Category: General

Photos by Terence Doyle. His back is short, his withers high and his shoulder strong. He seems to have good bone too. I are not count how many crosses to Gulastra. Around a hundred I would say. Certainly 45 just in his sire Tamaam.

I am waiting to see when their muzzles will start bending upwards and then backwards to reach their ears. At the rate things are “evolving”, I am saying ten years. Meanwhile, I will be busy breeding real Arabian horses, with straight or slightly concave profiles, a triangular nor rectangular head, a small muzzle and deep jowls.

That will be the pompous official name of my new Ma’naqi colt. He is so named in memory of the foundation sire of Lebanese Arabians. The original Shaykh Al Arab (1940s) was an ‘Ubayyan Sharrak but he was sired by a Ma’naqi Sbayli. His owner Henri Pharaon named him after his breeder, Rakan Ibn Mirshid, the Shaykh of the Gmassah Bedouins and of the larger Sba’ah Bteynat tribe (b. 1892 in the desert — d. 1982 in Kuwait). Rakan (photo below, I think by Carl Raswan, and another photo holding his mare) was the son of Bashir, the son of Sulayman Ibn Mirshid, the leader of Sba’ah from whom Captain Upton bought Haidee in 1874. The new colt traces to Haidee in the maternal line. Rakan was a progressive and open Bedouin leader, who called for peace between the tribes and for them to abondon their nomadic lifestyle. Rakan was preceded in the leadership of the Sba’ah by his father Bashir, his uncle Ghatwan, his other uncle Hazza’, his father’s paternal cousin Butayyin (the Beteyen of Lady Anne), his father’s other paternal cousin Mashhur, and his grandfather Sulayman. Sulayman had led a rebellion of his tribe against the Ottomans. He…

This morning Lyman Doyle told me that young Pippa had delivered her first foal, a large, strong colt by Tamaam DE. Pippa foaled on her own, at dusk. The colt, chestnut of course, was quickly up and nursing. I am so grateful to Terry and Rosemary Doyle for boarding her at their farm (and for the photo), and to DeWayne for leasing her (and her dam) to me. This is my first Ma’naqi Sbayli foal, and I certainly hope not the last. How I love this strain. I was talking to Hazaim the other day, and he was telling me how much he loved it too. Just the evocation of his strain reminds me of the stories of my childhood about the horses and horsemen of the Sba’ah leaders from the house of Ibn Mirshid. One day, if this young fellow lives and grows, he will become a stallion, and see his name — which I still need to choose — added to the long and prestigious list of asil Ma’naqi stallions from the Sba’ah Bedouins, where his maternal line hails from: Funaytil, who made it back to the Sba’ah encampment along with 34 of his daughters and grand-daughters, out…

A quick overview of the various parts of Arabic/Islamic male names (people not horses) during and before the XIXth century may help. A typical name was constituted of different parts: The kinya: Abu Amin, “father of Amin”, people were referred as fathers of their firstborn son; if they did not have sons, they were still referred to as fathers of a hypothetical son carrying their own father’s first name. Example: your name is Ahmed, your father’s name is Ali, you don’t have a son, but your kinya would still be “Abu Ali”. The laqab: that’s the title: Agha, Pasha, Bey, Zadah, Effendi, Sheykh, Amir, etc. The ism: that’s the first name, Mohammed, Ahmed, Ali, Hussayn, etc. Sometimes in official documents or formal correspondence, the name of one’s father and grand father (and so on) would be included too: Mohammed ibn (son of) Ali ibn (son of) Ahmed ibn …. etc. The nisba: where the person came from, or resided last, or was born: al-Halabi (from Aleppo), al-Masri (from Cairo), al-Qudsi (from Jerusalem); one could have more than one, if for instance, they were born in one place, but resided in another, then moved to a third. This was regardless of…

This post is part of an ongoing series of posts on the Arab horses and other horse breeds in medieval equestrian treatises in the Arabic language. I have been discussing the subject with Hylke Hettema on various social media. I don’t like how social media platforms classify and archive discussions, so I am transferring it here. An earlier post from August 2019 had pointed to early mentions of “the Asil Arab horse” or “al-faras al-arabi al-asil” in the Nasiri book which is from 1333 CE. A second post recorded mentions, in the same book, of “the breeding of Arab horses” or “nitaaj al-khuyul al-arabiyyat“. Recently Hylke posted this short passage from a later treatise, Muhammad Musa al-Damiri‘s “Kit?b Hay?t al-Hayaw?n al-Kubra” which is from 1372 CE. This zoological treatise was translated to English in 1906 and is more commonly known as the “Life of Animals”: “wal-khaylu naw’aan: hajin wa ‘atiq, fal-‘atiqu min al-khayli ma abawaahu ‘arabiyyaan wal-hajinu alladhi abuhu ‘arabi wa ummuhu ‘ajamiyyah, wal-muqrif […] ‘aksuhu, wa kadhalika fi bani Aadam“ Hylke’s translation from Arabic to English is very good, and an edited version of it follows: Horses are of two kinds: hajin and ‘atiq; the ‘atiq among horses is…

I have already written about this about a decade ago, but I still love coming back to Samir Raafat’s list of the names and occupations of residents of the very upscale Cairo neighborhood of Koubbeh Gardens in 1936. It features two names which fans of old Egyptian Arabian horses will immediately recognize: Ibrahim Khairy Pasha, Lewa Mohamed Nafea Pasha, Rentier Both are Pashas, the highest rank in Egyptian/Ottoman nobility after the royal family. You will recognize the first as the owner of the mare Badaouia and the breeder of the RAS stallion Kheir (named after him), and the second as the owner of Nafaa El Saghira (also named after him). The occupation of the first is Lewa, a military title equivalent to Brigadier (e.g., my father was a Lewa in the Lebanese Army). The second has no real occupation, and lives from his rents, like most of the aristocrats of his time.

A rare photo of Farhan al-‘Olayyan al-Faraj made it today on the Facebook page of the Shumaylat section of the Fadaan Bedouin tribe. He is the man on the left of the photo. The young man in the middle is Tamir son of Nuri son of Miqhim ibn Mhayd, who went on to become the Shaykh of the Fadaan tribe during the 1980s and 1990s. Starting from the late 1950s and well into the 1980s, Farhan al-‘Olayyan, acting as the agent of the Mhayd Sheykhs, organized the purchase and the shipment to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia of several hundreds of the best desert-bred mares in Syria, the large majority from the ‘Anazah Bedouin tribes. Most of them went as gifts to Aal Saud princes and other senior government officials in Saudi Arabia. Some of the Bedouins who would not sell willingly were coerced into selling. In the span of those three decades, the Kingdom granted Saudi citizenship to tens of thousands of ‘Anazah Bedouins that were Syrian citizens, as well as monetary and other material incentives to settle in Saudi Arabia. All the Sba’ah and the Fad’aan, and most of the Hsinah and Wuld Ali moved to Saudi Arabia.…

This is another photo of the “Black Lady”, about which I had written before, here. I took this photo in 1999 or in 2000 in the countryside outside Aleppo. She is one of my two or three favorite Syrian mares. She is a Kuhaylat al-Krush from the breeding of ‘Atallah al-Nassar al-Jarba of the Northern Shammar. The latter got the strain from his cousin Mayzar al-Abd al-Muhsin al-Jarba (ca. 1960s), whose family had it from Muhammad ibn Rashid of Hail (ca. 1880s) who in turn had it from the Sheykhs of the Mutayr tribe. After the Ottomans quelled the rebellion of the Northern Shammar and hung their leader ‘Abd al-Karim al-Jarba on a bridge in Mossul in 1875, ‘Amsheh, the mother of ‘Abd al-Karim (and the daughter of the Sheykh of the Tai) fled with her younger son Faris and sought refuge with Muhammad ibn Rashid, the leader of the Southern Shammar in Hail. When peace was made with the Ottomans, she and her son returned to their tribe, and a Kuhaylat al-Krush from the horses of Ibn Rashid came with them.

Nuri Al Krush to Monologue. Not my first choice but she was barren to Jamr this past year. Her ovaries are in great shape for a 25 years old. Jamr, on the other hand, may be sub-fertile. Wadha to Monologue, for a Davenport foal that promises to be beautiful. Belle to Jamr. If she takes, it means he’s fertile. If she doesn’t, at least I have a Sharp (no Blunt blood) filly already. Pippa due in a few days, from Tamaam DE in Oregon.

I just noticed this entry in Lady Anne Blunt’s Journals, dated March 4th, 1910. I am making a note for myself: “This morning the mare of Amin Husseyn Koja Zade was brought to Jamil. She has no Ali Pasha Sherif’s stud connection but is by a quite other Shueyman, but a good horse that belonged to Prince Aziz – her dam a mare of the Khedive – Amin, an elderly man, was in some position at the Court at one time. She is not a bad mare — rather in Kehilan Mimrieh style.“ I need to look back at the documentation of the Khedive’s non-APS mares, particularly Carmen (Halabia), Venus and Makkaouia. I remember an Amin or an Abu Amin somewhere there. Maybe there is a connection there. I really need to get to the bottom of who Abu Amin was, this has been hanging for too long.

I was talking to Lee Oellerich earlier today. It had been a while since we last spoke, more than two years. I always learn new things from him. He told me that he acquired Sawannah then thought to be 22 from Mrs. Kelly and her daughter *Hadriya then 16 (for free) [see amendment in the comments below] from Mrs. Ott in 1970. Both mares were then at the Searle’s ranch in Arizona and running with Ibn Fadl. Sawannah never took but *Hadriya did and foaled a filly (Al Hadiyya) at Lee’s in Canada in 1971. Sawannah died before Lee could come down from Canada to Arizona to pick her up. Both mares were turned down by an AHA inspector because they were “too small”, so had to be registered in IAHRONA. Canada accepted their papers from IAHRONA and registered them. Lee has pictures of both of them unseen before. Lee also told me that Sawannah was given by a member of the Bahraini Aal Khalifah Royal family to a Saudi prince who in turn gave her to the Kellys. He also told me that Danah Al Khalifah had told him that she had shown the well known photo of Sawannah…

Last week I received an unexpected call from a Syrian gentleman living in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. His name is Muhammad al-‘Aqub. His family belongs to the Bedouin tribe of Harb, a tribe long affiliated with the Tai tribe. He wanted to tell me about their horses and their origins. We spoke for about an hour, but I was driving for most of the time and I did not take any notes. He told me that his family, the ‘Aqub, had owned the strain of Rabdan for more than 200 years without interruption, since around 1810 or 1815. Here is my recollection of what he told me about how they got the strain: There was a battle between Ibn Haddal, the leader of the ‘Amarat ‘Anazah Bedouins, and a Kurdish tribe around 1810 or 1815. It took place north of the town of Ras al-‘Ayn which is in the extreme tip of North Eastern Syria today. The Kurds held their own, taking several mares and even one prisoner from the ‘Anazah. The Kurds did not care to know the strains and origins of the horses they took, just in their being war mounts. At the time, his seventh paternal ancestor (I…

I want to follow up on the previous blog entry about the 2010 magazine article about the horses of the USA expat families working for the oil company Aramco and living in the Abqaiq gated community, in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia. I am specifically interested in this reference from the article: “More horses arrived when Ibrahim Abu Boutain, the agriculture minister, presented Abqaiq with seven of his fine Arabians. [Four of the seven] were sired by the famous Balalil, a foundation stallion for the Tunisian National Stud.” I am not aware of a “famous Balalil, a foundation stallion for the Tunisian National Stud“, which would be Sidi Thabet. If this piece of information turned out to be correct, it could either mean the Saudis gave the Tunisians this stallion, or less likely at that time, that the Tunisians gave the Saudis one of their stallions. This is a matter for further investigation. However, there was an Arabian stallion by the name of Balabil (with a “b” not an “l”) racing in Beirut in the late 1940s or early 1950s in the ownership of Prince Badr Aal Saud, a son of King Abd al-Aziz Aal Saud. This Balabil is…

The pedigree pages at skowronek.io pertaining to Skowronek’s non Arabian ancestors are updated and a new article discussing the local mares at the heart of his pedigree was published yesterday. Some of the horses referenced we have discussed previously on this site, so I will list them here for those that are interested: The local mares including Szweykowska and Polka. Stallions including Szumka I, Szumka II, Zboj, Gniady, and the sires of Sawicka Anusia, Sawicka Duza and Matka.

I am still looking for a first class stallion, more than fourteen years after having acquired my first US mare. I came across many outstanding stallions during these years, but I was never lucky enough to acquire one. The Davenport stallions Popinjay CF, Javera Thadrian, Triermain CF and Daedalus LD were some of these. Also the Ma’naqis RB Bellagio, which I saw, and Dakhala Sabiq from the breeding of Jeanne Craver, which I did not see. They must have been something else, judging from the photos. Proud carriage of head and tail, sparkly eyes, deep jowls, a slight arched neck, high withers, a short back, a deep girth and a long hip are a must. Have you recently seen a horse with these features?

I absolutely love this horse. He reminds me of the horses of my childhood. Whenever I see a picture of him, I recall his grandparents, great-grandparents, and the horses of Aleppo before the Syrian war. He has the deep, full chestnut color of his grand-dam Hanadi, a superior broodmare, and of Hanadi’s daughter, which was my father’s mare. His owners Fabienne Vesco and Jean-Claude Rajot can be proud of him. He has produced very well. Photo by Severine Vesco.

From the BBC the other day comes this wonderful article on 4000 years old recipes from Mesopotamia.

I just downloaded the “Book of Sheep” and the “Book of Camels” of Al-Asma’i from archive.org. Al-Asma’i was also one of the earliest authors of the “Book of Horses”. Al-Asma’i was the rival of Abu ‘Ubaydah, the author of another early “Book of Horses”. I don’t nearly love sheep and camels the way I love horses, and I know little about either. I thought it interesting however to compare the same author’s treatment of this triad of domesticated animals. A nagging question is whether the early Books of Horses were describing Arab horses, or horses in general, or both. The question becomes especially relevant to color patterns unusual in modern-day Arabian horses. Of course both cite Arabic poetry to illustrate their descriptions, but this may or may not have been a literary device of the time. One needs to be weary of jumping to the conclusion that the horse described is an Arab because Arabic poetry is used to illustrate the descriptions — without ruling out this possibility. In particular, I would like to learn whether the sheep described are similar to the ‘awass breed of the Bedouins — the ovine equivalent of the Arab horse, and whether other types…

The more pictures I see of this horse, the more I like him. The old blood of Ali Pasha Sharif’s horses comes through very strongly in him. He is the sire of little Kinza. This is one of the few times I was happy with my choice of stallions. Look at that withers/shoulders complex.

By Sheikh El Arab out of Ragia by Ibn Rabdan. Dam of Ibn Halima by Nazeer, who became Ansata Ibn Halima in the USA. Long ears (good, an indication of asalah), long face (good), narrow forehead (less good). That type of Straight Egyptian horses disappeared in one generation. Mares like these were absorbed in the Nazeer/Morafic tsunami. Pity.

She is perhaps the very last one from that strain left in the desert, and a distant relative to the Davenport Hadbans.

The picture is not so good, but the mare pictured is interesting. She is the only offspring the Shuwayman stallion Mahboub Halep produced in Syria before leaving for France. Her strain is Kuhaylan al-Wati (same strain as Kuhaylan Jallabi, by the way) Sire: Shuwayman, Mahboub Halep (a maternal grandson of Al-Aawar with another cross to him further back through Barakah whose sire was the Hamdani Ibn Ghurab the horse of Lofan, whose sire was al-Aawar), from the strain of the Shaykhs of the Shammar Sire of dam: Rabdan, Zayn al-Khayl from the strain of the Shaykhs of Tai Sire of grand-dam: Krushan, Bahr Al Hadi, from the strain of the Shaykhs of the Shammar (a son of the Hadban stallion Burhan who was a son of the Hamdani of Lofan al-Hadi son of Al-Aawar) Sire of great-grand-dam: Krushan, Bahr Al Hadi, same as above (so one more cross to Al-Aawar) Sire of great-great grand-dam: Hamdani ibn Ghurab, Al Aawar. He sired Nawrooz. Sire of great-great-great grand-dam: A Kuhaylan al-Wati from her family, from the strain of al-Ghishim Sire of great-great-great-great grand-dam: also a Kuhaylan al-Wati, but not sure if same horse as above or not. So in total at least…

An very early photo, taken in 1857, of this superb Mamluk Sultan mausoleum, which now lies in the heart of Cairo. Abbas Pasha had just died afew years earlier.

Tamaam DE died a couple days ago at the Doyle ranch in Oregon. I am happy the two leased Ma’naqiyah mares are in foal to him for next year. I hope one of them produces a colt so I could use him as a stallion. What a dream to have one’s own Ma’naqi stallion.

A fascinating article in the BBC.

How do they manage to produce horses of this caliber, amidst war, insurgency, uncertainty and the absence of the rule of law?

Who was the George O’Brien who imported *Munifeh and *Munifan from Saudi Arabia in 1947? Was he a US politician? or an ARAMCO executive?

Folks from the Jazirah area of Syria have been sending me pictures and stories of horses that remain there. This beauty is one of them. I also saw pictures of other gorgeous horses of the Rabdan, Rishan, Saadan, Jilfan and Khallawi strains. You would be stunned. It would seem like the Bedouin’s pool is bottomless, despite the civil war including the most recent Turkish attack on these specific areas.

Another surprise from this past week’s visit to my horses was little Barakah (Wadd Al Arab x Jadah BellOfTheBall). She is now three years old. I left her a little filly. She is now a young mare who cycles and all. She measured at just above 14 hands, which is a good size for this age. She has a deeper girth than her dam and a straighter back. That’s her sire Wadd’s influence. But she lost her dam’s beautiful level croup and inherited instead her sire’s short slopey croup and short hip (which Wadd in turn inherited from his dam Wisteria CF). She also has attitude, unlike her dam. She may outgrow some of that, and still has a lot of growing to do.

In other news, Monologue CF is back home in Pennsylvania, after spending several months at Laura Fitz in Michigan. Two of her mares are in foal to him for this spring. Laura took great care of him, and he has never looked better in many years. This horse has been moved around so often over the years, and it has affected him. Born at Craver Farms in Illinois in 2001, he was bought by Jackson Hensley then of New Mexico, then went to Pamela Klein in Virginia. Pamela gifted him to Darlene Summer. We took him back to Craver Farms, before shipping him to Pennsylvania. From there he gave him to a promising preservation breeder from Ohio where he was unlucky, so we took him back. Laura Fitz then took him on and brought him back in shape. Here is a shot taken off the fly by Sheri of JNS Equine Transport, who transported him back from Michigan to Pennsylvania. His eye is huge and bright, his neck is long, his shoulder has a good slope, his croup is level and his tail is set very high. He throat has a clean arch, and his nostrils are large and elastic.…

Last Thursday, I managed to take a day off while in the US for work and drove out to Pennsylvania to see my horses. I had not seen them in a year. I feel terrible about that. The young ones have grown so much. Jamr, at seven, is now a fully grown stallion. He certainly IS small. We measured him at 13.3 1/2, just under 14 hands. I am not a fan of 16 hands Arabians, but under 14 hands is too small for my taste. I am more than 6 feet tall. His neck is also too short. Or the withers are pushed forward and eating at the neck. The crest is nice through, and so is the arch of the throat. He has other qualities: he looks very masculine; his back is short, his hip is long, his girth is moderately deep, his coupling is strong, his chest is broad enough and his jowls are very deep. His eyes are expressive and soulful, without that troubled, anxious expression of some show horses. His profile is very straight, but he makes it up with a broad forehead, deep jowls and a fine muzzle. His ears are short, which is…

If only I did not have enough horses, the Kuhaylah Hayfiyah filly ADA Tharwat al-Awdah (Porte CF x Pirouette CF) would have found a way to my barn.. Photo by Michael Bowling.

I am irked that we still know so little about this horse. We know his color (chestnut), his name and his date of birth (1885). I also read somewhere that he was thought be a “high caste Arabian”. Probably a race horse, or an army horse. Probably exported from Basrah, or Kuwait to Bombay. Bombay/Mumbai may have kept customs documents. The British army too, perhaps. We know a lot more about Lord Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford, who brought him from India to England in 1892. He served in Egypt in 1882, which is probably why he gave the horse this name. Mameluke sired the mare *Shabaka for another important Englishman, Lord Arthur Cecil. Shabaka was imported to the USA by Spencer Borden, who bred her influential son Segario. My 2013 mare Mayassah Al Arab is the last living Al Khamsa horse tracing to him. If a stallion is ever to rise from Mayassa’s line, I better start finding more information about Mameluke. India is the right place to start, but where in India?

I am back in Washington, D.C. for a few days. How I miss that place, especially in the fall season. I biked by the statue of General George Henry Thomas on the circle that bears his name. I wonder which horse served as a model for this statue. It looks nice, but certainly not as nice as Ibrahim Pasha’s equestrian statue in downtown Cairo. Now that’s a horse I would have liked to have seen. He must have been belonged to the collection of Viceroy Mohammad Ali.

Bev Davison posted these photos on Facebook. They feature the white belly spots of DA Ginger Moon (top) and her full sister DA Moon Sister (bottom). This follows an intense discussion on this blog about extreme white markings.

and Ginger is still wonderful. What a grand broodmare she is. Neck, hip, withers, ears, and what style on top of that. Jabbar is also a very good sire, and I think he deserves to be used more. Photo by Bev Davison who keeps her for me. I always quote this passage from Lady Anne Blunt’s Journals, on March 15, 1887, about her selection criteria when purchasing new horses: “He [Zeyd] is to be very particular about plenty of bone, height of wither, length, of course everything else perfect and origin mazbut.

This is Nahaab, a yearling born March 2018. I just love the “son of the desert” look and feel on him. The level croup. The high set tail. The authentic lineage. He looks like he came straight out of a black tent of Arabia. He would be a good match for my Kuhaylat. Might even help preserve their desert bloodlines. (Just messing with you, in case you were still wondering) For comparison, this is Najm Yarob, the Syrian stallion of Jose Manuel Meizoso in Spain. I just love the “son of the desert” look and feel on him. The level croup. The high set tail. The authentic lineage. He looks like he came straight out of a black tent of Arabia. He would be a good match for my Kuhaylat. Might even help preserve their desert bloodlines. Some “Arab” horses have diverged so much from the original desert horse that it is high time to recognize they have become a separate breed. That applies to horses of the extreme race type as well as horses of the extreme show type, regardless of pedigree.

Thanks for Kate for sending me this beautiful video.

Photos by Bev Davison who keeps her for me.

For those who haven’t seen it, since Jeanne was mentioning it.

Also from Ibn al-Kalbi’s Book of Horses, my translation: David, the Prophet of God, was very fond of horses. He could not hear of a horse cited for his bloodline (‘irq), its authenticity (‘itq), it’s beauty (husn) or its speed (jari) without sending for it, until he gathered a thousand horses. There were none other on earth at the time. When God called David back [to him], Solomon inherited his kingdom and his inheritance. He sat in his father’s seat and said: “David did not bequeath me an asset I like better than these horses”. He trained them and served them. Note the order of the qualities David was said to be seeking.

I always found this story very touching. It is related in Hisham Ibn al-Kalbi’s book of horses, one of the earliest such compilations by Muslim authors: We were by the coastline; a stallion was brought to be bred to his mother; he refused. So they brought her into a house, threw a cover the door, and put a blanket on her. When he was done covering her, he smelled the scent of his mother. He put his teeth on the root (asl) of his male organ, cut it off and died. The story was related by al-Awza’i to Abu Yusuf to Ibn al-Kalbi.

From Jeanne Craver comes this photo of the Davenport mare Adorned (Prince Hal x Moth by Tripoli), with the reference to the earlier discussion on pronounced white markings.

This is Royal Court Jester. He is not an Arabian horse (no panic yet). He carries less than 0.2 percent pinto blood from a single cross at the 10th generation. The remaining 99.8 is general list Arab blood. Tobiano is a dominant gene, so at least one parent need to carry it. I wonder, through, whether this is the same gene as that responsible for extra white markings? My question reflects my ignorance of equine genetics.

I am looking up the horses Kate mentioned in the previous entry. Below is Fenwick Orion, another 100% Crabbet of Australian lines. His markings are quite striking. They are so unusual that one is tempted to look for non-Arabian blood (of which there is a little, way back), and attribute his coat color pattern to it. I think one should instead look for the resurgence of markings that were more familiar in the past, but have been bred out. Arabic books on horses from 1200 years ago mentioned such markings and colors in great detail. While it remains unclear whether their authors were referring to Arab horses only, the sheer number of Arabic terms used to describe these unusual coat color patterns is in itself evidence of the familiary of ancient native speakers of Arabic with such horses with such markings. This one is FV Aul Rabba, who is CMK with a majority of Crabbet lines.