A blog on desert arabian horses, past, present and future
Below is a photo of the 1879 Hamdaniyah Simriyah mare Sobha, bred in Egypt (Wazir x Selma), bought by the Blunts in 1891, and then sold to Colonel de Sdanovitch in 1899, who sent her to the Russian stud at Derkul. Photo sourced from the History of Russia in Photographs.
I happened upon this Gazetteer of Egypt in the French language from the year 1891 — the “Annuaire egyptien administratif et commercial” on the wonderful website of the French national library. Under the “Conseil Legislatif”, the legislative council, it has “S.E. Aly Pacha Cherif” as the President. See below.
صورة العفريّة العودة فرس الشيخ هاشم حمود ملحم الجربا بنت عبيان الشيخ عبد العزيز المسلط ام الفرس العودة لونها احمر بنت الصقلاوي الجدراني حصان الشيخة عنود الفارس مالكها ابراهيم العلي ام الام لونها اشعل مالكها العفري من عنزة كان مقيم في الرقة وكانت ام الام شراكة بين الشيخ ملحم فارس الجربا والعفري في الخمسينات ثم … Read more
تواصلت مساء اليوم مع الصديق محمد معصوم العاقوب ودار الحديث حول الفرس العبية السحيلية العود فرس مطر السراي “مطوري” فشاركته هذه الصورة للعود مع فلوها ابن الحمداني الاعور. الصورة من تصويري سنة ١٩٩٤ او ١٩٩٥ بضواحي حلب عند رضوان شبارق ابو ابراهيم وكانت العود آنذاك ملك للشيخ ميزر عجيل العبدالكريم الجربا وهناك التباس عند البعض … Read more
Volume 1 of the Bahrani stud book published in 1980 describes the breeding practice of the Al Khalifa family at the time. “No outside stallion is directly used for stud purposes. New blood is introduced indirectly by the high-caste mares received or exchanged with other Sheikhs from the interior of Arabia. When these mares are … Read more
السمن من السمون من المنشأ من ضنا عربان من الخرصة من ضنا ماجد من الفدعان وهو صاحب مربط صقلاويات السمنيات )
The palace of Prince Yusuf Kamal in Qina, Upper Egypt. Built in 1908 in the Neo-Mamluk style. Prince Yusuf was the son of Prince Ahmed Kamal but did not share his father’s interest in Arabian horses. His archives survive in a museum in Coptic Cairo.
Piotr Grzywnowicz posted these two gorgeous photos of the desert-bred stallion Kuhailan Haifi on his Facebook page. What an intelligent look in his eyes. I wish the beautiful halter has survived.
وقد سمعت القصة نفسها عن لسان تاجر الخيل والخبيرالحلبي عبد القادر الحمامي رحمه الله سنة ١٩٩٣
الفحل “الاشهب” المعروف بكروش الناعم ابن حمداني الدعبو ابن دهمان عامرمن خيل عجيل الياور مواليد عام 1988 توليد اسعد سليمان الحسن قرية عكرشة صاحب ام كروش وملك عبود عواد المضحي قرية الناعم امه كروش البيضا لونها ادهم مالكها اسعد سليمان الحسن ابوها المعنقي الحدرجي حصان ظاهر العفيتان لونه أصدأ وامها كروش صاحبها سليمان الحسن ابوها … Read more
كروش البيضا سلالة عريقة ترجع كحيلة العاجوز . اشتُهرتْ في نجد عند الدويش شيخ قبيلة مطير وعند ابن رشيد حاكم حائل انذاك وتحظى هذه السلالة بتقدير عالي عند البدو وقيل فيها الكثير من الأشعار. أمّا تاريخ هذه السلالة في نجد وشبه جزيرة العرب فهو معلوم وما يَهمّنا هو كروش في الجزيرة السورية ذكر الشيخ هاشم … Read more
The source is a British handbook on the Turkish army from 1916. Note “Liva”, Egyptian Lewa, Major-General.
حدثنا محمد معصوم العاقوب من شيوخ حرب طي قال الربدا كحيلة عجوز والربداء من أسماء النعامة وتميّزت بهذا الاسم لأنها طَرحتْ ذَكر النعام والنعامة معروفة بسرعته في عام 1810-1815 للميلاد غزتْ قبيلة اعنزا باشات الاكراد مرتين في منطقة قورانشار شمالي بلدة رأس العين السورية في المرّة الأولى استطاع الباشا صد اعنزا وكان اسمه عَبْدي الكَلَشْ … Read more
طيرة ترد للمرازيق مباشرةً ابوها كحيلان الواطي الازرق الحديدي ملك دياب السبيه الشمري وولادة حاكم الحصيني الغشم الشمري، مبارك حمداني سمري توليد عبد العيادة الدرعان ابن غراب فيصير صايل اخو طاحوس Sayil, a Saqlawi Marzaqani of the breeding of Basil Jadaan, by Mubarak out of Tairah. Tairah traces directly to the horses of the … Read more
To the left, the late Wegdan (Dani) El Berbary. In the middle, my father, General Salim Al-Dahdah. To the right, Basil Jadaan. Lower right, Rosemary Doyle. Photo by the late Hansi Heck-Melnyk, in Karsten Scherling’s archives.
She really does look good and I am very pleased with her. Yasser tells me she has really fine skin and many of the personality traits of the desert horses. She may be barren this year. If so, we will try a breeding to one of the Bahraini stallions at the EAO, either the Jallabi … Read more
Yasser Ghanem took that screenshot from the virtual AK Convention yesterday. It’s nice to see all the friendly faces on the same screen: Yasser, and Jeanne and Basil and Monica and Moira and Jeannie and Edie and Bev and Kim and PJ and Joe and Rosemary and Kate and all the others.
اتوجه بالشكر والتقدير الى الصديق باسل جدعان على سعيه باستضافتي في الحلقة السابعة من برنامج مساء الخيل الذي بمحاورة الدكتور محمد مشموم وتقديم السيد سعيد سامي
..for who she was, the horses she bred, the ideas she promoted and the values she stood by. And may she rest in peace forever. A visit to her was a life lesson.
A stunning photo of the 1966 Babson stallion the The Shah (Fabah x Bint Fada by Fa-Serr), exported from the USA to English. The 1978 British National Champion Stallion. Photo: Briery Close, reposted on Facebook by Wilton Burger.
I saw this horse, Daalimaar Al Sharif last year at the Al Khamsa Convention in Fayyetteville, Arkansas, and liked him instantly. He has style, presence and power. I just looked at his pedigree, and was pleasantly surprised at how diverse it was, the Julian/Gulastra, the Hallanny Mistanny, the Sirecho, and a drop of Ibn Halima … Read more
The stuff you learn on Facebook.. Today I learned the registered name and strain of the Arabian stallion that stars in the movies “The Black Stallion” and the “The Black Stallions Returns”. He is a Ma’naqi Sbayli tracing to the Blunt’s Ferida in the tail female, and his name is Cass Ole. I can already … Read more
So there will be nothing left from my beautiful Shadows. The vet clinic wrote this morning that the last egg they had harvested from her had failed to result in an embryo. This marks the end of a heart-wrenching five year adventure with that beautiful mare. She was beautiful inside out. Shadows with the large, … Read more
Yaqut is another gorgeous Saqlawiyat Ibn ‘Amud from the breeding of Basil Jadaan, by Shaddad (Marzuq x Aseelah) out of Karawiyah (Odeilan x Marwah). She is a maternal grand-daughter of Marwah and the dam of Basil’s stallion Shadeed. Sadly, this maternal line was lost due to the war in Syria and is now only represented … Read more
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم، والحمد لله رب العالمين، والصلاة والسلام على سيد المرسلين،،، وبعد، أبدأ بالتهنئة والشكر للصديق العزيز والباحث النابه المدقق، إدوار سليم الدحداح، على هذه الخطوة المباركة بالتدوين باللغة العربية على مدونته العريقة ذائعة الصيت “بنات الريح”. وقد كان لي شرف التدوين سابقا باللغة الإنجليزية على هذه المدونة المباركة المعنية بالأصالة وحفظ الخيل … Read more
Keep your fingers crossed but I guess I will not end up with seven foals from Shadows: “Of the 7 oocytes we received, only two oocytes were able to mature. They were fertilized and one cleaved and started to divide and grow. We need it to continue to develop until it becomes a blastocyst. I … Read more
After a twelve year wait, DOW finally has Arabic language functionality. I am over the moon. Thanks to Yasser the magician, who revived his programming skills from 20 years ago and took a dive in this blog’s underbelly. Guest bloggers and I can write in Arabic, and Arabic speaking readers can post their comments in … Read more
Rosemary Doyle sent me these photos of the younger Ma’naqi colt Shaman (Tamaam DE x SE Lady Guenevere) who looks like a good stallion prospect. He has both style and substance.
This quote in the recent DNA study led by Samantha Brooks in the journal Nature is pretty damning, I thought: The presence of Thoroughbred-specific Y chromosome haplogroups among Arabian racehorses indicates that the large chromosomal blocks of Thoroughbred origin detected in flat racing Arabian horses are likely derived, at least in part, from crosses with … Read more
I posted this video because it is an excellent example of a young stallion’s free swinging walk. The video is mostly in slow motion so you can easily see the beautiful extension of the front legs, the hoof hitting the ground heel first to flat and the huge over track from behind. You don’t get … Read more
Update: that Arabic font is not working. I am giving up. Please bear with me as I update the look and feel of this blog. It’s been twelve years since the last update. Blog design has changed a lot since then. I am also trying to enable Arabic language entries. Let me know what you … Read more
In other happy news, Wadha was checked in foal to Monologue CF today. I had been trying to get this mare in foal for three years.
My beautiful Shadows left us today. What a sweet, gentle, soulful mare she was. Shadows was euthanized this morning, and her ovaries collected for shipping to the University of Pennsylvania veterinary center in New Bolton, PA. There, oocytes will recovered and sent to the Equine Medical Services clinic in Columbia, Missouri. This clinic is a … Read more
A large DNA study published in the Journal Nature (link to full study here) comes to confirm what we purist breeders have known for a long time: that so-called “Arabian” horses of flat racing lines have a significant blood of English Thoroughbred running in their veins. The author, Samantha Brooks, very elegantly suggests a different … Read more
This year the Al Khamsa Convention will be virtual (on Zoom), but the lineup of speakers is great as always. Make sure you register here. RJ Cadranell and I are also making a presentation on Saturday, on a surprise topic.
I am very impressed with this young lad. And I thought his half-brother and close Ma’naqi Sbayli relative Shaykh was already a winner! Shaman looks more “old Egyptian”, Shaykh more “Crabbet”. Hard to choose between the two. They both speak well for their sire, Tamaam DE, who met an untimely death last year. Photos by … Read more
Check out the Wikipedia page of Captain G.E. Leachman, the British explorer, army officer, political officer and above all, spy. Photo below, disguised as a Bedouin. The Bedouins, who feared him, called him Njayman. His murder in 1920 in Abu Ghraib by Dari al-Mahmud, Shaykh of the Shammar Zawba’, is a famous episode in Bedouin … Read more
I found the photos I was looking for, so I will stop scanning for the night. They don’t do justice to the effect this horse had on you. This is Qayss, by Mahrous out Zabbaa’, a stylish bay mare registered in the studbook as a Kuhaylat al-‘Ajuz, but actually from the prestigious branch of Kuhaylan … Read more
Layth, by Mahrous out of Hallah, was spectacular. He was the prototype of the masculine stallion. I had never seen a neck like that on a Syrian horse. Photo from my 1995 visit to Mustafa al-Jabri’s stud. His strain goes back to the Khallawiyyaat marbat of the Ja’alifah of the Northern Shammar in Iraq, through … Read more
I have written frequently about this horse. In my opinion, Saad II was one of the three best sons of al-Aawar. He was out of a grand mare, Leelas, a Kuhaylah Khdiliyah of ‘Abbud al-‘Ali al-‘Amud of the ‘Aqaydat. That strain harked back to the Kuhaylaat al-‘Ajuz of the Khdilat section of the Fada’an. It … Read more
Also at Hisham Ghorayed. Sire: Sa’ad, a Saqlawi Sh’aifi son of Mahrous; dam: a desert-bred Kuhaylat al-Wati mare of the marbat of Hakim al-Ghishm of the Shammar, acquired by Hisham Ghorayeb. Sa’ad produced so well.
This mare was one of the most sought after in Syria. I took this photo in 1992 at the stud of Hisham Ghorayeb in Damascus. Her dam was a Ma’naqiyah Sbaliyah of the marbat of Turki al-Najriss of the ‘Aqaydat Bedouins, a prestigious strain that goes back to the Rasaalin of Sba’ah. Her sire was … Read more
I used to have a photographic memory. One glance at one of the thousands of pictures in my archives and I could tell you the name of the horse, his owner’s name, his parents, and his entire pedigree. Lately I have been catching myself gazing at a photo and asking myself: “who the hell is … Read more
Many readers know of my passion for rare strains. They represent both genetic and cultural diversity. I am encouraged by the many rare lineages still extant in Syria, particularly in the Upper Jazirah area. It is the area where the formerly nomadic Shammar Bedouins chose to settle — at least those who did not go … Read more
Lineages of desert-bred horses are surprisingly resilient. Each time I think a line is lost it seems to reappear somewhere else. I have been following the Shuwayman line of the Jarbah Shaykhs for three decades now. Many mares were lost during the Syrian civil war, and I feared the strain was lost. Yet a branch … Read more
Evidence on the Mlayhan strain about the Gmassah, and the Shammar of both Mesopotamia and the Najd, from her book “Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates”: Wilfrid then inquired about the horses, or rather mares, in Jebel Shammar, and asked if the Arabs there had the same breeds as the Mesopotamian Shammar. “Just the same,” he … Read more
I came across the text of an administrative decision, dated April 30, 1921, signed by General Gouraud, French High Commissionner for Syria and Lebanon, and conferring upon Mashal Ibn Faris al-Jarba, Shaykh of the Shammar of Der Ezzor, the title of Pasha. I sent it to his grandson Ahmad ibn Ali ibn Mashal, Abu Nayif. … Read more
Lyman Doyle sent these photos of this year’s last arrival, another colt and another Ma’naqi Sbayli: Shaman Al Arab (Tamaam DE x SS Lady Guenevere by SS Dark Prince) was born two days ago. I am leasing his dam from DeWayne Brown. Shaman, pronounced SHAAH-MAAN, means “the one with a distinctive mark”, shamah. His odd … Read more
Radwan is looking for a new stallion for his growing herd. I advised him to purchase this young Mlayhan stallion, whose sons have been winning races. He is quite small but his origins are top notch. The Tai tribe, the clan of al-Nahhab in particular, have owned a marbat of the Mlayhan strain for a … Read more
Lyman Doyle sent me these scanned photos of grand mare Jabinta (Jadib x Bint Malakah by Subani), a 1969 Saqlawiyat al-‘Abd tracing to Homer Davenport’s *Wadduda. She has my Jadiba (by Dib) at her side. Jadiba and Jabinta are the kind of mares that should have produced ten foals not one, and certainly not by … Read more
This was my father’s answer when I asked him why he was about to purchase a beautiful, authentic desert-bred mare that was not registered in any studbook. There was something both idealistic and foolish — these two tend to overlap — about his stance which left a mark on the teenager I was. No formal … Read more
This horse is magnificent. He looks better and better with age and more like his paternal great grand sire, the Kuhaylan Nawwaq of ‘Iyadah al-Madi, a son of Krush Juhayyim. Photo by Severine Vesco in France. Pedigree here (couple minor errors in the back)
I think I am going to trace down the descendants of Ibn Jadran, and hint to them that they could become overnight millionaires if they copyrighted the use of their family name by thousands of people around the world each and every time the phrase “Saqlawi Jadran” is uttered. Just saying.
Looking back at more than thirty years around Arabian horses, I still remember the grand old Hamdani Simri stallion al-Aawar as one of two or three desert-bred horses I have admired the most in my life. He had this way of looking at you with a hint of disdain, as if he was the king … Read more
A new Hadban Enzahi colt by Vorrtex out of Zubaidah Assahara.
Hamad al-Jassir’s Usul al-Khayl al-Arabiyyah al-Hadithah has an interesting passage from the version of the Abbas Pasha Manuscript manuscript he consulted. This passage is not in the edition of the Manuscript that was published by the King Abd al-Aziz Public Library (KAPL) based on an original that was in the family of Gulsun Sharif. That … Read more
The Abbas Pasha Manuscript is, at its core, a compilation of Bedouin accounts of the origins and ancestry of Arabian horses purchased by Abbas Pasha. Saudi historian Hamad al-Jassir, in his Usul al-Khayl al-Arabiyyah al-Haditha, listed the accounts featured in the version of the Abbas Pasha Manuscript he consulted. I had already pointed to discrepancies … Read more
I always hoped I was born just one century earlier! My good fortune of descending from a Bedouin tribe of rich heritage in breeding Arabians was not complete to live all these traditions while they were still practiced in the daily life! I look at the long history of the Bedouin traditions and I wonder … Read more
Each of the eleven chapters of the Abbas Pasha Manuscript in its Arabic version starts with a table. The table lists the titles of the accounts on every marbat and the page number where the account begins. Sometimes the title includes information not present in the body of the account. There are six sections under … Read more