On *Hamrah’s sire line

Dr. Ameen Zaher did a study which found that *Hamrah had the highest relationship to the breed in U.S.A. of any stallion for the period 1907 to 1946. We ran pedigrees on samples of horses in a few of the stud books back in the 1970s and 1980s, and determined that between 88% and 90% of Arabians in the U.S.A. traced to Davenport blood, which means they probably trace to *Hamrah too (it’s hard to find Davenport ancestry without *Hamrah). A thin *Hamrah male line was maintained by Betty Baker through Ibn Wazir (foaled 1956) and his son Wazirs Azab (foaled 1971). Wazirs Azab had a son born in 1983 (Azabs Jem) and two more in 1985 (Azabs Jody and Azabs Fancy Man), but the line is believed to be extinct today. *Hamrah sired 34 fillies but only 19 colts. Only three of his colts sired purebred foals. Jeremah left a daughter, but both Ziki and Kilham founded sire lines, even though the sire lines are extinct today. The breeding herds sold from Hingham Stock Farm tended to be heavy on *Hamrah daughters and correspondingly light on *Hamrah sons. For example, F.E. Lewis bought six *Hamrah daughters: Hasiker, Tamarinsk, Moliah,…

On the three Courthouse stallions: Nimr, Atesh and Fedaan

Here is the info on the Clark desert stallions: Nimr. Arab Horse Society stud book vol. III (1926) says: Foaled 1914. Imported. Brown; blaze, off fore and both hind socks white. Nimr’s sire was a Seglawi Jedran belonging to the late Abdul Hamid II., Sultan of Turkey. Yaz, his dam, was a Seglawieh Jedranieh. The original owner of the dam was Shiekh [sic] Ul Mashaeikh of the Anazeh tribe, who gave her to Hazim Bey, Governor of Baghdad. Hazim Bey took her to Constantinople, where he sold her to Sherif Ali Jaffer who gave her to Prince Mohuiddin. Owned by H.V. Musgrave Clark. Journal of the Arab Horse Society: “At the same time [as Atesh] came Nimr to the above Stud, a brown horse of the Seglawi Jedran strain, standing 15 hands, having great bone and substance. He was bred and owned by Prince Mohuiddin, son of the late Sherif of Mecca [sic], and ridden by him as a charger. He is a magnificent type of Arab, a good foal-getter and a winner of many prizes in the show ring.” Peter Upton adds that Nimr was imported c.1923 and owned by H.V.M. Clark c.1925. He also quotes Lady Wentworth: “A…

Nefisa and her daughters at Crabbet

I know there were Al Khamsa eligible tail-female descendants of Dajania after Nadirat, although they might not yet be in the Al Khamsa database. One is Nadirat’s 1946 daughter Aalastra, by Gulastra. And of course there was Nadirat’s famous 1935 daughter Aarah, by Ghadaf. Nefisa is one of the most interesting of all the Crabbet broodmares, with her 21 live foals. Nine of these were fillies. Although Narghileh and Nasra were the two retained for breeding at Crabbet, and probably two of her best, the other fillies are worth a look too. Nefisa’s first filly was Nahla 1889 (by Ashgar). The Blunts actually planned to retain her for breeding, but she died in the fall of her three-year-old year from overeating acorns in Crabbet Park. Nefisa’s next filly was Nejiba 1892 (by Azrek). From her picture, this was a really dandy grey Azrek daughter. She did produce four foals at Crabbet, all colts. One died, one was sold to India, one to Scotland, and one was given to a nephew of Lady Anne’s who lived in Greece. Nejiba herself was given away at age 11 to the son of a longtime friend of Wilfrid Blunt’s. Nefisa’s next filly was Narghileh 1895,…

The Non-Mesaoud Program at Crabbet Stud

Wilfrid Blunt thought seriously about the breeding program at the Crabbet Stud. Some of his thoughts are preserved in his stud memoranda and also his remarks prepared for delivering to the crowds at the Crabbet auction sales. The Wentworth Bequest includes comments dating from 1904 discussing the wisdom of developing a separate breeding program at Crabbet using horses not tracing to Mesaoud. Mr. Blunt posited that those horses could be used as the Crabbet Stud’s own outcross, should one be required in another 50 years. Mesaoud was the most successful stallion the Blunts ever used. They had sold him to Russia just the year before, in June of 1903. Mesaoud’s 12 seasons at Crabbet resulted in more than 100 foals, with the last arriving in 1904.  After Mesaoud’s departure, it’s no surprise that Mr. Blunt was wondering whether it was possible to have too much Mesaoud blood. Of the 94 horses listed in the 1904 Crabbet catalogue, only 22 did not have Mesaoud in their pedigrees, and only two of those were male: Nejran and Rijm. Nejran’s 1904 non-Mesaoud colt out of Bint Helwa died. It was a grey colt, so it was unlikely that the Blunts would have used…