2006 Article on Shammar tribe in Iraq from French newspaper

Somehow I missed this 6 years old article on the Shammar of Iraq in French weekly Paris-Match newspaper, which is translated into English here. I wish I could find the original, so I can see the photos, especially that one: [PHOTO CAPTION (page 74): Proud of belonging to a dynasty of glorious horsemen, Sheikh Abdullah shows us a purebred Arab, one of the twenty horses in his personal stud farm.]  

Abu al-Tayyeb, Kuhaylan Krush stallion with the Syrian Government in 1958

Abu al-Tayyeb is another one of these early Government Stud stallions in Syria, as was Sultan. That photo was also taken in 1958. He was reportedly a son of Krush Halba, the Kuhaylan  Krush stallion from Lebanon that was sold to Turkey where he became a founding sire for the Turkish Arabian horse program. His dam was a Kuhaylat al-Krush from the Hama area in central Syria, and tracing to the Anazah Bedouins. His line is likely to be related to that of the Davenport imported mare *Werdi.    

So Sad..

I just spoke to an old friend from Syria today. The economic situation is some parts of the country is so dire, cost of fodder has been multiplied by six, so much that people have been selling their asil mares and stallions to slaughterhouses in Iraq. I learned for instance that the young Kuhaylan al-Wati stallion from Shammar I had my eyes set on (below) was sold by the pound for meat. So sad, yet children are dying by the scores in both Syria and Iraq, so I will not shed a tear over a horse.  

Unpublished *King John photo

Bill Cooke gave Jeanne Craver permission, who gave me permission to use this previously unpublished *King John photo, courtesy the Arabian Horse Trust collections at the International Museum of the Horse in Lexington. He was a Saqlawi Jadran from the marbat of Dari al-Mahmud, Shaykh of Zawba’ Shammar in Abu Ghraib. This was the best marbat of Saqlawi Jadran in Arabia in the 1920s/30s. Please use proper credit (above) when using. The line died out in Al Khamsa with the death of Beau Nusik (Nusik x Reshan Azab by Janeo, a son of *King John) in 1984. Thanks, Bill and Jeanne.  

Pre-Islamic Arabic Names

I am very fond of these, because Arabic names in the period before Islam did not yet have a religious connotation. One of my favorites is the masculine name Mu’awiyah. It’s the name of the first Ummayyad Caliph, Mu’awiyah Ibn Abi Sufyan (661-680 AD), as well as that one of the kings of the ancient South-Arabian kingdom of Kinda in the third century A.D, whose capital was Qaryat al-Faw, in south central Arabia.  It’s also my cousin’s name.. Interestingly, although a masculine name, it means something like “barking bitches”, or better still, “whining bitches”. By the way, the article I linked to above mentions a number of Arabic inscriptions from the collection of Sam Roach of ARAMCO. I wander if that’s the same as the importer of four Roach Blue Start horses to the USA.  

Early Preservation Success

A lot has been taking place lately on the preservation front, which has not been appearing on this blog. It’s not quite for lack of time, it’s just that at some point this past year, I realized I needed to move from talking about things to helping get things done. And since a lot of that is process, and talking to people, and talking people into getting horses from vanishing lines, I have not been reporting on it here. The Al Khamsa Preservation Task Force, which I chair,  has been particularly busy. Lately it scored a big success: the 2002 mare Jadah BellofTheBall (Invictus Al Krush x Belladonna CHF by Audobon out of LD Rubic), from the rare tail female line to the desert bred Kuahylat al-‘Ajuz mare *Nufoud of King Abd al-‘Aziz Aal Saud, and one of the last Sharp mares in the world (no Blunt/Crabbet blood in the pedigree) has been saved from a difficult situation and acquired by a dedicated preservation breeder. Jeannie Lieb of Carlisle, MA, is the new lucky owner of this nice mare, and a breeding to Triermain CF (Javera Thadrian x Demetria by Lysander) is planned for this summer. This development places the…

Felha, asil Kuhaylah Nawwaqiyah mare from the Tahawi in Egypt

Yasser Ghanim Barakat sent me this recent photo of the asil Kuhaylat al-Nawwaq Tahawi mare Felha (El Kharass x San’aa), aged 25. Felha was bred by Shaikh Soliman Eliwa al-Tahawi and is now owned by his grandson Hossam Abdullah Soliman. An ongoing campaign is currently taking place to get her and 11 other Tahawi mares accepted by the EAO and mtDNA testing was done to compare this line with that of another Tahawi Kuhaylat al-Nawwaq mare, *Malouma, as well with the existing K. al-Nawwaq lines in Syria and Lebanon.  

List of Stallions Accredited by the Tunisian Government

Patrick from Belgium sent me the list of the Tunisian Arabian stallions accredited by the Tunisian government’s Fondation Nationale D’Amelioration de la Race Chevaline (FNARC), which is under the Ministry of Agriculture. He tells me that 30-50% of the stallions are still from the old Tunisian bloodlines (at least on paper), and the rest from the invasive French part-bred “pseudo-Arabian” lines, and now the pseudo-Arabians from the Amer-type Saudi Arabian bloodlines. Patrick likes the first two on the below list, and so do I. http://www.fnarc.nat.tn/etalons2012/TURKI.pdf http://www.fnarc.nat.tn/etalons2012/GABER.pdf http://www.fnarc.nat.tn/etalons2012/HAMZA.pdf http://www.fnarc.nat.tn/etalons2012/HYRAM.pdf http://www.fnarc.nat.tn/etalons2012/KAHLOUN.pdf http://www.fnarc.nat.tn/etalons2012/MOUSSOUL.pdf

Aramco World interview with Violet Dickson

Check out this comprehensive and really lovely 1972 interview with Dame Violet Dickson (1896-1991), the wife of H.R.P. Dickson, British Political Resident in Kuwait from 1929-1936. It vividly describe the old way of life in this Eastern Arabian port, with a face to the sea and a face to the desert, and how modernization brought that old way of life to a rapid demise. I am in Kuwait now, and have a terrible case of insomnia.

2005 Video of US West Coast Davenport Arabian horses

This 2005 video by Carol Mingst features some of the nicest Davenport Arabian stallions and mares on the US West Coast, all from Craver Farms: Betty Ball’s Dubloon CF (Lysander x Decibel); Michael Bowling’s glorious Trilogy (Prince Hal x Trill) and also Shiraz CF (Regency CF x Ariadne CF); Diane Lyons’ En Pointe CF (Triermain CF x Pirouette CF), Carrie Cabak’s Nuance CF (Odysseus x Audacity), and Lustre CF (Javera Thadrian x Audacity). It also shows some of Michael Bowling Davenport colts.

Maur Halawi, 1994 asil Ubayyah mare

I am a big fan of the asil Arabians that trace to the ‘Ubayyan mare *Muhaira. I believe she is as important an influence as *Turfa in US pedigrees, especially the ones close to the desert. The mare below, Maur Halawa (Arrogaance x Maur Blue Treasure by Arrogaance), bred by Maureen Matheson, is one of these tail female *Muhaira mares, and is very reminiscent of the good desert-bred broodmares that I recall when growing up in Lebanon and Syria.        

Newborn Shuwaymah filly from France

Since it’s that time of the year, and my work is leaving me a few minutes to breathe, here are photos of another new 2012 arrival, the filly Qoreibet, daughter of the Syrian stallion Hussam al-Shamal and of the Shuwaymat Sabbah mare Qhadidja (Ourki x Quejala by Fawzan), from the breeding program of Adrien Deblaise in France, and traces to Moroccan lines.

More young asil Kuhaylan Krush mares and stallions

Also from Kim Davi’s Krush program comes the mare HH Karisma Krush (Othello LD x Kashmir Krush by Sportin Life), bred by Carol Lyons in 2005… … the 2001 mare HH Sonata Krush (Preseus KF x Sarra Al Krushah by Asar Al Krush) … and the 2009 daughter HH Serafina Krush, by Quantum LD as well as the 2009 stallion HH Tantalus Krush (Quantum LD x Kashmir Krush by Sportin Life)  and finally, the new colt’s sister, the 2010 filly Sabella Al Krush (Pulcher Ibn Reshan x HH Nadira Krush), who is also very promising Many of Kim’s horses also trace to Jackson Hensley’s old-established Kuhaylan Krush program.. and some of the exchanges between the two programs are pretty recent.

Upcoming Khamsat

Just a dropping a couple of lines to say that I look forward to reading the upcoming Khamsat, which includes — an article  on Vanishing Lines (*Al Mashoor and Euphrates, represented by the mare Sarita Bint Raj), — ground-breaking research article by R.J. Cadranell about the Abbas Pasha mare Ghazieh (one of the best articles I have read on Abbas Pasha horses in years, based on original documentation), — a write up by Jeanne Craver of my presentation at last year’s Al Khamsa Convention in Pennsylvania, on a case study of a modern Syrian line (the Shuwayman Sabbah of the Jarba Shammar) and its link to US imports of the 19th and 20th century. — a report by Rosemary Doyle on the WAHO Conference in Qatar. It’s nice to see this small, self-funded publication featuring so many cutting edge topics in one issue. I love the spirit the Khamsat embodies. Homegrown, volonteer based, yet global in it reach and cutting edge in its coverage.

Amazing 1922 video footage from Crabbet

This afternoon, Jeanne Craver some of us this wonderful footage of Crabbet stallions in 1922 (click here) . Nasik and Raseem are featured among others. I have watched four times already. What a delight to see these stallions moving. I really want to know who the second stallion in the circle is, the one with the high tail carriage.    

Photographs of the Jordanian Majali Bedouins in the 1940s

If you have a Facebook account, click here and take a look at this wonderful slideshow of photographs of the Jordanian Majali Bedouins in the 1940s, taken by Australian photographers Frank Hurley. Wow. Only the Raswan photo collection comes close to the beauty of these pictures. Link shared by Majid al-Sayigh. Let me know if the link works.    

DB Ibn Najm Huda, asil Dahman Shahwan stallion in the USA

A recent photo of the 2006 Dahman Shahwan stallion DB Ibn Najem Huda at the stud of Rodger Vance Davis in Illinois.  The rider in the photo is the Davis’ head trainer, Sarah Sanders who has been preparing him to be another one of her demo horses in her Ride with Excellence clinics.  Photo by Lone Oak Photography.

Almimruhiye 16, 1981 Arabian mare from Turkey

Also from Teymur comes this photo of the 1981 Turkish Arabian mare Almimruhiye.16 of the precious Kuhaylan al-Mimrah marbat of the Shaqfah family in Hama, Syria. The hujjah of her ancestress in the tail female, the original Almumruhiye is on the WAHO website, under “General Interest” then under “Turkish Stud Book Report”, and is reproduced below. She was purchased in the Syrian city of Hama in 1936 at the age of 5. Allah Almighty said in his precious book Q’uran ‘The love of passion that comes from women and children has attracted mankind, as well as accumulated gold and silver treasures, pedigreed horses, livestock and crops.’ The Asil Horses are blessed and valued for that Allah Almighty mentioned them many times in his precious book. The Republic of Turkey purchased from Hama by the help of Ali Saif Aldeem from the people of Hama some Asil Horses. Among them is the chestnut Kehaileh Mimrehieh, her family tree is shown above. We witness that her fourth grandmother the bay is the mare of Hilal Bin Adnan from the Sbaah (Anezeh) and her father is Ma’anagi Sbeli. At Anezeh, she gave birth to the chestnut Kehaileh Mimrehieh whose father is the Ma’anagi Sbeli,…

Daughter of Baba Kurush / Krush Halba in Turkey

Kurus, known in Turkey as Baba Kurus and in Lebanon as Krush Halba, was born in the Syrian desert in 1921, first became the foundation stallion of the racing-oriented Lebanese Arabian horse breeding program and was then exported to Turkey where he also founded the Turkish Arabian horse breeding program. Here a photo of a daughter of his, courtesy of Teymur from Turkey. She is SÜBEYHI.4., Grey 1936, Mare, Strain: MANEKIYE SÜBEYHI. Sire: KURUSH.1921 OA (Baba Kuru?) , Grey. Dam: SÜBEYHI.2.1929, Grey.

Saraly El Shahin, 1994 asil Hamdaniyah Simriyah in Hungary

I have been telling you about that Hamdani Simri line in Europe, the one from the mare Sobha of Ali Pasha Sharif, which went to the Crabbet Stud and eventually to the Courthouse Stud. A Hungarian preservation breeder, Laszlo Kiraly, bought what seems to be the last three registered asil mares from that line, Saraly El Shahin. The other two still need to be located. There might be a couple more who are not registered. The mares have been through a lot, after leaving the care of their breeder and last preservation owner, Penelope Pembleton. Laszlo sent me pictures of Saralee, who is still recovering and still in poor shape, some of which are below. I also found some pictures of one of Saralee’s ancestors in the tail female, the beautiful and very desert-like Courthouse mare Somra II (Fedaan x Safarjal by Rasim). He sire was the desert-bred Saqlawi Jadran of Ibn Zubayni stallion Fedaan, imported by Mr Clark of the Courthouse Stud to the UK in the 1920s.  With desert-bred, well authenticated, beautiful grey horses like Fedaan and Mirage in the UK in the 1920s, there was really no need for Skowronek. Oh well.

So many hopes pinned on Saralee

The best news for 2012 on the preservation front came yesterday from Hungary, and I am not quite over it yet. Preservation breeder Laszlo Kiraly was able to acquire a precious treasure: the 18 year old Hamdaniyah Simriyah mare Saralee El Shahin (Ansata Aly Jamil x Saree, by Salaa El Dine x Selmah by Shakhs x Sappho by Bleinheim), one of the two or three European asil descendants left to the Ali Pasha Sherif mare Sobha (Wazir x  Selma). From a sheer preservation perspective, this mare is precious is so many ways: first, because of its tail female; second, because of the extraordinarily high amount of Ali Pasha Sherif bloodlines she carries through her great grand dam Sappho (Bleinheim x Selima by Bahram x Siwa II by Rheoboam) pictured below; third, because of the two lines she carries to the asil Courthouse Stud desert bred imports Nimr and Fedaan, who have virtually disappeared from the global asil gene pool (save for another line in South Africa to Nimr but also to the third Courthouse desert bred import Atesh); fourth, because of the last asil line left to the Blunt desert import Meshura; fifth, because this is the only asil Crabbet damline…

Goodbye, Wisteria

Today Wisteria CF left the care of Craver Frams in the trailer of her proud new owner Kathy Busch. Along with her rode Enchante CF (Zachary x Velveteen by Sir). I am sad to see Wisteria go but I am very happy that Kathy is the one who has her now, because Kathy keeps her horses for a long time and takes great care of them. Wisteria leaves behind a colt and a filly, and I could not wish for more. I am also forever grateful to Charles and Jeanne Craver for having kept her at their place, after selling her to me, and having taken such good care of her over the past five years. The day before, Javera Chelsea (Thane x HB Diandra by Mariner) and Dakhala Sahra (Plantagenet x Soiree by Sir) left Craver Farms to go to Tom and Jess Maiyer in Galion, Ohio, for embryo transfer.

Djoar Beni Sakr, Jilfan Dhawi stallion in France

I am off to Morocco this weekend, for about a week, so these two pictures of a stallion partly of Moroccan Arabian lines are fitting. This is Fabienne Vesco’s Djoar Beni Sakr (Jahir x Loubia bint Breek by Breek), a Jilfan Dhawi by strain, as a younger horse, and as a 16 year old stallion. Both his maternal grandparents, Breek and Rihya, came to France from Morocco with Jean Deleau, and trace to combined Egyptian, Tunisian and French lines. The French born stallion Agres (photo below, by Sumeyr x Altise by Abel x Attique by Méat), which was a sire at the Moroccan Royal stables, and traces to a Hamdaniyah Simriyah mares imported from Syria, is well represented in his pedigree.      

A reflection of the times

Here’s a photo of three sons of the influential mare Domow (registered as *Abu Zeyd x *Wadduda, but may well have been *Astraled x *Wadduda), all three important early American Arabian horse sire. Check out their names: Mahomet, Abu-Selim, and Ahamed. What a change in the culture between then and now: now the big names are Versace, Armani, and other haute couture references. It signals a shift in the marketing and perception of the Arabian horse: from an animal connected with its original Arab environment and simple Bedouin culture, to a global luxury consumption good. Yikes.

Sunny Acres Darius, 1955 Hamdani Simri stallion

One of the only Davenport horses to stay out of the preservation adventure launched by Charles Craver, Fred Mimmack, Reba Troxell and a handful others in the 1950s and 1960s was the 1955 stallion Sunny Acres Darius (Ibn Hanad x Gamil by Kasar), bred by Margaret Shuey. I never had the chance to ask why this was so. All but three of his offspring were non-asil.  

The *Nufoud tail female on the brink of extinction

I have written about the 1982 “war mare” LD Rubic (Plantagenet x Tarrla by Tarff) several times on this blog. She is the kind of mare I wish I had owned or bred. She is a great-grand-daughter of the desert bred mare *Nufoud, a Kuhaylat al-‘Ajuz from the Saud royal studs. *Nufoud was imported to the USA by Albert Harris in 1932 through Amin Rihani. At that time, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was still the Sultanate of Najd and Hijaz. LD Rubic is also a great-grand-daughter of another Saudi royal mare, *Turfa. LD Rubic was bred by the late Carol Lyons, out of the last Al Khamsa mare of that strain, Tarrla. Carol saved that line and many others from extinction. Rubic left two sons and five daughters: of the sons, Salil Ibn Iliad produced a number of asil mares here and there. He is getting older. The other son AB Razeel, is younger but has not had progeny as far as I know. The five daughters of LD Rubic are: MSF Rubie, Bint Rubic CHF, MSF Shamis, AB Dafiinah, and Belladonna CHF. MSF Rubie is a problem breeder, and has not had a foal in a long time.…

Black Lightning, 1981 asil Saqlawi al-‘Abd stallion

This stallion is still going at 31 years old. A direct son of mare Sahanad (Abu Hanad x Sahabet by Tanatra), a Saqlawiyat al-‘Abd tracing to the desert-bred *Wadduda, and sired by the Egyptian sire Khemahr Moniet (Khemahr x Khe Miss Moniet by Ibn Moniet El Nefous), he is a foundation sire for the Sahanad Preservation Group that was built around that mare. Photo from the Howard photo collection, with Robin Howard handling the stallion.    

Farana, 1929 asil Ma’naqi Sbayli stallion in the USA

A handsome horse of old Blunt lines, the 1929 Ma’naqi Sbayli stallion Farana (Nasik x Farasin by Rasim) stood at the Kellogg Ranch in California. He was a popular sire, but is barely represented in modern asil breeding today. I know Rebecca Quick has a line to him through the 1944 Kuhaylat Rodan mare Suebe (Feyd by Farana, x Gisela by Akil x Shemseh by Nasik x Rifla by Rasim), who was double Nasik. There is also a line to him through Milanne (Feyd x Kishta by Akil). The line still goes in tail female, through Milanne who also goes back to Ferida, but I feel it’s lost its type as a result of being diluted in an ocean of Egyptian blood. I feel that the Blunts could have made a better use of this Ma’naqi Sbayli line to Ferida while the line was still at Crabbet and before to migrated to the US. If I am not mistaken, the first stallion from this line at Crabbet was Faris (Nureddin II x Fejr).    

Schiba, an American asil line in Europe

The other day I was look at the remaining asil lines to the legendary stallion Hanad in the United States. I came across his lines through the mare Schiba (Hanad x Shilan by Antez), who was one of the foundation mares for the Krausnick’s Shar Char Farms. The line produced well for the Krausnicks (Mistlany, Shar Hiba, Shar Moliah and Char Mist come to mind), but has become very thin today, especially in the tail female. Then I remembered that at least two mares from this line were exported to Germany and become the foundations for Dr. Walter Olms’ Hamasa Stud: Shar Duda (Negem x Shar Hiba by Fa Turf) and Shar Zarqa (Negem x Shar Turfa by Fa Turf), who is below. The same day, Monique from the Netherlands sent me a message asking me to highlight the stallion Maamoon Tarik (Maamoon Ibn Gazala x Hamasa Tulayha by Tufail) who is from the line. He has two lines to the two mars from Schiba that were exported from the USA to Germany, including one in the tail female, but also a line to Faziza (Fa Turf x Azyya by Kenur), who also came from the Krausnicks to Germany, and graces…

Scarcity: Code Red

The Al Khamsa Preservation Task Force has put together a “Code Red” list of the most endangered Al Khamsa bloodlines, which consists of those Foundation Horses (that is, desert-bred imports) that have less than 100 descendants alive today. Here is the link. By order of scarcity — and hence, emergency — these are those that count less than 20 Al Khamsa descendants alive today: 1. *Al Mashoor 1. *Euphrates 1. *Mlolshaan Hajar Solomon 4. *La Tisa, *Mahsuda, and *Mohalhil 5. *Layya 6. The Babolna/Weil horses 7. *Samirah 8. Kesia I, Kesia II and Mameluke 9. *Bedowiya Al Hamdani and Walid El Seglawi 10. *Azra Jenny Krieg is leading the preservation of the first three (with Cathy Fye on *Mlolshaan) and #5 (also with Michelle Tennyson); The 4 left from #4 are with Candace Callegari; the #6 with Marilyn McHallam in Canada; the #7 between Stephanie Theinert and the Institute for the Desert Arabian Horse; the #9 are with Edie Booth; and I am handling #8 and #10, with some of the latter also with Elizabeth Ford Pade, that other quiet hero. Note that one horse can combine several of these extremely rare lines. For instance, the first two are found…