Early mentions of the Musinn strain in Western sources
[One of t]The first mention of the Musinn (Muson, Mosenn, etc) strain occurs in W.S. Rzewuski’s book, “Sur les chevaux orientaux et provenants [sic] des races orientales”. The manuscript at the Polish National Library in Warsaw was published in 2003 with the title “Impressions d’Orient et d’Arabie”:
Le fameux el-Mesenneh el-Wehabi, acheté à Abd el-Aziz, prince des Wehabis… vient de mourir à Kuzmin
dans mon haras. Il m’a laissé six poulains et trois pouliches avec mes juments du désert, et a sailli en
1822 mes quatorze juments Nejdiehs Kocheilans, qui sont toutes pleines.
In English: “The famous el-Mesenneh el-Wehabi, purchased from Abd el-Aziz, prince of the Wehabis… has just died at Kuzmin in my stud farm. He left me six colts and three fillies with my desert mares, and in
1822 he covered my fourteen Nejdiehs Kocheilans mares, all of which are now in foal.
Abd al-Aziz (1720–1803) was the second ruler of the House of Saud, and the son of its founder. The House of Saud was famously associated with the strain of Kuhaylan al-Musinn, or Musannan for a long time, which gives credence to Rzewuski’s account.
Rzewuski went horse-shopping in Arabia between 1817 and 1819, which provides the earliest dating for the Musannan strain in Western sources.
Burckhardt mentions that the Musannan stallions were not used as stallions in the Najd; I wonder if Rzewuski had different information, or whether he didn’t care about a strain being shubuw.
Thank you for pointing out that the mention of the Musannan strain by Burckhardt was earlier than Rzewuski’s by a few years. He traveled to Arabia from July 1814 to June 1815, and died in 1817.
Oh, right, wasn’t checking dates, just remembered they were close in time and wondered whether Burckhardt knew of the strain too.