The stallion below is the Saqlawi Jadran Benlarich Futhi El Arab (Sidi El Thabi x Johrhemar El Lulwa), tail female to Ghazieh through the Orpen import Nabilah (Enzahi x Zamzam). He was a versatile riding horse, with a show record under saddle, and an endurance career with over 1600km, that included completing the Fauresmith National Ride in 2010, a roughly 200km ride split over three consecutive days, as well as a first place finish in the heavyweight category at the 120km at the Parys Daly Land Rover ride. In addition to his accomplishments as an athlete, owner Eduard von Moltke says that he was a very great gentleman. His pedigree is noteworthy, as his dam, Johrhemar El Lulwa, is the granddaughter of Inzam Saklabilah, who was out of Nabilah by Gordonville Ziyadan; Ziyadan was not just the only son of the Kuhaylah Mimrahiyah mare Barakah, but also the only asil son that her fellow Orpen import Zahir got. It is unusual to see all three Orpen imports this close in an asil pedigree today.
Below is a photo of Sahiby Bint Baraka, the daughter of Barakah and Tuwaisan, as an adult mare. Wollie Bollie is an affectionate nickname, meaning “ball of wool”. Sahiby Bint Baraka had four registered foals, two daughters and two sons. It is through her second daughter, Sahiby Noura, that the asil Kuhaylan al-Mimrah line survives in southern Africa today. Her first daughter, Sahiby Danah, was by the half-Egyptian stallion Robdon Zingari (Zahir x Yasimet), and produced four colts. Through them, Sahiby Danah’s blood can be found in the pedigrees of endurance horses, such as Arkab Nazeer, Deo-Gratias Nazira, and Silvretta Brio. Her first son, Sahiby Asham, by Ahir (Morafic x Deenaa), did not breed on, while her second son, Sahiby Tuwaisan, died just short of his first birthday.
El Salil Paloma is a 2009 Saqlawiyah Jadraniyah from the Nabilah tail female line, in South Africa, out of the mare Induba Wasifa, by the Kuhaylan al-Mimrah stallion Skarabee Picasso. Nabilah (Enzahi x Zamzam) was one of the two Egyptian mares imported in 1945 from the Royal Agricultural Society by Claude Orpen, along with the well-known Mimrahiyah Barakah. After arriving in South Africa, Nabilah was sent to Namibia, where she produced her daughter Inzam Saklabilah by the stallion Gordonville Ziyadan. All Nabilah’s descendants today trace to this one registered daughter. In addition to her status as one of the rare Nabilah line mares, El Salil Paloma is precious in South African asil breeding, as she is also one of the few Nabilah tail female descendants without Hanan or Tifla. To date she has produced two asil foals, a colt by El Salil Benjamin and a filly by Kromar Xoyatan, but the filly sadly died last month. Paloma herself nearly did not make it to adulthood, as her owner and breeder Fallon Thiele writes: When Paloma was a 3month old filly she was caught in a snare, it severed her back tendon on her right hind leg. We nearly put her…
Yesterday, Jana and I spent a lovely afternoon in the company of Pienaar, Pauline and Gerhard Du Plessis at Saruk Arabians outside Albertinia in the Western Cape. We came for lunch on Easter Sunday and spent a lot of time chatting so time flew by. They run a successful endurance racing operation mainly oriented towards a Gulf audience. They have two very impressive sons of Tuwaisaan 406 (he died in 2011), built like tanks, out of old South Africa dam lines. I also saw and took some photos (iPhone 8…) of Mlolshaan Mutaab, who put on a show in his paddock. He reminded up of the Davenport stallion Vice-Regent CF in pictures I have seen. Mutaab is 22 years old but does not look it. He is quite small for a Bahraini horse — Pauline believes he was raised as an orphan — but is well balanced. Round croup, broad chest, hig tail carriage, good shoulder, deep jowls, small expressive ears. He has that big, bulky Mlolshaan head, not unlike Mlolshaan Hager Solomon’s in the USA. When he moves, he looks transformed. I also saw one of his daughters out of a mare of Egyptian lines. Videos in the next…
Below is a photograph of the young Morafic son Ahir (out of Deenaa), aged two. The photo, taken by Zelda Welgemoed, and shared by Wilton Burger, was taken at the Sahiby Stud in Tokai. Ahir was bred by Gleannloch, and imported to South Africa by Dr Valérie Noli-Marais, who used him on Sahiby Bint Baraka, the daughter of the Egyptian mare Barakah and the Bahraini stallion Tuwaisan. Ahir and Sahiby Bint Baraka had three foals, two of which were colts – Sahiby Asham and Sahiby Tuwaisan – and one filly, Sahiby Noura. Sahiby Noura was then bred back to her own sire twice, producing one colt, Sahiby Rifki, and the celebrated broodmare, Sahiby Juleemah, from whom all the asil al-Mimrah horses in South Africa descend. Ahir left other asil offspring, besides the Barakah descendants. Dr Noli-Marais also imported the Straight Egyptian mare AK Bint Gamilaa (Ibn Moniet El Nefous x Gamilaa); she produced three colts – Sahiby Al Hasni, Sahiby Al Jiwan, and Sahiby Gamaal El Arab – and one filly – Sahibi Bint Ahir – by him. Subsequently, Mr Maritz imported another Straight Egyptian mare Lar Malika (Al Fattah x Talara), who produced the filly Sidi Morafica by Ahir,…
Continuing on with the Courthouse elements in asil South African breeding, below are photos of the Rosina granddaughter, Whitehouse Bint Yakouta (Anchor Hill Omar x Sahiby Yakouta). Foaled in 1986, Whitehouse Bint Yakouta is the head of the second of the three branches of asil Rosina-line horses in Southern Africa, with representation in Namibia and South Africa both. She has nine asil foals on record, five sons and four daughters, all by the EAO-bred import Mefdal (Zahi x Marzouka). Her first foal, the stallion Kamarie El Omar (foaled January 1994). Another of her sons, Kamarie Anter (foaled December 1994). Kamarie Anter again. Whitehouse Bint Yakouta (on the right) with her daughters Kamarie Yosreia (foaled 1995), Kamarie Bint Bint Yakouta (foaled 1997), and Kamarie Yasmeena (foaled 2000). Photos courtesy of Wilton Burger and Maretha Garbers Coetzee.
(By Kate McLachlan and Moira Walker) Below is a photo of the rising five-year-old mare, Sanniesguns Sahara, a daughter of the asil Rosina-line stallion Jauhar El-Zar and the Kuhaylah Mimrahiyah Sidi Maschata. Her sire’s dam, Whitehouse Yashma, is by the stallion Anchor Hill Omar, bringing in Babson-Sirecho-Gainey breeding. Yashma’s dam, Sahiby Yakouta, is a daughter of the Courthouse mare Rosina, who has one line each to the stallions Atesh and Nimr. The Courthouse Stallions have been featured before, with barely surviving asil lines posted about 1/ here, 2/ here, 3/ here, 4/ and here. For functional purposes, the lines of descent have broken into two branches: the Austria branch, consisting of Nimr and Fedaan; and the South Africa branch, consisting of Nimr and Atesh. The preservation of the considerably more endangered Austrian branch has been spearheaded by Laszlo Kiraly, who rescued the 1994 mare Saraly El Shahin and 2015 daughter, Salome Hamdaniya, who both carry the unique tail female line going straight back to the Blunt mare Sobha. Hopefully this continues to thrive, as it is currently the only known line to carry forward Fedaan. The South African line, on the other hand, is a little more robust, although it…
The photo below, shared with the kind permission of Janien Strauss, is of the Kuhaylan al-Mimrah stallion, Sidi Egyptian Nile (Thee Cyclone x Sahiby Juleemah), whose half-siblings have been featured on the blog before. The story of the Kuhaylan al-Mimrah strain in South Africa is already known to most readers of the blog, but here is a quick recap: in the 1940s, Claude Orpen imported three stallions and two mares to South Africa from Egypt. One of these mares was the three-year-old Barakah (Ibn Manial x Gamalat). In South Africa, she produced two foals by her fellow import, the stallion Zahir (Ibn Fayda x Zahra), a colt, Gordonville Ziyadan, and a filly, Gordonville Zahara. Unfortunately, Zahara died young, and Barakah’s next foals were not asil. The Kuhaylan al-Mimrah strain would have died out in asil form, had it not been for the intervention of Dr Valerie Noli-Marais, who acquired the aged Barakah, and the gift of the Bahraini stallion Tuwaisan, by Sheikh Isa bin Sulman Al-Khalifa. Barakah’s last foal, born when the mare was twenty-seven, was, miraculously, a daughter, Sahiby Bint Baraka. Sahiby Bint Baraka had four registered foals, but only one of her two fillies was asil, Sahiby Noura,…
… poetically, as Pienaar Du Plessis put it to me. I am soo excited.. a 25 year old (yes!) dream of mine has come true, five generations later.. UPDATE: Less cryptically, Pienaar Du Plessis gave me the opportunity to realize a 25 year old dream of acquiring an asil mare from the Egyptian Kuhaylan Mimreh line. We had been looking for a mare from this line but without show blood, and he found this 21 year old grey beauty, which his family had owned years and years ago, MH Egyptian XTC, a couple hours down the road from his farm in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. She had been the owner’s daughter’s riding horse, and his daughter had gone to college. The mare is a problem breeder and has never had a foal. She is now at Pienaar’s Saruk’s Stud, with Mlolshaan Mutab, her future husband (top photo). The idea is to do embryo transfer at a clinic in George in the Western Cape. She carries eight diverse lines to Morafic (3x through Ibn Moniet El Nefous, 2x through Ahir, 1x through Shaker El Masri in the tail male, 1x through Inas, 1x through The Egyptian Prince) and otherwise plenty…
In Keeping with the two previous entries, here are the non-Egyptian asil tail female lines remaining in South Africa today: Kuhaylan 1) Rodania, through Rosina (Saoud x Ruth by Bendigo), Kuhaylah Rudaniyah (branch of K. al-‘Ajuz), imported to the UK in 1881, bred by the Ruwalah (‘Anazah) 2) Freiha al-Hamra, through Barakah, Kuhaylan Mimrihiyah, imported to Egypt in the 1880s, and bred by the Fad’aan (‘Anazah)
Some time last year, this blog featured the precious asil Kuhaylan al-Mimrah line to the mare Baraka (Ibn Manial x Gamalat) which has been flourishing in South Africa. The series of postings on Baraka and her descendents attracted a lot of attention from South Africa and Namibia, and is by far the most popular thread on this blog. Now is the time to feature another asil line that has survived in South Africa, and which carries crosses to desert-bred lines that are extinct almost everywhere else around the globe. That’s the line of the mare Rosina (Saoud x Ruth II by Bendigo), a 1950 Kuhaylat al-Rodan exported by H. V. Musgrave Clark to South Africa in 1953. The line is a tail female to Rodania, an 1869 desert-bred Kuhaylat Rodan imported by Lady Anne Blunt in 1881, and one of the most influential mares in Arabian (and asil) horse breeding. What’s so special about this line, will you ask? Kuhaylan al-Rodan asil horses are all over the place. Well, first of all, the absolute majority of Rodania tail female horses are within what is known as “Straight Egyptian” breeding, a sub-set of asil breeding which has branched out into a category – and…
I finally got to meet Carol Monkhouse at the Al Khamsa Convention in Oregon. Carol was visiting from the UK, with her husband Terry Lee. She has a couple mares, Maloof Habiba (Maloof Habibi x Maloof Sahara by Subani) and Maloof Hadiya (Parnell x Devlin), and their offspring, which she keeps at the Doyle ranch, in Alfalfa, Oregon. I had corresponded with Carol some fifteen years ago, after a mutual friend, Tzviah Idan, had introduced us to each other, at at time all three of us happened to be looking at remaining old Blunt lines (i.e., no Skowronek, who is so ubiquitous as to have his own Wikipedia page) around the world. I was delighted to finally meet her in person. We had identified the 1978 asil stallion Arabesque Azieze (Hansan x Orilla by Oran) in New Zealand (last asil Wadnan al-Khursan stallion in the West, also last asil line to Oran); some asil descendants of the 1950 mare Rozina (Saoud x Ruth II by Bendigo) in South Africa, by the asil Kuhaylan al-Mimrah stallion Gordonville Ziyadan (more on this precious line later, it is still there); the two asil Courthouse Hamdani Simri full sisters Sappho and Sceptre (Bleinheim X Selima by Bahram, more on those twi later as…
I know there were Al Khamsa eligible tail-female descendants of Dajania after Nadirat, although they might not yet be in the Al Khamsa database. One is Nadirat’s 1946 daughter Aalastra, by Gulastra. And of course there was Nadirat’s famous 1935 daughter Aarah, by Ghadaf. Nefisa is one of the most interesting of all the Crabbet broodmares, with her 21 live foals. Nine of these were fillies. Although Narghileh and Nasra were the two retained for breeding at Crabbet, and probably two of her best, the other fillies are worth a look too. Nefisa’s first filly was Nahla 1889 (by Ashgar). The Blunts actually planned to retain her for breeding, but she died in the fall of her three-year-old year from overeating acorns in Crabbet Park. Nefisa’s next filly was Nejiba 1892 (by Azrek). From her picture, this was a really dandy grey Azrek daughter. She did produce four foals at Crabbet, all colts. One died, one was sold to India, one to Scotland, and one was given to a nephew of Lady Anne’s who lived in Greece. Nejiba herself was given away at age 11 to the son of a longtime friend of Wilfrid Blunt’s. Nefisa’s next filly was Narghileh 1895,…
I bet some of you think this is overkill, but here are two more pictures of that lovely Kuhaylat al-Mimrah mare that went from Egypt to South Africa. The first one also features a headshot of the Bahraini stallion Tuwaisaan. With kind permision Pauline Du Plessis, Saruk Stud, RSA
Pretty mare, eh? Nabilah Fanatasia (Omar El Shaker x Nabilah Bint Saklabilah) is from South Africa’s Nabilah Stud and traces to the Saqlawiyah Jadraniyah mare Nabilah (Enzahi x Zamzam) in tail female, as well as to the Kuhaylat al-Mimrah Barakah in the midde of the pedigree. Both Nabilah and Baraka were imported to South Africa in the 1940s. Photo courtesy of Eugene Geyser of South Africa.
As a follow up to an earlier post on the Asil Kuhaylan al-Mimrah strain that breeds on in South Africa, this is a rare picture of the lovely Barakah (Ibn Manial x Gamalat), the mare through which the strain survives in Asil form. Photo courtesy of Albert Kaffka of the Al-Yatun Asil Stud in South Africa. By the way, if you are interested in the horses that were exported from Egypt to South Africa in the 1940s – of which Barakah was one – and their Asil descendents there, read this article, courtesy of Eugene Geyser, the President of the Asil Club of South Africa. Barakah was bred to the Asil stallion Tuwaisaan, an import from Bahrain, to produce Sahibi Bint Barakah, of which you can find a picture here (scroll down).