Black Lightning, 1981 asil Saqlawi al-‘Abd stallion
This stallion is still going at 31 years old. A direct son of mare Sahanad (Abu Hanad x Sahabet by Tanatra), a Saqlawiyat al-‘Abd tracing to the desert-bred *Wadduda, and sired by the Egyptian sire Khemahr Moniet (Khemahr x Khe Miss Moniet by Ibn Moniet El Nefous), he is a foundation sire for the Sahanad Preservation Group that was built around that mare. Photo from the Howard photo collection, with Robin Howard handling the stallion.
Lovely old horse, will he have foals this spring?
So this guy is about as ,’asil as he can get’, in the context of western breeding groups. Davenport, Old Eygyptian, and Morafic- Moniet El Nefous. Nice mix.
best wishes
Bruce Peek
I like his type very much. He reminds me of my own stallion Safeen, especially his ears and muzzle. Both also share similar ancestors except for the Davenports. The pedigree is a fine example on linebreeding to Saqlawi lines combined with Kuhaylan lines. I would be interested to see some of his offspring.
Matthias
this stallion, Black Lightning was presented in hand at the 1988 Al Khamsa convention in Palo Alto, California. The Al Khamsa fantasia horse presentation was held at nearby Stanford University. This horse was absolutely magnificent, beautiful, just the right amount of nobility but very friendly with excellent disposition. He had very fine skin and nice elastic movements. He was, to some a bit small, but looked much bigger in his graceful movements. He was about 14.2 which to me was perfect for his proportions.
For years my wife, Sharon pressed people to value the combined source horses such as this and we tried as much as possible to have articles on these types of horses in the Khamsat from our 1984 to 1998 involvement with the magazine. Now in some of the back issues you can read about these kind of horses but sadly they are becoming increasingly rare.
If you analyze some of the mare lines of today’s international champion show sires such as Marwan Al Shaqab and WH Justice you will find their pedigrees rest strongly on these early American Davenport and Crabbet female lines, yet the original seed stock for this recipe continues to dry up.
I fully agree with with your comment, Joe, and I want to emphasize the last paragraph. I wonder, do the people seeking to breed from Marwan al-Shaqab or WH Justice realize the significance of the heritage in the back of the pedigree: the influence Antez, Poka, Caravan, Ghazi, Nasik, Rifla, Akil, Rissla, Tabab, etc. Or do they attribute their success to the lines of El Shaklan, El Hilal, Kilimandsharo, Patron Sasaki, etc.? Too often the old US dam lines are thought of as no more than “bellies” with the extra refinement and beauty coming from the top crosses.
Marwan Al Shaqab is an interesting example where the modern focus is likely not on the whole pedigree but the more famous elements of straight Egyptian and Polish. In fact this is often the case for his famous sire Gazal Al Shaqab who had a very prominent show career and then became famed for siring many champions including world champion Pianissima. I have seen advertising repeatedly refer to Gazal Al Shaqab’s dam Kajora as pure Polish, overlooking the fact that Kajora’s grandmother Bint Kohlameh, is laced with early Blunt and Davenport breeding. In fact, Marwan Al Shaqab has 16 crosses to the Davneport import Hamrah, one of the most influential early American sires. Likewise, WH Justice has 11 crosses to Hamrah, and 205 crosses to the Blunt foundation mare Rodania!
I can attest to the temperament and easy nature of Black Lightning. I saw him at Howard’s in the 1990s. When I acquired the Sahanad-group mare HPF Malisah from them a couple of years later, she was in foal to Lightning. I raised the foal (HPF Malikah), started her under saddle, used her to teach youth about horse care, etc. Eventually, I was persuaded to sell her to a woman who was coming back to riding as a mid-life adult. She and Malikah were regional novice champions in North American Trail Ride Conference competition their first year. This mare is very even tempered, will do whatever you ask, and takes on the unusual without fuss. Some would find her too laid back, but she was perfect for this rider and purpose. She also inherited Lightning’s VERY thick mane.
very thick mane is a sign of asalah (authenticity) among Bedouins.
i wonder if he is still alive by the way..
He was breeding mares last summer, although I don’t know of any confirmed pregnancies. As far as I know he’s still alive. This is a long-lived group. His maternal half-sister Sahanade lived to be 27, as I recall, and had her last foal at 24. There is a facebook group for the Sahanad folks if anyone wants to follow it. facebook.com/groups/191900757489199/
Even though I have not been able to own any of my beloved Sahanad horses for several years now (since 2007), they still run very deeply through my veins!! You can not live with a Tail Female Sahanad (Al Kamsa) horse without it leaving a life long impression you you! Black Lightning was my absolute favorite hosr of all time. I would love to touch him and hug him one more time…..
Robin, it is wonderful to hear from you! You are greatly missed in Al Khamsa.
(That’s Robin’s arm in the photo, BTW)
You are correct Jeanne, that is my arm. They cropped the photo to keep the best part in!! LOL 🙂 BTY that halter was one of my hard fought after AK auction items….. I sure see alot of my photos out on the web with no notation as to who’s they are (such as “the Howard collection”. It kind of hurts.
I miss everyone in Al Khamsa also.
Photo credit now attributed…
Thank you Edouard, that is greatly appreciated. Now, if all of the others would do the same.
I’m told that my beloved Black Lightning passed in the night this week. Just shy of his 31st birthday!! I guess someone in Heaven needed a magnificent looking steed. He will forever be in my heart.
It is a shame, because I was just about to make plans to breed my Jadiba to him. She is in Pennsylvania and is of the Wadduda tail female as him. A unique stallion indeed.
is semen available on this horse?
are there any sons or daughters available that are as as purely bred?
He died this past winter unfortunately. A loss but he has several asil sons and daughters. Do you want more information about them?
We have a Black Lightning daughter at our farm here in Missouri. She produced a nice colt by El Ad Bataa this year.
There are some of his sons still available at stud. I have MonaLisas Majesty, 1998 homozygous black, Sahanad Preservation and Al Khamsa Arabian stallion
Majesty, for those who read the children book!
I knew Khemahr. What a well manner, well tempered Stallion he was!. I do have a couple pictures of Khemar and Mr. Foster .. I hold dear.. What awesome people the Fosters were!