Edouard Aldahdah

A list of residents of Qubbah Gardens in Cairo in 1936

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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 … Read more

The cemetery of Mohammed Nafea Pasha in Cairo

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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 … Read more

Long live the King

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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 … Read more

Rest In Peace Mustafa Al-Jabri

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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.

A Visit to the Sennari House

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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 … Read more

Bushra and foal at the Tahawis

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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.  

Clarion CF recent shots

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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 … Read more

The two Krush sisters are off to a new home

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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 … Read more

Jamr now a yearling

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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 … Read more

Welcome, Belle

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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 … Read more

Krush mares

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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 … Read more

Manial morning

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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). … Read more

Bagdad, 1935 stallion in France

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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 … Read more

Surviving Medieval Arab Philological Works on Horses

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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 … Read more

Dachna, 1983 Shuwaymah Sabbah mare in Germany

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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 … Read more

Hujjah of the Kuhaylat Krush al-Bayda Mumtazah, bred by the Shammar in Syria around 1970

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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 … Read more

Goodbye Sahra

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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 … Read more

List of Potentially Surviving Tiaret Lines

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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. … Read more

A query on the stallion El Sbaa

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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 … Read more

Farewell Villa Casdagli

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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.      

Louis Bauduin’s dream

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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.

Book: “Tiaret, le Reve Algerien” (excerpts)

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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 … Read more

Another photo of the Mukhallad 2001 stallion Djelid in France

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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 … Read more

In Cairo now

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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.

Complete set of Khamsat

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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?

Who owns who?

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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.

Question on *Werdi

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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 … Read more

Labwah Al Shaykhah now a young mare

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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.

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