Edouard Aldahdah

Photo of the day: Musette

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Musette (b. 1932), a Saqlawiyah by strain, is a good specimen of the Asil Arabians bred by the French government stud of Pompadour in the first half of the twentieth century. She reminds me of some of the first and second generation offspring of the horses imported by Homer Davenport to the USA in 1906.  … Read more

Introducing new blogger: Jean (Ambar) Diaz

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The readership of Daughter of the Wind keeps growing. Yesterday it reached the 100,000 clicks milestone.  Sometimes I struggle to keep up with the flow of queries, comments, and new topics for blogging that readers address to me through the website or by way of email. Yet, sometimes I feel that the blog’s focus on … Read more

The 1909 desert imports to France

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In 1909, a French government commission led by Inspector Quinchez bought 24 desert-bred stallions from the Egyptian racetrack of Sidi Gaber in Alexandria. Of these, 17 went to Algeria (then a part of France), and the remaining 7 were distributed in government studs across mainland France. The seven were: Dahman, Meenak, Farid, Aslani, Hamdany El Samry, Latif and Maarouf. The … Read more

Keene Richards’ Arabian horse importation to the USA

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This little known importation is the earliest ever made to the United States.  Between 1851 and 1856, Keene Richards took two trips to the Arabian desert, visiting virtually every region of North Africa and the Middle East. He came back with several horses, of which the stallions Massoud, Faysul, Mokhladi (no doubt a Mukhallad, the … Read more

Photo of the day: Baraka (again!)

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I can’t help keep showing pictures of the Kuhaylat al-Mimrah mare Baraka (Ibn Manial x Gamalat). Here is a photo with her daughter, Sahibi Bint Baraka, by the Bahraini stallion Tuwaisaan (Jellabi al-Marshoosh x a Tuwayssah). Below is Sahibi Bint Baraka as a grown-up mare. Both photos courtesy of Calvyn Badenhorst of South Africa.

Pushing the envelop: 125 Ghalion and 30-Maria

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This 1997 article by Michael Bowling and R.J. Cadranell mentions the Babolna-bred mare 125 Ghalion (b. 1975), which has only one distant cross to the English Thoroughbred mare 30-Maria, her tail female ancestor (scroll down to the middle of the article for the question about 30-Maria). RJ and Michael calculated that after 125 years and 12 generations of … Read more

Musings about an online pedigree site

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I love the website allbreedpedigree.com . It’s one of those wikis that let you do whatever you want. Readers’ comments on the last entry I posted just put me in a subversive mood, so I went and changed the race of the mare Polka from “Arabian” to “Thoroughbred”. For those who are not aware of … Read more

This is not an Arabian horse

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On paper, this stallion looks okay. I mean he has the pedigree of an Arabian horse. But he is not. He is an Anglo-Arab in disguise.  Ba-Toustem (Djerba Oua x Bacchantara, at least that’s what his papers say) was born in France, at a time when Arabians raced in the same same races as Anglo-Arabs … Read more

Famous quote: Lady Anne Blunt on Faris al-Jarba

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Since the last couple posts have been about mares of the Shuwayman Sabbah strain bred by the Shammar, here is a quote from Lady Anne Blunt‘s “Bedouin tribes of the Euphrates” (p. 235) that had a lasting impression on me:  “Faris’s own mare is a tall bay, Shuéymeh Sbàh, with a powerful shoulder, great girth, … Read more

The Y-chromosome in English Thoroughbred racing stock

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Just came across an interesting article from 2005 in the New Scientist: Irish researchers analyzing Y-chromosome sequences in the DNA of a sample representative of the 500,000 or so English Thoroughbred racehorses alive today found that 95% of these horses traced to a single horse in the tail male: the Darley Arabian, born in 1700 (who by … Read more

Photo of the Day: Walladah CF

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Walladah CF is my Wisteria’s daughter by the stallion Javera Thadrian. She is now with Anita Enander in California. Walladah CF was named after a tenth century (A.D.) Andalusian princess, Walladah Bint al-Mustakfi, who was famous for her independent mind and her strong personality. 

Photo of the day: Yalim

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Since the past two entries have been about the Hearst import *Layya, I thought you’d enjoy this picture of Yalim (by *Ansata Ibn Halima x Zamayya, by *Zamal out of *Layya). Joe Ferriss has actually seen Zamayya, and I think he even has video footage of her.   

Using mtDNA to cross-check *Layya’s origins

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Getting *Layya into the list of Al Khamsa Foundation Horses was not easy. There were a lot of rumors about the Hearst importation from the very beginning. Many people here in the USA, believed that H. Pharaon, who sold most of the horses to Hearst, was a crook, and that the horses were not Asil, … Read more

Introducing *Layya

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In 1947, American billionnaire and press magnate W.R. Hearst (of Hearst Castle fame) sent a party of several people, including his stud manager Preston Dyer, and the photographer J. Williamson, all around the Middle East in search of Arabian horses for his San Simeon stud. They toured Egypt, Arabia, Syria and ended up buying 14 horses … Read more

The Stat: 70,805

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The number of clicks on the “Daughter of the Wind” blog as of 3.30 pm on Monday, September 22nd, less than 9 months into its launch. Even I am surprised by the magnitude of the phenomenon. What is as interesting is the number of separate users: 4,971 so far, which means that the average number of pages … Read more

News from Wisteria

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Yesterday night Jeanne Craver wrote to me about Wisteria (my Kuhaylah Hayfiyah mare, by Triermain out of HB Wadduda), which is in the care of the Cravers:   “It looks as though Wisteria had a false pregnancy. She got big (as you saw in the photo), made an udder and came to milk. None of these were as evident as you … Read more

Book: Ibn al-Kalbi’s “Book of the Horse” (ca. 800 AD)

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These days, I have been enjoying reading excerpts of Hisham Ibn al-Kalbi‘s “Ansab al-khayl fi al-Jahiliyah wa-al-Islam wa-akhbaruha” in my spare time. This roughly translates as “The genealogies and accounts of horses in the era before Islam and after the rise of Islam”, and is commonly known as “Kitab al-Khayl” (the “Book of Horses”). This … Read more

Where I spent my summer vacation..

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… Mukalla, the capital of Hadhramut, in eastern Yemen, is not quite the place where you can stroll around in a swimsuit, but is a most interesting town nonetheless. Historically, it linked Arabia with east Africa, India and Indonesia (where a diaspora of more than 4 million Hadramis thrives), and was the main port for the exportation of myrrh, frankincense, … Read more

Strain of the week: Krush al-Baida goes north

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One day in 2006, my friend Hazaim al-Wair and I, intrigued by the addition of “al-Baida” to the strain of many (not all) Kuhaylan al-Krush horses in the Syrian studbook, made a number of phone calls to inquire about the owner of the marbat of Krush al-Baida. All the roads led to one Shaykh of Shammar by the name of Mayzar al-‘Abd … Read more

Strain of the week: from Kuhaylan al-Krush to Krush al-Baida

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A previous entry quickly went through the Kuhaylan al-Krush horses that came out of Arabia. Of these, the stallion Krush (sometimes called Krushan), imported by Lady Anne Blunt to Egyptian stud of Sheykh Obeyd in 1911, is of particular relevance for the Krush al-Baida branch of that strain. This is what the Sheykh Obeyd Studbook, quoted by Rosemary Archer in “The Crabbet … Read more

A look at the pedigree of a Moroccan-bred Arabian stallion

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WARNING: DON’T READ ON UNLESS YOU ARE A PEDIGREE FREAK OR INTEND TO BECOME ONE. Of the Arabian horses bred in the three North African countries of Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, the latter is the only one that did not develop its own “brand” of Arabians. Rather, Morocco relied on importations from its two North … Read more

Some entries to be posted in French soon

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Due to increasing requests from Daughter of the Wind readers, a number of entries will be published in French from time to time. English speaking readers will be able to access them through online translation softwares, however imperfect these tools are. Somewhere down the road, I will need to rely on someone’s help to translate … Read more

Photo of the day: Shaddad

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Since it’s easier to share photos than write long articles, I thought I’d post this picture of one of my favorite Asil stallions from Syria. Shaddad (Marzouq x Asila), a Ma’naghi Zudghum (a prestigious branch of Ma’naghi Sbayli), is here pictured as a colt, with a groom and myself standing nearbyThe photo was taken at … Read more

Photo of the day: Bint Nafaa, b. 1962

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The gorgeous Bint Nafaa was born in Egypt in 1962, and bred by Ahmed Hamza’s Hamdan Stables, yet she does not have the “Straight Egyptian” label. The Pyramid Society, who coined the “definition” of a Straight Egyptian and Egyptian breds, does not accept El Gadaa, Nafaa’s sire, as a Straight Egpytian. El Gadaa was a racehorse, who stood at … Read more

Famous Quote: Bodgan Zientarski on Kuhailan Haifi Or. Ar.

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In 1931 Bogdan Zientarski, accompanied by Carl Raswan went to the desert to buy Arabian horses for Prince Roman Sanguszko of the Gumniska stud in Poland. Here’s an account of Zientarski’s encounter with the stallion Koheilan Haifi, near the desert oasis of al-Jauf: “Finally I hear a neigh, they guide the stallions… they lead the bay … Read more

Photo of the day: Siglavy Bagdady VI, Babolna

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Siglavy Bagdady VI, born in 1949, was the last Asil stallion of 100% old Babolna lines (i.e., no Egyptian Arabian lines in his pedigree). His strain was Kuhaylan Abu ‘Arqub, tracing in tail female to the mare Semrie, imported from the desert by Michael Fadlallah El Heddad. Siglavy Bagdady VI left one Asil son, Wahhabit, … Read more

Photo of the day: Chantecler

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A desertbred stallion imported to a North African country in the first half of the twentieth centuty. Photo counrtesy of Pierre-Henri Beillard, of Le Sureau, France. No further information on the horse.  

Book: Desert Legacy, in Search of Syria’s Arabian Horses, by J. Sannek and B. Loewenherz

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In 1997, Jens Sannek and Bernd Loewenherz published what is perhaps the most interesting book to be written in recent times by Western travelers looking for Arabian horses in their original homeland. Traveling with a party of about 14 people which included French preservation breeders Jean-Claude Rajot, Louis Bauduin and Benoit Mauvy, as well as several young children, and joined by Syrian guides and … Read more

Photo of the day: Fabo

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A rare picture of the magnificent black Asil stallion Fabo (Fabah x Misimma by Fa Serr). Fabo, a 1962 Saqlawi Jadran, and the head sire at the late Walter Schimanski’s Masada Arabians. Photo from the collection of the late William J. Sheets (Billy). Check out another gorgeous picture of Fabo here.    

About the hijacker out there (updated)

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I just realized that a good deal of the content on the “Daughter of the Wind” blog has been “hijacked” by another blogger who has posted it on his blog, “Banu Sanhadja Arabs” (here). I have chosen to take it as an additional proof to the success of “Daughter of the Wind”, six months into its launch, and will wish the … Read more

Babolna and the Asil Arabians of Hungary

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Check out what is perhaps the most comprehensive article written about the Hungarian Stud of Babolna, its history, and its Asil Arabian horses, in the past and the present. Thanks to Tzviah Idan for allowing me to reproduce it here! Pictures of Babolna Asil Arabians taken by Tzviah are coming soon..

Photo of the day: Hadia

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Believe it or not, this extremely pretty and typey mare is an Asil Arabian from Tunisia.  Hadia, a Kuhaylah al-‘Ajuz, by Kefil out of Rafiaa, by Bango) was bred at Sidi Thabet in 1958, and is the dam of many successful racehorses. She is one of the few greys Sidi Thabet retained for breeding. She … Read more

Photo of the day: Madani

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Madani (by Souci x Sissana by Mossoul) was one of Tunisia’s best Arabian racehorses in the 1950s.  This old photo was originally published here. Madani is among others the sire of the stallion Inchallah, exported to France in the late 1950s. He also has progeny in Germany.

Kuhaylan al-Krush: a refresher

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Western Arabian horse breeders are relatively familiar with the Arabian horse strain of Kuhaylan al-Krush (also known as Kuhaylan Krushan) through a variety of sources. A specific branch of this strain, Krush al-Baida (“the white Krush”) will be the subject of the sixth part of the “Strain of the Week” series (which, by the way, … Read more

Back to work, and to the blog

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Yesterday was a painful first work day after five weeks away from Washington. It’s pouring rain outside, and a quick glance at my office window makes my PC screen – where unread emails are piling up –  a pleasure to stare at.  Oh well… But I am back to blogging, and boy does that feel good.  

My favorite Arabian horse picture

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If I were to chose one picture, I think this one would top them all.. Prince Hal (Tripoli x Dharebah), an Asil Kuhaylan al-Hayf, is just magnificent, with Charles Craver holding the bridle. [August 27 update: Thanks to AAW for this photo]

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