Barely surviving lines: Najd’s Hamdani Simri to *Samirah through Kerasun (1/2)

*Samirah is a Hamdaniyah Simriyah from the stud of the House of Saud in Najd, which was imported to the USA by Albert Harris in 1921. She has a very thin line that was the focus of a number of courageous, almost desperate preservation efforts over the last fourty years. The result is that the tail female line still goes on, albeit barely. A first line tracing back to *Samirah through her daughter Koweyt was discussed earlier, here.

The second line to *Samirah is through her other daughter Kerasun, by the desert-bred stallion *Sunshine. *Sunshine was also from the Saud studs, and was imported in utero to USA in 1931 by Albert Harris, along with his dam *Nufoud, *Samirah, and two other mares. Kerasun in turn had two daughters, both bred by Albert Harris: Kaleta (by Alcazar) and Karamia (by Kulun, a Kuhaylan al-‘Ajuz stallion from really old bloodlines tracing to *Nedjme).

Through Kaleta runs a very thin line high in desert bred blood straight from Najd and the Syrian desert, with the arrows indicating a mother-to-daughter link: Kaleta –> her daughter Faleta (by Ibn Fadl, another Kuhaylan al-‘Ajuz and a son of the desert, his dam being *Turfa) –> Faleta’s daughter Peta by the Kuhaylan al-Hayf Lysander, from the Davenport bloodlines –> Peta’s 1985 daughter Halley, by the Kuhaylan al-Hayf stallion Audobon, another Davenport. If still alive, and I highly doubt it, Halley would be 24 now. I can’t help but see the hand of the late Carol Lyons being the breeding that resulted in Halley, first because Carol used to own the magnificent Audubon, and second because she was trying to preserve the very, very few remaining horses with no Blunt/Crabbet bloodlines in them, of which Halley was one. These horses Carol called Sharp (a play on words, as sharp and blunt are opposites).

I hope someone is able to provide an update on whether this mare, Halley, is still alive, and whether she is in a preservation home.