“The last of the Managia” by Gerald de Gaury

This morning Hylke shared with me this photo of a grey Bedouin mare. British army officer and explorer Gerald De Gaury took it in Saudi Arabia. The photo is on the website of the British Royal Geographical Society. It is numbered S0024244 and titled the “the last (Horses) of the Managia strain”. And another photo, by the same author, in the same setting. I think this one is a stallion. De Gaury’s books are on my purchase list.

Samhan strain, Syria, mid-1990s

I recently took part in a discussion on Facebook about the Samhan strain. Mohammed al-Matrooshi of the UAE had posted a photo which Carl Raswan had taken of a Samhat Qumay’ mare of the Ruwalah. Not posting here because I assume Raswan’s photo is copyrighted. Someone asked if the strain was extinct. I then shared a photo of this beautiful Samhat Qumay’ mare, which I had taken in the early 1990s outside Aleppo. She had come from the area of al-Mayadin, in the valley of the Euphrates, to be covered by one of the Jabri stallions. She was not registered. The ‘Aqayat got most of their strains from the Sba’ah. Then, out of the blue, someone from that same area posted a photo of his chestnut mare, and said that she was the grand-daughter of the above mare, and that the strain was alive and well. Then I dug in my own photo archives and found another photo of the same grey mare, one year later, this time with her daughter by my stallion Dahiss, the ‘Ubayyan Sharrak/Suhayli, then with Radwan Shabareq. I need to show it the man from al-Mayadin, to see if he recognizes the filly, who could…

Notes al-Bu-Matyut tribe, Sinjar, Iraq

This is meant mostly as a note to myself, on the tribe of al-Bu-Matyut, a section of the tribe of Juhaysh in the area of south of Mount Sinjar in North Western Iraq. It references a detailed and very learned blog entry on the Jazirology blog. The shaykhs of the al-Bu-Matyut are from the clan of al-Jarallah. Current Shaykh is Jarallah son of Muhammad son of Jarallah son of ‘Issa son of ‘Abdallah. The semi-nomad sheep herding tribe of al-Bu-Matyut — 250 rifles in the 1930s compared to the 6000 of the Northern Shammar — rose to fame when it defeated a coalition of the Shammar and allied tribes in 1946 at the battle of al-Khunayssi. [Edouard speculating here]: this battled is likely the context during which the Jarallah acquired the Shuwayman Sabbah strain from the Shammar. The strain then went from them to Muhammad al-Sfug al-Rahbi of the Shammar on the Syrian side of the border and from him to the sufi shaykhs of the Tfayhiyyin. The stallion of Salih al-Abd Allah al-Hasan, b. 1983, by the Hamdani Ibn Ghurab al-A’awar and the mare ‘Abeerah dam of the famous al-Khalidi come from this Tfayhiyyin branch of the strain.

A Nawwaqiyah of Fanghash al-Nawwaq in Homs, early 1960s

Hazaim al-Wair shared with me this old photo about 15 years ago. It shows one of the Nawwaqiyat mares of Fanghash al-Nawwaq in the early 1960s. There was a drought in the desert, and Fanghash had entered into partnerships (sharaakah) with townsfolk from Homs on one of his mares. I am not sure who is pictured riding the mare. I need to ask Hazaim.

Qumayrah, 1991 Shuwaymah Sabbah from the horses of al-Jarbah

One advantage of these weekends on lockdown is that I could catch up on conversations I have been delaying to have. The reach that social media allows for is just incredible, triangulating information from photos and audio records almost in real time. I received many requests for scanned photos of Syrian horses from my archives. The requests in turn prompt conversations that lead to a lot more information. One such query was prompted by a Syrian breeder from the Jazirah who had read the entry on the Shuwaymah mare of the Jarbah, registered as al-Jawzaa in the Syrian studbook. He was inquiring about specific descendants. Radwan Shabareq had most of these, from an older grey daughter of al-Jawzaa, Dallah. These were lost during the Syrian civil war, except for the stallion Mahboub Halab and a mare now in France. The second round of registrations in the Syrian Studbook has, however added a previously unregistered younger bay daughter of al-Jawzaa named Waddaahah and Waddaahah’s black daughter. They were bred by Nawaf son of Turki son of Mashaal Pasha al-Jarba. This black mare, Qumayrah, has existing offspring. She is a ray of hope for this storied Shuwayman strain. I had seen Qumayrah…

Ibn-Taamri, 1971 Hamdani Simri stallion

Ibn-Taamri, 1971 chestnut stallion, by *Taamri out of *Rudann, both from the stud of King Saud ibn Abd al-‘Aziz Aal S’aud at al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia. Search for their names on this blog for a translation of their original Arabic hujja document. Photo of Ibn-Taamri by Edie Booth. You can click on the arrow at the right of the photo to see pictures of *Taamri and *Rudann by Sam Roach.

Introducing Shaykh Al Arab

That will be the pompous official name of my new Ma’naqi colt. He is so named in memory of the foundation sire of Lebanese Arabians. The original Shaykh Al Arab (1940s) was an ‘Ubayyan Sharrak but he was sired by a Ma’naqi Sbayli. His owner Henri Pharaon named him after his breeder, Rakan Ibn Mirshid, the Shaykh of the Gmassah Bedouins and of the larger Sba’ah Bteynat tribe (b. 1892 in the desert — d. 1982 in Kuwait). Rakan (photo below, I think by Carl Raswan, and another photo holding his mare) was the son of Bashir, the son of Sulayman Ibn Mirshid, the leader of Sba’ah from whom Captain Upton bought Haidee in 1874. The new colt traces to Haidee in the maternal line. Rakan was a progressive and open Bedouin leader, who called for peace between the tribes and for them to abondon their nomadic lifestyle. Rakan was preceded in the leadership of the Sba’ah by his father Bashir, his uncle Ghatwan, his other uncle Hazza’, his father’s paternal cousin Butayyin (the Beteyen of Lady Anne), his father’s other paternal cousin Mashhur, and his grandfather Sulayman. Sulayman had led a rebellion of his tribe against the Ottomans. He…

A new Ma’naqi Sbayli colt

This morning Lyman Doyle told me that young Pippa had delivered her first foal, a large, strong colt by Tamaam DE. Pippa foaled on her own, at dusk. The colt, chestnut of course, was quickly up and nursing. I am so grateful to Terry and Rosemary Doyle for boarding her at their farm (and for the photo), and to DeWayne for leasing her (and her dam) to me. This is my first Ma’naqi Sbayli foal, and I certainly hope not the last. How I love this strain. I was talking to Hazaim the other day, and he was telling me how much he loved it too. Just the evocation of his strain reminds me of the stories of my childhood about the horses and horsemen of the Sba’ah leaders from the house of Ibn Mirshid. One day, if this young fellow lives and grows, he will become a stallion, and see his name — which I still need to choose — added to the long and prestigious list of asil Ma’naqi stallions from the Sba’ah Bedouins, where his maternal line hails from: Funaytil, who made it back to the Sba’ah encampment along with 34 of his daughters and grand-daughters, out…

Arabic naming system for male people in the XIXth century and before

A quick overview of the various parts of Arabic/Islamic male names (people not horses) during and before the XIXth century may help. A typical name was constituted of different parts: The kinya: Abu Amin, “father of Amin”, people were referred as fathers of their firstborn son; if they did not have sons, they were still referred to as fathers of a hypothetical son carrying their own father’s first name. Example: your name is Ahmed, your father’s name is Ali, you don’t have a son, but your kinya would still be “Abu Ali”. The laqab: that’s the title: Agha, Pasha, Bey, Zadah, Effendi, Sheykh, Amir, etc. The ism: that’s the first name, Mohammed, Ahmed, Ali, Hussayn, etc. Sometimes in official documents or formal correspondence, the name of one’s father and grand father (and so on) would be included too: Mohammed ibn (son of) Ali ibn (son of) Ahmed ibn …. etc. The nisba: where the person came from, or resided last, or was born: al-Halabi (from Aleppo), al-Masri (from Cairo), al-Qudsi (from Jerusalem); one could have more than one, if for instance, they were born in one place, but resided in another, then moved to a third. This was regardless of…

Al-Damiri (1372) on Atiq and Hajin horses

This post is part of an ongoing series of posts on the Arab horses and other horse breeds in medieval equestrian treatises in the Arabic language. I have been discussing the subject with Hylke Hettema on various social media. I don’t like how social media platforms classify and archive discussions, so I am transferring it here. An earlier post from August 2019 had pointed to early mentions of “the Asil Arab horse” or “al-faras al-arabi al-asil” in the Nasiri book which is from 1333 CE. A second post recorded mentions, in the same book, of “the breeding of Arab horses” or “nitaaj al-khuyul al-arabiyyat“. Recently Hylke posted this short passage from a later treatise, Muhammad Musa al-Damiri‘s “Kit?b Hay?t al-Hayaw?n al-Kubra” which is from 1372 CE. This zoological treatise was translated to English in 1906 and is more commonly known as the “Life of Animals”: “wal-khaylu naw’aan: hajin wa ‘atiq, fal-‘atiqu min al-khayli ma abawaahu ‘arabiyyaan wal-hajinu alladhi abuhu ‘arabi wa ummuhu ‘ajamiyyah, wal-muqrif […] ‘aksuhu, wa kadhalika fi bani Aadam“ Hylke’s translation from Arabic to English is very good, and an edited version of it follows: Horses are of two kinds: hajin and ‘atiq; the ‘atiq among horses is…

Kubbeh Garden Residents

I have already written about this about a decade ago, but I still love coming back to Samir Raafat’s list of the names and occupations of residents of the very upscale Cairo neighborhood of Koubbeh Gardens in 1936. It features two names which fans of old Egyptian Arabian horses will immediately recognize: Ibrahim Khairy Pasha, Lewa Mohamed Nafea Pasha, Rentier Both are Pashas, the highest rank in Egyptian/Ottoman nobility after the royal family. You will recognize the first as the owner of the mare Badaouia and the breeder of the RAS stallion Kheir (named after him), and the second as the owner of Nafaa El Saghira (also named after him). The occupation of the first is Lewa, a military title equivalent to Brigadier (e.g., my father was a Lewa in the Lebanese Army). The second has no real occupation, and lives from his rents, like most of the aristocrats of his time.

A rare photo of Farhan al-‘Olayyan

A rare photo of Farhan al-‘Olayyan al-Faraj made it today on the Facebook page of the Shumaylat section of the Fadaan Bedouin tribe. He is the man on the left of the photo. The young man in the middle is Tamir son of Nuri son of Miqhim ibn Mhayd, who went on to become the Shaykh of the Fadaan tribe during the 1980s and 1990s. Starting from the late 1950s and well into the 1980s, Farhan al-‘Olayyan, acting as the agent of the Mhayd Sheykhs, organized the purchase and the shipment to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia of several hundreds of the best desert-bred mares in Syria, the large majority from the ‘Anazah Bedouin tribes. Most of them went as gifts to Aal Saud princes and other senior government officials in Saudi Arabia. Some of the Bedouins who would not sell willingly were coerced into selling. In the span of those three decades, the Kingdom granted Saudi citizenship to tens of thousands of ‘Anazah Bedouins that were Syrian citizens, as well as monetary and other material incentives to settle in Saudi Arabia. All the Sba’ah and the Fad’aan, and most of the Hsinah and Wuld Ali moved to Saudi Arabia.…

Another photo of the black lady

This is another photo of the “Black Lady”, about which I had written before, here. I took this photo in 1999 or in 2000 in the countryside outside Aleppo. She is one of my two or three favorite Syrian mares. She is a Kuhaylat al-Krush from the breeding of ‘Atallah al-Nassar al-Jarba of the Northern Shammar. The latter got the strain from his cousin Mayzar al-Abd al-Muhsin al-Jarba (ca. 1960s), whose family had it from Muhammad ibn Rashid of Hail (ca. 1880s) who in turn had it from the Sheykhs of the Mutayr tribe. After the Ottomans quelled the rebellion of the Northern Shammar and hung their leader ‘Abd al-Karim al-Jarba on a bridge in Mossul in 1875, ‘Amsheh, the mother of ‘Abd al-Karim (and the daughter of the Sheykh of the Tai) fled with her younger son Faris and sought refuge with Muhammad ibn Rashid, the leader of the Southern Shammar in Hail. When peace was made with the Ottomans, she and her son returned to their tribe, and a Kuhaylat al-Krush from the horses of Ibn Rashid came with them.

Ghallaieh, 1973 desert-bred Kuhaylat al-Krush from the Shammar

Another set of old photos I just scanned today features the Syrian desert bred mare Ghallaieh at the farm of Radwan Shabareq north of Aleppo, near the town of ‘Azaz. She was old and lame (you can see the broken front leg) and rather plain in the head, but what a grand and powerful mare she was. I took the first photo in 1998. My father took the second photo in 1996, and you can see a youthful me (the hair!) holding her halter. She was a bay Kuhaylat al-Krush from the breeding of Rakan al-Nuri al-Mashal Basha al-Jarba, from the leading family of the Shammar. Mashal was the son of the famous Faris al-Jarba. The strain reached this family of the Jarba Shammar Sheykhs from their maternal uncles the Sheikh of the Tai Farhan al-Abd al-Rahman sometime in the 1950s or even 1960s. From here, there are two stories. One story is that the Sheykhs of the Tai obtained it from the Shammar who had it since the time of ‘Amsheh and Ibn Rashid (see next blog entry on the black mare). Another story is that Tai got the strain from the Fadaan. Ghallaieh was the daughter of a…

Breeding plans for 2020

Nuri Al Krush to Monologue. Not my first choice but she was barren to Jamr this past year. Her ovaries are in great shape for a 25 years old. Jamr, on the other hand, may be sub-fertile. Wadha to Monologue, for a Davenport foal that promises to be beautiful. Belle to Jamr. If she takes, it means he’s fertile. If she doesn’t, at least I have a Sharp (no Blunt blood) filly already. Pippa due in a few days, from Tamaam DE in Oregon.

Quick note to myself

I just noticed this entry in Lady Anne Blunt’s Journals, dated March 4th, 1910. I am making a note for myself: “This morning the mare of Amin Husseyn Koja Zade was brought to Jamil. She has no Ali Pasha Sherif’s stud connection but is by a quite other Shueyman, but a good horse that belonged to Prince Aziz – her dam a mare of the Khedive – Amin, an elderly man, was in some position at the Court at one time. She is not a bad mare — rather in Kehilan Mimrieh style.“ I need to look back at the documentation of the Khedive’s non-APS mares, particularly Carmen (Halabia), Venus and Makkaouia. I remember an Amin or an Abu Amin somewhere there. Maybe there is a connection there. I really need to get to the bottom of who Abu Amin was, this has been hanging for too long.

Treasures in a box: the Shuwaymah Sabbah mare of the Jarbah in 1999

I am locked down here in South Africa. Wherever you are, there is a high chance you’re locked down too. I am busier than ever, though, as work and the rest surreptitiously blend into each other. At least I am lucky to still have a job, so I am counting my blessings. One good thing about the lockdown in my case is that I found some time to open a box of old horse photos. “Old” here means from the time you could hold a photo in your hands. I scanned a few of those. Here’s one for you. I took it one evening of August 1999 in Hama, Syria, at the farm of the late Fuad al-Azem “Abu Tamer”. It shows the old Shuwaymah Sabbah mare Al-Jawzaa, a grand and classy mare of the old desert type, from the breeding of Rakan al-Nuri al-Mashal Basha al-Jarba, and from the old war line of these Sheykhs of the Northern Shammar. The mare was taken out of her stall and brought back in within minutes as the sun was setting and we had finished sipping coffee, just long enough for me to snap three photos. Unfortunately, neither photo does justice to…

Hicham, famous part-bred Arabian race horse in Lebanon

I am happy to see a second photo of this horse. It appeared in a July 1968 article on the horses of Lebanon in the French magazines “Plaisirs Equestres”, which Christele Seranne shared on Facebook. The horse is Hicham, a racehorse born in Iraq, who raced in Lebanon in the ownership of Henri Pharaon. He was a part-bred Arabian, with anywhere from 12.5% to 25% English Thoroughbred blood on the sire side. His dam was said to be a Ma’naqiyah Sbayliyah. He won many, many races, before the Lebanese government chose him to become a breeding stallion. Many breeders sent their asil mares to him, which contributed to the ruin of the Lebanese asil arabian horse breeding program. His get raced well too, and several of them became stud horses too. Some of his get were exported to the USA, where they were registered in the AHA (and hence by WAHO).

A conversation with Lee Oellerich

I was talking to Lee Oellerich earlier today. It had been a while since we last spoke, more than two years. I always learn new things from him. He told me that he acquired Sawannah then thought to be 22 from Mrs. Kelly and her daughter *Hadriya then 16 (for free) [see amendment in the comments below] from Mrs. Ott in 1970. Both mares were then at the Searle’s ranch in Arizona and running with Ibn Fadl. Sawannah never took but *Hadriya did and foaled a filly (Al Hadiyya) at Lee’s in Canada in 1971. Sawannah died before Lee could come down from Canada to Arizona to pick her up. Both mares were turned down by an AHA inspector because they were “too small”, so had to be registered in IAHRONA. Canada accepted their papers from IAHRONA and registered them. Lee has pictures of both of them unseen before. Lee also told me that Sawannah was given by a member of the Bahraini Aal Khalifah Royal family to a Saudi prince who in turn gave her to the Kellys. He also told me that Danah Al Khalifah had told him that she had shown the well known photo of Sawannah…

A conversation with Muhammad al-‘Aqub, owner of the Rabdan strain with the Tai Bedouins

Last week I received an unexpected call from a Syrian gentleman living in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. His name is Muhammad al-‘Aqub. His family belongs to the Bedouin tribe of Harb, a tribe long affiliated with the Tai tribe. He wanted to tell me about their horses and their origins. We spoke for about an hour, but I was driving for most of the time and I did not take any notes. He told me that his family, the ‘Aqub, had owned the strain of Rabdan for more than 200 years without interruption, since around 1810 or 1815. Here is my recollection of what he told me about how they got the strain: There was a battle between Ibn Haddal, the leader of the ‘Amarat ‘Anazah Bedouins, and a Kurdish tribe around 1810 or 1815. It took place north of the town of Ras al-‘Ayn which is in the extreme tip of North Eastern Syria today. The Kurds held their own, taking several mares and even one prisoner from the ‘Anazah. The Kurds did not care to know the strains and origins of the horses they took, just in their being war mounts. At the time, his seventh paternal ancestor (I…

The elusive stallion Balabil: Lebanese, Saudi or even Tunisian?

I want to follow up on the previous blog entry about the 2010 magazine article about the horses of the USA expat families working for the oil company Aramco and living in the Abqaiq gated community, in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia. I am specifically interested in this reference from the article: “More horses arrived when Ibrahim Abu Boutain, the agriculture minister, presented Abqaiq with seven of his fine Arabians. [Four of the seven] were sired by the famous Balalil, a foundation stallion for the Tunisian National Stud.” I am not aware of a “famous Balalil, a foundation stallion for the Tunisian National Stud“, which would be Sidi Thabet. If this piece of information turned out to be correct, it could either mean the Saudis gave the Tunisians this stallion, or less likely at that time, that the Tunisians gave the Saudis one of their stallions. This is a matter for further investigation. However, there was an Arabian stallion by the name of Balabil (with a “b” not an “l”) racing in Beirut in the late 1940s or early 1950s in the ownership of Prince Badr Aal Saud, a son of King Abd al-Aziz Aal Saud. This Balabil is…

Magazine article about the horses of the Aramco families

Some two years ago, Jenny Krieg located this interesting article in a magazine for Aramco US expatriates to Saudi Arabia. It has a lot of photos which the Arabian horse community had not seen before. Among these is the cover photo (below) of the magazine featuring the famous mare Sindidah, ridden by a young “Aramcon” near the Abqaiq gated community in 1958. The article chronicles the memories and adventures of Aramco horse-riding families tfrom the late 1940s through the 1960s. These families were typically interested in riding and enjoying the horses with their children, and caress less about the origins and provenance of their horses, other than these “having a royal connection” or coming “from the Bedouin”. A few horses are named for their strains: Kuhaylan, Hamdani, Obayya. The second part of the article is here. It features a photo of Jalam (mispelled Jamal) Al Ubayyan never seen before.

Bahir, Hamdani Simri stallion in Canada

The other day I was writing about looking for an outstanding stallion for my herd of mares. The next day Lee Oellirich sent this photo of his young Hamdani stallion Bahir (Haziz x Bahiyeh). He is the full brother of this mare. I like the heads with the protruding bones, the nostrils and the ears and the eyes, and I like the high withers.

Looking for an outstanding stallion..

I am still looking for a first class stallion, more than fourteen years after having acquired my first US mare. I came across many outstanding stallions during these years, but I was never lucky enough to acquire one. The Davenport stallions Popinjay CF, Javera Thadrian, Triermain CF and Daedalus LD were some of these. Also the Ma’naqis RB Bellagio, which I saw, and Dakhala Sabiq from the breeding of Jeanne Craver, which I did not see. They must have been something else, judging from the photos. Proud carriage of head and tail, sparkly eyes, deep jowls, a slight arched neck, high withers, a short back, a deep girth and a long hip are a must. Have you recently seen a horse with these features?

Dahess Hassaka, Syrian stallion in France

I absolutely love this horse. He reminds me of the horses of my childhood. Whenever I see a picture of him, I recall his grandparents, great-grandparents, and the horses of Aleppo before the Syrian war. He has the deep, full chestnut color of his grand-dam Hanadi, a superior broodmare, and of Hanadi’s daughter, which was my father’s mare. His owners Fabienne Vesco and Jean-Claude Rajot can be proud of him. He has produced very well. Photo by Severine Vesco.

The Book of Sheep and the Book of Camels of Al-Asma’i

I just downloaded the “Book of Sheep” and the “Book of Camels” of Al-Asma’i from archive.org. Al-Asma’i was also one of the earliest authors of the “Book of Horses”. Al-Asma’i was the rival of Abu ‘Ubaydah, the author of another early “Book of Horses”. I don’t nearly love sheep and camels the way I love horses, and I know little about either. I thought it interesting however to compare the same author’s treatment of this triad of domesticated animals. A nagging question is whether the early Books of Horses were describing Arab horses, or horses in general, or both. The question becomes especially relevant to color patterns unusual in modern-day Arabian horses. Of course both cite Arabic poetry to illustrate their descriptions, but this may or may not have been a literary device of the time. One needs to be weary of jumping to the conclusion that the horse described is an Arab because Arabic poetry is used to illustrate the descriptions — without ruling out this possibility. In particular, I would like to learn whether the sheep described are similar to the ‘awass breed of the Bedouins — the ovine equivalent of the Arab horse, and whether other types…

Kuhaylat al-Wati, Syria, 2019, daughter of Mahboob Halep

The picture is not so good, but the mare pictured is interesting. She is the only offspring the Shuwayman stallion Mahboub Halep produced in Syria before leaving for France. Her strain is Kuhaylan al-Wati (same strain as Kuhaylan Jallabi, by the way) Sire: Shuwayman, Mahboub Halep (a maternal grandson of Al-Aawar with another cross to him further back through Barakah whose sire was the Hamdani Ibn Ghurab the horse of Lofan, whose sire was al-Aawar), from the strain of the Shaykhs of the Shammar Sire of dam: Rabdan, Zayn al-Khayl from the strain of the Shaykhs of Tai Sire of grand-dam: Krushan, Bahr Al Hadi, from the strain of the Shaykhs of the Shammar (a son of the Hadban stallion Burhan who was a son of the Hamdani of Lofan al-Hadi son of Al-Aawar) Sire of great-grand-dam: Krushan, Bahr Al Hadi, same as above (so one more cross to Al-Aawar) Sire of great-great grand-dam: Hamdani ibn Ghurab, Al Aawar. He sired Nawrooz. Sire of great-great-great grand-dam: A Kuhaylan al-Wati from her family, from the strain of al-Ghishim Sire of great-great-great-great grand-dam: also a Kuhaylan al-Wati, but not sure if same horse as above or not. So in total at least…

Another Rabdan stallion in 2019

This Rabdan stallion’s name is Jurnass. He is the most noteworthy Syrian stallion of the last couple years. His current owner is Dham al-Ahmad al-Daham al-Hadi al-Farhan al-Jarba, Sheikh of the Shammar. A few years ago, some Syrian Bedouins started started mating Rabdan stallions from Tai marbats, probably because they are so handsome. It was not the case before. Breeders from the cities followed suit. This new trend started with the very handsome Zayn al-Khayl (Ghaseeb x Raghdanah), who was used heavily across Syria with excellent results. Those same breeders who used to deride Egyptian pashas for having mated Rabdans a hundred or so years ago (e.g., Rabdan al-Azrak, the sire of Ibn Rabdan) used Zayn al-Khayl in a heartbeat.

Desert-bred Hamdaniyah Simriyah, Syria, 2019

Folks from the Jazirah area of Syria have been sending me pictures and stories of horses that remain there. This beauty is one of them. I also saw pictures of other gorgeous horses of the Rabdan, Rishan, Saadan, Jilfan and Khallawi strains. You would be stunned. It would seem like the Bedouin’s pool is bottomless, despite the civil war including the most recent Turkish attack on these specific areas.

Little Barakah is now three

Another surprise from this past week’s visit to my horses was little Barakah (Wadd Al Arab x Jadah BellOfTheBall). She is now three years old. I left her a little filly. She is now a young mare who cycles and all. She measured at just above 14 hands, which is a good size for this age. She has a deeper girth than her dam and a straighter back. That’s her sire Wadd’s influence. But she lost her dam’s beautiful level croup and inherited instead her sire’s short slopey croup and short hip (which Wadd in turn inherited from his dam Wisteria CF). She also has attitude, unlike her dam. She may outgrow some of that, and still has a lot of growing to do.

Monologue CF is back home

In other news, Monologue CF is back home in Pennsylvania, after spending several months at Laura Fitz in Michigan. Two of her mares are in foal to him for this spring. Laura took great care of him, and he has never looked better in many years. This horse has been moved around so often over the years, and it has affected him. Born at Craver Farms in Illinois in 2001, he was bought by Jackson Hensley then of New Mexico, then went to Pamela Klein in Virginia. Pamela gifted him to Darlene Summer. We took him back to Craver Farms, before shipping him to Pennsylvania. From there he gave him to a promising preservation breeder from Ohio where he was unlucky, so we took him back. Laura Fitz then took him on and brought him back in shape. Here is a shot taken off the fly by Sheri of JNS Equine Transport, who transported him back from Michigan to Pennsylvania. His eye is huge and bright, his neck is long, his shoulder has a good slope, his croup is level and his tail is set very high. He throat has a clean arch, and his nostrils are large and elastic.…

Jamr, the one horse I like to pick on

Last Thursday, I managed to take a day off while in the US for work and drove out to Pennsylvania to see my horses. I had not seen them in a year. I feel terrible about that. The young ones have grown so much. Jamr, at seven, is now a fully grown stallion. He certainly IS small. We measured him at 13.3 1/2, just under 14 hands. I am not a fan of 16 hands Arabians, but under 14 hands is too small for my taste. I am more than 6 feet tall. His neck is also too short. Or the withers are pushed forward and eating at the neck. The crest is nice through, and so is the arch of the throat. He has other qualities: he looks very masculine; his back is short, his hip is long, his girth is moderately deep, his coupling is strong, his chest is broad enough and his jowls are very deep. His eyes are expressive and soulful, without that troubled, anxious expression of some show horses. His profile is very straight, but he makes it up with a broad forehead, deep jowls and a fine muzzle. His ears are short, which is…

Mameluke (GSB)

I am irked that we still know so little about this horse. We know his color (chestnut), his name and his date of birth (1885). I also read somewhere that he was thought be a “high caste Arabian”. Probably a race horse, or an army horse. Probably exported from Basrah, or Kuwait to Bombay. Bombay/Mumbai may have kept customs documents. The British army too, perhaps. We know a lot more about Lord Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford, who brought him from India to England in 1892. He served in Egypt in 1882, which is probably why he gave the horse this name. Mameluke sired the mare *Shabaka for another important Englishman, Lord Arthur Cecil. Shabaka was imported to the USA by Spencer Borden, who bred her influential son Segario. My 2013 mare Mayassah Al Arab is the last living Al Khamsa horse tracing to him. If a stallion is ever to rise from Mayassa’s line, I better start finding more information about Mameluke. India is the right place to start, but where in India?

The horse statue on Thomas Circle in DC

I am back in Washington, D.C. for a few days. How I miss that place, especially in the fall season. I biked by the statue of General George Henry Thomas on the circle that bears his name. I wonder which horse served as a model for this statue. It looks nice, but certainly not as nice as Ibrahim Pasha’s equestrian statue in downtown Cairo. Now that’s a horse I would have liked to have seen. He must have been belonged to the collection of Viceroy Mohammad Ali.