While perusing old handwritten notes I found this bit of information, from a conversation with Radwan Shabareq: “Dr Iskander Qassis had four Krush mares which he got from Abu Husayn Khattab (the premier horse merchant and expert in Syria in the 1950s) who in turn got them from his father who had in turn obtained them from Mijhim ibn Mhayd. They were from the Krush of Al-Sane’, which was the best Krush marbat of the Fad’aan (woul ne3m).”
This is the transcription of a conversation with Jean-Claude Rajot, in 2013, whom I had asked what master breeders Robert Mauvy and Anatole Cordonnier thought of Denouste: Here is what Jean Claude had to say: “Robert avait fait des recherches et Cordonnier aussi. Ils en ont parle une seule fois devant moi. Le point faible dans le pedigree: Aissa, par Bou Maza et Kebira. Le cure avait perdu les papiers. Cordonnier avait le meme entraineur de courses que Denouste.” Les juments favorites de Mauvy: Guelmouna par El Nil, Fadd’a, Iaqouta, Izarra. Il avait fait saillir Fadd’a par Asfour mais elle n’avait pas pris.
I am b ack and will resume the series of photos on Mustafa al-Jabri’s horses, by backdating a few entries until we reach today’s.
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
I am off to Kuwait for two days on Saturday, and I was just back from a week in Yemen before going back there in three weeks.. I am longing for a pause.
A reader had asked about a photo of Azyya (Kenur x *Aziza by Gamil Manial), the dam of Faziza by Fa-Turf in Germany (the line in the US is extinct). Here is a photo, from the Khamsat archives, courtesy of Jeanne Craver.
Qubbah Gardens was the upscale Cairo neighborhood surrounding the Khedivial Palace of Qubbah/Qubbeh. This list (in French) of the neighborhood’s residents in 1936 and their profession (if “Crown Prince”, “member of the royal family” or “Rentier” are professions) reads like a Who’s Who of Egypt’s rich and famous of that time. Note the diversity of backgrounds that was characteristic of the upper echelons of Egyptian society at that time: Jews, Christians, Muslims, Levantines, Westerners, etc. The list includes “Ibrahim Khairi Pashja, Lewa” (Lieutenant General) of Badaouia fame (the dam of Kheir who was likely named after his dam’s owner) and “Mohammed Nafea Pasha, Rentier” of Nafaa El Saghira fame, who seem to have been neighbors, as well as co-contributors to RAS foundation breeding stock.
He is the Mohammed Abu Nafie Pasha that is connected to the RAS foundation mares Nafaa El Saghira and (the elusive) Nafaa El Kabira, both of which are named after him. The banner above reads: “The late Mohammed Nafea Pasha established this cemetery in 1921″, and the one on the left has his date of birth and date of death but these are not legible, in addition to his name.
In memory of the late Mostafa Al-Jabri, this blog will feature a photo of one of his horses every day for fourty days.
Triermain CF (Javera Thadrian x Demetria by Lysander), born in 1988 is arguably the premier Davenport stallion alive today. He is the regal son of his regal sire, the unforgetable Javera Thadrian. Photo by Anita Westfall (who else?). Another in a long line of Kuhaylan Hayfi horses right out of the stud of the “Queen of Elfland”..
An immense veil of sadness looms over my old father today, who lost one of his best friends. Long time family friend and premier Syrian Arabian horse breeder Mustafa al-Jabri passed away three days ago in Gazi Antep, Turkey. My thoughts are with his family now in exile.
So the other day I attended the event where the Arabian Horse Website of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina was launched, thanks to the efforts of Amr Shalabi. It is a nice portal that ambitions to gather the existing archives and documentation pertaining to Arabian horse breeding in Egypt. The event included a number of presentations, including an interesting one about equestrian matters in the Mamluk era by a local university professor, and an comprehensive one about Tahawi Arabian horse breeding by Yasser Ghanem. The Tahawis are supplying some archival materials including copies of hujaj to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina project. To me the most interesting aspect of that evening was the venue in which it took place. That’s the house (well, the palace) of Ibrahim Katkhuda El Sennari, which is now the Cairo antenna of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and is located in an Old Cairo street known as Harat Monge (Monge’s street). This Monge is none other than French mathematician Gaspard Monge, the father of differential geometry, who along with a host of other scientists from all disciplines, accompanied Napoleon Bonaparte on his Egypt campaign. The house, known as Beyt El Sennari, was built by Ibrahim Katkhuda El Sennari, a wealthy occultist-turned-politician…
Bushra, the Ju’aythniyah mare of Tahawi lines of Yasser Ghanem Barakat produced this nice colt by an Egyptian stallion last week. The foal looks more like his dam than his sire, and that’s a good thing. Note the big black eyes and the long ears on this superior war mare of pure Tahawi lines.
The Al Khamsa website has a very nice and comprehensive feature on the stallion *Azra, a Saqlawi Ubayri imported by Davenport from the desert in 1906, and his remaining descendants. Check it out here. By the way, it was not until a few days ago that I realized that the stallion’s name actually meant “grey”, in reference to his color. Davenport’s Syrian and Lebanese companions would pronounce the Arabic qaf letter (equivalent to k or q) as ‘ (the guttural stop which if preceded by the vowel like A would be virtually silent, hence turning Azraq/Azrak into Azra. The Blunts had the same idea with their own Azrek, except that his Bedouin buyer, Zeyd Saad al-Mutayri would pronounce the name like Bedouins do and the way classical Arabic has it, with a q/k at the end.
Last week Kirby Drennan sent me pictures of her Clarion CF (Regency CF x Chinoiserie by Dharanad) which Anita Westfall had taken some time before. Here is one, which shows the stallion’s large eyes, his protruding facial bones, and his especially deep jaws. These are typical features of a Davenport stallion, and they are particularly prominent in Clarion. These are also the features of a desert bred stallion in its homeland. The second photo shows the distribution of the horse’s musculature.
Yesterday night, my two Krush mares Bint al-Barra and Cinnabar Myst arrived at their new retirement home, at Kathy Werking’s in Kentucky (who was the last home for another mare of rare lines, Princess Asjah, who died recently). I owe a huge dept of gratitude to Jeannie Lieb, who found them this new home; Kim Davis, who hosted them at her farm when one of them was about to foal; Jeanne Craver, who hosted them for more than year before that; Kirby Drennan, who brought her magnificent Clarion CF to breed one of them; Nancy Becker, who watched over them, and Trish Stockhecke, who bred them and cared for them for the first 22 years of their life. The two full sisters leave behind a nice 2013 replacement filly, Mayassah Al Arab (Clarion CF x Cinnabar Myst) who will carry the line forward, and bring close crosses to the early twentieth century greats like Abu Zeyd, Segario, Hanad, and Letan well in to the twenty first century. I wish the other sister had conceived as well, but nothing came out of her breeding to Aurene CF. Still, mission accomplished, for now.
Jamr (Vice Regent x Jadiba) is growing up nicely, and really looks like his pedigree, a mix of the old Blunt/Doyle look — you can’t beat the classiness of that — and the Davenport/Schilla look. He has his dam’s very deep jaws, and his sire’s pointy ears. His dam’s ears were understated. His eye is bigger than his dam’s, which is the legacy of the extra Davenport blood. The triangular head is the result of a finer muzzle than his dam’s and of the depth of his jaw, like in that Sherifa head study by Lady Anne Blunt. Note also the bone structure at the base of the ear and juncture of the ear and the jaw. No prominent dish, or only a very slight one, just the way I like it and the way I think it should be. Thanks to Monica Respet for this photo.
I am excited to announce that the Kuhaylat al-Ajuz Jadah BelloftheBall a.ka. “Belle” (Invictus Al Krush x Belladonna CHF by Audobon x LD Rubic by Plantagenet) has joined the Al-Dahdah herd. She is a gift from my friend Jeannie Lieb, who delivered her from Boston to Pennsylvania yesterday! I have been wanting a mare from the line of LD Rubic for 12 years now, ever since a came to the USA, and now I have one, so it’s a dream come true. This morning I found this email in my archives. It is from the late Carol Lyons and is dated Dec. 22, 2001: “{…] You asked about Rubic and Belladona. […] Who would I breed these mares to if I had the opportunity? I would try to breed Rubic to Triermain. There is a story here about why Charles gave this horse the name of Triermain’. It comes from a poem which tells the vertues of a man named Triermain and that he is worthy of the daughter of Plantagenet. Rubic is a Plantagenet daughter so the choice is obvious. I believe that Charles is a ‘master breeder’ and Triermain has been used on a number of Plantagenet daughters and granddaughters…
I am offering the two Kuhaylat al-Krush full sisters Bint al-Barra, 22, and Cinnabar Myst, 21, by ASF David out of Mystalla for a good retirement home, or to someone who may wish to continue the preservation work I started with them. I am doing so because I need to make room for new arrivals (details soon), and I already have a replacement filly Mayassah (by Clarion CF). If anyone is interested, drop me a line. Notable features about both mares include: — an extraordinary disposition, both mares are sweet as lambs; they had never been ridden, yet they took on both my kids on their backs. — very old lines up close: Abu Zeyd, 1904 (Mesaoud x Rose Diamond) is 4 generations away; Hanad is 5 generations away; Daaldan is a paternal grandsire. — old endurance lines up close with Albert Harris bred horses 3 generations removed (Komet by Sunshine x Tebuk). — easy keepers
An Egyptian horse breeder tells me that the ruins of Abbas Pasha’s stables can be seen on the road from Cairo to Suez. That’s another place worth seeing.. before it is razed.
Hussain from Iran sent me these pictures of the Arabian stallion Geysar Shah (Nasim x Fadak), a Wadnan Khursan of the strain of Hajj Shahab.
The other morning on my way to work, I stopped at the main gate of the Manial Palace and took a walk in the garden. The palace itself, now a museum, has been closed for seven years, and is scheduled to reopen to the public in a couple months (says the guard at the entrance). Few places in the history of the Arabian horse carry as much significance as this place.
Not sure to think of this one: Bagdad, 1935 stallion (Norniz x Bagdalyne by Danbik); he precedes the generalized (and still much uncovered) cross-breeding of Arabians with Anglo-Arabians that plagued France from the 1950s onwards, yet he does not look like your classical Arabian. He does not look like an Anglo-Arabian either; he looks like an Arabian of the racing type. But compare with the picture just below, which is that of an Anglo-Arab with 25% of Arab blood.
He is by Saher (Ghazal x Sahmet) out of Sandara (Gharib x Sahmet). The Murana line is the dean of the asil Arabian horse tail female lines in the West.
He is turning every bit like his dam, a fortress of a mare, which died this summer after inhaling a suspicious chemical gas near Aleppo, but he is more refined than her. I love his high withers. Click on the photo (by Fabienne and Severine Vesco) to enlarge it.
This post builds on the previous one below, about the Tunisian racing stallion Okba (1983-2006). Here is an initial list (in no order) of the desert-bred foundation horses in his pedigree, which I will keep updating as I move on: 1. Dynamite II, ca. 1920 (Hamdani x Tayyara), to Sidi Thabet 2. Tamerlan, a Dahman, to Sidi Thabet, imp. 1910 3. Goutta, to Tiaret, born 1884, imp 1889 4. Cheboub, a Hadban Enzahi born in 1872, to Tiaret 5. Zerga, to Tiaret, born in 1873 sire “Seglawi Regibi”, dam “Chouémé” (Shuwaymah) 6. Ibech, bred by the Sba’ah Bedouins, to Sidi Thabet, born 1891, i,p. 1896 7. Assacoulai, sire of Ould Assacoulai who was born in 1878 at Sidi Thabet 8. Anazaouia, dam of Ould Assacoulai 9. Harami, to Pompadour, imp. 1872-76 10. Dolma Batche, a Jilfa, to Pompadour “from Constantinople”, born in 1869, imp. 1876, chestnut. 11. Khamil, born 1894 imp. to Tiaret in 1898 (with Aziz and Salamie) 12. Ramses II, “from Syria”, sire “Kehelan El-Boulad”; dam “Hamdanie”, to Pompadour in the 1880s 13. Samaria, a Kuhaylah Ajuz, from Khalid Bey al-Assaad, in Taybeh, Lebanon, bought for 8,000 francs, to Pompadour in 1887 by M. de Gaanay, to Sidi…
Anyone knows what the origin of this picture on allbreedpedigree.com is? It is supposed to represent the 1984 chestnut UAE stallion Turefi Dahman (Dahman Al Asfar 1975 x Turefiya Safra OA 1974), yet the horse in grey. The sire on the pedigree is UAE bred from Saudi lines, and the dam (persumably from the strain of Kuhaylan Turayfi) is presented as a desert bred. [Update: Photo by Rick Van Lent, Jr]
I am even more disconnected from the racing scene in the USA than I thought. I recently found out that the 1983 Tunisian Jilfan Dhawi racehorse Okba (Koufi x Ahram by Esmet Ali) had been imported to the USA where his offspring (out of mares from non-asil race Russian, Polish, US/Kontiki and other racing lines) have been topping the charts of race winners over the past decade. He was first raced in Tunisia (10-9-1), then in Oman (4-1-0) where he was spotted and imported to the USA by Stephen Hollis. Okba was bred by the Tunisian Government Stud of Sidi Thabet from Algerian and Tunisian bloodlines only (save for two crosses to Ibn Fayda I, a gift from Prince Kemal El Dine Hussein to Tunisia). His pedigree is that of an Asil and is significant in that he does not trace to old (asil) French mainland lines (e.g., Duc) which were common in Tunisia at the time. He also traces up close to two of the foundation mares (Ambria and Palmyre) of the famed stud of Admiral Cordonnier in Tunisia. I will be proposing him for inclusion in the Al Khamsa Roster next year, after I do my due diligence on his trajectory…
The photo and info are from the Khamsat magazine, Volume 6, Number 3, July 1989
This morning I stumbled upon an erudite and thoroughly researched paper by Dr. Shihab al-Sarraf of the International Center of Furusiyyah [Horsemanship] Studies on “Mamluk Furusiyyah Literature and Its Antecedents”, published at the University of Chicago’s Mamluk Studies Review, VIII-1-2004. It is the most comprehensive review to date of the Islamic literature on horses and horsemanship from early to late medieval times. The following passage in this paper sparked my interest: “The main body of Arab philological works on horses was written in Iraq during the period from the latter half of the second/eighth century to the end of the first half of the fourth/tenth century. These works included both comprehensive and specific treatises. Of the former type, commonly titled Kitab al-Khayl, more than twenty treatises were written, all deemed lost except four. These are Kitab al-Khayl by Abu ‘Ubaydah Ma‘mar ibn al-Muthanná (d. 209/824); Kitab al-Khayl by al-Asma‘i (d. 216/831); Kitab al-Khayl by Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman Muhammad al-‘Utbi (d. 228/842), and Kitab al-Khayl by Ahmad ibn Abi Tahir Tayfur (d. 280/893). The last two treatises are still in manuscript and the fate of their extant copies, presumably kept in a private collection, is uncertain. In any case, the basic and unmatched contributions in this domain remain the above first…