The excerpt below comes from Eduard Löffler’s 1860 book, Die österreichische Pferde-Ankaufs-Mission, which is a firsthand account of the 1856-7 expedition helmed by Colonel Rudolf von Brudermann to the desert to buy horses for the state studs. The expedition, by this point, had already acquired a number of horses, including Aghil Aga, who still has a presence in Al Khamsa horses. They had met with the Wuld Ali, who were camping in the Hauran, to the south of the Tell al-Hara, “only 17 or 18 hours of riding from Damascus”. Löffler says the sheikh was Mohamed El Duchi (Mohammed Dukhi ibn Smeyr in Lady Anne Blunt’s Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, and Mohammed ed Douhi in Roger Upton’s Travels in the Arabian Desert), who happened to be in Damascus at the same time as the Austrians, negotiating with the governor over camels for a caravan of pilgrims travelling to Mecca in May. Colonel von Brudermann made arrangements via the Austrian consul Pfaeffinger to journey with the sheikh back to the Wuld Ali, where they might see their horses. Löffler remarks that the horses of the Wuld Ali were “edle, schöne, prachtvolle Thiere, die entzückten und jeden Pferdefreund enthusiasmirt haben würden”…
The photo below shows 20 Farag, a daughter of the EAO import Farag, out of the mare 25 Amurath Sahib. Her dam was herself a granddaughter of the desert-bred stallion Kuhaylan Zaid, imported by Carl Raswan and Bogdan Zientarski for Bábolna on the same trip that they bought Kuhaylan Haifi and Kuhaylan Afas for Prince Roman Sanguszko’s Gumniska stud in Poland. Photo by Betty Finke, purchased from In The Focus. 20 Farag is tail-female to the mare Adjuse (60 Adjuze in the Al Khamsa roster), imported to Bábolna in 1885 by Fadlallah al-Haddad, along with the stallions Koheilan Adjuze and O’Bajan (both of whom feature in 25 Amurath Sahib’s pedigree). Foaled in 1876, Adjuse was a grey mare (Wrangel calls her forellenschimmel, “trout grey”), sired by a Koheilan Adjuse and out of a mare listed as Scheha; she stood 157cm tall, or just shy of 15.2. 20 Farag’s granddam 221 Kuhaylan Zaid was caught up in the Second World War, and it is by a small miracle that she survived to produce 25 Amurath Sahib. She was one of four daughters of Kuhaylan Zaid who landed up in the vaccine-manufacturing Behring Plant, Marburg, Germany, and who were subsequently exchanged for…
Below are photos of three Bábolna horses, from the 1896 Berättelse till Landtbruksstyrelsen öfver en år 1893-94 med statsunderstöd företagen resa i utlandet för studier i husdjursafvel. O’Bajan, above, was one of the four stallions acquired for Bábolna by General Fadlallah Mikhail el-Haddad in 1885. Erika Schiele, The Arab Horse in Europe, says of him: [He was] one of the most valuable stallions ever to come to Hungary. He covered mares at Bábolna for twenty-five years, until his death in 1910. Of his 312 foals, 112 stood at stud, and fifty-six became brood mares. At the World Exhibition in Paris of 1900, one of his sons won a first prize for pure-bred Arabs against competition from Russia, England, Constantinople, and even Aleppo. He lies buried under a two-hundred-year-old acacia tree in the stable-yard. In the photos below, the black stallion Jussuf is actually Jussuf I, the 1890 son of Jussuf and Bent-El-Arab, making him a full brother to the 1888 mare 46-Jussuf. Bent-El-Arab, imported on the same expedition as O’Bajan by Fadlallah el-Haddad, has died out in tail female descent at Bábolna, but still survives in Polish breeding, as the mares 233 Kuhailan Zaid-13 and 22 Kuhailan Zaid-1 were rescued from…
This asil 1977 stallion, Wahhabit, is by Siglavy Bagdady VI, a Babolna stallion, out of Delicate Air (Laertes x June), a Davenport mare. I had not seen this picture before.
I have been telling you about that Hamdani Simri line in Europe, the one from the mare Sobha of Ali Pasha Sharif, which went to the Crabbet Stud and eventually to the Courthouse Stud. A Hungarian preservation breeder, Laszlo Kiraly, bought what seems to be the last three registered asil mares from that line, Saraly El Shahin. The other two still need to be located. There might be a couple more who are not registered. The mares have been through a lot, after leaving the care of their breeder and last preservation owner, Penelope Pembleton. Laszlo sent me pictures of Saralee, who is still recovering and still in poor shape, some of which are below. I also found some pictures of one of Saralee’s ancestors in the tail female, the beautiful and very desert-like Courthouse mare Somra II (Fedaan x Safarjal by Rasim). He sire was the desert-bred Saqlawi Jadran of Ibn Zubayni stallion Fedaan, imported by Mr Clark of the Courthouse Stud to the UK in the 1920s. With desert-bred, well authenticated, beautiful grey horses like Fedaan and Mirage in the UK in the 1920s, there was really no need for Skowronek. Oh well.
The book from these pictures were taken was published in the Hungarian language in 1904. It was translated into Arabic language in 2004 by Mr. Tha’er Saleh with the support of the Hungarian Translation Fund. The original photos are at the Museum of Hungarian Agriculture in Budapest. The book is about the travels of Austro-Hungarian government envoy Fadlallah Mikhail el-Haddad to the Arabian desert, a few years before the trip of Homer Davenport. The purpose of the trip of Mikhail el-Haddad to Ottoman Iraq (Mesopotamia) was apparently to access alternative sources of desert blood to the ‘Anazah blooflines, which the Austro-Hungarians already had access to. His trip first followed the Damascus-Palmyra-Deir-ez-Zor axis, then the Euphrates valley to down to Fallujah and Baghdad. From there, Haddad went along a large circular route south of Bagdad, which included Najaf, Kerbala, the ‘Amarat Bedouin (a branch of the ‘Anazah) pastures and then crossed the Euphrates river eastwards until he reached the Tigris river. From top to bottom, and left to right: Photo 1: In Tell Kalakh, which is west of the city of Homs in Syria, with Abdallah Agha al-Dandashi from whom the stallion O’Bajan was bought in 1885; photo 2: with some…
Jeanne Craver just sent me this other photo of the desert-bred mare 214 Scherife (Cherife), the Shammar-bred Kuhaylat al-Sharif, which was imported by Fadlallah al-Haddad to the Austro-Hungarian empire in 1903. She actually very much looks like the the Kuhaylat al-Sharif of Ibrahim Dawwas al-Saadi, who was registered in the first Syrian Studbook as a Kuhaylat al-‘Ajuz. It would be interesting to do a mtDNA analysis of the descendants of these two mares.
Another picture from the 1903 issue of “Sport Universel Illustre”, also sent by Adrien Deblaise, shows the Hungarian desert-bred import Cherife, from the same importation as Hagayle below. No further information. Perhaps RJ or Laszlo know more.
The family of Adrien Deblaise has one of the largest rare equine books collection in Europe, and certainly in France. From time to time, he sends me scans of precious photos, for which I am very grateful, like this photo of the splendid desert-bred war mare Hadialeh, a Kuhaylat al-Ajuz purchased from the Sba’ah ‘Anazah Bedouins by a Hungarian mission in 1903. I don’t have more information on this importation, but I am sure Adrien can say some more to that, and it may be of one of the missions with which Fadlallah El Hedad was associated. The mare sounds like she is from the Khdili marbat of Kuhaylan al-Ajuz, judging from her name. This is the same branch of Kuhaylan which both Carl Raswan and Lady Anne Blunt refer to as “Hedeli”. Click on the image to enlarge it.
Laszlo Kiraly of Hungary has two colts this year, both sired by his stallion Dahhmany Bagdady (Wahhabit X Tisrina B by Salaa El Dine): the first, Shahhran Bagdady (below) was born on 5th of March, out of the Wahhabit daughter Shahhra (Wahhabit x 225 Sheherazade B by Ibn Galal III). The second, Sulayman Bagdady is out of the Farag II daughter Soraya B (Farag II x 204 Ghalion) and was born on the 10th of April. Both colts are from the Kuhaylah al-Shaykhah line of 60-Adjuse, and combine old Babolna, Egyptian and Davenport bloodlines. Laszlo says little Sulayman moves like a dancer.
This entry expands the list to non-Straight Egyptian asil tail females in the USA to lines surviving in Europe and South Africa. It ties together several other blog entries that preceded it. So in Europe, and also excluding relatively recent Tunisian, Algerian, Moroccan, Bahraini, Syrian and Saudi imports to European countries, you have the lines of : Kuhaylan: 1) 60-Adjuse, Kuhaylat al-Shaykhah (a branch of K. al-‘Ajuz), imported to Hungary in 1885, with female descendants only through 25-Amurath Sahib, from the Sba’ah (Anazah) Hamdani: 2) Sobha, Hamdaniyah Simriyah, imported to the UK in 1891, a handful asil descendants in Austria now. No Strain recorded: 3) Murana I, imported to what is now Germany in 1816, female descendants through Soldateska only, mainly in Germany. All three lines are accepted by Al Khamsa, including n. 2, which has lines to the Courthouse desert-bred stallions Nimr, and Fedaan, who were accepted by Al Khamsa in 1987.
The asil stallion Ghalion-6 is by Ghalion (Morafic x Lubna) out of 25 Amurath-Sahib (Amurath Sahib x 221 Kuhaylan Zaid by Kuhaylan Zaid out of 11 Siglavy Bagdady II). He traces to the mare 60-Adjuze, imported from the Arabian desert by Austro-Hungarian Empire official Fadlalla El Hedad. Adjuze was reportedly bred by the Sba’ah Bedouins, her sire being a Kuhaylan al-‘Ajuz and her dam a “Schecha”, the transliteration of which is “Shaykhah”. “Shaykhah” is either a mare’s name or a strain’s name, depending on the context in which it occurs. In that case, it is likely to the strain of the mare, the full strain being Kuhaylat al-‘Ajuz al-Shaykhah, a lesser-known strain primarily owned by the Sba’ah and Fad’aan Bedouins.
This young fellow is the latest member of one of my favorite asil Arabian lines from around the world, that of 25 Amurath Sahib, from Hungary. He is by Laszlo Kiraly’s stallion, Dahhmany Bagdady (Wahhabit x Tisrina B) out of Laszlo’s Sarife B (El Thay Mameluk x 205 Farag II).
This morning Laszlo Kiraly of Hungary sent me this picture of his young Sahara (Sabek ibn Saher x Shahhra by Wahhabit), a Kuhaylat al-‘Ajuz that combines some of the best asil bloodlines from the world over: Her sire Sabek ibn Saher (picture bel0w), from the German Government Stud of Marbach, has not one but two close lines to Soldateska (1911), and so plenty of that precious old Weil blood of Ghadir, Amurath 1881, and Tajar. Her grand-sire Wahhabit (Siglavy Bagdady VI x Delicate Air by Laertes) is half Davenport bloodlines from his dam and half old Babolna bloodlines from his sire Siglavy Bagdady VI (Siglavy Bagdady V x 250-Kuhailan Haifi I), which is a unique combination. He brings in the equally precious blood of Kuhaylan Haifi and Kuhaylan Zaid. Her grand dam 225 Sheherazade B (Ibn Galal III x 220 Ibn Galal I) brings in the tail female to the Babolna asil mare 25-Amurath Sabib, as well as the Egyptian lines to Hanan that Dr. Hans Nagel breeds. Laszlo, can you find a good stallion from Syria or Saudi Arabia to breed to her?
To celebrate the inclusion of the Babolna asil horses in the Al-Khamsa Roster, here is a photo of a stallion from these bloodlines, owned by Stephanie Weirich of Germany. This is the chestnut stallion Farag II-3 (by Farag II x 204 Ghalioun, by Ghalioun x 3-Siglavy Bagdady VI). He is also a tail female descendant of 25-Amurath Sahib, and is actually 50% Babolna (non-Egyptian) blood. His strain is Kuhaylan al-‘Ajuz. Photo courtesy of Tzviah Idan.
These an interesting dicussion currently going on on this blog, about whether this horse here is indeed Siglavy Bagdady VI (Siglavy Bagdady V x 250 Kuhailan Haifi I). In this context, here two more pictures of that asil Babolna stallion from Laszlo Kiraly of Hungary. The picture above distinctly shows the pink lips on the right side of the horse’s muzzle. In the photo below, there is much less pink on the left side of the lips, from what I can distinguish.
[August 10, 2009 correction: The uplaoding of the picture below elicited a discussion between Laszlo Kiraly and RJ Cadranell, as a result of which the horse in the picture was identified as the non-asil Babolna stallion Koheilan XI (Koheilan X x 242 Kuhailan Zaid), a stallion with a distant line to the English Thoroughbred mare 30-Maria. Apologies to the readers for this mistkae. Edouard] The discussion on asil Arabian facial features expands as more and more readers and contributors send pictures of beautiful profiles without the prominent ‘dish’ now so common in show horses. Laszlo Kiraly of Pecs, Hungary, sent me this stunning photo of the asil Babolna stallion Siglavy Bagdady VI (Siglavy Bagdady V. – 250 Kuhaylan Haifi I), taken in 1967. Laszlo tells me it reminds him of Bahrain’s horses’ heads. It also reminds me of some of the best Lebanese horses of the olden days; and of the best desert breds from Syria; and the Saudi Arabian horses; and some many Tunisian horses; and of the Egyptian horses before most of them became show toys. All these are one and the same horse. Look at this picture and look well. There are not many horses like this…
This is a rarely seen picture of the very pretty asil Babolna mare 25-Amurath Sahib (Amurah Sahib x 221 Kuhaylan Zaid, by Kuhaylan Zaid), courtesy of Jeanne Craver. The blood of legends like Kuhaylan Zaid, Siglavy Bagdady, Kuhaylan IV, Amurath 1881, Jussuf, Tajar, and Ghadir, to name but a few, flows in the veins of this mare and her living descendents, who are “living history” as far as the Arabian horse (in its asil and non-asil forms) is concerned. I am never tired of repeating that the blood of the descendents of this mare constitutes one of the last hopes for an outcross to the heavily inbred European asil bloodlines.
The horses of Tzviah Idan are now on Facebook. One link includes horses of Egyptian bloodlines that Tzviah imported from Babolna, and the other is a link to their progeny. Tzviah, I like them all, and feel that you’ve been doing an outstanding job, but I can’t help feel that there is something extra special about Hila B and her progeny. PS — social networking sites are all over now. I never thought I’d be linking to Facebook on an desert Arabian horse blog..
Here is the link to the Babolna Roster Proposal that seeks to include Babolna bred asil Arabians into Al Khamsa. It contains a wealth of information about the proposed foundation horses, as well as the rare pictures, including the only picture of 25 Amurath Sahib I am aware of. Jeanne Craver put the proposal together, with key support from R.J. Cadranell (mainly), T. Idan, T. Rambauer, J. Sennek and myself. The proposal passed a first round of voting at this year’s Al Khamsa convention in Tulsa. If it passes the next round at the 2009 Oregon convention, then the eligible living descendants of these horses are in!
Another 25 Amurath Sahib tail female, and Asil foundation mare at Laszlo Kiraly, is 205 Farag II (Farag II x 226 Ibn Galal I). 205 Farag II is a grand-daughter of 25 Amurath Sahib through this mare’s son Farag II, and a great-grand-daughter through this mare’s daughter 3 Siglavy Bagdady VI, which adds the precious blood of Siglavy Bagdady VI (b. 1949), who was recently featured on this blog… What a bonanza of great horses in one pedigree, so close: Kuhailan Zaid (featured here), Kuhailan Haifi, Amurath Sahib, Kuhailan Haifi I (here), Siglavy Bagdady II, Koheilan IV (here), etc. Photo courtesy of the mare’s owner, Laszlo Kiraly, who is certainly one lucky man.
This picture of 225 Scheherezade (Ibn Galal III x 220 Ibn Galal I)is courtesy of her owner Laszlo Kiraly of Hungary. 225 Scheherezade has two crosses to the Babolna mare 25 Amurath-Sahib (Amurath Sahib x 221 Kuhailan Zaid), including one in the tail female. As such she traces to the desert bred 60 Adjuze imported by M. F. el Haddad to Babolna. More on 60 Adjuze in a next post. The Asil Club recognizes 25 Amurath Sahib (and hence 225 Scheherezade) as Asil, and by next year Al Khamsa will vote on whether to include 25 Amurath Sahib in its Roster too. The mare unanimously passed a preliminary vote this year. 225 Scheherezade, you truly are a princess of the Arabian Nights.
I am starting a series on the desert-bred Arabians imported to Poland and Hungary in the twentieth century. The first I will highlight is Kuhailan Zaid. This stallion came to Europe in 1931 at the same time as Kuhailan Haifi and Kuhailan Afas. He was purchased by Bogdan Zietarski and Carl Raswan for the Hungarian stud of Babolna. He was bred by the Ruwalah Bedouin tribe, by a Kuhailan Abu Junub out of a Kuhaylat al-Zyadah. Here’s Zietarski’s account of his purchase: “At last they bring a stallion of Kuhailan Zaid strain; bay, stripe, black legs over the knees, a splendid line of the trunk, a long strongly expressive neck, a dry head, legs somewhat worn out, hoofs in awful condition, but on the whole with much type, a first class sire, as created for Babolna… We buy him without any bargain.” Kuhailan Zaid was a herd sire at Babolna between 1931 and 1946, and 26 of his daughters were used for breeding, but only a handful of his sons (none in Hungary, only in Poland). Of these Kuhailan Abu Urkub (b. 1935) out of 22 Kemir, and of Kuhailan Said (b. 1934) out of 204 Kemir were perhaps the most influential. Both of them are asil.
I am no “expert” on Polish Arabians (and I have a lot of trouble with the concept of “expert” in general anyway), so don’t expect these posts will tell you anything many of you don’t know already. I am writing them for the record only. As a reminder to reader that there was a blessed time when some Arabian horses from Poland – this great horsemanship country – were Asil. Then there was a time when only, or two, or perhaps three Polish Arabians were Asil. That was in the 1960s and 1970s, not such a long time ago. When Arwila, Rozka, Lassa and a few others were alive. Now that time is gone. This new series of posts will feature the last Asil mare from each desert-bred line imported to Poland or the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Lets start with Arwila (Amurath Sahib x Wilga, photo above from Skorkowski’s book, I think), a Kuhaylat al-‘Ajuz tracing to the desert bred Gazella, imported by Count Juliusz Dzieduszycki in 1845. Her pedigree is one of the 24 extended pedigrees originally compiled by Ursula Guttmann in her 1968 book Arwila was born in 1947 and exported to England in 1965. She did not leave any Asil progeny. The…
Of course it is not. This is Shagya XVII, from the Hungarian Arab-related Shagya breed. You have to give credit to the Hungarians for being honest about the Thoroughbred and other non-Arab blood they infused in these horses.
This 1997 article by Michael Bowling and R.J. Cadranell mentions the Babolna-bred mare 125 Ghalion (b. 1975), which has only one distant cross to the English Thoroughbred mare 30-Maria, her tail female ancestor (scroll down to the middle of the article for the question about 30-Maria). RJ and Michael calculated that after 125 years and 12 generations of breeding to Arabian stallions, 125 Ghalion was left with 0.024% English Thoroughbred blood. 125 Ghalion is not registered as an Arabian mare. That’s probably because her cross to 30-Maria is in the tail female, which Arabian horse breeders pay particular attention to. (What’s her strain? “Kuhaylan Maria”). Now someone please tell me why Skowronek, with his 9 non-Arabian crosses, would be considered an Arabian horse.
Horse bought by Michael el Haddad trip to Iraq 1901/ 1902 Koheilan Raschid :This was his first buy. 5 years .Height 1.61cm sire a Koheilan Moradi, Dam a Koheilat el Ajuz He was bought from Raschid Pasha Kaimmakam (governor) of the Holy city of El Najaf. He was agift from Ibn El Rashid the Shammari ruler of Hail so El Haddad named him Koheilan Raschid. He was bought for 150 gold pounds. Farha : 6 years Height 1.56cm Sire Saklawi x Dam Kuhailat el Ajuz Schechan Shammar 6 years chesnut Height 1.57cm Sire Koheilan Ajuz x Dam Scheha Djilfe Bought for 50 gold pounds Mares from Sheikh Nayef supreme Sheikh of the Shammar Em Tiur (meaning mother of the birds) this name was given to her for her speed..For 130 gold pounds.no further details given. Ayda: grey 3 years old bought for 125 gold pounds. Semrie :grey 5 years old.bought for 80 gold pounds. Hagyale (or the grouse) Bay mare taken in war from the Annaze .bought for 220 gold pounds .She became one of Babolna’s most beautiful mares. Hazem Pasha, the governor of Baghdad, horses. A deal was made Between the Governor and Haddad to buy as a”package…
In 1931 Bogdan Zientarski, accompanied by Carl Raswan went to the desert to buy Arabian horses for Prince Roman Sanguszko of the Gumniska stud in Poland. Here’s an account of Zientarski’s encounter with the stallion Koheilan Haifi, near the desert oasis of al-Jauf: “Finally I hear a neigh, they guide the stallions… they lead the bay Kuhailan Haifi. My legs buckled under me, it is just the horse I am looking for. Not large, dry, on splendid legs without any trace of cow hocks. A long neck, a noble head, although not very small, with distended, thin and moveable nostrils; a splendid high carried tail. I feel, the first time in my life, that during the purchase of a horse I am fainting…” Have any of you experience that near-fainting feeling when coming across a unique Arabian horse for the first time? I have. Twice. I should consider myself lucky. I will tell you about these two electrifying encounters.
Siglavy Bagdady VI, born in 1949, was the last Asil stallion of 100% old Babolna lines (i.e., no Egyptian Arabian lines in his pedigree). His strain was Kuhaylan Abu ‘Arqub, tracing in tail female to the mare Semrie, imported from the desert by Michael Fadlallah El Heddad. Siglavy Bagdady VI left one Asil son, Wahhabit, a 1977 stallion out of the Kuhaylat al-Krush mare Delicate Air. Delicate Air was bred by Craver Farms and traces to the mare *Werdi, imported to the USA by Homer Davenport in 1906. Pity there are so few of these Babolna Asil Arabians. They are of such a different type than anything else we see nowadays. They remind me of the last Lebanese Asil I used to see in my childhood. They also are a genetic treasure: each one of them traces to dozens of horses imported from the desert by the kings of the Austria, not found in any other current Asil bloodlines (except in the one remaning German Weil line). If you want to know more about the remaining Asil Arabians of Babolna, you can check out this post (dated May 2 2007, 10.44 pm) in the online forum Straightegyptians.com. This photo of Siglavy Bagdady VI is from the…
Check out what is perhaps the most comprehensive article written about the Hungarian Stud of Babolna, its history, and its Asil Arabian horses, in the past and the present. Thanks to Tzviah Idan for allowing me to reproduce it here! Pictures of Babolna Asil Arabians taken by Tzviah are coming soon..
A previous post gave me the occasion to mention Zanoubia, which is something I have been looking forward to for some time now. Zanoubia was my first mare. Rather she was the first mare from my father’s horses in Lebanon that I considered mine. She did not make it in my recent top ten of the best Asil mares ever bred; she would have ten years ago, before I become acquainted with the wonderful Asil Arabians bred in the USA. Dad had bought her as a yearling in 1977 0r 78. At that time, he owned some 15 mares and a couple stallions, not all of them Asil. There were few Asil Arabians left in Lebanon, and Zanoubia was one of the them. She was a ‘Ubayyah Sharrakiyah from the horses of the Dandashi landowners of Western Syria, who were famed for the beauty and purity of their horses. The strain came from the Sba’ah tribe. A couple of the Dandashi horses made their way to Europe and the USA. The Dandashi were the owners of the 1880 black Babolna stallion O-Bajan, who’s left such an imprint on Asil breeding in Europe. They were also the breeders of the Saqlawi Jadran, sire of the Asil mare *Muha, imported by Ameen al-Rihani to the USA. That Saqlawi Jadran was a gift from…