A blog on desert arabian horses, past, present and future
Below is a photo of the grey mare Sabine, foaled in 1900, who is presumably the daughter of two of M. Portalès’ imports. The picture comes from the article, ‘Les chevaux du midi’, printed in the 27 October 1907 Le Sport universel illustré. Mossoul’s entry in volume 11 of the Stud-Book français (1894) says he … Read more
The photos below come from ‘Le haras de Pompadour’, printed in the 14 April 1900 edition of Le Sport universel illustré. Mossoul, an ‘Anazah stallion, imported in 1892. The article has a brief description of Mossoul, praising his forehand, chest and haunches, while casting a critical eye at his top line: Mossoul, de la tribu … Read more
The photos and text below come from ‘Le haras de Pompadour’, printed in the 21 April 1900 edition of Le Sport universel illustré. Kadidja, imported in 1892. Malakaa, imported in 1896. El-Zhora, imported in 1896. She was nicknamed The White Pearl with a Black Collar, due to her tattoos. An excerpt from the article follows … Read more
Arnault Decroix posted this gorgeous photo of his stallion Shueyman Fahad on social media today. The horse was bred by Jean-Claude Rajot from his Shuwayman Sabbah line, tracing to the beautiful Hamada of Robert Mauvy, and before that to the desert-bred Cherifa of the Sba’ah Bedouins. His sire Mahboob Halab and paternal grandsire Mokhtar, were … Read more
A photo of the desert-bred stallion Cherine from the magazine Le Sport Universel Illustre. Cherine, born in 1903, was one of the best looking stallions to be imported by the French to their government stud of Pompadour, and then on to their Algerian stud in Tiaret in 1909.
I was browsing the internet (I finally got connected a connection set), and I came across an amazing photo of the 2011 stallion Shuwayman Fahad. He is by Mahboob Halab (desert bred lines from Syria) out a Mokhtar (desert bred, Syria) daughter, so 75% desert Syrian lines (and some of the bset) and the grand-daughter … Read more
Jean-Claude Rajot tells me that Robert Mauvy’s favorite desert bred Arabian horse imports to France were Dahman (a Dahman x a Rabda) from the Shammar, and Diab (a Hamdani Simri x a Kuhaylah Nawwaqiyah). Diab was the sire of the mare Bad dam of Bad Afas in Poland. I am looking for a photo of … Read more
This one is from the Deblaise stud in France, a daughter of the Syrian Kuhaylan al-Nawwaq import Husam Al-Shamal out of their mare B’Oureah (Ourki x Bismilah by Irmak).
This is the transcription of a conversation with Jean-Claude Rajot, in 2013, whom I had asked what master breeders Robert Mauvy and Anatole Cordonnier thought of Denouste: Here is what Jean Claude had to say: “Robert avait fait des recherches et Cordonnier aussi. Ils en ont parle une seule fois devant moi. Le point faible … Read more
Not sure to think of this one: Bagdad, 1935 stallion (Norniz x Bagdalyne by Danbik); he precedes the generalized (and still much uncovered) cross-breeding of Arabians with Anglo-Arabians that plagued France from the 1950s onwards, yet he does not look like your classical Arabian. He does not look like an Anglo-Arabian either; he looks like … Read more
This one is from Louis Bauduin, who owns Shuwayman Badawi (Mokhtar x Murad Haouda by Cherif out of Hamada by Irmak). Guillaume Lambert Gilles Shwaar in the photo.
This colt is Murad Aman, by Nimr Shabareq (imported from Syria) out of Murad Ouafah Habib (Jahir x Mourad Had’ra by Medicq Allah x Hamada).
Also a while ago, Arnaud Decroix from France sent me this photo of the young Shuwayman Fahad, a 2011 Shuwayman Sabbah bred by Jean Claude Rajot by the Syrian desert-bred stallion Mahboob Halab (also a Shuwayman by the way) out of Shueymah Sabbah, herself by the Syrian desert-bred stallion Mokhtar (a Kuhaylan Krush from the … Read more
A while ago, Adrien Deblaise sent me this photo a Jahir daughter, following an online discussion on Jahir himself. Rania El Arba (Jahir x Rial El Arba by Shawani out of Fatija by Fawzan out of M’Rabbia by Saadi out of Hammada) has an interesting pedigree: Hammada was a gift from Admiral Cordonnier’s Tunisian stud … Read more
Since it’s that time of the year, and my work is leaving me a few minutes to breathe, here are photos of another new 2012 arrival, the filly Qoreibet, daughter of the Syrian stallion Hussam al-Shamal and of the Shuwaymat Sabbah mare Qhadidja (Ourki x Quejala by Fawzan), from the breeding program of Adrien Deblaise … Read more
I am off to Morocco this weekend, for about a week, so these two pictures of a stallion partly of Moroccan Arabian lines are fitting. This is Fabienne Vesco’s Djoar Beni Sakr (Jahir x Loubia bint Breek by Breek), a Jilfan Dhawi by strain, as a younger horse, and as a 16 year old stallion. Both … Read more
This morning Adrien Deblaise, from France, sent me two photos of his superb stallion, Murad Ghazy. Ghazy was bred by Louis Bauduin, by Jahir (Iricho x Ciada by Ghalbane, d.b.), out of Murad Hadra (Medicq Allah x Hamada by Irmak), of Algerian and Tunisian lines. He traces to all three Cordonnier-bred stallions (Iricho, In Chaallah, … Read more
The status of the 1921 French Arabian racehorse Denousté is a thorny question with which I have been grappling for a long time. I believe I have now reached closure on the issue, and I feel relieved, even if no new information has surfaced on the horse. There were always two issues about this horse: … Read more
Arnault Decroix is now the proud owner of the weanling Shuwayman Fahad (Mahboob Halab (SYR) x Shueymah Sabbah by Mokhtar (SYR)), a Shuwayman Sabbah bred by Jean-Claude Rajot in France. This exceptional young fellow is the son and the grandson of two stallions of Shammar lines imported from Syria to France in the late 1990s … Read more
Fabienne Vesco, a French preservation breeder in Eastern France, breeds horses of combined Tunisian, Moroccan, Algerian and Egyptian lines, of the Jilfan Dhawi and Shuayman Sabbah strains. Below is her pretty mare Akhesa Beni Sakr, by the Tunisian stallion Hadhr El Basher (Chedi x Loubna by Oramin0) out of her mare Akaba Beni Sakr (Jahir x Loubia Bint … Read more
Arnault Decroix from France sent me this photo of two yearling fillies, daughter of his excellent Syrian asil stallion Dahiss Hassaka (Al-Ameer Dahiss x Ogharet by Marzouq, out of Hanadi), a Kuhaylan al-Nawwaq from the marbat of Shaykh Abd al-Jalil al-Naqashbandi, a leader of the Sufi Naqashbandi mystics of the Euphrates valley. Dahiss Hassaka (photo below) was bred by Radwan … Read more
Adrien Deblaise, a preservation breeder in western France, sent me these two photos of the splendid and very asil 1975 Jilfan Dhawi stallion Jahir (Iricho x Ciada, who was by Ghalbane x Malika, by Masbout x Themis by Bango x Akaba). Â The pedigree on allbreedpedigree.com is wrong, so I am not linking to it. His … Read more
I am posting a month-old photo of the young desert-bred stallion Nimr Shabareq at four years old so that readers can see how the horse has evolved over time. The second photo was taken when he was three, and the third one, when he was two. Hopefully, him, his owner and I will live a … Read more
When I was a kid, there were not many horse books I could read. I had no access to the hardcovers in my father’s library, like Lady Wentworth’s “Authentic Arabian Horse” or W.R. Brown’s “Horse of the Desert”. I was too afraid to tear a page anyway, and they were not easy to handle. I … Read more
An American couple bought the 1993 Kuhaylan Hayfi stallion Regalia CF (Regency CF x Taradiddle by Ibn Alamein) from Craver Farms some years ago and took him to the south of France, where he is currently. Not sure whether he still there now.
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
Mourad Oufah Habib (Jahir x Murad Had’ra by Medicq Allah), a Shuwaymat Sabbah, and one of Louis Bauduin’s mares in France foaled a colt last year, by the asil Syrian stallion Mahboub Halab, who also happens to be a Shuwayman Sabbah from the Shammar Bedouins. Louis sent me these two pictures of the mare; the … Read more
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 … Read more
Adrien Deblaise sent me this picture of his new filly: Bismilah Bint, a Jilfat al-Dhawi by the Syrian import Hussam al-Shimal out of his mare B’Oureah Marine (Ourki x Bismilah by Irmak).
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
This is an old photo from the collection of French breeder Pierre-Henri Beillard. It shows the 1916 asil mare Noble Reine (by Dahman d.b. out of Nacre by Achmet out of Naeleh d.b.), a mare bred at the French government stud of Pompadour. Noble Reine is a daughter of the magnificent desert-bred stallion Dahman (by … Read more
There is this photo of the beautiful asil stallion Sumeyr (Bango d.b. x Jamnia by the Algerian asil Oukrif out of Taflia by the Egyptian Ibn Fayda) on allbreedigree here. He was bred at a private stud in Tunisia, then exported to France where he stood at the government stud of Pau, in the South West. His … Read more
Iricho was born in Tunisia in 1959 at the stud of French Navy Admiral – and otherwise master Arabian horse breeder – Anatole Cordonnier, who sold him to the French government a few years later. Iricho, a Jilfan Dhawi tracing to Wadha, bred by the Fad’aan Bedouins and imported from the Arabian Desert to Algeria in 1875 … Read more
This is the unbeaten racehorse Al Sakbé (Kesberoy x Morgane de Piboule by Djourman), born in 1995. This is Akim de Ducor by Akbar (Djelfor x Fantasia by Gosse du Bearn) out of Ishra, who is by Tornado de Syrah (by Djourman), born in 2005. This is Elios de Carrere, 1992, by Manganate out of Nerva … Read more
A rare photo of French master-breeder Robert Mauvy in his later days. Courtesy of Pierre-Henri Beillard, a disciple of Mauvy and the owner the splendid Mauvy-bred stallion Moulouki (Amri x Izarra by David). Mauvy’s little book “Le Cheval Arabe” is in my opinion, the most beautiful and passionate piece ever written in defense of the … Read more
Nimr Shabareq (photo below, by Zaarour al-Barary out of Yamhad by al-A’war) is one of the desert bred stallions that were recently imported to France. He is now standing at stud with Louis Bauduin, who took this picture and gave it to Arnault Decroix, who sent it to me (Merci, Arnault). This is not your … Read more
The outstanding stallion Esmet Ali (photo below) is at the center of a controversy that has been quietly brewing for several decades now in Tunisia and beyond. Since Esmet Ali is in the pedigree of almost every single Arabian horse in Tunisia today, the matter is of some importance. I do not know what position … Read more
The French “Arabian” stallion Flipper, photo below, is representative of ‘midnight breedings’, a practice which saw some (just some) greedy French breeders of the 1970s and 1980s breed their Arabian mares to English Thoroughbred or Anglo-Arab stallions, and register their offspring as Arabians. On paper, Flipper is by Gosse du Bearn out of Fleur d’Avril. In … Read more
It’s all in the title. Mokhtar is the black desert-bred Kuhaylan al-Krush stallion bred by the Shammar, and has been a recent fixture on this blog.. His owner Chantal Chekroun says that professionally frozen semen will be available for him this coming September, to respond to international demand. The horse is turning 24 next year, … Read more
Below is a photo of Hijab (Ward Al Mayel x Nisreen by Mubarak), an asil Saqlawiyah Jadraniyah now in France, with Chantal Chekroun, who sent me this picture. Chantal also owns the black Kuhaylan al-Krush stallion Mokhtar. Note the similarity between this photo of Hijab and some of the Priztlaff horses of Rabanna bloodlines (especially … Read more
My research project about Syrian horse-racer Ahmad Ibish is progressing well, but I am not ready to share the results on this blog yet. Ibish, of Damascus, Syria, was on the top of my list of influential urban Middle Eastern horsemen of the twentieth century, along with Henri Pharaon of Beirut, Lebanon, Iskandar Qassis of … Read more
Yesterday, I received one of the first 50 copies of the late French “Master-Breeder” Robert Mauvy’s “Doctrine d’Elevage” (his ‘Approach to Breeding’), which has just been published by the “Union pour la Sauvegarde du Cheval Arabe – USCAR”, at long last. USCAR is one of France’s preservationist organizations, which Mauvy helped found. I want to … Read more
Bien que je suive très attentivement et très régulièrement les articles de ce blog merveilleux , je me rends compte avoir laissé passer de nombreuses occasions d’apporter commentaires et précisions. Je m’empresse donc de réparer cette négligence en ce début d’année 2010. Tout d’abord , je m’étonne de la perplexité qu’a suscité la petite maxime … Read more
This striking bay stallion who recently came to France from Syria has already been featured here before. Hussam Al-Shimal is a Kuhaylan al-Nawwaq from the old-established Stud of Saed Aghan Yakan in al-Bab, Syria. His sire is a desert-bred Kuhaylan al-Mussin called Raad who has also received a lot of visibility on this website. Hussam … Read more
This morning I woke up to find these two pictures of horses from snowed-in France in my inbox.. the first one is from Clothilde Nollet of Maarena Arabians, and features her new acquisition Bint Fay Amy (Mahrouf x Fay Amy by Ibn Fa-Serr), a Saqlawiyah Jadraniyah born in 1995 at the Babson Farm. The second … Read more
Jazour est né en 1968 chez Mr Robert Mauvy. Ce magnifique bai, par Saadi et Izarra, par David, de lignee Kuhaylan al-‘Ajuz (tracant sur Samaria), très athlétique a fait ses preuves sur le terrain, en participant à des raids d’endurance qu’il a souvent gagné. Il fut aussi un excellent géniteur. Il gagna notament une course d’endurance où il … Read more
Bred by J.C. Rajot of Tournus, France from Robert Mauvy lines, Murad Chahin (Shawani x Hamada by Irmak) is a Shuwayman Sabbah blending Algerian and Tunisian lines with old, asil French blood. He traces to Cherifa, a Shuwaymah bred the Sba’ah Bedouins in 1869 and imported to Algeria later. He is very reminiscent of some of … Read more
Joe Achcar recently circulated the following list of stallions imported by the mission of Mr. de Portes to the Syrian desert in 1819. The list comes from the book  written by the veterinarian of that mission, Louis Damoiseau, which appeared in 1832: Abou Far, Abou Arkoub, Abjar, Abou Seif, Berek, Cheleby, Choueyman, Bedouin, Daher, Aslan, … Read more
At last I get to see a picture of Bossa Nova (Iricho x Bassala by Masbout), thanks to Adrien Deblaise who sent me this one today. Â Bossa Nova, of the Jilfan Dhawi strain that traces to the mare Wadha from the Fad’aan tribe, was bred by the French government stud of Pompadour, by Iricho, an … Read more
This is another photo of the magnificient Dahman (a Dahman x a Rabda). He is to France what *Haleb, who was bred about the same time, is to the USA. Dahman, a Rabdan by strain, is by the far the best desert horse horse ever imported to France, in my opinion. He was a herd stallion with … Read more
The series on desert-bred Arabian imports to North Africa continues thanks to breeder and blog reader A. Deblaise. This is Aziz, one of the earliest desert-breds imported to Algeria by the French. I know nothing about his strain or his original breeder.         All I know is that he … Read more
Today French horse-breeder Adrien Deblaise made my day. He sent me a set of very rare, old pictures of desert-bred Arabians imported to France, Tunisia and Algeria in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Some time ago, I started a series of blog entries featuring photos of some these outstanding and so little known desert-breds (Dahman, El … Read more
Adrien Deblaise breeds Arabian horses of Tunisian, Moroccan and Algerian bloodlines in Western France. His father Philippe was a bookseller that specialized in equine literature. Â Philippe’s inventory contained one of the largest collections in France books on horses in general and Arabians in particular. Below are pictures of two of Adrien’s mares: B’Oureah Marine (by … Read more
Before I move to discussing the two stallions just imported from Syria to France, and following the posting of Shahm’s photos a couple days ago, I want to share with you a couple pictures of the second stallion, Mahboob Halab, a 4 year old Shuwayman Sabbah from the marbat of the Jarbah leading family of … Read more
Last week, I wrote about the quest of Robert Mauy’s friends, Jean-Claude Rajot and Louis Bauduin of France, to regenerate the bloodlines of their Arabian horses with the importation of stallions from the Arabian desert, or North Africa. Jean-Claude and Louis’ quest first took them to Tunisian and Algeria in the late 1980s. They saw many … Read more
My friends Jean-Claude Rajot and Louis Bauduin have been breeding Arabian horses for a long time. They are the students and friends of the late Robert Mauvy. Robert Mauvy is, simply put, the Westerner who came the closest to understanding the Arabian horse and to breeding it as its original custodians, the Bedouins of Arabia, … Read more