Ferriss article on Hadban stallions; Kaheel, the lost one
Joe Ferriss has a nice article on Egyptian Arabian stallions of the Hadban strain in the online newsletter Arabian Essence.
Speaking of Hadban stallions of Egyptian bloodlines, I was lucky to have known the grey stallion Kaheel (by Ashour who was by Anter out of Ayda x Yosr by Ibn Fakhri out of Bint Yosreia), who was bred by the Egyptian Agricultural Organization in Cairo, and died in my home country of Lebanon, leaving no progeny, some time in the late 1990s. I made plans to purchase Kaheel after I saw him for the first time. When I went to see him again at some equestrian center north of Beirut, he had just died from a colic. Kaheel was a unique individual in many ways: a Anter grandson in the tail male, both sire and dam from the Hadban strain (he actually qualifies as Sheykh Obeyd and Heirloom) and otherwise the direct grandson of three lesser known but very special Nazeer offspring, all three of which belong to good racing lines:
1: Ayda, by Nazeer x Lateefa, and hence a full sister of Serenity Ibn Nazeer / Lateef
2: Bint Yosreia, by Nazeer x Yosreia, and a full sister of Tersk’s Aswan / Rafaat, among others;
3: Ibn Fakhri / Korayem, by Nazeer x Helwa, and a full brother of the unique Abla at the EAO
He was also near perfect in conformation, with tremendous presence, and beautiful, graceful movement, and a kind disposition. I can’t help thinking what things would have looked like had I been able to acquire him. The last I heard, his full brother Sadek, a chestnut, was alive in Saudi Arabia.
PS: when you look at his pedigree on allbreedpedigree.com, you can’t help but notice the near dominance of Crabbet horses at the sixth generation and beyond: Rustem, Kazmeen, and Hamran, in addition to Sheykh Obeyd mares bred by Lady Anne Blunt: Radia, Durra, Zareefa, Dalal, Fayda, etc. I mean, I always knew that Egyptian horses were full of Blunt blood, but I never saw it displayed on a pedigree in such a striking way as on Kaheel’s.
The Khamsat magazine that is at the printer now has Part 3 of the article series by Kimberli Nelson on the Hadban strain in the Sheykh Obeyd group. It covers Ashour and Yosr. Some very handsome horses in this breeding group!
Joes’ article is a good one. He starts out about Ghalii who was so influential at MSU. A lot of his get were fabulous movers with very good minds. I wonder if that was because he was such an outctoss on the predominantly Crabbet and Davenport University mares, or if he was just such a superior horse that most any mare he was bred to would produce a great foal?
Best wishes
Bruce Peek
Hi Bruce, as for Ghalii’s success with the excellent mares at MSU I agree with your speculation of the nick with the Crabbet/American/Davenport combination. MSUs foundation was unique in its minimal Skowronek content compared to som other breeders. I am not nocking him, just pointing out his saturation level in much of America’s breeding over time.
One must not forget that, although Ghalii was a 3/4 brother to Morafic, his powerful dam line is different than that of Morafic. There are 7 crosses to the Blunt’s desert bred acquisition Queen of Sheba and she was celebrated for her brilliant movement, a feature which I believe she passes on strongly through her sons Astraled and Ahmar. (also the dark color). In my opinion, El Deree was a great regenerator in the genetic map of Egyptian horses of the time. I liken him to the greatest of Davenport horses and his introduction in the Egyptian lines is equivalent to how the Davenport stock introduced the magic to the cross with Crabbet and American lines here.
You need only extend the pedigrees of many of today’s international champion popular horses to see how many of them are built upon this Davenport+American imported breeding to see that this magic blend is still there after an entire century. The current reigning popular international champion sire Marwan Al Shaqab has 16 crosses to the wonderful Davenport stallion Hamrah.
However the rest of the world wishes to breed its Arabians they need to remember the contribution of the founding Asil stock as a benefit for their purposes. I guess we have our work cut out for us.
excuse my poor spelling above. Have not had my first cup of Arabica.
While a working student at Rowes dressage barn I leased a grandson of Ghalii as a training project. His dam was a 7/8ths bred mare. While he didn’t move as spectacularly as Deealli( one of his uncles) he developed a very nice extended trot with his back lifted- meaning he moved in true collection.This came about after the Rowes taught me dismounted flexion work- basically Baucherism. Touch of freedom( his name)responded to the flexion, hold, and release method very adeptly, indicating a good and generous disposition.
Best wishes
Bruce Peek