Stephan Eberhardt shared with me this photo of his Algerian/Tunisian/Egyptian mare Dachna (Khaiber x Dahna by El Aswad a.k.a Ibn Galal-15), a Shuwaymah Sabbah tracing to the Tiaret mare Cherifa. I am always pleased to see that these asil lines from North Africa have crossed well with Egyptian lines in Europe. The mare has two close crosses to Tunisian lines: her paternal grand-dam is the Jilfat al-Dhawi mare Rissala (Esmet Ali x Chanaan by Souci), whose sire and dam are from Anatole Cordonnier’s breeding in Tunisia but mostly from Algerian lines; and her maternal grand-dam is the beautiful Dar Essalam (Koufi x Djamila by Titan) whose sire is from Tunisian lines from Sidi Thabet and dam from Algerian lines from Tiaret.
Last year, I posted a photo of the grey Ma’naqi Sbayli stallion Sultan, one of the Syrian government stallions at the stallion depot of the Veterinary Unit of the Syrian Ministry of Agriculture in 1958 (Syria’s then equivalent of the EAO). Now I am posting this photo of Sultan’s mate, the Hamdani Simri stallion Hassaan. Photo from Hazaim Alwair. Judging from these pictures and others, the Syrian government appears to have maintained of asil stallions at this time. I was told that when in the late 1950s Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser offered it the stallion Amro (Nazeer x Amara by Kheir x Zahra by Hamran II), many Syrian breeders shunned him because they felt the government stallions were better.
Here is a photo of his son Brassicaire out of the wonderful Jilfat al-Dhawi mare Bossa Nova (Iricho x Bassala by Masbout)
This is my translation of the hujjah of Mumtazah, the maternal and paternal grand-dam of the Kuhaylan Krush stallion Mokhtar, who is now in France with Chantal Chekroun and is already 27 years old. I am happy to see the number of his descendants increase every year. “I the undersigned ‘Iyadah al-Talab al-Khalaf, known as al-Qartah from the Faddaghah tribe of the Shammar al-Zawr, who now lives in the village of al-Taif, which is in the district of Tall Hamis in the province of al-Qamishli, I testify by God Most High, a testimony free from all self-interest, that the grey flea-bitten mare that is eighteen years old is Krush al-Bayda; she [i.e., her line] came to us directly from the Shaykh of the Shaykhs of the Shammar, Mayzar Abd al-Muhsin, approximately twenty years ago; her sire is Krush from the same marbat; and so are the sire of her dam, and the sire of her sire; her paternal uncles are from her maternal uncles [i.e., her sire and dam are closely related and so are their sires and dams] and no outside horse was introduced among them [i.e., the line was only bred to stallions from the same line]. And…
This one is from Louis Bauduin, who owns Shuwayman Badawi (Mokhtar x Murad Haouda by Cherif out of Hamada by Irmak). Guillaume Lambert Gilles Shwaar in the photo.
Adrien Deblaise just shared with me this photo of the Syrian stallion imported to France, Hussam al-Shamal (Raad x Rouba al-Shamal by Al-Abjar). He is reminicent of his sire the desert-bred (literally born under a tent) Kuhaylan al-Mossen Raad in color, size of the eye, croup, and of his maternal grandsire, the impressive Saqlawi ibn Zubayni al-Abjar (neck, ears, shoulder).
Photo from Olivia Greene. We are trying hard to find Bint Jadiba (Ibn Tirf x Jadiba), the foal in the picture. She was alive as of two years ago.
This colt is Murad Aman, by Nimr Shabareq (imported from Syria) out of Murad Ouafah Habib (Jahir x Mourad Had’ra by Medicq Allah x Hamada).
Anyone knows the exact location of the Sheykh Obeyd stud in today’s Cairo? It is supposed to be half way between the neighborhoods of Matarieh and Ain Shams, but I need a street address.
Last week, my beloved 28 year old Ma’naqi Sbayli mare, Dakhala Sahra, was put down. She had a stroke, which had left her moving in circles from point A to point B, instead of straight lines. I saw footage of this, which I will not share here out of deference for her. I had never seen anything like this before. The story of this mare is one of missed opportunities, since I first tried breeding her in 2010. With her breeder Jeanne Craver, and former owner Kathy Busch, we tried everything: ET, AI, live cover after treating her uterus cysts. Nothing worked. I feel guilty because the Ohio vet I chose for her ET was incompetent and inexperienced. I felt I had a window there. She is one of very few asil mares left with a tail female to Haidee of Captain Roger Upton (I have serious issues with those that trace to *Bint Shams in the middle of the pedigree, by the way), and has the most beautiful pedigree of all the mare I have owned. Imagine this: a daughter of Plantagenet, who is a grand-daughter of Sir (Tripoli x Dharebah), a great-grand-daughter of Julyan (Julep x Bint Maaroufa),…
Perhaps I should not be doing that, but I am posting a list of potentially surviving Tiaret lines in a Word document. There are less than a handful potentially left, as John was writing earlier. If someone finds a way to get hold of one, let me know. I will jump on the next flight to Algiers. Let me know if you can open it. Legend: in bold: stallions, underlined: potentially alive.
I have previously written twice and in some detail about the desert-bred stallion El Sbaa imported to France in the 1920s (here and here). It turns out that the strain of the horse is Kuhaylan J’aitni (that’s from his file at Pompadour) and that he was purchased by French Inspector Rieu de Madron from Ahmad Ibish’s stables in Alexandria (that’s from de Madron’s book). The wiki website Allbreedpedigree.com has his dam as “El Ghermith A Kuhaylah Juatany” and his sire as a “Maneghi Sbyeli”. Does anyone know where this specific information comes from? do we know his breeder? Also Teymur made the interesting suggestion that he might be the El Sabaa sire of Hamdan Stables’ El Gadaa, who appears in Hamdan’s studbook.
To complete the trio of photos from the French and North African studs, here is one of the Tunisian stud of Sidi Thabet, also courtesy of Michael Bowling.
Yesterday Michael Bowling shared with me this lovely post card of an Arabian mare and her foal at the French government stud of Pompadour, in the Correze district. No date on the postcard.
The interior of this historical landmark of Cairo was burned down by vandals on February 1, 2013. With it will disappear one of Cairo’s most storied and opulent residences, as well as a small part of the story of the Egyptian Arabian horse. See article here.
From the British Journal of the Arab Horse Society, 1935-1938, p. 168, under “Royal Gifts of Arabian Horses”: In December 1937, 4 Arabian horses and 4 camels were unloaded from the liner Mantola at the Royal Albert Docks, London. They were presented by His Majesty King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia to His Majesty the King, as a token of friendship and in appreciation to the hospitality given to his son and heir at the Coronation. The contingent consisted of two stallions and two mares. Brief particulars of these horses are given below: 1. Manak (1928) […] 2. Kasim (1934) […] 3. Tarfa (1935), a grey mare, of great quality and a nice mover. Her sire is an Obeyan Abdul Hamra and her dam is a Kehaileh Ajuz. Tarfa is being specially trained as a hack for Princess Elizabeth, and she is promising to make a very nice ride for the little princess. 4. Faras (1927) […] The “little princess” is Queen Elizabeth II..
Louis is the President of the French Union Pour la Sauvegarde du Cheval Arabe Oriental (USCAR), and guest writer on this blog. Here he conveys in powerful, precise yet evocative language his ideal Arabian horse, in the form of a short prayer. I have asked Louis’s permission to translate it.
French breeder and researcher Philippe Deblaise has a new book coming out: “Tiaret: le Reve Algerien”, which chronicles the story of the prestigious government stud of Tiaret in then French-colonized Algeria. The website of the French Union Pour la Sauvegarde du Cheval Arabe Oriental (USCAR) publishes excerpts of it (here). Here is a wonderful photo album of what Tiaret looked like from the first part of the XXth century until today, including 129 photos of the Tiaret stud. Below are a couple photos. Tiaret
As mentioned in an earlier post last year, a small number of horses still trace to the very old Mukhallad strain including this 2001 chestnut stallion whose extraordinary pedigree is heavily line-bred to asil Algerian,Tunisian and old French lines of the highest caliber. Here is a nice shot of him which I had not seen before. His owner is standing at stud in the south west of France. The photo shows a very correct stallion of good “old” Arab type, reminiscent of several old Algerian stallions from Tiaret (e.g., the photo of Scorpion by Baleck in the small Mauvy book), of some Davenport stallions (e.g., Deluvian CF, Regatta CF) and Syrian desert bred stallions (the sons of Mahrous in particular), with a short back, a high and well defined dry wither, a large eye, deep jaws, short prickled ears, a small level and round croup and a thick tail set high. This is my kind of stallion. Below is a run-down of the male ancestors of Djelid in the maternal line (sire, sire of dam, sire of grand-dam, etc) so you could appreciate where he is coming from. Djelid is a son of the wonderful 1975 asil Jilfan Dhawi stallion Jahir…
I just arrived in Cairo Egypt with the family for a three year stint. Still busy settling. Sorry for the prolonged absence on the blog, and for not returning phone calls and emails from friends and others. I will start catching up this week.
Darlene Summers and I purchased a complete set of the Khamsat magazine. Darlene will scan them for the Al Khamsa archives project, and I will get the hard copies. I have been wanting a complete set for ten years. Isn’t this cool?
I find this photo of Walter Schimanski and his beloved stallion Fabo very touching, and emblematic of the friendship between man and horse. The horse clearly looks proud to walk next to his owner.
Does anyone know how the mare *Werdi made her way to Davenport in 1906? There is no mention of her in his “Quest”, and her original documentation (hujjah) points towards the central Syrian city of Hama as a place of origin. Hama is not a place Davenport or his friends visited, he only visited Aleppo and its semi-desert surroundings, while his friends visited Damascus and its immediate surroundings, where they bought *Muson, *Antar and a third horse I forget.
Abu-Talib (Ameer Ali x Rayim) is a Kuhaylan al-Rodan stallion from the Fred Glass program in Oklahoma. I had never a photo before. His dam is 100% old Crabbet with crosses to all the greats: Abu Zeyd, Berk, Nasik, Astraled, etc. The photo below gives him as being out of Serije which is incorrect.
Mayyassah Al Arab is by Clarion CF out of Cinnabar Myst and is the youngest foal of the Al-Dahdah preservation program of old American asil lines. She has lines to Hanad from his son Mainad and his daughter Dhanad. All the photos are by Kim Davis. I am genuinely interested in your candid and critical feedback on her conformation and overall balance, even at this early stage. It will help me decide whether to breed her dam and/or her sister another time. The dam’s neck is a bit short and I worry that her daughter inherited that. I also think the hindquarter, while very strong, is a bit droopy. On the other hand, I really like the broad forehead, the long ears, and the good shoulder, as well as the showy attitude, the head and tail carriage and the vigor and athleticism of this filly.
Fayrouz Beni Sakr (Mahboob Halab x Safiyah Beni Sakr by Hortal El Din) is a young and promising son of the Syrian stallion Mahboob Halab, now in France. Bred and owned by Fabienne Vesco.
Another filly — now a mare — I have been following on this blog for some time is Jenny Krieg’s Labwah Al Shaykhah (DB Khrush x HS Marayah) now 4 years old.. Many more pictures here. I have to keep reminding myself to learn more about which family of Ubayyan she belongs to.
How I love this young Davenport filly of the Hadban Enzahi strain, born a couple months ago at Jeannie Lieb’s from her rescue mare RL Bilquis (DDA Rasan x RL Boomerette by DDA Ihsan) and sired by RL Thunder Cloud (DDA Tyred CF x DDA Hadba by Letarnad), with so many crosses to the original import mare Hadba. Here she is with her dam RL Bilquis, aka “Penny” who is a small mare, but still looks gorgeous in Jeannie’s good care..
In Lady Anne Blunt’s Journals and Correspondence, the nice journal entry on February 20th, 1887 on the visit to Saud al-Tahawi, the reference to: “Fourthly, a Kehileh Taytanyeh [?] fleabitten” is of course to a Kehileh Jaytanieh. The strain of K. Taytanyeh does not exist, while K. Jaytanyeh (or J’aitniyah) is well known. The J at the beginning of a sentence in a handwritten letter can easily be taken for a T, and the editors were not sure of the transcription hence the question mark after it. This is indeed the strain of several mares at Sh. Sulayman Abd al-Hamid Eliwa al-Tahawi, including Bombolla and her daughters, a strain he got from his father Abd al-Hamid, who in turn must have received it from other Tahawi. Also, the reference to “a Kehilet el Tamoryeh (bred here), chestnut, very like Damask Rose and said to be of Roala origin, dam of all the young stock except one” is to a mare of the Kuhaylan Tamri strain that was obtained by Saud al-Tahawi from Nasir al-Mi’jil (aka Ibn Maajil), and whose line is very meticulously recorded in the herd book of his son Abdallah Saoud al-Tahawi, which was transcribed and uploaded online…
One of the pleasures of being in Lebanon for a few days is having access to my father’s Arabian horse library. I have been feeling deprived of all these books over the years, as I never dared taking them with me to the States when I moved there in 2000. As always, after glancing at the shelves, I ended up with a copy of Lady Anne’s Journals and Correspondence, which I take to be, along with the Abbas Pasha Manuscript, the single most important contribution to knowledge on Arabian horses in the past fifty years. Every time I read through it, I keep stumbling across information I had not noticed before . I had never noticed the following for example, under the Journal entry of April 11, 1891: “We galloped to Ahmed Pasha’s bersim. Then we walked round and looked at the horses.” A list of the five mares “we liked best” follows, including two sisters of the K. Nawwaq strain (“Saba” and “Atwa”), “Roja” [Roga el Beda, tail female to Moniet El Nefous] and “Sobha” [Sabha el Zarka, dam of Jamil El Ahmar, registered tail male to Anter and Ibn Rabdan]. Then this entry: “5) Lastly the Kehileh en Nimr…
Yesterday Kim Davis and her daughter Taylor sent me this lovely shot of little Mayyassah (Clarion CF x Cinnabar Myst by ASF David), who was born last week. I love the broad forehead, the low eye placement, and the delicate muzzle. All three are recognized Davenport features which the infusion of more Davenport blood brings into a line. I also love the long ears!
Did you know about this book? Published in 1998.
Also from Lady Anne’s Journals, February 24th, 1891: “A very bad day, wet, windy, cold and dull, not suitable for Judith to go to Cairo, so that I and Wilfrid went without her. When we got into the 1st class carriage we found in it Prince Osman Pasha who entertained us with agreeable conversation the whole way to Cairo. Prince Osman also explained the original connection of the Tihawi family (the Hamadi Sheykhs) with the Mohammed Ali family. It began from the arrival of Mohammed Ali in Egypt and the Tihawi were from the first the special body guards of the Pasha, which continued with his sons and descendants.”
From Lady Anne Blunt’s Journals and Correspondence under the January 13, 1903 entry: “Course to Om Kamr (for the third time). We started at 7.30 am making for the Hamad. Cantering on we came in sight of a tent, which at first H.F. [Wilfrid Blunt a.k.a. Head of the Family] thought might be Abu’s tomb _ a Kubba _ but it proved to be a white tent. On approaching we saw two figures come out. We asked them who was the owner of the tent and they replied Sheykh el Arab Mazin (el Tihawi) and that he was gone out hunting. We had not gone out much further when we saw 5 horsemen between us and the rief, and we loitered watching them as they got nearer and saw that they carried hawks and one carried a gun and the fifth was followed by a pack of about half a dozen hounds. On first speaking, by H.F. to the two nearest us, hey seemed very suspicious of us but afterwards their chief was most amiable, he proved to be Mohammed Ibn Majello, owner of large lands near Karaim and a connection of saoud el Tihawi between who and Majello there is a…
I am in Beirut, Lebanon, visiting family for a week. I opened my email with 24 hours delay and found this wonderful piece of news from Kim Davis, who told me that the Kuhaylat al-Krush Cynnabar Myst (ASF David x Mystalla) foaled a filly yesterday at 4.15 pm. Sire is the grand Clarion CF. Pics coming later. I am indebted to Kim for having taking this mare when heavy in foal and foaled her in the best of conditions. Thank you, Kim, you are the best.
Did you know that what is currently considered as Volume I of the Egyptian Agricultural Organization studbook, the one published in English in 1948 (I think) was only the English translation of a previous volume published in Arabic in 1942 by Dr. Abdel Halim Ashoub? Well, I didn’t, until Yasser Ghanem al-Tahawi pointed me to it recently. Yasser was looking for explicit evidence of use by the RAS of Tahawi stallions in the early years, so he bought a recent reprint of this 1942 book from the EAO library. I look forward to acquiring one, too.
Does anyone has a valid email address for Pam Baker of Myrtle Beach, SC? I had a valid email address but when I tried writing last week, it bounced back.
I have now relocated to Cairo, Egypt for three years. If you want to write to me, please use this address: Edouard Aldahdah CAIWB 3301 Pennsy Drive Landover MD 20785 USA Mail (and books, magazines, etc, but not horses) to this address will be forwarded to my work address in Cairo via diplomatic pouch twice a week.
From Jenny Lees: “Here is Mlolshaan Mahrous . He is around 15 hands 1” a very pretty stallion with a slightly cheekier sense of humour. He will cover Hamdanieh Munya this summer.”
Jenny Lees kindly sent me these photos of the Bahraini stallion Tuwaisaan Tha’atha’a, which was presented by the King of Bahrain to the Queen of England. He will stand at her place along with the other stallion, a Mlolshaan.
A “new” photo of *Exochorda, the best of her so far, has recently surfaced on Facebook. Here it is below, with filly Suleika at her side. It shows a well built mare of good Arabian type, reminiscent of some of the asil bloodlines from the Syrian desert such as the early Davenport Arabians, and the Hamidie horses. The croup was obviously passed on to her son Sirecho. Click on the photo to enlarge it. From the recent research, there is no doubt anymore about *Exochorda having been bred in Egypt, of two desert bred parents. Aiglon, owned by Ahmed Effendi Ibish, a Syrian race horse owner in Cairo and a native of Damascus, appears to have been bred in the Syria desert. All of Ibish’s horses came from there.
This is the text of Jane Ott’s obituary by Edie Booth on the Blue Arabian Horse Catalogue Facebook page: “On Wednesday, April 24th, 2013, at 1:50 AM, Miss Jane Llewellyn Ott slipped peacefully away. Miss Ott is a major historic figure and prime mover in recognizing the loss of the original desertbred horses among American breeders. Her primary research work is The Blue Arabian Horse Catalog. The Catalog listed all the horses Miss Ott could find, frequently with the help of Carl Raswan, that were authenticated as the original horses of the Bedouin tribes of Arabia. These horses were jotted down in a notebook with a blue cover, and the additional grouping of a star/asterisk was added for the horses that were without the Managhi strain of horses anywhere in their pedigree. This separation was due to unknown background on some of the Managhi horses, and as Miss Ott might say, the separation may not matter at all, but if it does matter and all the horses have been mixed, there is no way back. My introduction to Miss Ott was in 1986 after reading an interesting full page ad in EQUUS magazine. Located about 180 miles and under 3…
Just love this photo of Flourishes CF (Lydian x Fragrance CF by Regency CF) on Randal Abler’s Facebook page. That Anthesis dynasty (Fragrance, Chancery, Firebolt, Lexington) is quite something within the Davenport lines.
Randal Abler posted this photo of Vice Regent CF son Laarado (x Laarisa EAF, who is by Alaadri). He is owned by Kathy Kelly in Georgia. My Jamr Al Arab (out of Jadiba) is his half brother.
This she-camel recently won first prize in a regional Gulf beauty contest in the category of white camesl “al-wuduh”. I am increasingly interested in the production of camel beauty criteria in modern Arabia, because unlike Arabian horses, the lack of significant camel breeding in the West could mean that the codification of such criteria for camels may have taken place without Western influence.
That’s how the clerk at the Egyptian consulate in Washington DC spelled my name on my visa’s receipt, when I dropped my passport last week.. I had always thought of myself as a Ma’naqi, but this fellow did not seem to agree.
HH Spartan Krush (HH Solstice Krush x HH Nadirah Krush), the young colt at Kim Davis’ in Capron, Illinois, is simply magnificent.
Carrie Slayton of the Al Khamsa Preservation Task Force has succeeded in placing the blind 1998 mare Jadah Kerasun (ASF Raphael x ASF Ubeidiyah by ASF Ezra), a rare Hamdaniyah Simiryah tail female to the Ibn Saudi mare *Samirah in the hands of preservation breeder Marge Smith of Oregon. The mare just got there yesterday. In related news, Carrie sent the following two pictures of the other remaining Samirah tail female mares: 1993 Jadah Samirah (ASF Hercules x ASF Ubeidiyah by ASF Ezra) and her 2008 daughter Samirahs Adlayah (by Jadah Echos Amir). Pictures are the mares’ owner Stephanie Theinert McCloud. Both look very good. By the way, this is the same tail female as some of the Rushcreek Endurance horses.
Does anyone know which mare Major Upton is referring to in this section of his “Gleanings”, Chapter 4, “Visit to the Sabaah”? “Towards the close of a long and trying day, we made repeated offers for a bay mare, five years old and unblemished; she was a beautiful creature, just under fifteen hands in height, very bloodlike, but wildly excitable, glared at us like a tigress, and resented our approach even. Crowds gathered round as we frequently repeated our offer. The Shaykh indicated she was not to be taken away, and we thought we were on the eve of obtaining her, but suddenly, among the sound of many voices and loud talking, the mare was taken off by her owner. […] It was Sulayman ibn Mirshid who put the halter rope in my hands; her price was told out on the table, exactly that which I had offered, and handed over to her former owner, and the mare was picketed at our tent. A very simple certificate of the mare’s breeding and family was written out at my request, in the presence of the two Shaykhs, to which they placed their seals, one as a guarantee, the other as a…
This nice portrait of the Syrian desert-bred stallion Nimr Shabareq unfortunately sold on Feb. 2013. I wish I had know about it.
The horses of Mustafa Jabri, located in rebel-held areas, were stolen and sold to Turkey, and so were the horses of Fouad al-Attar and other breeders. Half of the horses of Radwan Shabareq have died, not from starvation (plenty of grass there) but from inhaling strange and suspicious gases. The other are sick. Their caregivers has to endure countless ordeals to prevent the remaining horses from being stolen or confiscated. Sigh.
I am now told that the two horses offered by the King of Bahrain to the Queen of England are stallions, not mares, and that the Bahrainis brought over 7 or 8 stallions which were displayed at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, partly as Bahrain was sponsoring the big FEI Endurance ride at the same venue. Each of the 7-8 stallions appear to be from a different strain. You can see amateur photos here, here and here. The one below is my favorite (URL copied and redirects to website, with credits to “AnnaMaisy25” who took the picture). He appears to be one of the two offered to the Queen.
Another piece of good news from preservation breeder Jeannie Lieb yesterday, with new hope for the Davenport *Hadba rare and endangered tail female. “RL Thunder Cloud x RL Bilquis delivered a beautiful chestnut filly with a perfect blaze, 3 white anklets and 1 white sock, last night around 11:00pm. Mother and daughter are doing great and this little gal is a firecracker!” *Hadba was the war mare of ‘Ajil ibn Zaydan al-Jarba and was taken by the Ottomans when this Shammar rebel Bedouin leader was killed. She was later resold and ended up with Homer Davenport who imported her to the USA in 1906. This is the same tail female line as the racing legend Kontiki.
It’s that time of the year again, and Arabian foals are popping up here and there. One of the newborns I chose to feature is little Niinah Nufoud (AEP Kamar x AB Dafiinah by HHA Manabi), a 2013 bay Kuhaylat al-Ajuz tracing to *Nufoud of the Saudi Royal Stud. This little filly traces twice to *Nufoud as her sire, Monica Respet’s AEP Kamar is also from this line. She is her dam’s and her owner Linda Uhrich’s first filly and represents a ray of hope for this precious tail female line. Congrats to both Linda and Monica.
Read the story here. Hopefully these would end with Jenny Lees of Pearl Island Stud, and be bred to the Bahraini stallions already there (thanks Jeanne Craver for the link).
I have always been intrigued by some of the early sources of RAS foundation horses, and wanted to learn more about them. I am not only referring to the Princes (Mohammed Ali, Ahmad Kamal, Yusuf Kamal, Kemal el-Dine Husayn, etc) and Lady Anne Blunt, but also by the more minor sources. One of these is “H.E. Lewa Ibrahim Khairi Pasha”, the owner of the mare Badaouia (RAS), the dam of Kheir and grand-dam of Gassir. Lets deconstruct that name for a second: “H.E.” is obviously “His Excellency”, a senior mark of respect for ministers and other high level officials. Lewa, as I once told Joe Ferriss and Jeanne Craver who reflected it in the revised entry for Badaouia (RAS) in Al Khamsa Arabians III, means “Major General”, and is a senior army rank. My father, General Salim Al-Dahdah, a retired two-star army general, is a Lewa, in Arabic. Pasha is the title of nobility we all know. This yields “His Excellency, Major General Ibrahim Khairi Pasha”. Armed with this new understanding, I looked up his name in Arabic in Google, for starters. Here is what I found: 1) In one source: 19-year old Gamal Abd al-Nasser (Egypt second military ruler…
I am extremely impressed with the structure and conformation of Jenny Krieg’s filly, Ubayyat al-Bahrain, one of two daughters of the twenty seven year old desert-bred Bahraini stallion Mlolshaan Hager Solomon, out of the Ubayyah mare DB Kalilah. I don’r think she is even two years old. To be honest, I have never seen such depth of girth, shortness of back, strength of musculature, and length of ear (all marks of an asil ware mare) in any Arabian horse in the USA before. She reminds of war mares I have seen in Syria including Mari a Shuwaymah Sabbah at Radwan Shabareq and Nawwarah a Saqlawiyah Jadraniyah at Abdel Mohsen al-Nassif. That’s how war mares in the desert were like. Really. Seeing this photo encouraged me to breed to this Bahraini stallion and I will do it as early as this spring, even if I would have preferred not to have to fork out 1,000 USD in breeding fees. The image below is copy of Loan Oak Photography.
This is one of the foundation stallions for the Blue Star program, he is a Hamdani Simri, a son of the imported Sindidah, and of the Ibn Jalawi stallion Jalam Al Ubayyan. The more I look at this picture, the more he reminds me of old Lebanese asil horses. The photo was posted by Susan Whitman on the Blue Arabian Horse Catalog Facebook page.