Bint Al Barra, 1991 Kuhaylat al-Krush, Canada/USA

Trish Stockhecke’s two Krushat mares are now with me, on lease. I went to see them yesterday.

Both are strongly built mares of the “Old American” type, with a pedigree straight out of the 1950s that also jumps back to the early 1900s in three or four generations. That’s how I like my pedigrees. Look at this one line of genealogy, for instance: Bint Al-Barra (that’s one of the two mares, photo below, b. 1991), was sired by ASF David (b. 1966); his dam was Dihkenna (b. 1946), whose sire was Gharis (b. 1927), a son of Abu Zeyd (b. 1904). I don’t know how many living Arabian horses trace back to the mythical Abu Zeyd (Mesaoud x Rose Diamond) in just four generations.

The early American sires Mainad (b. 1948, by Hanad x Charmain by Abu-Selim), a great grandsire, and Royal Amber (b. 1938 by Ribal x Babe Azab by Letan), a great-great-grandsire, are not too far away, either. The pedigree is essentially half Babson/Brown and half very early American foundation bloodstock (Davenport, Crabbet, Harris, Borden, Huntington, Hamidie, etc.), with almost every Al Khamsa Ancestral Element represented, including the Borden one, the rarest of all (that’s the line to Kesia, through Gharis and Guemura).

While the pedigree is a cocktail of Ancetral Elements, the mares’ type is, as far as I can tell, dominated by the overwhelming influence of two horses, the Babson stallion Daaldan (a grandsire), and Brown stallion Hallany Mistanny (a double great-great-grandsire). There is some of the Gharis (Abu Zeyd x Guemura) showing in the croups, too.

The two mares will be bred to a Davenport stallion this spring, possibly of the Kuhaylan Hayfi (their sire ASF David’s strain) or the Kuhaylan Krushan strains (their own strain), to try and bring back some of that precious Hanad and Babe Azab blood.