Author: Edouard Aldahdah

Today I found the following note in the 1935 book of Prince Mohammed Ali. It is an excerpt from the Abbas Pasha Manuscript (or one of its drafts), on a mare of the Jilfan Dhawi strain acquired by Abbas Pasha: The intensely black Jilfah Dahwa mare of the Fid’an, owned by Nasir al-Wayil of Shammar, came into the possession of Nasir from the Tawman of Shammar. The Tawman got it from the Fid’an. Its mother is still in the possession of Shammar and its father is the black Mu’niqi Hadraji of the horses of the Tawman of Shammar. The mare was acquired by its (present) owner through purchase. Just noting that this is the same marbat as that of the mare Wadha, a Jilfat Dhawi bought by a French government commission from a Fad’aan camp in 1875, and sent to Algeria, where she founded a famous damline.

روى سليمان العزو السليمان الفيحان من قبيلة الشرابين تجاوز الستين من العمر عن تاريخ قدوم الخلّاوية الى أهله قال: درجت الخلّاوية الى جد أبي اسمه فيحان منذ ما يقارب 180 عام من اعنزا حيث حدثت مشاجرة بين الرعاة من اعنزا والشرابين على المراعي حوالي منطقة جبل سنجار وفي هذه المشاجرة أُصيب رجل من الشرابين وبعد سنة توفّي متأثراً بهذه الاصابة فاصبح الرعاة من الشرابيين يشاجرون اي اعنزي في تلك المنطقة لعلهم يجدون القاتل فيأخذون بالثأر فأرسلوا اعنزا وفد جاهة لفض هذا الخلاف وبالفعل تم دفع الديّة لذوي المقتول وكان سيّدهم وشيخهم فيحان وبعد دفع الديّة اهدوا فيحان فرس وقالوا له (( دير بالك عليها تراهي الخلّاوية وهي فرع من كحيلة العجوز )) واعطوه حجة يشهدون بها أنّها أصيلة وفحلها من الخيل الشبوّة { للأسف لم نجد الحجة } ونمتْ هذه الفرس عند فيحان وبعد فترة بسيطة وُلدَ سليمان الفيحان بتاريخ 1842 تقريباً توفي 1951 عاش قُرابة مائة وعشرة سنين عندما كبر سليمان اهتم بالخيل كثيراً فأعطاه والده وهو فتى صغير فرس أو فرسين قبل زواجه. وهو الوحيد الذي حافظ على هذه الخيل وانقطعت عند باقي اهله واقربائهوعاد ووزع عليهم من خيله فاستمرت عند حفيده سليمان العزو الفيحان صاحب (( الراوي )) وجوديف الحمود واخوانه يطلق عليهن اسم خلاويات الفيحان ومدرجات…

Fawaz al-Rajab passed away last week. The news of his passing saddened me greatly, perhaps because he was directly connected to my family’s story with horses. Fawaz was one of Syria’s very last hassanah, (in Arabic حصانة, “men of horses”). Part merchants, part experts, part brokers, part stallion handlers, but never breeders nor owners, the hassanah lived for and from the horses. They were one’s first point of contact when buying,  selling or inquiring about a horse. They knew the landscape like nobody else. Abu Hussein Khattab and Abd al-Qadir Hammami were the main hassanah of Aleppo. Uqlah al-Hanshul and Najm al-Himmayri were the main two for Deyr al-Zor. They all passed. Today, with the rise of direct advertising, social media, and specialty magazines, there is no room for the hassanah anymore. The profession is a thing of the past. Fawaz was the main such “man of horses” for the Syrian city of Homs from the 1960s to the 2010s. He took over his father’s business. In 1976, my father, then newly engaged to my mother, made his first visit to her family in Homs. He asked his future in-laws where he could see horses around the city. My uncle…

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  وقعت عيناي على حجة باسم جهيم المطخان يفيد بها ان ام الفحل الشهير كروش جهيم المعروف باسمه هي كروش محمد النواف الجربا مما يعني ان كروش جهيم يرد الى فرس علي العبد الرزاق الجربا التي وردت مع امه العمشة اثر رجوعها من حائل حيث اقامت عدة سنوات في ضيافة ابن رشيد وقد اتى ابن رشيد بالكروش من الدويش شيوخ مطير

This interesting 2019 article from Aramco Expat is an obituary of sorts for John Ames, an early (pre-World War II) Aramco employee. He was the husband of Dr. Esther Ames, who imported the Ubayyah mare *Mahraa and her daughter *Muhaira to the USA. The following exceprt struck me: John was married to Esther – Esther Ames MD.  As the only American woman doctor in Aramco, she spent a fair amount of time in Riyadh tending to the women of the royal family: the dowagers, the princesses and their daughters. She was a great favorite and was showered with elaborate hand-embroidered dresses, finely worked brass coffee pots, silk scarves and the like. Sometimes Emir Saud bin Jiluwi, the governor and most powerful man in eastern Saudi Arabia, would send his personal black Cadillac and two bodyguards to take her to his palace. John even managed to get a blade out of the connection when some grateful prince sent him a curved, eight-inch dagger in a beautiful jet black scabbard filigreed in fine gold-plated wire. Surely, if Dr Ames, the only American female doctor in East Arabian, had attended to the wealth of the wives, sisters or daughters of Saud Ibn Jalawi,…

This handsome stallion, a personal favorite of mine, born in 1988, is the sire of the flee-bitten Kuhaylat Ibn Mizhir mare that many of you liked in the entry below. He was one of the last stallions the Tai Bedouins used as a herdsire, in the village of al-Na’em, where some Tai had settled. This earned him the nickname “Krush al-Na’em”. His sire was a Hamdani Ibn Ghurab of the Tai, sired by a Dahman Amer of ‘Ajil al-Yawir al-Jarba, the Shammar. His dam’s sire was the Ma’naqi Hadraji of Zahir al-Ufaytan, and the sire of the  maternal grand dam — is said to have been a Kuhaylan Krush. The maternal grand-dam is from the horses of Mutlaq al-Haybah of the Shammar.

تُعتبر كحيلة ابن مزهر من الارسان الحديثة وهي بالأصل كروش بطحها رجل من الجوالة من قبيلة طي يُقال له حماد الاسيود الخابور من رجل من الفدعان يُقال له ابن ماضي ثم اخذها من الجوالي ابن مزهر من اقارب شيخ طي انذاك محمد العبدالرحمن العساف توفّي نهاية اربعينيات القرن العشرين وهو الذي أطلق عليها اسم كحيلة ابن مزهر لأن الاعنزي اخفى نسبها عندما سُلبت منه وبعد فترة من الزمن جاء الاعنزي الى شيخ طي يطلب فرسه فقال له الشيخ اذهب الى تلك الفيضة والخيل موجودة فيها إن عرفت فرسك فهي لك فذهب الرجل وجاء ثلاث رؤوس من الخيل تزيد او تنقص وبالفعل جميعهن من فرسه سأله الشيخ كيف عرفتهن ؟ قال: قصر جين وبگاع عين فقال له الشيخ نعطيك نصفهن بشرط ان تخبرنا اصلهن فقال الاعنزي هن من رسن كروش وبقيت الخيل تتبارك عند مشايخ طي وعندما بدأ الواهو بالتسجيل تم قبول الخيل في المنظمة ودرجت من الشيخ محمد الفارس العبدالرحمن فرس الى نزار الاسعد اسمها مواضي وفي عام 1983 أعطي عبدالعزيز المحمد العبدالرحمن مهرة لحمود الملحم الجرباء من مشايخ شمر وبينهم قرابة خولة ولحمود الجرباء ومن بعده ابنائه دور كبير في الحفاظ على هذه السلالة ونمت وتباركت عندهم تميّز من هذا المربط بطل السرعة هدّار وهيشان وبرزان وفرسي الانتاج لزاز…

This is the year I have planned the most breeding since 2006. Five mares were bred or about to be bred. Of these three are going to Davenport stallions: Andre DL, Anecdote CF, and Monologue CF. 1/ CSA Baroness Lady to the Da’jani stallion from Syria (planned) 2/ Wadha Al Arab to Monologue CF (in foal) 3/ Mayassa al Arab to Anecdote CF (planned) 4/ DaughterofthePharaohs (Pippa) to Bashir Al Dirri (in foal) plus a fifth mare I am not talking about yet.

Jens Sannek sent me this message, a few days ago: In Germany Falko Zimmermann bred the mare Murjana, a Saglawieh Jedranieh Ibn Sudan via Ghazieh, born 2012, bay, by Menjad Maram al Baida (Mokthar x Hijab) out of Assads Galifah (Maamoon Tarik x Gazeera (Sindbad x Golson)). Sindbad is by Hadban Enzahi out of Sahmet and she is by Hadban Enzahi out of Jatta by Jasir). Falko takes Murjana and Assads Galifah for Western riding. I add two photos. I think you will enjoy them. The first is Murjana, the second is Assads Galifah. The dapples on the bay of Murjana is characteristic of Mukhtar’s lineage; his dam was like that. So much rare and precious Arabian blood in these mares. Not just the Syrian desert blood of Menjad, which is very clean, but also that of Maamoon Tarik, which I had pointed to in another entry on this blod, but also that of Soldateska, through Sindbad. Wow.

This is the stallion I am going to breed my mares to this year. I chose him because of his extreme arched neck, his extreme throat latch, his extreme high set tail, his extreme muzzle, the extreme black skin around his eyes, and above all else, his extreme floating action. Wish me extreme luck.

By far the nicest surprise of yesterday’s visit to see my horses was little Bassma Al Arab, now three months old. She is Belle’s daughter by Jamr Al Arab. She looks absolutely superb, and I hope she lives long enough to fulfill her promise. She is going to be grey. I confess having taken that breeding decision on a hunch, and I caught a lot of flak for it: parents’ conformations don’t match each other, pedigrees don’t match, foal will be small, etc. I tried it in part to test whether Jamr was fertile, after a few unsuccessful attempts with older mares. I also did because I felt the resulting foal could benefit from his broad forehead, his extra-deep jowl, his small muzzle, his very short back (which Belle lacks), his muscular arched neck, and his big “Doyle butt” – essentially a long, hip and a muscular thigh. And Jamr delivered on most of the above, building my confidence in my him as a stallion along the way. He even brought size (!) balance and depth of girth on top of that. Look at the outcome: The head is the same as the dam’s as you can tell from the…

Yesterday I went to see my horses for the first time since the onset of COVID-19 some two and a half years ago. Belle the Kuhaylat al-Ajuz looks good and has had two fillies in the last four years. Both fillies are an improvement over her, in terms of balance and structure. I am going to breed her at least one more time, this time to the Syrian Kuhaylan Da’jani stallion for which I now have semen thanks to Arnault Decroix. I thought she was looking very much like her maternal grandsire Audobon and his dam Audacity in that picture.  

WhatsApp and Twitter threads of Gulf countries Arab horse and saluki breeders are spreading the news of the passing of Danah Al Khalifah of natural causes, the day before yesterday. Rest in Peace, noble lady of the horses, you have done so much.

Hopefully this time is the right time. Last time she slipped her foal at five months. She will be taking progesterone until she delivers. I can’t wait for this foal.

شكر وتقدير للاستاذ خالد الرخلاني الذي جهد في ادخال بيانات انساب الخيول العربية السورية على قاعدة www.allbreedpedigree.com

Bev saved him. She really did.

Yesterday Ginger foaled a little male, who as of this morning was still fighting for his life. He could not stand to nurse on his own, so Bev — bless her heart — has been waking up every two hours to lift him so he could nurse. I hope he pulls off. He is Ginger’s third foal in three years, after my Kinza, now two, and Bev’s Ginger Snap, a yearling. All three are by Bev’s stallion Subanet Jabbar SDA, so tracing to Fay El Dine in tail male and to Rabanna/Basilisk in tail female. When my partner Jana first saw a photo, her first reaction was: “Oh he looks like a little dog!” so I named him Kulayb. It’s Arabic for “little dog”, and it’s an old, old, Arabic Bedouin name. The Ancient Hebrews had it too, as the Biblical Caleb. In ancient pre-Islamic poetry, Kulayb son of Rab’iah was the name of a Bedouin hero from the ancient tribe of Taghlib. He was the brother of Mohalhil.

 صورة للشيخ خالد بن عضيب الوقاع شيخ فخذ المجاهمه من الموايقه من قبيله السبعه من عنزه كان لوالده عضيب الوقاع السبيعي مربط معروف لكحايل الخدليات درج على قبيلة العقيدات في ما بعد

Kim Davis has a new colt by Othello LD out of HH Nadira Krush, in yet another demonstration of the continued vitality of her wonderful breeding program. It looks like he will be black after his sire and grandsire.

A rare photo of Abd al-Jalil al-Naqashbandi, one of the preeminent Sufis of the Euphrates Valley, and the owner of a famous marbat of Kuhaylan al-Nawwaq that is now 110 years old. He is pictured here on one of his Nawwaqiyah mares. He was a partner of Fanghash al-Nawwaq, who was the last member of the Nawwaq family to own horses they gave their name to. A precious photo.

This was Belle, the Kuhaylat al-Ajuz, with my daughter Solenn in 2018. Belle was 16, Solenn 5. I am still on a quest to know who this line of horses originally belonged to, back in 1925. I have clues but no hard facts.

I like this image so much that I will make it a blog header for a few days. I think the beautiful mare on the left is a Kuhaylat al-Mimrah.

RJ Cadranell took this nice photo of Belladonna CHF several years ago. She was a Kuhaylat al-Ajuz tracing to *Nufoud, and was a favorite mare of mine. I saw her in 2001. She is my Bell’s dam and Barakah and Bassma’s grand-dam

Andre LS (Zachary CF x Aliah LD by HB Adrian), one of Diane Lyon’s Davenport stallions of the Kuhaylan Haifi strain is now California at Michael Bowling’s. Michael is going to take him to a vet clinic for testing. If fertile, he will be bred to one of my mares. He looks good, and is an outcross in the Davenports Core Haifi group.  

Bassma Al Arab was born at dawn today. She is by my stallion Jamr Al Arab (Vice Regent CF x Jadiba by Dib), a Saqlawi al-‘Abd, out of “Belle”, Jadah BelloftheBall (Invictus Al Krush x Belladonna CHF by Audobon), a Kuhaylat al-‘Ajuz tracing to the desert-bred mare *Nufoud. She is only the fifth filly alive from that strain. Monica Respet has two, and I now have three. She has really long ears like her dam, a big sloped shoulder like her granddam Jadiba and big joints. It’s an unusual breeding: a half-Blunt stallion on a non-Blunt, mostly Davenport mare, with an old Saudi tail female.

In Arabian horses, strains are traditionally transmitted by the dam. This is how Bedouins did it for about half a millennium, for reasons I discussed elsewhere. Strains, and their transmissions are intimately connected to the concepts of asil/atiq (roughly, authentic) in an Arabian horse. In other words, the daughter of an asil/atiq Hamdaniyah Simriyah and an English Thoroughbred is not a Hamdaniyah Simriyah. She is a hajin, a part-bred, not an Arabian horse. I think there is a universal consensus on that. Now let us assume that this half-Arabian part-bred daughter of the asil/atiq Hamdaniyah Simriyah is bred to an asil/atiq Arabian for one more generation. You still don’t have a Hamdaniyah Simiriyah. You’d still have a hajin, a partbred with 25% Engligh Thoroughbred blood and 75% Arabian blood. One more generation of breeding of this line to an asil/atiq Arabian horse will not get you your Hamdani Simri label back. You’d still have a hajin on your hands, this time with 12.5% Engligh Thoroughbred blood and 87.5% Arabian blood. The consensus on this horse not being an Arabian horse still holds, pretty much across the spectrum of the Arabian horse world. Where the consensus falls apart is on how…

Yesterday Arnault Decroix sent me this photo of his Syrian stallion Dahjani al-Arab, a Kuhaylan Da’jani born in the Syrian Jazirah (Upper Mesopotomia) in 2008. Dahjani al-Arab was part of the same batch of Syrian imports to France in 2009. The lot also included the stallions Mahboub Halep (a Shuwayman Sabbah); Dahess Hassaka (a Kuhaylan Nawwaq); Nimr Shabareq (a Ma’naqi Sbayli); Shahm (a Ubayyan Sharrak, who sadly died soon after the importation and was the best of the lot, in my opinion); and Meliar Halab (a Kuhaylan Krush), as well as the mare Rafikat al-Darb (a Shuwaymah Sabbah). For years I overlooked Dahjani al-Arab on this blog, and highlighted other imports like Mahboub, Dahess and Nimr, because I had some doubts about his Kuhaylan Da’jani tail female. Today, after a decade of follow up, I was able to access first-hand evidence of the authenticity of this strain. I will elaborate further in a next entry. Dahjani al-Arab is and always was, an asil Arabian horse    

A photo of the wonderful Syrian-bred Shuwaymah Sabbah stallion Mahboub Halep at Jean Claude Rajot several days ago. To me, this horse exemplifies the desert Arabian horse as he should be. I wish he had opportunities to cover mares from more diverse lineages. As Lady Anne Blunt said of Aziz in his prime: “He looks gorgeous”. Photo by Severine Vesco from social media.

Kuwaiti researcher Yahia al-Kandari edited a treatise on Arab horses by Father Anastas al-Karmali (1866-1947), the Lebanese Carmelite priest and linguist.  The treatise “al-Khayl al-‘Irab 3inda al-Arab wa al-A3raab” was published by Bait al-Arab. Interestingly, the title of the book features three difference uses of the term ‘Arab’.

Power and grace in motion at 25 years young. I have a sense this will become a beloved picture.

Photographer Irina Filsinger took this nice photo of the stallion Ibn Ibn Wathnan, one of the handful original horses of the state of Qatar. He was registered in Volume 1 of the Qatari studbook. Thanks to Wilton for posting it on social media, where I picked it up. He looks like the Bahraini royal stud horses  and I would not be surprised if he traced to him at least in part

 من بنات كروش جهيم المطخان ومن نفس رسنه ومربطه

لاحظوا دقة اذني الفرس وعرض حنكها فهكذا كانت خيل الملوك لاحظوا ايضا اللجام العربي بالاضافة للرشمة من ارشيف مدرسة الاخوة الماريين  

Over 5000 of them online. Take the plunge! One of the most significant pictures is this one of Shaykh Sultan Bin Zayid Aal Nahyan, taken in 1948 (pre-oil). He was not yet the ruler of the UAE.

I happened upon this Gazetteer of Egypt in the French language from the year 1891 — the “Annuaire egyptien administratif et commercial” on the wonderful website of the French national library. Under the “Conseil Legislatif”, the legislative council, it has “S.E. Aly Pacha Cherif” as the President. See below.