Read this entry in the stud book of Faysal ‘Abd Allah Sa’ud al-Tahawi, excerpted from the tribe’s website: “Then, in the year 1356 H, we bought the bay ‘Ubayyah Sharrakiyah from Ibn Samdan, when she was in foal, and she gave birth, while in our ownership, to a chestnut colt whose sire is the [Kuhaylan] Nawwaqi who was [standing at stud] with the Arabs of Sba’ah, and whose owner was Fanghash, on the first day of Rabi’ al-Awwal 1356 H [equivalent to the 12th of May, 1937]. And we solt that colt to Cairo.” And further down: “And on July 27, 1949, Faran Ibn Samdan came to us, and we each took our shares [in horses], and he gave up his shares in al-‘Ubayyah and received from us 172 pounds. This was the bay ‘Ubayyah which came from Salih al-Misrab at the hand of Husayn Abu Hilal in 1356 H.” Now please tell me, how many people in 1950, just over sixty years ago, had the luxury of receiving Ibn Samdan, the breeder of the best and most authenticated marbat of ‘Ubayyan Sharrak among the Sba’ah, in his own house, to pay him his share of the ‘Ubayyat Ibn Samdan,…
In the XIXth and early XXth century, there was a famous and well-respected marbat of Dahman ‘Amer with Ibn Hemsi of the Gomussah clan of the Sba’ah Bedouins. The Blunts purchased two horses from that strain: Dahma, which they bought from “Oheynan Ibn Said” of the Gomussah (who had bought her from Ibn Hemsi), and Rataplan, which they bought from India. Ibn Hemsi’s was the only marbat of Dahman ‘Amer among the Sba’ah. The horse to which the Blunt mare Hagar was in foal when they bought her on Jan. 4, 1878, was also from the same horses, because Hagar was still owned by the Sba’ah when she was bred to him (she was taken in war from the Sba’ah by the Ruwalah in the winter 1877/78, says Lady Anne, and then purchased by a Mawali Bedouin from the Ruwalah). It is also very probable that *Wadduda’s sire, also a Dahman (no marbat mentioned), was or traced to the horses of Ibn Hemsi. The Syrian horsebreeder, Ali al-Barazi, reports in his book this old Bedouin saying about a Dahman ‘Amer stallion which stood at stud with Ibn Hemsi, who used to charge one gold pound to breed from him: ‘”al-dhahab ‘ind Ibn…
Another asil horse bred and owned Lee Oellerich in Canada was the 1977 asil stallion Naizahq (Mirath x Dahma al-Shaqra by Ruta-Am), also a Dahman Shahwan of the Bahraini line that traces back to *Sawannah. Lee tells me: “He is a winnner of numerous match races, against all comers, including English Thoroughbreds (TB). He ran 4 F. (1/2 M.) in 47.2 and beat a TB in a morning work, carrying close to 20 pounds more than the TB. He sprinted a F. (1/8 M.) in 11 seconds. He could also run a distance and beat TB’s over 1-1/2 and 2 mile match races. Many Arabians ate his dust, mostly in 1/2M. and 1M. Races. Typically they would, get a 5 to 10 length moving start, and he would break from a starting gate. He also won over his sire Mirath, by a head, in a 5 F. Race. His daughter Hulaifah produced the mare Saudah and the two stallions Hulaif and Haziz. All sired by Bahri. Although they never raced, they show a “good turn of foot”, reminiscent of their grandsire Naizahq.”
A grand mare of very close desert bloodlines from Saudi Arabian and Bahrain, of the Dahman Shahwan strain now extinct in Bahrain. Hadiyeh (Dahman Al Bahrain x Qasidah by Mirath) is an asil 1994 mare bred and owned by Lee Oellerich in Canada. Photos from Lee.
Mokhtar, the old asil Kuhaylan al-Krush stallion, bred by the Shammar Bedouins in Syria and now in France, continues to sire nice foals at 24 years of age. Here is a photo of the little filly Mutarak Nesba (Mokhtar x Murad Diffa) bred by Guillaume Lambert and Margot Leroux-Berger, in France. By the way, it turned out that Mokhtar’s semen does not ship well, and that means he will have to be used live. It is still time to catch him before he leaves us, because if I had to vouch for the asil status of one horse in the world, it would be him. He is a time capsule straight from the 18th century.
Mahboob Halab, the asil Shuayman Sabbah stallion from Syria, now in France with Jean-Claude Rajot, has more foals on the ground, which gives me the opportunity to showcase the progeny of the Syrian desert-breds here. Here’s his daughter Shueymah Challawieh, out of one of Jean-Claudes’ mares, also a Shuwaymah by strain, but tracing to the imported Cherifa, bred by the Sba’ah Bedouins and imported to Algeria in 1869.
Now look at his progeny. This one one is a colt (and he oozes true desert type and conformation), Shuwayman Fahad, out of a mare by a Syrian sire (the Krush Mokhtar), and from an good French dam line, also from the Shuwayman strain (Cherifa tail female).
Catherine Wocjik of France just sent me these recent photos of the 2005 young asil Shuwayman Sabbah stallion Mahboub Halab, bred in Syria by Radwan Shabareq, and now in France with Jean-Claude Rajot, who is the man on his back. By the way, this stallion will be the subject of my upcoming talk at the next Al Khamsa Convention in Pennsylvania: “A closer look at a modern Syrian Arabian horse pedigree: the case of Mahboob Halab”. Photos of his first foal crop coming soon..
Simri was a desert-bred Arabian horses of the Hamdani Simri strain imported by Homer Davenport to the USA in 1906. He did not leave any progeny. I have never seen a photo. I did this new translation of his hujjah from the original Arabic document, and have annotated it below: ———————————————– “Blessings upon God who created horses from the Wind of the South (1), and put goodness in their forelocks (2), and domesticated them for [the benefit of] the Prophets — prayers and peace be upon them; the first who domesticated them was the Prophet Solomon Son of David — prayers and peace be upon both — and he said, after he became enamored with them: “Bring them back to us”, and went on stroking their necks and their legs (3); and [God] most high said: “by the racers, panting, and the chargers at dawn”(4); and [the Prophet Muhammad] prayers and peace be upon him said: Goodness is in the forelocks of horses (5); and there remained five of them (6), and from these came forth this blessed lineage; And after that, the blonde (7) horse with a star and a snip that drinks with him (8), and his age…
This is the beautiful 1960 stallion Al-Khobar (Ibn Fadl x *Al-Hamdaniah), a Hamdani Simri of mostly Saudi Arabian bloodlines. Photos from George Hooper, who owned his daughter Nauwas.
Veteran preservation breeder George Hooper sent these old pictures of the asil ‘Ubayyah mare Nauwas (Al-Khobar x *Muhaira), one of my favorite mares of old Saudi bloodlines, and her filly foal Hisani Jzairah by the desert bred sire *Jalam al-Ubayan. The one below is of Nauwas and her colt Princeton Kadil:
Arnault Decroix sent me the following account of the first endurance race (13 miles) of the Syrian stallion Hussam al-Shamal: “Hussam a fait sa course avec Nicolas aux Andelys en Normandie. Epreuve élevage 20 kms pour 6ans. Il l’a fait en 14,84 kms/heure, le meilleurs temps de l’épreuve de vitesse imposée entre 12 et 15 kms/heure. Ayant été gêné par d’autres concurrents pendant la course, il a terminé sur l’hippodrome à 40 kms/heure, parfaitement sec avec une récupération à 40 de pulsation. Pendant la course il était tout à son affaire, restant trés froid, ce qui n’était pas le cas au vet gate où il avait tendance à s’enerver à la vue des autres chevaux…A la remise des prix, le jury à souligné ses origines syriennes et son cachet et le public de cavaliers et d’éleveurs, semble t’y avoir été sensible de par leurs applaudissements. Il fera une autre course de 40 km le 9 Juillet à Vatteville la rue toujours en Normandie et si tout va bien une 60 km par la suite.” Here are some pictures of this race from Arnault:
Adrien Deblaise also sent me this recent photo of another Syrian stallion now in France, Hussam al-Shamal (Ra’ad x Rouba al-Shamal by Al-Abjar), a Kuhaylan al-Nawwaq bred by Saed and Raed Yakan in al-Bab near Aleppo, Syria. Hussam is owned by Damacus breeder Naji al-Chaoui, who has him stationed in France with Arnault Decroix. Adrien has a very nice filly from Hussam that will be featured here next, out a mare from an old asil Algerian line.
French preservation breeder Adrien Deblaise sent me this recent picture of the young Syrian asil stallion Nimr Shabareq (Zaarour Al-Barary x Yamhad by Al-Aawar), a Ma’naqi Sbayli of the marbat of ‘Atiyah Abu Sayfayn, bred by Radwan Shabareq of Aleppo. He is now in France covering mares at Louis Bauduin’s. See how much he’s changed from the last time he was featured here.
A few days ago, I began a thread on the early story of strain of Kuhaylan Abu ‘Arqub, as it was mentioned in the ‘Abbas Pasha Manuscript. The information is reconciled from two slightly different sources: first, my notes from the English translation of the Manuscript (a copy of the book is in my father’s library in Beirut); second, from the book “Usul al-Khayl” by Hamad al-Jasir, which contains excerpts of the original Manuscript in Arabic (and a xeroxed copy of which was given to me by my friend Hazaim Alwair). The story of Kuhaylan Abu ‘Arqub involves central Arabian tribes such as the Qahtan, the Bani Khalid and the Mutayr, as well as the House of Saud, who were major breeders of the strain in the 1850s. The Manuscript’s account of the strain stops around this time. There are conflicting accounts of what happened to the strain after that, but what is clear is that the strain reappears in areas of the desert further to the north, with the “northern” tribes of the Bani Sakhr in today’s Jordan and the Hadideen in today’s central Syria. More recently, and according to author Khalid Bakr Kamal in his book “the Arab Horses”…
Bill Biel, the owner of the desert-bred Kuhaylan al-Mulawlish stallion “Mlolshaan Hager Solomon“, told Jenny Krieg that he was open to shipping semen from his 25 year old Bahraini stallion, if his semen actually proved shippable. This is a unique opportunity to breed from the only Arabian horse currently alive in the USA that was actually born in Arabia. Kuhaylan al-Mulawliwsh is known as Kuhaylan Mulawlishan. Photo Jenny Krieg.
When I purchased my first copy of the Abbas Pasha Manuscript, I was surprised not to find a mention of the well-known strain of Kuhalyan Abu ‘Arqub (fem. Umm ‘Arqub). Its absence was particularly puzzling since it was listed as one of the ten favorite strains of the viceroy of Egypt Abbas Pasha Hilmi I. Upon taking a closer look however, I found it, “hidden” under the inconspicuous strain of Kuhaylan al-Fajri, which I had never heard of before. Here is what the Manuscript has to say about this strain of Kuhaylat al-Fajri or Umm ‘Arqub, around 1850, which is when the manuscript was compiled: — it goes back to Kuhaylat al-‘Ajuz, and is ‘to be mated in the darkest night’ (which means that the tribe could use males from the strain as stallions). — it is of a precious stud (or marbat in Arabic). — it is originally of the ‘Abidah sub-tribe of the great Bedouin tribe of Qahtan (where a lot of the best and most ancient strains seem to have hailed from — stay tuned for a list of these ‘Abidah strains). — it passed from the ‘Abidah to a man of the Bedouin tribe of Bani…
Matthias Oster sent me these two photos of the 2003 mare Wassayef al Thalitha (Nader x al-Barsaa). She won the Saudi desert bred mare class at al-Khalidiyyah show. Her owner is HM King Abdallah ibn Abd al-Aziz Aal Saud. I could not imagine her being owned by anyone else than a king.
Karsten Scherling just sent the link to the article of Matthias Oster about the visit of the Asil Club delegation (and our own Rosemary Doyle!) to Saudi Arabia. Lots of pictures of desert horses, some of which Matthias has shared here before. Thank you Matthias for your generosity.
This handsome eight years old desert-bred stallion is from the Najd Stud of Prince Turki near al-Kharj, and we saw him during our recent trip with the Asil Club delegation.
Ubayyan al-Suyayfi stallion by Haleem out of Waqairah, from our recent trip to Saudi Arabia with the Asil Club
She originally traces to the marbat of Ibn Duwayhiss of the ‘Anazah, and was bred at the Jabri Stud.
This is the winner of the fillies class for Saudi Arabian desert breds at the Al Khalediah show, when the Asil Club delegation was last there; her name is Mukhtarat al Aziziyah (Zeeban al Thani X Hayaratny al Mazyoona), breeder Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Khalid al Sudairi, of the Al Aziziyah stud. I don’t know her strain.
DB Rulique (Ruta-Am x Desert Malique by Desert Jalam) is a 1987 Hamdani Simri stallion bred by Rodger Davis entirely from original desert stock. He traces in tail female to Sindidah, a mare from the stables of the House of Saud. His owner Kelly Miller of Alberta, Canada, trained him as a level 3 dressage horse. Bedouins consider the ‘blood marking’ on the body to be a mark of ‘asalah’ (purity, authenticity). Photo from Lee Oellerich, who owned the horse for a couple years.
Below is a photo of Hamdani Ibn Bahri (Bahri x Qaisumeh by Qaisum who is Bahri’s full brother), a 2001 asil Hamdani Simri stallion from the breeding of Lee Oellerich in British Columbia, Canada. He has six lines to the stallion *Taamri, DB and carries 50% Taamri blood and three lines to *Rudann, DB and thee lines to *Halwaaji, DB. *Taamri, Rudann, and *Halwaaji were all imported to the USA in 1960 by Sam Roach from the Saud Royal Stud of al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia. The hujjah (certificate of authenticity) of *Taamri was featured here.
This stallion was the favorite of my wife Gabriele and I during our visit at the Najd Stud near Al-Kharj in Saudi Arabia: Nabeh, a fleebitten grey stallion 8 years by Haleem (already featured on this blog earlier), from the Ubayyan al-Sufayfi. Nabeh was the most beautiful desert-bred we saw on our trip, with small and tippy ears, a pretty face and also special action. He had less cadence and a longer stride trotting. By the way all the stallions at the Najd Stud are ridden daily. They looked like they could make perfect dressage horses. Of the 300 asil horses in that private stud, about 20 were from the Kuhaylan Krush strain, 20 of the Hamdani Simri strain, 5 of the Suwayti al-Firm strain, 4 of the Kuhaylan al-Musinn strain, 4 of the Shuhayb strain and all the rest of the Ubayyan al-Suyayfi strain.
This photo is of my stallion Dahman Al Bahrain (now deceased) a chestnut Dahman Shahwan, born in 1977, by Mirath out of Hadriya DB. Dahman was a Flat Racing, Endurance and CTR veteran and a winner of numerous Match races. His dam Hadriya lived to be 36 years old and produced to age 28. His sire Mirath (Ruta-Am x Taamhaal) was also a Racing, Endurance and Trail Ride stallion of pure Hamdani bloodlines and had a priceless disposition. He was the sire of racing and endurance horses, including Naizahq, out of Dahmah Al Shaqra, who ran 4 furlongs in 47.2 seconds, and 1 furlong in 11 second. This is the blood that has been used for centuries to upgrade and regenerate the breeding programs of Egypt, Poland and Europe in general. “Blood alone is the most important factor in selecting a stud stallion. Quality means evidence of blood. Blood implies superior energy, wind, muscular power, endurance, bones of ivory-like texture, steel-like tendons and faultless disposition.“ “Dahman” was one of the greatest horses I ever put my saddle on. I could write a book just about him. I still have two of his daughters Hadiyeh and Bahiyeh.
Below is a photo of a USA bred Arabian mare, which we saw at the stables of Prince Turki bin Fahd Bin Jiluwi Aal Saud, a scion of the Jiluwi family who were the Eastern al-Ihsaa (Hasa) province governor. The mare is a Dahmat Shahwan, AAS Sawannah, by AAS Hezzez out of DB Jasidah by Desert Jalam. Prince Turki bint Fahd Al-Jalawi told us that this mare traces to the horses of his family’s stud in al-Hufuf, and that he had bought her because this line had died out in Saudi Arabia. Prince Turki also imported two ‘Ubayyah mares from his grandfathers’ horses: Sahar Ataeq and DB Faimah, both from the *Muhaira tail female. It is nice to see that least one member of the Saud Royal family obtained horses preserved with us Westerners back their homeland, and is proud to continue the horsebreeding tradition of his family.
Another photo from our trip to the Najd Stud near al-Kharj, in Saudi Arabia is that of Shamlan, a 10 year-old stallion by Qais out of al-Shaymaa, from the ‘Ubayyan al-Suyayfi strain.
Here is another photo from our trip to Saudi Arabia, with the Asil Club delegation. This one was taken at the Najd Stud of Prince Turki Bin Fahd Bin Abdullah Al Saud near al-Kharj. This was the highlight of our trip. There are about 300 asil DB horses in that stud, as well as some Egyptians of the Dahman Shahwan line. We saw very nice stallions that could have stepped out of the historic photographs of the Blunts and others. Below is the bay stallion Alfat, 12 years, by Al Beshir out of Al-Sayeda, from the strain of ‘Ubayyan al-Suyayfi. Matthias
Matthias is back from Saudi Arabia from a horse tour organized by Europe’s Asil Club, and he and his wife brought back pictures of Arabians of the desert-bred lines, including one he sent me, below, of the stallion Khaleel Dirab, a Kuhaylan Abu ‘Urqub by by Rezaiq out of Khuzamah, bred and owned by the Dirab government stud. Rezaiq was featured here before. Not sure why the Dirab folks insist on mimicking the West by putting this stupid makeup on their desert-horses; it makes sick to see this proud asil steed, this son of the desert, this Kuhaylan (he who has beautiful eyes [naturally] with black around them, as if it was kohl), Kuhaylan by strain and by soul, so painted like a vulgar show horse. More soon on the background of the Kuhaylan Abu ‘Urqub horses of the Dirab Stud, and on that strain in general.
Another handsome young stallion from the Jabri Stud in Aleppo, Syria, is Yazan. Photo by Gudrun Waiditschka. Don’t know his strain or his pedigree, but will inquire.
Another younger asil stallion of the Dahman Shahwan strain owned by veteran breedere Lee Oellerich of Canada is Haziz (Bahri x Hulaifa), a full brother of Hulaif, pictured below. No wonder Bedouins used the word ‘Bahr’ (sea) to refer to their horses, ever since the time of the Prophet Muhammad: the action of this horse is reminiscent of sea waves swirling towards you.
Another stallion of Lee Oellerich in Canada in Hulaif (Bahri x Hulaifa by Naizahq) a 1997 asil Dahman Shahwan stallion of the strain tracing the *Sawannah, imported from Bahrain to the USA in 1954. The photo is from Lee and a bit fuzzy, but it shows the might of this horse.
The glorious asil Hamdani Simri stallion Bahri (Ruta-Am x Taamhal by Taamri out of Halwaaji), a four-times grandson of the desert, since all his grandparents were imported by Sam Roach from the stables of King Ibn Saud in al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia. Bahri was bred by Lee Oellerich in Canada, and is still doing great at 28 years old. His color certainly comes from his double grandsire *Taamri, whose name means ‘date-color’ from ‘tamr’, dates in Arabic.
This is Jalaa’, a young chestnut ‘Ubayyan Sharrak stallion at the Jabri stud farm in Aleppo. Jalaa is a ‘Ubayyan Sharrak of the marbat of Ibn Duwayhiss of the ‘Anazah. Thanks to Arnault for posting his pedigree on allbreedpedigree.com. Photo by G. Waiditschka. He is by the Shabareq-bred Ma’naghi Sbayli stallion Tadmor (Al-Aawar x Holwah) out of the Jabri-bred mare Shareefah (Ihsan x Dalahem by Mahrous out of Nawal). Al-Aawar was featured here; Holwah here; Ihsan here; Mahrous here and Nawal here, all on this blog. Here is a full shot, also by by G. Waiditschka.
Another photo taken by G. Waiditschka at the Jabri Stud outside Aleppo, Syria. This one shows the young mare ‘Afaf, a Hamdaniyat al-‘Ifri (from the same family as the stallion *Ta’an who was imported to the USA). These horses, also known as Hamdaniyat al-Tulan after their original Bedouin owner Munwikh al-Tawil, are Hamdani al-‘Ifri. Al-‘Ifri was a man from the ‘Anazah who bred a most famous and reputed marbat of Hamdani Simri. In the Northern Arabian desert, the two marabet of Hamdani al-‘Ifri and Hamdani Ibn Ghurab are equally valued branches of Hamdani Simri.
The photo is part of a series of professional shots which G. Waiditschka took at the stud of Jabri Stud. I don’t know the stallion, nor his strain, but I will call Mustafa to find out. The last time I was there was in 1998 and Omeir was certainly not born yet. That said, he looks to me like a son of Zayn al-Khayl, the Rabdan stallion which Mustafa got from the Tai Bedouins. Note Omeir’s general likeness to the asil Kuhaylan Haifi stallion Zachary, owned by Diane Lyons in Oregon, USA. Photo below by C. Mingst.
This is a unique photo, and a precious witness to an era now long gone. It shows the stables of King Abd al-‘Aziz Aal Saud in the 1960s, at a time when hundreds, if not thousands, of desert-bred horses were being gathered by will or by force, from the Bedouin tribes of Saudi Arabia and beyond (mainly Syria), in the hands of the Saud family. The photo was taken by the late Laura Cavedo, who was being given a tour of the royal studs, and is from the collection of the late William Sheets (Billy). I have fifteen others. There are surviving first-hand accounts of how Farhan al-‘Ulayyan, one of the most trusted slaves of Miqhim ibn Mhayd, who was the leader of the Fad’aan Bedouins during much of the first half of the XXth century, organized the collecting and the shipping of hundreds of ‘Anazah’s desert-bred horses from Syria to Saudi Arabia, in batches of ten, during the 1960s and 1970s and well up to the 1980s. Farhan would buy all the horses he could find, coaxing the impoverished ‘Anazah (but also Shammar) Bedouins out of their horses, and send them to the stables of the Saud family. He would…
Amoori (Al-Aawar x Ghallaieh, by the black Saqlawi Marzakani, the “horse of Al-‘Anud”) is a full brother to Amshet Shammar, pictured below. He was bred by Radwan Shabareq in Aleppo, from a mare bred by Rakan al-Jarba of the Shammar Bedouins, from a line originating from the Tai leaders, in turn originating from the Fad’aan Bedouins. This is the same line that produced the Kuhaylan Ibn Mizhir horses. The photo comes from Arnault Decroix who took it in 2000.
This is the third feature on the series on uncommon strains, and it features the strain of Kuhaylan ibn Mizhir. Kuhaylan ibn Mizhir is a little known strain in the West. It is specific to Syria and to parts of Iraq that are adjacent to the Syrian border. The strain belongs to the Bedouin tribe of Tai, who are very proud of it. The reason it is so little known is that the strain is actually Kuhaylan al-Krush. About eight or ninety years ago, a Tai Bedouin by the name of Ibn Mizhir acquired a Kuhaylat al-Krush from ‘Anazah (either from the Fad’aan or the Sba’ah, and more probably the former), and many in the Tai tribe started calling the strain after its new owner. Other Tai Bedouins stuck to the old Krush strain name. One of the descendants of this original Kuhaylat Krush of Ibn Mizhir went to the leading clan of the Tai Bedouins, and one of the offspring of this mare then passed to Nuri al-Mash’al al-Jarba of the Shammar, who married a woman from the Tai leading clan. The Jarba leaders of the Shammar, who took pride in their own Kuhaylan al-Krush marbat (Krush al-Baida, a marbat that came to the Shammar from the Mutayr Bedouins…
When Arabia’s Bedouins tribes engaged in warfare with one another, mares were typically chosen over stallions as war mounts. A number of these war mares found their way to the hands of Western buyers like Homer Davenport and the Blunts, and became part of the foundation stock of Arabian horse breeding in the West. Below is a non-exhaustive list of such mares, which had actually taken part in these battles and raids: — Rodania, taken in war by Tays ibn Sharban of the Sba’ah Bedouins from Sattam ibn Sha’lan of the Ruwalah Bedouins; the Blunts bought her from Tays. — *Wadduda, the war mount of Hakim ibn Mhayd of the Fad’aan Bedouins; Hakim gave her to Ahmad al-Hafiz, who gave her to Davenport. She had two battle scars on her body. — *Abeyah, the war mare of Mit’ab al-Habd of the Shammar Bedouins, taken in war by the ‘Anazah, and later obtained by Davenport. — *Hadba, the war mare of ‘Ajil ibn Zaydan al-Jarba of the Shammar, went to two other people after his death, before she was obtained by Davenport. There should be more, but, as far as I can recall, there is no direct evidence of their participation…
Yesterday, long-time asil Arabian breeder Lee Oellerich of British Columbia, Canada, and I initiated a fascinating conversation that was long overdue. Lee knew several of the importers and owners of the last asil desert-breds to come to North America, like Sam Roach, John Rogers, and Ella Chastain, as well as other veteran breeders like the Otts and the Searles. The video below is one of the outputs of this rich conversation: it features the 2002 dark chestnut asil stallion Haziz (Bahri x Hulaifah by Naizahq), of the precious Bahraini Dahman Shahwan strain that is now extinct in Bahrain. mikarrun, miffarun, muqbilun, mudbirun, ma’an // kajulmudi sakhrin hattahu al-sayllu min ‘ali This very roughly tranlates as: “[My horse] attacks, and retreats, he runs forward and bounces backwards, all at once, like a big rock which the floods have driven down from above [the mountain]“. I will look for a more exacts translation in the orientalists’ publications.
The Tahawi website maintained by Mohammed al-Tahawy is a wonderful resource of original testimonies about the horses that this Bedouin clan bred throughout the XXth century. A few months ago, English translations of some of the hujaj (Arabic certification documents) of some of the foundation horses acquired by the Tahawi were featured on this website, as part of the collective effort of getting the three Tahawi mares of Egypt’s Hamdan stables accepted in the roster of Al Khamsa, Inc, the North American preservation organization. Here is a translation of another one of these original documents; this one is not a hujjah but rather a letter written to a member of the Tahawi tribe: To our beloved brother Faysal Abu Abdallah [al-Tahawi] may God protect him, Greetings and salutations, and longings to see your beautiful face, and after that, I would like to congratulate you on the advent of this holy month [of Ramadan], may God make you witness its advent again in health and well-being. You had asked us about the lineage of the colt, and in accordance to your demand, we are writing to you about the lineage of his dam and her ancestors, and that of his sire and his ancestors. The dam of the horse is al-Dahmah…
The 1919 grey desert-bred stallion *Mirage (photo below, with owner Roger Selby) is a legend in American Arabian horse breeding. This Saqlawi Jadran stallion was born in the desert, and selected as a mount of the newly installed King of Iraq, Faysal I, before he was sold to a European ambassador and ending up in Lady Wentworth’s hands by 1923. You can read more about this in a good article by Michael Bowling, here. He was her dream grey horse, but the British registration authorities would not let her register him, so he sold him to Roger Selby of Ohio in the USA in 1930. Here *Mirage had a brilliant career at stud, and his is now one of the most successful sire line in the USA (that of Bey Shah, Huckleberry Bey, and Barbary, among others). *Mirage’s strain is recorded as “Seglawi Jedran of Dalia” which is better transliterated as “Saqlawi Jadran of al-Dali’ “. Recently, while looking at some documents pertaining to the Syrian Saqlawi Jadran stallion al-Abjar (photo below, from Raed Yakan, thank you Raed), which was owned the Yakan family of Aleppo, and which I saw at their stud in the early 1990s, I came across his breeder’s description of al-Abjar’s strain as…
This photograph, found in the WR Brown Collection (owned by AHOF), is labeled *Urfah, and has the left fore and two white hind feet as described in the studbook. *Urfah is wound around and through the straight Davenports through her son *Hamrah and her daughter Sheria. Says the DAHC pedigree site (which is a bit behind the times): “Total descendants: 1437.” “As we departed the mare was a picture. She walked with the grace of a well-bred woman; her tail would gracefully sway from side to side, her ears were ever in motion, and her eyes sparkled. The very sight of her rested us from the long day’s ride of the day before and then she broke into a gallop and her swinging tassels were soon lost sight of as she disappeared on the horizon.” —Homer Davenport, My Quest of the Arab Horse
For today, the 1904 Saqlawi al ‘Abd stallion *Hamrah, of whom much has been said previously, and his century-later echo, the 2004 Hamdani Simri stallion Eldar HD, bred by Michael Bowling. In 2003, I wrote of the 22 year old Palisades CF, “I want a magic wand so I can have another twenty years with this horse.” Replied Michael, “I guess that’s what we breed them for.”
In the interest of resurrecting, if only for the duration of a minute or two, a now defunct component of the Bedouin heritage on desert-bred Arabian horses, I am starting this new series on extinct or uncommon strains. It will consist of a mention of the strain, and a couple anecdotes about it. The first such strain I will mention is Hazqan, which is now extinct. The only known marbat of Hazqan that I know of was that of the Masaribah clan of the Sba’ah tribe, and it was called after their name: Hazqan Misrabi. The Dandashi landlords of Tall Kalakh in Western Syria had a branch of that marbat, which they celebrated in their poetry. Interestingly, the stallion Shour, first owned by Lord Herbert Kitchener (d. 1916) and later given to Egypt’s RAS as one of its foundation stallions, was from that strain, which the RAS refers to as “Kuhaylan Hazakan”. Shour qualifies as “Straight Egyptians. Not that it matters, because he did not leave any modern descendents.
A good photo of the stallion El Iat (Ibn Fadl x Bint Turfara by Sirecho), a Kuhaylan stallion tracing to the desert-bred mare *Turfa of Ibn Saud, “imported in 1937 to England as a gift to the royal family, imported to Canada c1941, and imported in 1941 to the USA by Henry Babson”. He is survived by a son out of a mare of very similar pedigree: Ibn El Iat, born in 1992, when his sire was 26.
Did you read the blog entries on *Turfa and the desert-bred Hamdani stallion Manak on Ralph Suarez’ blog? Also, have you ever thought of comparing Manak, a Hamdani of Ibn Ghiam (which by the way is the same marbat as Mrs. Danah Al-Khalifa’s desert-bred foundation mare Seetah), to *Munifan, the desert-bred Kuhaylan stallion bred by the same Crown Prince Saud to George O’Brien and imported to the USA in 1947 (photo below).
Arnault Decroix send me this picture of his very promising 2005 stallion Dahess Hassaka (al-Ameer Dahess x Oghareet by Marzouk out of Hanadi by Krush Juhayyim), which was bought from Radwan Shabareq and imported to France in 2009. An asil Kuhaylan al-Nawwaq from the very old marbat of the Naqashbandi sufi mystics of the Middle Euphrates valley, Dahess Hassaka is the paternal grandson of my Dahess and is now being used as a stallion by Arnault. Click on the photo to enlarge it.
Dahess (Awaad x Al-Jazi by the Ubayyan of ‘Atnan al-Shazi) was a 1987 grey stallion. He was bred by sayyid Muhammad al-Shaykh Salim a Tufayhi, a non-Bedouin from a family of religious notables in Upper Mesopotamia, as so was his dam. He was a ‘Ubayyan Sharrak by strain, tracing to the marbat of ‘Awwad ‘Azzam al-Sahlan, or ‘Ubayyan Suhayli. He was sired by the grey Kuhaylan al-Krush stallion Awaad, who hails from the famed marbat of Mayzar al-‘Abd al-Muhsin al-Jarba, and as such he is a half brother to the black stallion Mokhtar now in France. His dam, al-Jazi, was reportedly one of the prettiest mares in Syria, and eventually came to be owned by the late Basil al-Asad, brother to the current president of the Syrian Arab Republic. Dahess was sold as a youngster to the former Qatari consul in Damascus, the late Yusuf al-Rumaihi, who owned a wonderful collection of beautiful and well-authenticated desert-bred mares (more on this later), as well as the two Egyptian stallions Okaz (Wahag x Nazeemah) and al-Qahir (Ikhnatoon x Marium). When Rumaihi passed away, the horses were dispersed and some of them found their way to Qatar, where they were overlooked and eventually given away. Dahess then…
Starting in the 1950s, so-called “Iraqi Arabians” swept across the Middle East race tracks of Lebanon, and, to a lesser extent, of Egypt and the Sudan. Until then, the overwhelming majority of the racehorses involved in the racing industry of these countries were asil desert-breds from the Northern and Central Arabian deserts. The Iraqi Arabians were different. They were not just Arabian horses from Iraq. They were taller, bigger, stronger, faster, and often more attractive than the plainer, smaller desert-breds. They looked like Arabians, but they ran like greyhounds, their tails down. They also matured much faster. Most significantly, they easily outraced the smaller desert-bred on the 1 mile and 1.3 mile races. They were more ‘horse’ than ‘Arabian’, standing above 16 hands. Almost every racehorse owner in Beirut wanted them in his stalls. Iraqis like Shahin ‘Iqab and Sfoug al-Yawer (al-Jarba) brought entire convoys of such “Iraqi” colts to Beirut. Few filles were bought. From the 1950s trickle, the business quickly grew to a major industry in the 1960s and 1970s. The Lebanese civil war (1975-1990) barely slowed it down, but the first Gulf war (1990-1991) dealt it a devastating blow. The names of the first generation racehorses are synonymous…
The desert-bred Saqlawi Jadran stallion Ihsan (Hamdani Simri x Nadya, a Saqlawiyah Jadraniyah) was the second stallion at the Jabri stud in the 1990s. He was mainly used as an outcross to Mahrous daughters. What I liked about him was his large expressive eye, his huge half-moon cheekbone, his nice croup, as well as his good tail carriage. I took this photo in 1990. Ihsan traces all the way back to the famous Saqlawi Jadran marbat of Dari al-Mahmoud, the leader of the Zawba’ Shammar of Iraq, and a hero of the Iraqi resistance to the British in the 1920s. There are only three Saqlawi Jadran marbat among the Shammar today, and they will be the subject of an entry to come. The 1922 stallion *King John, who raced in Egypt, and was later imported to the USA, was also a Saqlawi Jadran from Dari al-Mahmoud’s marbat, according to his hujjah (featured in the reference book Al Khamsa Arabians II, 1993). A thin asil line to *King John survived in the USA until the 1980s, through his great-grandson Beau Nusik (Nusik x Reshan Azab by Janeo, who was by *King John), but it was eventually lost. *King John (photo below)…
This mare was mentioned several times on this blog. She is a Kuhaylat al-Wati of the marbat of Hakim al-Ghishm of the Shammar Bedouins in Nort-Eastern Syria. Her sire, dam, grandsire and granddam, and her ancestors beyond that are from the same marbat, and bred by the same family. She was owned by Mustafa Jabri of Aleppo, is the dam of the stallion Kassar, owned by Omar Anbarji. I took this photo in 1990
This photo is from the collection of the late Mary Gharagozlu, through Brigitte Killian. It pictures the Bahraini Kuhaylat al-Mulawlish mare Mlolesh Al-Yatima (Jellabi al-Asil x Mlolesh).
This is a Kuhaylah Hayfiyah at the stud of the late Alaa Din Jabri (Mustafa’s uncle), east of Aleppo. I forgot what her name was, but you can easily find her in the first Volume of the Syrian studbook. Her sire was Mahrous, and her dam one of the two bay Kuhaylah Hayifiyah mares daughters of the Saqlawi Marzakani stallion Ghuzayyil (there were two of these back in 1992 when I took that picture, a younger one and an older one). This mare was very pretty and very strongly built at the same time. Certainly one of the best Mahrous daughters. Alaa Din Jabri bred this line for at least four decades, and before that time the line was with Wawi al-Kharfan of the Fad’aan Bedouins. It is said the line is somehow related to the horses of the last of the leader of the Fad’aan Bedouins to live in Syria: Miqhim Ibn Mhayd. In any case, the strain of Kuhaylan al-Hayfi belongs to the leading Mhayd clan of the Shumaylat section of the Fad’aan Bedouins, as I mentioned earlier on this site, here. This is where the Hayfiyah mare *Reshan came from. She was imported by Homer Davenport to…
This mare is a desert-bred Hamdaniyat al-‘Ifri, bred by a Bedouin named Mus’ir Hamad al-Sakran, who also bred her son *Ta’an. *Ta’an was imported to the USA in 1994. Her sire was the grey Kuhaylan al-Wati of Diab al-Sbeih of the Shammar Bedouins, a stallion who was used over a short period of time, but sired influential horses, such as Mahrous. Hamdani al-‘Ifri is a very respected strain in the Northern Arabian desert and the Jazirah area (Upper Mesopotomia in Syria and Iraq today). Upon being asked how his horses compared with Hamdani al-‘Ifri, ‘Abd al-‘Iyadah al-Dar’an Ibn Ghurab, owner of the old and otherwise very famous Hamdani Simri marbat of same name, is reported to have said that the Hamdani horses of the al-‘Ifri were even more authenticated than his, because al-‘Ifri had obtained them directly from Simri himself. The Hamdani horses of Ibn Ghurab also came from Simri, but via another Bedouin. The clan of al-‘Ifri are Bedouins from ‘Anazah (from the people of Ibn Haddal I think), who kept a marbat alive until the 1970s. I am not sure how the dam of *Ta’an relates to the horses of al-‘Ifri (i.e., what the chain of owners from…