians.com. I also realized after my initial posting that this is a response to Joksimovic’s recent question: hello ! Dont misunderstand me but everybody talk about horses line ,pedigree,generation ,etc Nobody about riding this daughter of wind, the character of this good horses why ??Its to believe thats nobody riding .Why have or need the bedouin this horses ? And why they are what they are (very good horses) ???? (gazu)ride of long distances or what do you think? Maybe this horse is not for riding?? Thank you Joksimovic, you have an excellent point. This horse is absolutely for riding. It’s always good to be reminded what all this effort and verbiage is actually for. Blog contributor RJ Cadranell with the 1980 Davenport stallion, Atticus. I’m guessing Edouard is having a busy few days, so I thought I’d try to collect photos of participants here on horseback. 🙂 If you have a photo to share,…
From The Training and Management of Horses by J.P.F. Bell, published 1904. The colt should be in possession of a small head, broad between the eyes, clean, open jaws, and a small, tapering muzzle. His eyes should be full, generous, and prominent, showing plenty of fire when the colt is put upon his mettle. His ears should be small, tapering, and inclining towards each other at the tips when erect. His nostrils should be delicate and curved, with broad, expansive cavities, and when distended they should appear almost transparent at the edges. His neck should be long, lean, and planted on a set of oblique shoulders, with good play. He should have a moderately long, straight back, with strong, well-developed, muscular quarters. He should be deep-chested rather than broad, because if he is very broad in the chest he will never be fast, though he may be able to stay. His fore-legs should be well set on, clean, bony, flat, and free from splints and side-bones, while they should not be too long from the knees to the pasterns. The knees should be flat and fairly large, while the pasterns should be moderately long and elastic, to insure easy springing…
I wanted to highlight an interesting conversation on inbreeding taking place in the comments on Javera Chelsea’s photos. I hope this exchange will serve as a teaser: Lyman Doyle wrote: […] Inbreeding is certainly a fascinating and very complex topic. Googling “inbreeding” can turn up a lot of different information. Granted, you can’t believe everything you read on the internet, but some of it appears to be fairly well reasoned. […] I think there are several points of significance: 1. Inbreeding does create some degree of uniformity. The main genetic result of inbreeding is to increase the occurrence of the coupling of like genes. 2. Inbreeding does bring out those genes that are recessive including those that may be harmful to animals that are inbred. 3. Inbreeding is useful in uncovering otherwise harmful or undesirable characteristics and purging these characteristics from the genetic population. 4. Inbreeding is important in the development of animals that are “potent” with certain more favored characteristics that manifest in their offspring. R.J. Cadranell wrote: Lyman, regarding your point #1, inbreeding by itself does not create uniformity. Here is a passage from Michael Bowling’s article “Preservation Breeding and Population Genetics” from 1995: “We all learned long…
Well, after that introduction, I probably shouldn’t write my first post about the location of the gray gene in the horse. (That’s Michael’s cue, anyway.) Instead, let’s talk about one of the joys of backyard stallions. Here at Deferred Maintenance Acres, the stallion pens are seven feet from the bedroom window. Being able to glance out the window at Palisades is an unqualified delight. (The shot, below, of Palisades enjoying breakfast in bed was taken through said window.) At night, the occasional contented snort or thump on a feed tub is soothing. Stallions exchange news and views over the fence, the wind blows, the birds sing. All is well in California in the autumn. However, pasture breeding season is another story — time to break out the earplugs and the bedtime whiskey. Three AM seems to be a favored time for noisy couplings. I’m sure there’s a paper in this somewhere — Conception Rates Considered As a Function of Time of Day of Service or some such. That would require Data, though, in the form of enough pregnancies to bring any statistical link to light. While Palisades would serve enthusiastically, I’m sure, I’m a bit short of minions for such…