Don’t you just love the tail carriage on that horse? HR Judaan (Fadaan x Jusera by Julyan) is 50% Julyan (Julep x Bint Maaroufa) and as such carries two close lines to Gulastra (Astraled x Gulnare) and a total of 10 lines to Astraled. See how reminiscent that is of his double great grandsire Julep (Gulastra x Aziza).
A lady from Illinois recently sent me these snapshots of Wilbur Coates Ma’naqi Sbayli stallion Dakhala Sabiq (Prince Hal x Sirrulya by HJulyan), bred by Jeanne Craver. They were taken at a local show in Illinois. I now own Sabiq’s niece, Dakhala Sahra, by Plantagenet out of Soiree by Sir x Sirrulya. I must say that this specific type of Arabian horse strikes a strong cord with me, because it’s reminiscent of the horses of my childhood, the ones I learned to ride on. The horse riding clubs around Beirut were full of former racehorses that hailed from Syria, had moderate or no success on the racetrack — which by then was dominated by the part-bred Arabs from Iraq. so the asils had no chance of winning — and ended their careers as children mounts. Each club appeared to have its own old grey Arabian horse, a dream-like individual of regal type, worthy of Cindarella’s carriage that was the favorite of all the children. In East Beirut during the civil war (1975-1990), it was Sultan, on whom I learned to ride ( I will try to dig up a photo); in West Beirut after the war (1991-2000) it was Burhan,…
Chapter IV: “Visit to the Sabaah”, Gleanings from the Desert of Arabia, 1881.
My friend Jenny Krieg has suggested the Kuhaylan Hayfi stallion Port Angeles CF (Portico x Aureole CF) as a horse I might want to consider breeding from in the spring. He is a brother of Porte CF from his sire, and a brother of Aurene CF from his dam. Here is a photo, gleaned off the website of his owner Randall Abler, at Eden Arabian Farms in Georgia.
It’s that exciting time of the year when one starts to make plans for breeding the mares, before budget constrains kick in.. and this year there are many more mares at the virtual Aldahdah stud.. So here’s the wish list: — K. Haifi: Javera Chelsea to Triermain CF, the next best alternative to full brother/sister mating since Javera Thadrian, Triermain’s sire and Chelsea’s brother, died. — Ma’naqi Sbayli: Dakhala Sahra also to Triermain CF, so as not to add any new bloodlines into this line, and change the existing type (Sahra is by Plantagenet, out of a Sir daughter). Her own son Rahim Regency WAF (by Regency CF) would have been nice, but it looks difficult to pull through, given her age (27). Both matings by embryo transfer. — K. Haifi: Wisteria CF: many options possible: Porte CF (Portico x Recherche), Aurene CF (a half brother and close relative, by Triermain CF x Aureole CF) within the strain, in addition to her own sire Triermain, like last year, because I was pleased with the outcome; Mi Majest Prince (Fair Sir x Fairy Princess, 50% Tripoli) would also be nice, if he were set to ship from; outside the strain, the list is endless:…
by Adrien Deblaise Two photos of the Tiaret bred mare Malika, a Jilfat al-Dhawi, b. 1949, by Masbout d.b., out of Themis, by Bango d.b., out of Abaka by Ghazi d.b. The grand-dam of the stallion Jahir discussed below.
Teymur from Germany sent me these photos of the very correct and well balanced stallion Akman, an Arabian horse of Turkish breeding. I know close to nothing about the pedigree, except that that the tail female mare, Matra, a bay 1927 Ma’naqiyah came to Turkey from the Bagdad area in 1931, and was bred by a certain Husayn al-Ali (of which there are a million people with the same name in Iraq). Here is a link to his pedigree. Thanks Teymur.
The 1976 stallion Kamil Ibn Sahanad (Kamil ibn Salan x Sahanad by Abu Hanad), pictured below at the ripe old age of 25, was the last direct tail female descendant of entirely Davenport bloodlines of the desert-bred Saqlawiyat al-‘Abd mare *Wadduda, imported by Homer Davenport to the USA in 1906. He was a son of the beautiful black mare Sahanad, often mentioned on this blog. She has other sons and daughters, including the stallion Black Lightning (Khemahr Moniet x Sahanad) who I think is still alive. His blood represents an out-cross to current Davenport lines, and the one descendant of his I saw, the 1998 mare JEN Beauty A Saha (Sergeant Major CF x Sida Saha by Kamil Ibn Sahanad), now boarded at Craver Farms, is significantly different from other Davenport horses I have seen.
Following the discussion about the Jahir son Murad Ghazi, below, I found the following photos online, of his half brother Djelid (Jahir x Djenissa, by Doum x Djayda, by Shawani x Miloudia, by Moulouki x M’Rabbia, by Saadi x Hammada by Madani), a stallion in central France, who is bred very closely within the Mauvy lines, with three lines to the Mauvy foundation mare Zarifa, two to Izarra, and one in the tail female to Hammada, the latter two coming from the Cordonnier stud in Tunisia. His strain is Mukhallad (Mokladie, as spelled in French), tracing to Merjane, imported to France from the Naqab/Sinai desert.
Trish Stockhecke’s two Krushat mares are now with me, on lease. I went to see them yesterday. Both are strongly built mares of the “Old American” type, with a pedigree straight out of the 1950s that also jumps back to the early 1900s in three or four generations. That’s how I like my pedigrees. Look at this one line of genealogy, for instance: Bint Al-Barra (that’s one of the two mares, photo below, b. 1991), was sired by ASF David (b. 1966); his dam was Dihkenna (b. 1946), whose sire was Gharis (b. 1927), a son of Abu Zeyd (b. 1904). I don’t know how many living Arabian horses trace back to the mythical Abu Zeyd (Mesaoud x Rose Diamond) in just four generations. The early American sires Mainad (b. 1948, by Hanad x Charmain by Abu-Selim), a great grandsire, and Royal Amber (b. 1938 by Ribal x Babe Azab by Letan), a great-great-grandsire, are not too far away, either. The pedigree is essentially half Babson/Brown and half very early American foundation bloodstock (Davenport, Crabbet, Harris, Borden, Huntington, Hamidie, etc.), with almost every Al Khamsa Ancestral Element represented, including the Borden one, the rarest of all (that’s the line to Kesia,…
This morning Adrien Deblaise, from France, sent me two photos of his superb stallion, Murad Ghazy. Ghazy was bred by Louis Bauduin, by Jahir (Iricho x Ciada by Ghalbane, d.b.), out of Murad Hadra (Medicq Allah x Hamada by Irmak), of Algerian and Tunisian lines. He traces to all three Cordonnier-bred stallions (Iricho, In Chaallah, Irmak) the French Government brought from Tunisia in the 1960s, sparking a small revival of asil Arabian breeding in France. Note also the not-so-distant line to the great desert import Nibeh in Murad Ghazy’s pedigree: Murad Ghazy — Murad Hadra — Medicq Allah — Medica — Meziana — Messina — Nibeh.
Many of you have been writing to or hearing about Yasser al-Tahawi who is one of the main persons behind the recent revelations about the original horses of the Tahawi tribe. Well here’s a picture of him, riding bareback on his Kuhaylah Ju’athiniyah mare Bushra.
Fabienne Vesco, from France, shared these two informative videos about Barb and Arabian horse breeding in North Africa. It mainly talks about Arabian horses in the context of Arab Barb breeding for remounts, but also in the context of preservation breeding. Le Barbe – Cheval Des Berbères – Part 1 by NacirAdhrar Le Barbe – Cheval Des Berbères – Part 2 by NacirAdhrar
Teymur from Germany sent me this picture of the Arabian mare Cehide (pronounce it Jahidah), born in 1915. She was at the Ottoman Sultans’ stables until she joined the Turkish state studs when the Empire era came to an end. She was a Saqlawiyah Jadraniyah by a Saqlawi Jadran.
Hussain Ghashemi from Iran sent these pictures from Iran. Not an Arabian horse obviously, but a gorgeous specimen of an Iranian Turkmen horse.
I think I may have already written that this mare was one of my favorite living asil mares, on pedigree, on photo, and in real life (I saw her at Carol Lyons in 2003 or was it 2004? I don’t remember): En Pointe CF is a war mare the likes of which seldom exist today. An ‘atiq (antique, ancient in Arabic) mare of the ancient desert type, reminiscent in her style and class of the Old Blunt mares of the Rodania tail female like Risala and Rissla. Her dam Pirouette CF is my all time favorite living Davenport mare, and her sire Triermain CF is my favorite living Davenport stallion. Her double grandsire Javera Thadrian is simply my all time favorite asil Arabian stallion in the West (but you knew that already). By the way, I do believe that linebreeding to Javera Thadrian does produce outstanding horses. En Pointe CF is one example; Tantris CF is another, and my own Wadha (Javera Thadrian x Wisteria CF by Triermain CF, by Javera Thadrian) and Wadd (Triermain CF x Wisteria CF by Triermain CF) are not bad at all, either. Not sure who owns her today, but she is lucky.
Cindy, who trains the stallions at Desert Bred Arabians in Illinois sent me this impressive video of the horses of Rodger and Mimi Davis displaying their versatile athletic skills. Just watch it.. and watch it again.
I really like this small photo of the Kuhaylan Haifi stallion Fair Sair (Sir x Lady Fair by Tripoli), whom I saw at Alice Martin’s in 2005. I find him very reminiscent of his grandson Aurene CF (Triermain CF x Aureole by Fair Sir), who is at Pamela Klein’s.
Tomorrow I am going to Tunisia for work, for a week. Back next Saturday.
The desert-bred ‘Ubayyah Suhayliyah mare Reem al-‘Ud, bred by the Shammar tribe in northeastern Syria, also known as “the mare of Mattori” from one of her past Bedouin owners, was featured several times on this blog. Here is yet another photo of her in extreme old age, which shows well the black skin around her eyes. Her last owner was Sh. Mayzar al-‘Ajil al-‘Abd al-Karim al-Muhammad al-‘Abd al-Karim al-Jarba, a descendant of the great Shammar hero ‘Abd al-Karim al-Jarba known as “Abu Khudah”.
I have always admired the bright bay horse pictured on Jackson Hensley’s Bedouin Arabians website (one photo below, with Jackson’s daughter), without knowing who the horse was. Jackson, as an artist, emphasizes the essence of the Arabian horse more than it’s official identity, and this is perhaps why he does not mention the names of his horses on his website. I always thought this stallion was a nice combination of masculinity and sweetness, like a stag, or a male gazelle.. I just found out from a comment Jackson left below, that the horse is actually mine, one I own jointly with Darlene Summers, Monologue CF. I confess I felt a little out of touch.. but then again, I only saw Monologue twice, once at Pamela Klein’s and once at Craver Farms, where he is currently stationed.
Kathy Busch and Crista Couch kindly took a day trip to see the stallion Rahim Regency WAF (Regency CF x Dakhala Sahra) near Kansas City, MO, of which here is a video (click on rahim). Sired by Regency CF (Ibn Alamein x Bint Antan by El Alamein) and looking very much like his sire, Rahim is the son (and otherwise the only offspring — so far) of my new acquisition, the 26 year old Ma’naqiyah Sbailiyah Dakhala Sahra (Plantagenet x Soiree by Sir). He is some 88% Davenport, with a tail female to Miss Ott’s Sirrula, all the way back to Major Upton’s Naomi. His owner Joseph Walters, has been breeding him to Polish mares, and was not aware of his Al Khamsa, asil status.
The book from these pictures were taken was published in the Hungarian language in 1904. It was translated into Arabic language in 2004 by Mr. Tha’er Saleh with the support of the Hungarian Translation Fund. The original photos are at the Museum of Hungarian Agriculture in Budapest. The book is about the travels of Austro-Hungarian government envoy Fadlallah Mikhail el-Haddad to the Arabian desert, a few years before the trip of Homer Davenport. The purpose of the trip of Mikhail el-Haddad to Ottoman Iraq (Mesopotamia) was apparently to access alternative sources of desert blood to the ‘Anazah blooflines, which the Austro-Hungarians already had access to. His trip first followed the Damascus-Palmyra-Deir-ez-Zor axis, then the Euphrates valley to down to Fallujah and Baghdad. From there, Haddad went along a large circular route south of Bagdad, which included Najaf, Kerbala, the ‘Amarat Bedouin (a branch of the ‘Anazah) pastures and then crossed the Euphrates river eastwards until he reached the Tigris river. From top to bottom, and left to right: Photo 1: In Tell Kalakh, which is west of the city of Homs in Syria, with Abdallah Agha al-Dandashi from whom the stallion O’Bajan was bought in 1885; photo 2: with some…
Teymur sent this picture of the other foundation sire of the Turkish Arabian breeding program, the 1928 bay stallion Sa’d (Kuheylan Cietni x Kuheyletul Sade Tukan), also known as Baba Saad, a Kuhaylan Sa’dan al-Tuqan, by a Kuhaylan Ju’aytni. He was Turkey’s most famous racehorse.
Marie Arthur sent these photos of the nice Kuhaylat al-Krush mare IV Shtika Al Krush (CL Hi Ned x Tika Al Krush by Krushan Al Krush), who Hi Ned’s only Krush daughter. If you scroll down you will see a photo of this impressive stallion.
The day before yesterday was my daughter’s fourth birthday, and also Daughters of the Winds fourth anniversary.
While digging through old pictures, I came across this headshot of the asil Saqlawi stallion al-Abjar, which I took in the mid 1990s, at the studfarm of the late Hajj Amin Yakan near al-Bab, not far from Aleppo. He was a tall stallion of tremedous style, carriage and presence. My father is the man in the picture. I have already written about al-Abjar here. He was a Saqlawi Jadran of Ibn Zubayni, from the marbat of al-Dali’ (like his relative *Mirage), later in the marbat of the Mudariss family. There is still a thin tail female line running through his sister, in Damascus.
Today, preservation breeders of asil Arabians in the USA breed on a small scale. They are fewer breeders than before and they are far between. Many of these breeders don’t always have the stallions their mares need, whether in their barns of just around the corner. Some breeders have the stallions but not the mares. Some have stallions who are sons and brothers of their mares, and don’t want to inbreed. There needs to be a good supply of (non-Egyptian) Al Khamsa stallions registered to ship semen from. When I wanted to breed Jadiba to a Davenport stallion this past summer, the only ones I could find who were ready to ship were Triermain CF in Illinois, Vice Regent CF in Georgia, and Pal-Ara Sensation and Mandarin in Oregon. Mandarin died last year, and Triermain is getting old. I opted for Vice Regent but now I have more mares and I wish there are other stallions to choose from. There is no shortage of outstanding Davenport and BLUE STAR and other asil stallions, who ought to be registered to ship. I wish Davenport stallions like Regatta CF, Daedalus LD, Porte CF, Silverton CF, Indie Star, Eldar HD, Shiraz CF, Clarion…
The Abbas Pasha Manuscript [1993, edited by J. Forbis and G. Sherif], which is essentially the transcription by Abbas Pasha’s envoys of Bedouins’ testimonies about their horses, is the foremost primary source on the Bedouin-bred Arabian horse available today. Its hundreds of testimonies is the precious remnant of an oral culture, now long gone. No wonder modern Saudi families and clans who have nothing to do with horses anymore are relying on it as a bargaining chip to ask for favors from the Saudi royal family, or to ascertain their social status (things along the lines of: “Your Highness, my ancestor gave your ancestor a precious mare, they were close, it is written in the horse book, so now I need… from you in return”). However great the legacy of Judith Forbis as a breeder of Arabian horses of the show type has been, her most enduring legacy, IMO, is to have made this book available to Western audiences. Page after page, the information in the Manuscript debunks many Western misconceptions about Bedouin horse breeding. Really, the only thing missing from the book is an index of the individual horses, strains and Bedouins mentioned. Check out this quote, page 439 [notes between brackets are mine]: “The Sheikhs of Subayah [actually, Subay’, a Bedouin tribe…
The thread below contains very interesting and valuable observation by Joe Ferriss on Western need for a systematic classification of Bedouin strains, and by Lisa on the value of written versus oral information in Bedouin culture. Let me add the following general principles: The Bedouins’ culture was an oral one; information was transmitted orally between people of the same generation and from generation to generation. They did not need anything in written when dealing with each other. The truthfulness and probity (‘adl in Arabic, a value depending on honor) of the man ensured the trustworthiness of the information, and it was confirmed by other men who acted as witnesses. When dealing with outsiders, whether non-Bedouin Arabs like the town people or Aleppo, the Cairo-based missaries of Abbas Pasha, as well as Westerners, there arose the need to have this information put in writing, for two reasons :first, the system of values that bound Bedouins to each other did not apply to outsiders. Conversely, the outsiders did not trust information that was not put in writing. So, as far as Arabian horses were concerned, the hujjah was the transcription in writing of information that was originally shared and transmitted orally. I am not sure it was designed for Westerners first. Rather I think…
I am in Lebanon for the holidays with the family, and have been catching up on some Arabian horse reading. All the important books are here, and I only quote from memory when in the USA. Just finished re-re-reading “The Crabbet Arabian Stud” by R. Archer et al, and have started Lady Wentworth’s “The Authentic Arabian Horse”. Can’t help lamenting how she messed with her mother’s “Book of Fragments” each time. Someone ought to reconstitute that book from scratch and republish it. I also flipped through Raswan’s “Black Tents of Arabia”. Somehow I never feel safe with Raswan. There is some good information, in the middle of a sea of misleading and often wrong statements. I really feel I could fill an entire new blog at the rythm of a post per day documeting these, and I know I eventually will some day. Meanwhile, I have learned to respect him as a passionate advocate of the preservation of the asil Arabian in the USA. He must have been a really nice person, too. I think there are two ‘golden rules’ about Lady Blunt and Raswan, concerning information about horses, strains, tribes, etc. I have said this before, and will continue to say it: I…
One of the few asil Tahawi mares left in Egypt is this old Kuhaylah Nawwaqiyah owned by Helga al-Tahawi, the wife of the late Shaykh Soliman al-Tahawi. She is one of those which the Board of Directors of Al Khamsa recently recognized as tribal “horses of interest”. I think the photo is from Bernd Radtke, but it might directly from the Tahawis. A collective effort on three continents is under way to get these 15 or so remaining Tahawi horses recognized by the EAO in Egypt, and as a result, by WAHO.
This morning Jeanne Craver shared with some of us this picture of my young Wadd (Triermain CF x Wisteria CF by Triermain CF), who at 5 months old, shows real potential as a stallion, and I wish the best for him. That inbreeding to Triermain really paid off, and I would repeat it if I could. Behind him stands his sister Wadhah (Javera Thadrian x Wisteria CF), who is now 18 months old. By the way, I have chosen the suffix Al Arab for my (very much virtual for now) stud. So he will be registered as Wadd Al Arab (“Wadd of the Arabs”), and his sister as Wadhah Al Arab. When I was younger, I was really impressed by racehorse names like Shaykh al-Arab, Shatt al-Arab, Wahid al-Arab, and used to think horses with such names were to be reckoned with. From a purely linguistic perspective, Wadhah really should have been registered as “Wadhat al-Arab”, since a final “t” in Arabic is silent unless followed by a noun in the possessive case (e.g., Kuhaylah Rodaniyah and Kuhaylat Rodan, which translate respectively as “Rodanian Kuhaylah” and “the Kuhaylah of Rodan”; another example is Saqlawiyah on it’s own as opposed to the…
The two Saqlawiyat Jadraniyat full sisters Haraka and Bint Hamida (Kenur x *H.H. Mohamed Ali’s Hamida) have founded a dynasty of their own in the USA. Their dam Hamida (Nasr x Mahroussa) was bred by Prince Mohamed Ali and was a half sister of *Zarife, *Fadl, and *Maaroufa; their sire Kenur (*Sunshine x *Tairah) was the offspring of two Albert Harris’ Saudi imports to the USA. Both photos are from the archives of Billy Sheets, but I have seen them before in a Khamsat magazine issue too.
A few months ago, I posted a photo of the stallion Hallanny Mistanny (Zarife x Roda) from the Billy Sheets photo collection. Here is another one, taken at the same. It’s less good, and he shows his extreme old age here (I think 28).
Recently uploaded on the website of the Davenport Arabian Horse Conservancy website is this photo of the beautiful 1975 Kuhaylan Hayfi stallion Irade (Ibn Alamein x Iras), bred at Craver Farms.
Raed Yaken, who lives in London but is originally from Aleppo, Syria, sent me these pictures of his asil mare Zohoor (“Flowers”), a Kuhaylah Hayfiyah bred by Alaa al-Din al-Jabri. Zuhur is by Mahrous (of Mustafa al-Jabri, his nephew) out of the small bay mare Durra whose photo was one of the first ones posted on this blog in 2008. Some time ago I also posted photos of Zohoor I saw both mares at Alaa al-Din Jabri’s back in 1991, and I also saw Durra’s dam Freihat; I remember all three of them very well. They are from the most asil, authenticated marbat of K. Hayfi in Syria, that of Wawi al-Kharfan of the Fad’aan. Theirs is one of the best marabit in Syria, and it is now with the Yakan family. His name is mistakenly spelled “Wadi” (which is not a man’s name, but means ‘valley’ in Arabic) in the Syrian Studbook and the error was picked up by others since. No one seems to remember who that Wawi al-Kharfan was, but he seems to have been one of the men of the Fad’aan Bedouin leaders Muqhim (Mijhim) al-Mayahd close circle. There is a lingering story, which I was…
Jeanne Craver has sent a number of precious photos of the Kuhaylat al-Krush mare Asara (Kasar x Badia by Jadaan) to be uploaded on the Davenport Arabian Horse Conservancy website. Asara is one of the Second Foundation Davenport mare, whose is the tail female of a number of favorites featured on this blog, such as the Krush stallions Janub Al Krush, CL Hi-Ned, and Indie Star. Below are are some of these photos, which you can click on to enlarge. What a mare.
The status of the 1921 French Arabian racehorse Denousté is a thorny question with which I have been grappling for a long time. I believe I have now reached closure on the issue, and I feel relieved, even if no new information has surfaced on the horse. There were always two issues about this horse: the first concerned a distant antecedent in his pedigree; and the second was about some French breeders breeding their Arabian mares to part-bred Arabian stallions and claiming the offspring were by Denousté. The issue of his pedigree is easier to get a grasp of: Denousté was born in 1921 at Mr. Lalague in South Western France, and was by the desert-bred stallion Latif, a Hamdani Simri from the Fad’aan Bedouins, and out of Djaima, who was by Khouri, a desert-bred Ubayyan Sharrak also from the Fad’aan, and out of Dame Tartine, who was by Burkeguy (see below) out of Déesse, who was by the desert-bred Emir Selim and out of Berthe, who was the offspring of two desert-bred imports: the stallion Nahr El Kebir and the mare Merjane, a Mukhalladiyah by strain, imported from the Naqab (Negev) desert near Gaza. It’s a pedigree that’s relatively…
While looking up ancient Arabian art over the Internet, I was struck by the expression of these two steles from a village near Hail, in Central Arabia. They were dated to the 4th millenium BC. These were displayed for the first time outside Saudi Arabia at an exhibition in the Louvre in Paris, then in Barcelona. I think the exhibition will be coming to the USA at some point soon.
This mare, Al-Shumuss, was at the stud of Mustafa al-Jabri in Aleppo in the 1990s, and her dam was at Radwan Shabareq’s. She was a Kuhaylat al-Krush, by a Hamdani Simri who was himself by the black Saqlawi Marzaqani stallion of al-Anoud, Princess of Tai; the mare’s dam was by the same black Saqlawi Marzaqani. The line came from the Shammar, from Rakan al-Nuri al-Mashal al-Jarba, but before that it was his maternal uncles the Tai chiefs; and while most everyone among the horse breeders in Syria thought this line traced back to the Krush al-Baida marbat of Mayzar ‘Abd al-Muhsin al-Jarba of the Shammar (it is even registered as Krush al-Baida in the Syrian studbook) which ultimately goes back to the Mutayr Bedouins, it turned out, following questioning of the elders and leaders of the Tai Bedouins in the late 1990s that this Krush marbat actually came from the Fad’aan Bedouins of the ‘Anazah. There are two distinct lines of Kuhaylan Krush in North Arabia: one going back to the Fad’aan ‘Anazah (like Krush Halba below, like the Davenport import *Werdi, like the mare in this picture), and another line, known as Krush al-Baida (the white Krush) going back…
While re-reading the excerpt from the RAS’s Dr. Ahmad Mabrouk below, I realized that this man did not seem to know that the Arabian horses are transmitted by the dam. He recognizes that the horse he bought for the RAS was out of “El Nowagia”, and “by Krush”, yet not only does he name the horse “Kroush“, but he also says he was “a Krush”. The horse was obviously a Kuhaylan Nawwaq like his dam. And these were supposed to be the best horse experts of their time. I mean, it’s like a US constitutional expert saying that the President is elected by Congress, and getting away with it. I just don’t get it.
Teymur sent me this photo of the phenomenal 1921 grey asil Kuhaylan Krush stallion known in Lebanon as Krush Halba, and in Turkey as Baba Kurus. He was the foundation stallions for both countries asil Arabian horse breeding programs, even his line does not survive in Lebanon anymore, and is holding on by a thread in neighboring Syria. Teymur can tell you more about this horse’s performance in Turkey. Meanwhile, here is an excerpt from the diary of Dr. Ahmed Mabrouk’s of the Egyptian Royal Agricultural Society on this horse: “At Beirut I found a Krush, a nice grey horse who won 17 races. This horse out of El Nowagia by Krush belongs to Saad el Din Shatila Pasha. The sire of the Krush horse which I bought was sold a few years ago to the Turkish government …it is worth mentioning that in the only 3 stables I visited in Beirut, I saw about 30 offspring of the famous stallion Krush ….”. The Kuhaylan Nawwaq stallion named Kroush, who was imported by the same Dr. Mabrouk to Egypt for the RAS and sired a number of horses for the RAS, including the mare Bushra and the stallion Tamie’, was a son…
Did you know that the Arabic letter qaf‘, which in Latin script is equivalent to the letter Q has at least three different pronunciations in spoken Arabic, depending on the dialect? One pronunciation of qaf is as [Q] in conformity with classical Arabic, and is used in the dialect of the Druze inhabitants of Mount Lebanon, and the ‘Alawi inhabitants of the coastal mountain chain in Syria, as well by many other groups elsewhere in Arabic speaking countries. For example the would pronounce the Arabian horse strain name Nawwaq as “Nawwaq”, just as you would in English, and as it is spelled in classical Arabic. Similarly, “Saqlawi” would be pronounced exactly as it is written. Another pronunciation of qaf is as the glottal stop [‘], which is best rendered in latin script by the letter [A]. Most Palestinians, Egyptians, Syrians and Lebanese — including myself — will pronounce it this way. Nawwaq is pronounced “Nawwa’ ” in this case, and Saqlawi becomes “Sa’lawi”. A third pronunciation of qaf is as the letter [G], and this is the way most (but by no means all) Arabs of Bedouin stock will pronounce it, including a majority of Jordanians, Saudis, other Gulf citizens and some…
Is this Hasiker (*Hamrah x *Reshan), the K. Hayfiyah daughter of two Davenport imports?
In the past few months, and following the inclusion in the Al Khamsa Roster of the three Egyptian mares of Tahawi breeding at Hamdan Stables, Folla, Futna, and Bint Barakat, a small and informal working group was formed. Its core members include three people from Egypt: Yasser Ghanim Barakat al-Tahawi, Mohammed Mohammed Saoud al-Tahawi, and Yehia Abd al-Sattar Eliwa al-Tahawi; one from Europe: Bernd Radtke; and three living in the USA: Jeanne Craver, Joe Ferriss and myself. There are others, too. One consequence of the formation of this working was the recent designation by the Board of Directors of Al Khamsa, Inc of about of 15 of the surviving tribal Tahawi horses as “Al Khamsa Horses of Interest”. You read about this on this blog, and you will hear more about it in the future. It is certainly a first step toward the recognition by Al Khamsa of other tribal horses (e.g., Syria’s, Saudi Arabia’s, Bahrain’s) in the Arabian horse’s original homeland. It will probably have other consequences on the Egyptian Arabian horses, too. Another related consequence of this group working together and exchanging information was the uncovering of previously hidden information, discover new information and make a number of educated guesses…
Arnault Decroix is now the proud owner of the weanling Shuwayman Fahad (Mahboob Halab (SYR) x Shueymah Sabbah by Mokhtar (SYR)), a Shuwayman Sabbah bred by Jean-Claude Rajot in France. This exceptional young fellow is the son and the grandson of two stallions of Shammar lines imported from Syria to France in the late 1990s and the late 2000s respectively. I think you will hear a lot about this horse in the coming years, especially in the endurance realm.
One of the new photos recently uploaded on the Davenport Arabian Horse Conservancy website is this one of CL Hi-Ned (Dharanad x Hi-C by Sir), a 1977 Kuhaylan al-Krush of Davenport lines.
Kim Davis, who has been breeding Kuhaylan al-Krush horses of Davenport bloodlines for several decades, sent me this picture of her Kuhaylan Hayfi stallion Quantum LD (Mandarin CF x Leafs Ivey by Wotan), who was bred by Carol Lyons.
My favorite stallion of the visit was without contest the 1991 Hamdani Simri stallion Clarion CF (Regency CF x Chinoiserie CF by Dharanad), at Kirby Drennan. I would like to breed a mare to him in the near future. This stallion, who has a strong liver chestnut color, is built like a war horse. He has a masculine, virile, beauty. Jeanne Craver always knew I would like him, and she was right. Jeanne said that if this horse was with the Shammar Bedouins, he would be their herd sire. I could not agree more.
Of all the old mares I saw, my personal favorite was Kirby Drennan’s 1982 Hamdani Simri mare Anthesis CF (Plantagenet x Meringue by Sir Marchen), who, at 29 years old, looked like an Arabian gazelle.
Wisteria was as beautiful as ever, with large, expressive eyes. She was reminiscent of the painting of the “mare of Baz” which graces the cover of Asil Araber II. I am sorry I don’t have a better photo to render the indefinable charm that emanates from this mare, who is not photogenic.
For starters, here is two pictures I took of Nancy Becker’s 1995 Hamdani Simri stallion stallion Haffiad CF (Regency CF x Kiddleywink CF by Regency CF). He is a true son of the desert, full of fire and kindness at once.
I just went to heaven and back. This past weekend I took the family to Craver Farms for a visit with Charles and Jeanne (shamefully, my first in six years), and the horses. We also saw Alice Martin, Nancy Becker, Kirby Drennan and their horses, who are wonderful. I took some pics, but Kirby took the only non-horse picture (below). The absolute highlight of the trip, other than seeing my horses and especially the new ones, were the two hours I was able to spend with Charles and Jeanne helping put together the slides projector and watching some video footage of the horses at Craver Farms from 1958 up to 1961. Priceless images, and priceless moments, with Charles and Jeanne commenting on the footage. I saw a total of 50 minutes of footage of Tripoli and many of the early horses, some of them preceding the Davenport “Second Foundation”: Arabesque (Rouf x Koreish by Alcazar); her fillies Byzantia (by Garaff), Tizzy and Josephine and her son Tristram (impressive), all by Tripoli; the wonderful 100% Blunt mare Ringlet Astralis x Rudeyna by Daoud), who unfortunately did not produce there; and of course the Second Foundation mares Dharebah (breathtaking, a desert-type mare) Dharanah,…
I am now more and more convinced that the Arabian horse of the show type has veered away from the original Arabian horse so much that it now forms a distinct breed. There is hardly anything in common anymore between the kind of horse featured on this blog and the ‘living art’ featured in halter shows (whether it is asil or not asil, pedigree-wise). We are now at a stage whether different names should be used to designate two different breeds of horses. I suggest the term “Post-Arabian” for the show type.
Fabienne Vesco, a French preservation breeder in Eastern France, breeds horses of combined Tunisian, Moroccan, Algerian and Egyptian lines, of the Jilfan Dhawi and Shuayman Sabbah strains. Below is her pretty mare Akhesa Beni Sakr, by the Tunisian stallion Hadhr El Basher (Chedi x Loubna by Oramin0) out of her mare Akaba Beni Sakr (Jahir x Loubia Bint Breek by Breek), a Jilfat al-Dhawi that blends Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian and Egyptian lines. The foal in the photo was by Fabienne’s Shuwayman Sabbah stallion Hortal El Din (SEA Asal x Thallame by Breek).
I took this photo of the Kuhaylan al-‘Ajuz Chahata (Hosni xHamida by Soufyan) at the stallion depot of the Tunisian government stud of Sidi Thabet in 2006. He was a great race horse, and I thought he was exceptionally well built, while at the same time displaying good Arab type. I wonder what’s with the hocks, though.
I am a big fan of the 1998 Kuhaylan al-Krush stallion Indie Star (Mandarin CF x Gbarh Asjah by Astrologer), bred by Carol Lyons. I really would like to breed a mare to him at some point. The photo is by Christine Emmert (who is a really good photographer) and was recently uploaded on the Davenport Arabian Horse Conservancy website. I had posted an earlier photo on this blog.
Another photo recently uploaded on the Davenport Arabian Horse Conservancy website is this picture of the 1972 asil Kuhaylan Hayfi stallion Ibn Dharantez (Dharantez x Silvia by Sir), bred by Charles Craver. I don’t know why, but I feel that this photo will appeal to a number of Egyptian breeders who read this blog.