General

Third mare not in foal this year, after Thalia CF and RL Zahra Assahra. SS Shadows Aana is at, 17 years old, the youngest of the three, is a built like a tank and is a personal favorite despite her lameness. I long for a colt by her. And a filly. Why is it that the … Read more

One of Hungary’s veteran Asil Arabian horse breeders, Laszlo really needs no introduction. Laszlo owns and edits a horse magazine owner and editor Lovas Nemzet, an historian of the breed, and a believer in the universality of Asil bloodlines. Suffice it to say he owns some of the last lines to Babolna’s Siglavy Bagdady VI … Read more

“Le Naceri”, Nicolas Perron’s (1798-1876) classic translation into French of the masterpiece of Andalusian author Abu Bakr Ibn Badr Eddine Ibn al-Mundhir al-Baitar, who was master of horses and head veterinarian of Mamluk Sultan Al-Nasir ibn Muhammad ibn Qalawun (1245-1341) is now available in Gallica, the digitalized archives of the French National Library. The publication of Perron’s translation caused quite a … Read more

In another bout of bad luck, Zahra (RL Zahra Assahra, by Portent x Antezzah by Grand Pass) turned out not to be in foal to Latitude HD (Atticus x Lycia CF by Lydian), to which she had been bred to last October. That cross if successful was going to be the 2017 vintage of the Al-Dahdah program. Carrie … Read more

So I went to see the horses today, all were beautiful especially Haykal and Barakah. I was riding Wadha, and had just started galloping, but the saddle strap was loose so the saddle slid to the side and I fell on my back, while my foot remained stuck in one of the stirrups. The whole … Read more

This story starts in Syria in the 1820’s. In those years, many European nations maintained trade and diplomatic representatives, or “consuls” in the Orient, especially in Aleppo, a cosmopolitan city, hosting European, Turkish, Greek, Jewish, Armenian traders. Aleppo was also one of the best places to start looking for the noble Kuhaylat horses bred by the Bedouin tribes of Northern Arabia. Many of … Read more

How I miss those days. 2005. North Eastern Syria, not far from the border with Iraq. From right to left: Ibn Ghurab’s son, yours truly, Ibn Ghurab, our driver. Ibn Ghurab had the best collection of desert bred Hamdani Simri mares I had ever seen. His family has owned them for some 250 years. From his … Read more

My friend Lyman Doyle is showing this “new” photo of Dib (top) on his Facebook page. Dib was the sire of Huntington Doyle, the stallion who revived Doyle breeding, and of my beloved Jadiba (bottom), now in a retirement home. Compare the likeness between sire and daughter, especially in the hindquarter.    

Many mysteries surround Marengo the mythical white stallion of Napoleon Bonaparte. Did he really exist or was he just a mirage created by the Emperor’s predilection for the “oriental” horse? Did the British really capture the old stud after the defeat at Waterloo? And why is he not recorded in the French studbooks listings of Napoléon’s horses? Napoleon’s legend tells us that his favorite … Read more

From Rehan Ud Din’s wonderful page on Facebook comes this photo of King Abdallah I of Jordan, petting his prized stallion, c. 1948. Photo by John Phillips — the LIFE Picture Collection. I wonder who the horse is. The halter is the way Bedouin halters should be.  

This mare is 25, but she is very precious, so I am not giving up.

This is work in progress. In face of fading memories and changing narratives, and documented truths that don’t seem to matter anymore, and in keeping with my obsession to safeguard all I can from a previous Middle Eastern order, I have taken it upon me to list and document the part-bred Arabian horses that came … Read more

I now have a reliable account of the story of warriors eating horses in Iraq and Syria. When I first heard the story, it was about American soldiers buying and eating Arabian horses, but it did not make much sense, given food habits in this country and restrictions imposed on US soldiers. Lately, someone told … Read more

So a Syrian man, Amir Mardini, plagiarized the reference book of renowned Arabian horse authority ‘Ali al-Barazi — now out of print — and put the entire content of the book online, under his name, here: www.kutub.info_18708. He removed the name of Barazi and put his name instead on the entire book. Oh, and he added … Read more

Towards the end of 1831, the French National Stud’s Journal dedicated a series of articles to the Prussian studs. French imports of horses for cavalry remount from their eastern neighbors, including the Prussians, had been massive for several decades. This matter was indeed of utmost importance to the French and this report provides interesting details on several … Read more

This one is for my daughter: Today I explained to her to that her mare “Belle” was the daughter of Invictus son of Sportin Life son of Brimstone son of Dharantez son of Dhareb son of Letan son of *Muson.

First, I would like to thank Edouard who generously offered me to post on this blog about the numerous findings from the French archives. It will be, I hope, the first of many posts to be shared with the worldwide community of Arabian horse breeders and enthusiasts. In January 1829, the “Journal des Haras”, the French … Read more

Amelie is a French breeder lover of Asil Arabians. She belongs to a new generation of savvy researchers and has recently been making some pretty amazing discoveries mining the old French Studbooks (the oldest from the earliy 1800s) now available online on Gallica, the French National Library’s open access catalog. Her hypotheses are daring and … Read more

Talawat is a superb broodmare from the line of Cherifa, a bay Shuwaymah Sabbah imported by the French from the Sba’ah ‘Anazah Bedouins in Syria in 1869. She is now owned by Fabienne and Severine Vesco in France.

This past Thursday and Friday, Jamr covered Shadows (SS Shadows Aana = SS Shadowfax x Juans Aana by El Reata Juan). I hope Shadows takes and I am really looking forward to the outcome of this breeding.

It’s that time of the year, my favorite time horse-wise, when you get to make breeding decisions, despite promises to yourself and others to cut down, and sometimes you even get to implement them. So yesterday Wednesday April 20, 2017, Wadd covered Thalia CF who is 25, a good cover. She had come into heat on … Read more

The 2014 son of my DA Ginger Moon (“Ginger”), gone to endurance rider Chris Yost (photo), is now training for the Tevis Cup 100 miles ride, and has turned into a magnificent black stallion. I had named him Kanz Al Arab, but he is now registered as DA El Moubarak BLY (“Mou”). DA El Moubarak … Read more

The sire of my Mayassah Al Arab still looks good at 26. Photo by his owner Kirby Drennan, in Virginia, IL.

Haykal is my 2015 Ma’naqi Sbayli colt, by Monologue CF out of CSA Baroness Lady, which has one of the breed’s rarest tail female in Asil form, back to Lady Anne Blunt’s Ferida. Both parents went to preservation homes last year, but I regret letting Monologue go so early without leaving more offspring behind, in light of what he … Read more

A Syrian friend of mine is doing painstaking, courageous and tireless under-the-radar work tracking the remaining Syrian Arabian horses, identifying them, reconciling their registration markings and imprints with the video or photo evidence, and keeping count of what’s in the hands of thugs and militia groups of all kinds and what remains in their rightful owners’ hands. … Read more

One feels he can walk right into it.. too bad the mare (“Belle”) is hiding the black filly behind her.

March 28 2017 update: he has found a home. More later. Reposting from Aug 2016: I am putting Wadd, my 5 year old Davenport stallion, up for sale. He is the youngest offspring of the grand Triermain CF, out of Wisteria CF, one of the prettiest Triermain daughters and a favorite of Charles Craver. He … Read more

Ma´anaghieh Shagrah M367, chestnut mare, born 2003, by Dhahmaan Alashgar M139 out of Maánagieh Dana M188

According to their own histories and the reports of British agents, the ‘Ajman are a Yemeni Bedouin tribe with an ancestral homeland around the city of Najran, today in South-West Saudi Arabia, but historically a Yemeni city until 1934. Their parent tribe of Yam still live in the Najran area. They trace further back to the Hashed, the dominant … Read more

Zayn al-Khayl, a desert bred Rabdan stallion from the breeding of the Sheykh of Tay, was one of the main stallions in Syria before the war. He was something of a sensation. Everybody wanted to breed mares to him, and his daughters were superb, and correctly conformed as he was. He was standing at the … Read more

  This was taken in 1980 or 1981, near the town of Rayak, in the Biqa’ valley of Lebanon. Rayak, more specifically the village of Hawsh Haala, outside Rayak, was where we put our horses. We had a partnership with the Hindi family over the horses, since the time of my grandfather, Edward Al-Dahdah, in the late … Read more

This Syrian mare bred by Basil Jadaan in 1994 was exported to France at a young age. Photo from owner Chantal Chekroun. Hijab met an untimely death, but leaves behind a son, Manjad Maram Al Baida, by Mokhtar, and a daughter Quokriya Al Shatane, both by Mokhtar, another of Basil’s horses imported to France. Mokhtar if still … Read more

When I started this blog, more than eight years ago, it was out of a need to connect American breeders and lovers of desert Arabian horses with facts, stories, and like-minded people from the rest of the world. I believe this task has now largely been fulfilled, not necessarily by this blog, but mostly by the … Read more

Coat colors in old Arabic treatises on horses pose a big challenge not just because of their sheer number — close to a hundred — but also because they do not follow quite the same pattern as color coat definitions of Arabians in the west: grey, chestnut, bay, and black. I having been trying to look … Read more

I had never seen this photo of Beteyen Ibn Mirshid of the Sbaa Bedouins before. It is apparently featured in Von Oppenheim’s book. Can anyone confirm? He was the owner of Queen of Sheba, of the Blunts.  

This is with respect to the discussion on the color “yellow” in Arabian horses in the preceding entry. This mare (Pirouette CF) would qualify as “yellow” in Bedouin parlance. This is confirmed in old Arabic dictionaries (“Lesan al-Arab” which dates back to the 14th century AD), and also by  Tweedie and Raswan.

There are only four mares and filles from the *Nufoud tail female accounted and all are in PA. Linda Uhrich owns AB Dafinah (HHA Manabi x LD Rubic), and Monica Respet owns her daughter, Niina Nufoud. Then there is “Belle” and her daughter Barakah, with me. Jadah Necessity, 1997 gm, is unaccounted for, last with … Read more

Kim Davis bred his superb Kuhaylat al-Krush yearling filly of Davenport bloodlines. She is by by HH Tantalus Krush (Quantum LD x Kashmir Krush LD) out of HH Nadira Krush (RC Janub Krush x Naufali Al Krush). She has 14 crosses to the original desert import Kuhaylat al-Krush *Werdi, and 10 out of 16 ancestors at … Read more

From the same Billy Sheets photo collection as the ones in the entry below. I don’t think these had ever been published before.

These are from the photo collection Billy Sheets gave me. For more on this 1960 stallion, click here. Maybe someone can find more about Khalid Hamid al-Dawsari who was living and working in al-Khobar in the 1960s.