A blog on desert arabian horses, past, present and future
The Abbas Pasha Manuscript (APM) mentions many war episodes (manakh) between the Bedouin tribes, of which that of Al-Rudaymah (incorrectly spelled Al Radeemah in the Sherif-Forbis translation) was perhaps the most important. This was no regular ghazu, but more a set of pitched battles, during which many horses died or changed hands over three months. … Read more
Bunyan Fahd al-Dawsari, whose Facebook page I follow with great interest, posted these beautiful, smiling, sunny photos of desert life among the Dawasir Bedouins in 1969. The photos were probably taken by members of the archaeological mission excavating the major pre-Islamic site of Qaryat al-Faw, capital of the Central Arabian kingdom of Kinda, in the … Read more
Jeanne Craver shared a photo of the Davenport stallion *Muson which I had not seen before. I recall reading somewhere — forgetting the source now — that the breed in its original form displayed more distance between the back legs than between the front legs.
The strain of Kuhaylan Tamiri was one of the first strains the Sba’ah Bedouins chose to breed from. From Prince Mohammed Ali’s lists, based on notes taken by the agents of Abbas Pasha: “Says Murshid al-Nawwaq [of the Sba’ah]: The horses which were in our possession in Najd sometime ago have no parallel anywhere. When … Read more
The twin strains of Kuhaylan ‘Abhul and Kuhaylan Mu’abhil belong the Ruwalah and are named after men from this tribe. These strains are themselves branches of the better known Kuhaylan Tamiri. On the first, page 595: Orar al Honaydi al Sha’lani of the Ruwalah, upon being asked about the sire of a certain mare: “O … Read more
Arnault Decroix posted this photo of the Syrian stallion Nimr Shabareq on his Facebook page. He is standing him at stud in Normandy this yesr. I believe this stallion to be, despite some defects, the embodiment of the old desert type. I love his balance, and how the parts all fit together.
The digital copy of the Abbas Pasha Manuscript (APM) has allowed me to follow the tracks of particular horses as they changed hands from one Bedouin tribe to another. One of these horses is Saqlawi Al Araj (“the lame”), apparently a famous horse in the mid 1800s. A search of Al Araj in the APM … Read more
Arnault Decroix published this photo of the 1967 Arabian stallion Salam (Agres x Tosca by Fellous) on his social media accounts. Salam, who I saw during the 1994 WAHO conference in Rabat at the age of 27, was the head stallion for the Moroccan government. He struck me then as a very correct stallion with … Read more
The strain of the Kuhaylan al-Khdili (alt. spellings Hedili, Khadali, Khadli) is not well known outside Arabia. It is however one of the most esteemed and revered strains of Arabian horses. Connoisseurs speak of its authenticity (asalah) with awe and respect. Few horses of that strain made it to the West. One such horse is … Read more
I am featuring Thalia CF (Javera Thadrian x Bint Dharebah by Monsoon) on social media. She was one of the best I have owned. She was in my ownership between late 2015 and mid 2017. Sadly, she came in my life at the ripe age of 24 years old, after having had two foals for … Read more
Moira Walker took these photos of Reema CF (Trilogy x Fragrance CF by Regency CF), Debbie Mackie’s beautiful milky white mare, a Hamdaniyah of Davenport bloodlines, during the latest Al Khamsa get together in Illinois, which featured a long-awaited presentation by Jeanne Craver on strain.
Kate found another Western source citing early Arabian horse strains: Prince Hermann Puckler Muskau (1785-1871), in the 1830 . Kate did the research for this entry. “Amongst the thousand tribes that inhabit Arabia and the desert, almost every one has its race and its particular denominations, and, naturally, their opinion differs as to their value … Read more
A stunning aerial photo of the Syrian border town of al-Bu Kamal, on the Euphrates, before the river flows into Iraq. From the IFPO (French Institute for the Near East). The photo is dated March 6, 1936. The river to the left, the fertile plain, and the wide open desert, all the way to Iraq, … Read more
There are four references to the Mulawlish (also spelled Mulawlishan, Mlolshaan, Mlolshan, etc) strain in the Abbas Pasha Manuscript (APM). Both occur in accounts by members of the Ibn Khalifah family of Bahrain, who were already using stallions from that strain by the early 1850s, and perhaps earlier on the Dahman mares. The first is … Read more
One of the Western travelers to write about Arabian horse strains was the Swiss Johann Ludwig Burkhardt. His Notes on the Bedouins and Wahábys: Collected During His Travels in the East were only published in 1831, but were based on information collected in the Hijaz between 1814 and 1815. Burkhardt died in Cairo in 1817. His book … Read more
The Abbas Pasha Manuscript (APM), compiled around 1852, is the single most comprehensive — and perhaps the only — source of Bedouin accounts and stories about their Arabian, faithfully and painstakingly recorded by the envoys of Abbas Pasha. The unique value of the APM lies in the Bedouins being both the narrators and the protagonists … Read more
Another very rare Arabian horse strain is that of Rishan (feminine Rishah). The most common marbat is Rishan Shar’abi. I have developed a special interest in this strain over the years, because of the high quality of the individual representatives I have seen. A search for ”Rishan” in my digital Abbas Pasha Manuscript copy turned … Read more
Just sharing it here for easy reference, given my lease of a direct paternal grandson of Siglavy Bagdady VI (b. 1949), an Al Khamsa horse since 2009.
It is nice to repost this Crabbet video every ten years or so.
This photo of Subanet Jabbar SDA caught my attention on Bev Davison’s social media feed. She bred him and still owns him. He is the sire of my Kinza Al Arab. Note the depth of the jowls, the thickness of the tail bone and the width between the eyes. Also the flat bone and the … Read more
Balia (top) was an asil daughter of Kuhaylan Zaid, bred in 1936 at Babolna in Hungary. Bona (bottom), bred in 1937 was another daughter of his, from the same damline of Bent El Arab. Both later went to Poland.
Lyman pointed to me the similarity between my young stallion Shaman Al Arab and his multiple ancestor Julep (Gulastra x Aziza) Shaman has seven close crosses to Julep. Putting side by side the photo of Julep that was recently shared online, and the last good photo I have of Shaman at three years old in … Read more
A search for horses of the strain of Sa’dan (Sa’adan/Saadan) Tuqan in the Abbas Pasha Manuscript, using two different spellings of the name, Tuqan and Tawqan, yielded three mentions, all pertaining to the same horse, which was owned by the Mutayr: The first is on page 439 and occurs in a testimony by Shafi ibn … Read more
This is a recent shot of Shaykh Al Arab, courtesy of Lyman Doyle whose father Terry owns him. Shaykh is four years old this spring, so he hasn’t fully developed yet. He will become drier and more refined as he ages, and will reach full maturity around eight or even nine years old. Here’s why: … Read more
Two years ago, Judi gave me a digital copy of the Abbas Pasha Manuscript. It’s been a game changer to work with, because it allowed me to search for a specific person’s name, or for a particular strain, across multiple recorded accounts by Bedouin breeders over hundreds of pages. Not only does it save time, … Read more
I am very happy to have obtained the 2001 stallion Dahhmany Bagdady (two photos of him below, from a few years ago) on a permanent lease from his owner, through the good offices of his breeder Laszlo Kiraly. He arrived in France this past Friday, to Arnault Decroix’s stud farm, together with an older bay … Read more
Bev Davison recently posted these two photos of Bint Sierra SS (Parnell x Sierra Summersong), one of her previous mares. I had never seen photos of her before. She is of Babson and Doyle lines. She is the paternal granddam of Subanet Jabbar SDA, the sire of my Kinza. You can see the resemblance between … Read more
I am really liking how the new little filly is shaping up. She is beautiful, three circle, and solidly built. Too early too tell if she features some of the damline’s characteristic legginess and dryness, which I like. What is certain is that Monologue fixed the dam’s short and droopy croup, at least in part, … Read more
The superb Larabi, born in 1966 and a Jilfan Dhawi by strain, was together with the Shuwayman Sabbah stallion Guercif (b. 1961), one of the last asil stallions from Algeria. The small group of asil Arabians from the Algerian state stud of Tiaret were, in my opinion, the best in the world. As a group, … Read more
From time to time, I see nice photos posted on Facebook, which I feel deserve to be featured here. This is one of them. I don’t know the source or the photographer. That stare.. [Update: a cranky reader cited Ilo Battigelli as the photographer in the comments]
Very proud of the lastborn Al Arab filly. Both Monologue CF and Barakah Al Arab did a wonderful job there. Jeanne Craver said that the filly looked like a camel — in a good way. I so agree.
I saw Judi last week at a Pyramid Society even in Morocco, where she spoke about her long and successful career as a breeder, and asked me to speak about the consistency of Arabian horse type over the past 500 years, based on Western and (the very few) Arab first hand accounts. It was a … Read more
This precious photo of Julep (Gulastra x *Aziza by Gamil Manial) popped up on my Facebook feed this morning, posted by Julie Koch, who indicated that it was “a photo Joan Yerkie took of Julep at Cedardell Arabians in the 1960s”. It is dated Aug 1966. Julep is in at least three horses I have … Read more
The Hamdani Simri stallion Monologue CF (photos below, earlier and in 2022) has been producing extremely well over the years. His son Haykal Al Arab (x CSA Baroness Lady), now gelded, is perhaps the showiest colt I have bred so far (video below as a colt). My recollection from seeing Monologue’s other son Inaam Al … Read more
Jeanne Craver tells me that she “love[s] “the head shape, and the low set eye, nicely cut ears, very close coupling, love[s] the angles of the shoulder and hip”.
This was once one of the largest and nicest groups of Al Khamsa Arabians in North America.
This morning Barakah delivered a strong, healthy filly by Monologue CF. Mother and baby are doing well. I feel so blessed, and I pray things continue to go well. The vet is coming this afternoon for an IgG blood test and plasma transfusion. This filly is special because she is the first third-generation foal from … Read more
My friend Muhammad Ma’sum al-Agub recently acquired a promising young Saqlawi Marzakani stallion of Shammar lines. His sire is my black Kuhaylan al-Wati stallion Mushahhar, his dam is a daughter of Zayn al-Khayl. Notice the short back, the long hip, the sloped shoulder, the round barrel, the strong coupling, the long neck, and the (moderately) … Read more
A nice article by Gudrun in her magazine “In the Focus” on this important Central European asil sire.
Jeannie Lieb recently provided an update on social media on the Davenport Hadban horses that she helped put in Al Khamsa preservation homes in 2010. Quoting her: Updated March 2024: 1998gg RL Thunder Cloud (DDA Tyreb CF x DDA Hadba) Owner: Kathryn Toth, OH 2003gm RL Shelby Girl (RL Thunder Cloud x DDA Shalaana) Owner: … Read more
These two figures from the seminal paper Remer et al, 2022 on Y-DNA in Arabian horses will become the subject of much attention in the coming years.
Severine Vesco and I were doing some background work on the Tunisian sire lines today. We found that the Volume IV of the Tunisian Studbook (1977-8-9) had the strains of the horses assigned in the good-old-fashioned European way… by using the strain of the tail male ancestor. The stallion Rial, for instance, was given the … Read more
This morning my neurons’s synapses made a long-overdue connection concerning the strain of the 1899 grey desert-bed stallion Ibrahim, who was famous for siring Skowronek. Ibrahim’s recorded strain is “Saklawi Faliti” (cf. the comprehensive list of sources of information on him on allbreedpedigree.com). There has been much speculation about this Faliti qualifier, some of it … Read more
The striking1985 chestnut Kuhaylan al-Ajuz stallion Samir (Sibawaih x Chajaret Eddour by Esmet Ali) was the other chief sire at the government stud of Sidi Thabet, together with Dynamite III. I saw him at Sidi Thabet in 2005. He reminded me of Regency CF at the time. Photo from the social media account of the … Read more
For a long time there was a shadow hanging over the lineage of the senior Tunisian stallion Dynamite III (Esmet Ali x Nachoua by Madani), photo below. He and his many sons (Akermi, Safouen, Bardo, Halim, Touwayssane, etc), were accomplished racehorses of the first order and sires of racehorses in Tunisia and beyond. They were … Read more
This iconic photo of the 1967 Kuhaylan Hayfi stallion Monsoon (Tripoli x Ceres), taken by Anita Westfall, was republished on Facebook recently, and received many “likes” and nostalgic recollections. The late Charles Craver holding the bridle.
لاحظ حجم واستدارة الحنك ودقة الخشوم ورقتها وهي من صفات العتق في الخيل ولهذه الصفات تأثير مباشر على شكل الرأس فيصير مثلثًا وهذا مستحب أما الرأس المستطيل فهو مستقبح لما يدل عليه ضمنًا من ضعف الحنك أو غلاظة الخشوم أو الاثنين معًا
This blog entry features a conversation that recently took place on Facebook between two friends of mine, both bold and provovative thinkers (and doers). Yassine Jamali is a farmer and occasional horse and dog breeder who lives in Morocco. He recently authored an important book on the past, present and future of Barb horses. Severine … Read more
I don’t know if these two photos of the desert-bred mare *Ghalia was published before. According to Al Khamsa’s online roster, *Ghalia was a 1956 bay Hamdaniyah bred by the Sa’ud Royal Stud at Khafs Daghrah, Saudi Arabia. She was purchased in 1958 and imported to the USA in 1961 by Donald A. Holm. She … Read more
The handsome Dahman stallion Ibn Mahrouf, bred by the Babson Farm stood for breeding at the Sheets in the 1980s, when this picture was taken.
Not sure I published this one before. It’s from the collection of Billy Sheets, which he left me.
This blog article quotes the famous and very funny exchange between Lawrence of Arabia and his proofreaders during the process of preparing his Seven Pillars of Wisdom for publication in 1926:
The other day Moira Walker pointed me to the book “A trip to Baghdad: With an Appendix on the Arab Horse” written in 1908 by an Indian senior official, Nawab Hamid Yar Jung. He traveled with his father, Colonel Nawab Afsur-ul-Mulk, and another man, Mahboob Ali Beg, to Baghdad in March 1907, and its vicinity, … Read more
The latest edition of the Swift Runner newsletter has an article by Betty Finke about the Crabbet foundation stallion Mesaoud being the most influential Arabian stallion of all time, an observation I agree with. The article also includes a nod to the new pedigree of Mesaoud on the sire line, which was published in the … Read more
I am awaiting three foals this year, all representing the second generation of my breeding. Kinza Al Arab (to Bashir Al Dirri), Barakah Al Arab (to Monologue CF) are due in April, and Mayassa Al Arab (to Anecdote CF) in the fall. Fingers crossed after Wadha’s filly’s tragedy last year. In my fantasy world, there … Read more
A picture of Monica Respet’s JDA Husaana as a younger mare. Husaana, born in 1999, has one of the nicest old pedigrees on a US Arabian horse, with a rare tail female to *Urfah and plenty of old American blood. Her line was bred by Mrs. Ott and her daughter Jane Ott for three generations. … Read more
Facebook has these superb photos from the ancient Sabean capital city of Marib in Yemen in 1987. These were likely taken by archaeologists working on excavating the temple of South Arabian god Ilmuqah (known locally as Mahram Balqis, Balqis being the Islamic name for the Queen of Sheba). No credit were given.
The last Al Khamsa mare of the Ferida lineage, a 1999 Ma’naqiyah Sbayliyah, was put down last month. I had given CSA Baroness Lady to Sue Moss in 2023 as a pet companion to one of her horses. She leaves behind a 2015 bay gelding, Haykal Al Arab (registered name Lucero De Santana, why? long … Read more