Dhahran and the *Turfa blood
Just felt like posting this photo of the stallion Dhahran (Sirecho x Turfara) when he was at the Sheets’ Arabian Stud Farms (ASF). The photo is from the collection of pictures the late Billy Sheets gave me.
Dhahran’s tail female goes back to the mare *Turfa, a Kuhaylat al-‘Ajuz from the horses of the House of Saud, stationed at their stud in al-Khurmah, and gifted to the King of England, who then sent her to Canada during WWII, where she was bought by Henri Babson of Chicago. An absolute favorite of mine, *Turfa is a Kuhaylat al-‘Ajuz, sired by a Ubayyan al-Hamrah, as per her registration information in the Arab Horse Society Studbook of the UK, Volume VI [Correction: as per the letter sent by Brigadier Gen. Anderson, then Secretary General of the UK’s Arab Horse Society, to Henry Babson].
Everything else that has been said about her strain being ‘Ubayyan is completely unsubstantiated, as I will try to shoe in a next entry.
The blood of *Turfa is just so precious. I really feel that the more *Turfa in a horse, the better the horse, as the fine specimen pictured below show. Both are 25% *Turfa.
Edouard, a minor point. Arab Horse Society stud book volume VI does not mention the al-‘Ajuz substrain in the *Turfa entry. What it says is, transcribed letter for letter, “Sire: An Obeyan Abu Al Hamra. Dam: A Kehailet Al Khorma. Turfa, a Kehailet Al Khorma.”
It is the transfer certificate from Brig. Gen. Anderson to Henry Babson, dated Nov 10, 1941, that describes *Turfa as Kuhaylat Ajuz Al Khorma (emphasis added).
Thanks, I had noticed the slightly different information as it appears in AK III, to which the link points to, but failed to acknowledge it up there. Haste makes waste, as they say.
There is a Turfa bred stallion here in Georgia USA that’s owned by an older gentleman. The horse has 3 or 4 lines going back to Turfa.
Thanks Julee. Whos is this horse?
have a mare #0579804who goes back to Turfa and Nasr on her sire’s side and has Ibn Sirecho on dam’s side. Looking for a stallion with similar rare desert lines who is currently at stud that ships semen–having trouble locating any. suggestions or other suggested crosses ? maybe a polish descendant with egyptian ancestry? would like to find a stallion with short back and close coupled, hopefully who could add a bit of height, and also who could counter her longish back. she is ~14.2/3 has beautiful length of neck, nice head but not at all typey, incredible feet like iron, rarely need anything more than filing. never shod. nice sloping hip, it is not flat. HUGE nostrils, nice windpipe and large space for air intake (!) in her jaw. incredible drive, very people oriented, smart. would love to have a foal just to keep this rare line going. thanks for any input.