The best surprise was Monologue CF who is 25 years old this year, and looks very good for his age. He is now fully owned by Darlene Summers.
AAS Nelyo who is eleven this year, looks like a *Muhaira reincarnation, the color, the body, the style, the bump on the nose, etc. His is closely linebred to her — I counted seven crosses including the tail female — so that’s no surprise. He is dark (no white marks) and was standing in the shade so I could not get better photos. I also realize that most of my bodyshots are titled upwards because I am tall, and that the headshots are better because they’re taken at my level. Nelyo is a good horse overall: flat croup, high set tail, good length of hip, deep girth and deep loins (very important to me), strong backbone, deep jowls, pleasing dry face with a lively, soft, intelligent eye, nice throat arch and long neck. Also good movement and carriage of tail. The downsides are a neck that’s relatively low set when at rest, long ears (a defect in a stallion but a desirable feature in mares), a slightly longer back and a chest that’s a bit narrow. Not major defects by any means but I need to be careful to which mares I breed him to. I would love to have…
She looks more like an Egyptian mare in this photo, despite having only fiven percent Old Egyptian blood (*Fadl and Sirecho crosses).
Badia Al Arab (Monologue CF x Barakah Al Arab) looked great for a growing two year old; she has substance, style and a good temperament all at once. She is an improvement over her dam, especially in the length of hip, the depth of the jowls (to me very important) and the breadth of the forehead between the eyes. I never cease to marvel at the consistency and quality of Monologue’s offspring, and wish I had more of them. Her dam Barakah who is ten years old this year. She has a certain style and dryness that reminds of me desert horses. She transmitted her round barrel and deep girth to her daughter. Looking at her face (the eyelids, the fleebites on the face, the black skin around the eyes and muzzle and the soft look in the eyes) brings back childhood memories of times spent around horses in Syria and Lebanon.
The second new *Turfa mare, Lizaar Del Siksikas, is four years old. I could not get good body shots of her because she was just beginning to learn to trust new people so she kept hiding behind the other *Turfa mare. Lizaar has 87.5 percent desert blood and 12.5 percent Egyptian blood (*Fadl and *Nasr only). She has a tremendous girth, long ears, good legs, and a short back, but it’s too early to judge the rest. I feel that the croup in particular is work in progress. She is also quite tall. I think I will change her name in the AHA registry into a name more befitting of her noble origins.
Today Jenny Krieg and I drove up to Pennsylvania to see my horses and her colt. First time in a year and first time since my return to the US. It was also my first time seeing the two new *Turfa mares, who are very different from each other. I first saw Nejed Cupid, who is in foal without a precise due date. She is twenty years old but does not look her age. She is 95 percent desert bloodlines — the main reason for my getting her — and only 5 percent Egyptian (*Fadl and *Nasr). Her *Turfa crosses are in the back of the pedigree, including the female line, but she looks a lot like horses with *Turfa up close (e.g., Ibn Sirecho, a *Turfa grandson). Like most *Turfa horses, she has a pleasing head that’s a tad too short and a tad too square, but with a small muzzle and deep round jowls. Now I am not sure how much of that head shape is attributable to *Fadl as opposed to *Turfa, because as you know, one can’t get *Turfa in Al Khamsa pedigrees without *Fadl. Like most other horses with *Turfa, she also has a flat,…
Cupid is the one on the right, and is in foal to the stallion on the left for a winter (!) baby. The sheep are not part of the lot.
Little Jamr’s big daughter. She is now five years old and still growing, taller and broader.
Alaa Wusool (“Upon Arrival” in Arabic) traces to the extraordinary *Turfa in the tail female, and is one of the youngest stallions from that lineage alive today. Photo by his breeder in Capulin, CO. I now own a four year old full sister.
Jens Sannek shared this article out of the Journal – Arabische Pferde 1982 I, page 33 – written by the late Dr. Ekkehard Frielinghaus. The article, “Bairactar? Sie können ihn besuchen!” has a picture that shows the skeleton of Bairactar, the Siglawi Jidran born in 1813, which is in the museum of the University of Hohenheim.
His full name was Fatis bin Salim al-Hajiri of Beni Hajar tribe of Qahtan. I found five sources on him in English, and there must be more in Arabic. 1/ In Judith Forbis’ “Pearls of Great Price” 1971 AHW article: “…an ancient Arab named Fetyz, whom nobody knows the true age of and who attended Sheikh Isa’s great granfather.” 2/ In Volume 1 of the Amiri Arabian Studbook of Bahrain: “In 1969 old studmaster Fatis realized that in the herd of broodmares in his change there was only one Kuheila’t Umm Zorayr, […] Fatis took her up to the Palace and put her in race training!” “After the death of the old studmaster in charge, from 1942 to 1974, registering each purebred became a necessity” 3/ On the website of the Bahrain Royal Stud: “There was a fourth mare, Hamdanieh Fatis 202 bred at Al Kharj in Saudi Arabia.“ This photo and legend: “Old Fatis on Old Shawaf” are also on this website: Also this photo, riding what looks like the same Shawaf stallion (I really like this horse) 4/ Another, nicer and larger photo in Danah Al Khalifah’s photo book “The Living Treasures of Bahrain” also riding this Shawaf.…
Our wifi was off for the entire day yesterday. I managed to get some filing done, folded up shopping bags. Even got some meal prepping done. I dove into the boxes that Gisela Aschenborn Uijs (of Nabilah fame) sent me and I found a certified copy of NABILAH (imp) (ENZAHI x ZAMZAM, by GAMIL III)’s extended pedigree. The original was issued by Fouad Abaza Pasha, Director General of the Royal Agricultural Society and witnessed by Dr. Abdel Alim Ashoub, Chief Animal Breeding Section, Royal Agricultural Society. The pedigree spans several pages, so I’ll take it apart and post it when I can. The wifi going off was serendipitous after all!!
I love the intelligent look on the Bahraini stallion Jellaby Kher M45. He is Darak’s great-grandsire. The photo was taken during the WAHO conference of 1998.
Four mares were bred to Hamdaany Darak this year. Two of mine (Danika and Jasminah) and two for Christelle Seranne who is keeping him for me, out of Arab-Barb endurance mares. Top photo Marion Wasilewski, bottom photo Christelle Seranne.
Photo from Jens Sannek at his owner’s Johann Helm in Austria. Jellaby Bint Anbara has no progeny unfortunately.
Munir Al Arab is Mayassah’s son by Pulcher Ibn Reshan (ex-Anecdote CF). He belongs to Debbie Mackie.
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Two new photos of *Munifan and *Munifeh are delighting the Al Khamsa community online. They come from an article in the Western Livestock Journal that is titled “Desert Imports—Crown Prince of Arabia Sends Arabians as Gift to California Horseman.” The three others photos, including *Munifan’s headshot and the two pictures of their son Munisaud are not new.
From top to bottom: Antar DE, Cascade DE and Hadeed DE. All three sons of Tamaam DE (error in the pedigree of Hadeed, who is not by Carver). Photos by Lyman Doyle in summer 2024.
“Kunz al-Durar wa-Jami’ al-Ghurar anz al-Durar wa-Jami al-Ghurar” (The Treasure of Pearls and the Collection of Shining Objects) is a major nine-volume universal history written by the 14th-century Mamluk historian Abū Bakr ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn Aybak al-Dawādārī. It is considered one of the most important surviving historical sources for understanding Islamic history and the Mamluk Sultanate. While al-Dawādārī worked on the final draft of the text between 1331 and 1335 CE, the Kuhaylah mention falls under the events of the year 1320. Below is the account of the event where the mention occurs in Arabic, then in an English (with the help of AI), then my comments on the text: ذكر [حوادث] سنة عشرين وسبع ماية ومماّ يحكى من جملة سعادة مولانا السلطان أن بلغ المسامع الشريفة فى هذه السنة أنّ ببلاد البحرين حصانا أشقر قليل المثل فى وقته، فأرسل مولانا السلطان فى طلبه، وعاد الخاطر الشريف متعلقّا به، لكثرة ما وصف له من صفات ذلك الحصان المذكور. ثم اّتصّل بالمسامع الشريفة أنّ الفرس المذكور وصل إلى الشأم المحروس. فأرسل البريد فى طلبه ورسم ألا يّشتريه أحدمن العربان ولا من غيرهم. وعاد مولانا السلطان كثير التطلعّ إلى أخباره والحثّ على حضوره فلماّ وصل البريد المتوجّه فى طلب الفرس إلى…
By AAS Nelyo out of Barakah Al Arab, her second foal. Easy, uneventful delivery. After keeping watch that night, Sue went to take a shower, came back and there he was out and up.
So happy that this royal Najdi line to *Nufoud, which ten years ago was down to a couple mares only (Belle herself and AB Dafinaah, a cousin at Monica Respet’s) is now fairly safe with a second branch developing at Moira Walker’s. Moira’s colt Landrace Belisarius (by Jamr) and her filly Landrace Bellara (by Pulcher Ibn Reshan) are growing nicely and turning into what their lineage predicted they would.
Some time in 2023-24, the concept of “quiet luxury” gained traction in fashion circles online and offline. It’s always been there, in close circles, but it’s now out in the mainstream. My built-in web AI defines quiet luxury as “an understated fashion movement that prioritizes high-quality materials, timeless design, and discreet elegance.” It tells me that it’s also called the “old money aesthetic” and that it’s the opposite of loud, ostentatious, in your face, brand and logo-heavy fashion. (It’s also how I have always dressed without knowing, but that’s not my point here). This evening it hit me that I had been advocating for a similar movement as applied to Arabian horses for close to two decades now. I am going to name it “Quiet Nobility”, and trademark it. It’s also about high quality “materials” (i.e., bloodlines, genotype), timeless “design” (i.e., conformation, phenotype), and discreet “elegance” (i.e., style), but in the breeding of Arabian horses. No extreme, flashy looks and movements. Nothing “too much”. Rather, a quiet, soothing, pleasing look in mares, and a confident, virile, debonnaire, slightly disdainful look in stallions. I think this is where the breed will be going in the future. It also happens to be…
Some thirty years ago, an aprocryphal story spread in Arabian horses circles about a purported conversation between a senior Western official and a Saudi prince (their names are not the point of the story). It goes that the Western official pleaded for the Prince to register his large herd of Arabian horses — two hundred of them. The prince retorted: “who are you to register our horses? we (I guess meaning Arabs) should be the ones to register your horses, not you registering ours”. I don’t know if the story is true, as I only heard it third hand.
“Nowadays breeding of the Arabian in the Middle East has concentrated on race horses for the Beirut and Cairo race tracks. However this breeding has been tainted by the intrusion of English Thoroughbred blood in the Arabian horses of Iraq. The Iraqi Arabian is bigger and runs faster — but he has lost the look of the desert bred pure Arabian — that pristine beauty and lead toughness of the desert horse is disappearing alas too fast.” When living in Lebanon before the year 2000, I have seen, owned, and bred from some of these Iraqi horses. They are beautiful horses but they are not Arabians. A few years ago, some high profile Iraqi breeders have engaged ina full-blown communication effort aimed at claiming asil status for these Iraqi “Arabians”. I call it “asil-washing”. Progress in DNA analysis (Y-DNA, mtDNA and autosomal) will uncover these bogus claims.
I am not sure who colorized this well-known photo of *Haleb, taken by Arthur Moore during Davenport’s trip to Arabia in 1906, but they did a good job (except perhaps for too many blue gowns). The quality of *Haleb shows well. I am reminded of his descendant Mayassah.
Badia Al Arab is by Monologue CF out of Barakah Al Arab. Barakah Al Arab is by Wadd Al Arab out of Jadah BelloftheBall. Wadd Al Arab is by Triermain out Wisteria CF. Three generations Al-Dahdah breeding. الكحيلة بركة العرب وبنتها بادية العرب يوم السبت
Facebook pages are reposting this photo of Jedran (Ghazi × Baribeh) a 1932 chestnut stallion from the lineage of Basilisk. He was bred by W.R. Brown, stood at Travelers Rest, was sold to the US Remounts and was used in service from 1935 to 1945. Photo from The Arabian Horse News magazine February 1955. He had the same hip and hindquarters as my Ginger.
Somehow I had never seen this photo of Spencer Borden’s stallion Segario, an important sire in early American Arabian horse breeding. Someone posted them on allbreedpedigree.com. He is in the pedigree of Mayassa Al Arab, and of her son Munir Al Arab (by Pulcher Ibn Reshan), photo below. Munir belongs to Debbie Mackie, who’s been leasing Mayassa from me for several years now. There are seven generations and 122 years between Segario (b. 1902) and Munir (b. 2024).
Ahmad Tariq al-Hashimi sent me this old photo, likely taken in Iraq at the beginning of the 20th century. You see an Ottoman official, and the text is in Ottoman Turkish. The mare on the left is Kuhaylat al-Ajuz and the one on the right is a Kuhaylah Bu’ayrah. Both are superb representatives of the breed. They look clean, well noursihed and sport western style bridles. Clearly the horses of a pasha or a high level government official. The Bu’ayri (from ba’ir, camel) strain, still exists in Iran today. It is a very rare strain, that appears in several early strain lists, e.g., Raswan’s (below, under “Bayiri”), where it’s the first in the Kuhaylan strains starting with the letter B. It also appears in George Tabet’s 1937 list, as a self-standing strain not to be mated, not under Kuhaylan. Below, Kousha Rezai, a proud 2009 representative of the Bu’ayri strain. Photo Gudrun Waiditshka.
This stallion is not your usual Egyptian horse. Born at Gustl Eutermoser in Austria in 1974, he traces to the desert-bred Mabrouka, gifted by King Ibn Saud to the King of Egypt in 1945. He is special in that six out of sixteen of his 4th generation ancestors are desert bred. The headshot photo was taken by S. Kübe written under the picture in Asil Araber II page 473. The body shot is Asil Araber III page 680. Jens Sannek, who sent me both photos, told me that was first in training and second in performance test at Medingen in Northern Germany in 1978. Habib is in the pedigree of my Jasminah.
Now aged 25 years old, Hayoun (Hashem x Palmirah) is a grandson of Hamdan II (Hamdan x Folla) and looks like him. He is 50% Iranian, 37.5% RAS/Inshass Egyptian, and 12.5% Tahawi to Folla. Photo S. Freitag.
Photo gleaned off social media without a source. If you know it’s source please share. [Update: Kate tells me rthat there was another photo of King Faisal on the same horse at ctesiphon.com]
On their journey back from Hail to Bagdad in early 1870, Lady Anne and Wilfrid Blunt met the Al Kathir tribe, which she refers to in the plural as “Ketherin”, with their leader Mutlakh, and nearly purchased a handsome Wadnan Khursan horse from them. The Al Kathir are part of the larger Bani Lam tribe. The edition by Archer and Fleming of Lady Anne’s Journals and Correspondence is so truncated here that it’s not immediately obvious that Mutlakh’s tribe is the Kethirin. This becomes plain once they are in Persia, when they make the connections to other Bani Lam there. Her Journal entry for February 17, 1879 is upbeat, and in my opinion, one of the nicest sections of her J&C, complete with scenes from Bedouin hospitality and description of horses and nature: “We have spent an interesting day. As agreed we and Mohamed and Mutlakh went to the latter’s camp […]. Shatti said the owner of a horse would bring it to show us from these tents and presently two people on a delul came leading a bay colt with three white feet (two fore and near hind) and star — a beautiful little horse he looked as far…
This is just to have an idea of the people behind the horses. I found these on a (human) genealogy website. His brother is Abdel Khan, mounted on a dark Arabian horse. His father’s full name including titles is Gholam Hossein Khan Sardar Mohtasham Bakhtiar (Haji Ilkhani). His grandfather’s full name is Emam Gholi Khan Haji Ilkhani Bakhtiari (Esfandiari) (1819 – 1896). The latter is likely the Bakhtiari Khan Lady Anne and Wilfrid set out to meet in 1879, and the father of Ali-Qoli the young man they journeyed with on the way back from his pilgrimage to Mecca. The young Ali-Qoli Khan had promised the Blunts an introduction to his father (re-reading the J&C now to check if it actually happened). Ali-Qoli Khan was to have a distinguished career later on.
Through Kina Murray also comes this short movie about an ealier iteration of the centuries-old, seasonal migration of the Bakhtiari tribe. The sequence of the horse falling, hitting a rock, rolling then rising again as if unhurt is stunning.
Reposting this old photo of Fanaira (Fanifeh x *Muhaira), a bay 1962 Ubayyah mare of the strain of Ibn Jiluwi, bred by the Searles in the USA, entirely from Ibn Jalawi’s breeding. She is in the same style as my AAS Nelyo, who traces to her five times. The tail set and carriage, the croup, the length are similar.
The lovely Sotoudeh, a 1998 Iranian Asil Meleihieh of the strain of Ghassem Ali Zargani of the Zarqan/Zargan Bedouin tribe of Iran. I wrote about Ghassem Ali Zargani (multiple spellings) here. Photo courtesy of Jens Sannek, who just like me, is awed by this strain.
A screenshot of a fine chestnut mare from the movie “Migrate to Survive” on Mary Gharagozlu’s horses, around minute ten.
THe Encyclopedia Iranica has an interesting article on the Arab tribes of Iran, which takes a long historical perspective over thousands of years. The following excerpt on the tribes of Khuzestan is informative: There are numerous Arab tribes in Ḵūzestān, all of which still speak Arabic. The most important ones at the turn of the century included: (1) north of Ahvāz:
Lately, I have been digging into the origins of Iranian Arabian horses. Using authoritative works in the Arabic language such as ‘Abbas al-‘Azzawi’s monumental “Tribes of Iraq” in four volumes and other sources, I was able to identify several of the older, original horse breeders mentioned in the first studbook of the Asil Stud of Khuzestan (ASK), excerpts of which Jens Sannek shared with me. This is the precursor of the Iranian Arabian horse studbook. Gassem Ali Zarqan (abbreviated GAZ in the ASK) is one these Arab tribal breeders. He is the breeder of a Meleihe (Mlayhan) stallion, Meleihe GAZ, which features prominently in early Iranian Arabian horse pedigrees. I found a reference to Gassem Ali Zarqan in Azzawi’s “Tribes of Iraq”: عشائر اخرى متصلة بكعب وهذه العشائر منها فى العراق لا سلطة لامارة كعب عليها، ومنها فى الحويزة ولا تخلو عشيرة من عشائر خوزستان الا ولها أصل فى العراق ومن أشهرها.الباوية : وأصلهم من ربيعة وليس بصواب عدهم من كعب. يسكنون فى شرقي نهر كارون. قال البسام: “فى جانب البصرة الشرقي الباوية. ألف خيّال تتبع شيخ كعب وهم منتشرون فى أنحاء أخرى من العراق :وهذه أشهر طوائفهم: الزركان. رئيسهم جبار بن قاسم علي (يلفظ قسمه لي). ولهم نخوة خاصة…
Jens Sannek shared with me this wonderful picture of the Iranian Arabian stallion Jallad (Arras x Atlassi by Sepid x Aram), a Wadnan Khursan of the Mir strain. Jallad was from the foundation stock of the Asil Stud of Khuzestan (ASK) and was imported from Iran to Austria by Gustl Eutermoser and Ulrike Marcik in 1979. He spent the later years of his life with Bibi Degn in Germany and in The Netherlands. Jens is unsure of who took the picture, so if anyone happens to know please come forward. Look at the fine skin, the abundant forelocks, the prominent facial bones, and the fine muzzle ending with elongated (not square) nostrils, all hallmarks of authenticity.
Jasminah will be bred to the 2001 stallion Hayoun (Hashem x Palmira) for a 2027 foal — his photo and the hypomating below. Hayoun is the full brother of the dam of Abu Khamseh (photo below), a significant stallion in European endurance comptitions. Abu Khamseh is already in Jasminah’s pedigree.
Thanks to Kina Murray for reminding me of this wonderful documentary, “Migrate to Survive”, about the Iranian asil horses of Mary Gharagozlou. Some really nice mares and stallions are featured, including the black one Mary is seen riding into the mountains in the screenshot below, and a couple of noticeable grey and chestnut mares.
Quoting from her article on the Asil Horse of Khuzestan (full article here on the WAHO website), a good starting point for information on this topic: Of the tribes mentioned by Layard in the first quotation, branches of the Al Khamees, Al Kathir and the Bani Lam are existent today in Khuzestan. The Bani Lam and the Al Kathir are known for the foundation of certain strains, the former for the Saglawi Djadrani, and Nesman (branch of the Koheilan), the latter for the Hamdani Semri, Saglawi Djadran, Wadne and a Wadne branch known as the Zaghieh. The Kaab, under whose name General Tweedie recognizes the Arab of Iran, are a large tribe divided into sub-tribes. Those best known for certain strains are the Jassemi for the Hetli (a Koheilan derivative) and the Sofferieh (a Saglawi sub-strain); the Mojadami known for a branch of the Hamdani, the Sobeili and Beaiyreh (Wadne Koheili). There are the Bani Khalid famous for Soffeirieh and Djelfe (Julfa to Layard); the Seyyids of Hosseini with the Maanghieh (Maneghi); the Seyyids of Tefagh with the Koheilan Adjuz, the Nesman and the Djelfe; and the Ziareh are best known for their Saglawis. However, the strain whose stallion is…
book “Breeding of Pure Bred Arab Horses: “Some Europeans make a big distinction between a Syrian, or desert and Najd horse; etc. All these horses are from the same origin ….. I am often amused to read about horse lovers who have had to deal with Arab horses; they seem to be quite convinced that the best horses are from this or that tribe. But I say this: There are good horses in all the tribes; Arabs are neighbours and warriors, they fight often between themselves and the conqueror takes all the best stock from the other. In this way good horses are taken from one tribe to another, and it is, therefore, more accurate to say that the strongest tribe gets the best.”