Jauhar El Khala, asil Kuhaylah Hayfiyah, 28 years young
One of my favorite Davenport mares alive. Could have been a mare the Shammar bred. I live that wild bird look. Photo C. Emmert who owns her.
A blog on desert arabian horses, past, present and future
One of my favorite Davenport mares alive. Could have been a mare the Shammar bred. I live that wild bird look. Photo C. Emmert who owns her.
She is a special lady.
what is it with these HB horses? They are all special.
Frank Hannesschlager was a fine horseman, that is “what is with these HB horses.”
Frank certainly was a fine horseman. I saw every one of the 14 “HB” Davenport foals he bred. Two of the best, HB Aurelio and HB Soreia, never had any progeny.
yes, but the combinations he was working with were limited to Thane, Mariner and HB Octavia, plus some Brigantine and Organdie. How come the combinations from these five horses were all extra special? Was there something special about each, or was it the combination?
Also that extra special thing is being passed on, to Triermain, Wisteria, etc.
I guess I should have said, “Frank Hannesschlager was a fine horse BREEDER,” which, in my mind, was implied by saying he was a “fine horseman.” Choosing quality breeding stock gives one a greater chance of producing quality foals. I, personally, believe that Thane, Mariner, HB Octavia, plus Brigantine and Organdie, were all that….quality breeding stock.
Frank had an extremely good eye for a horse, knew correct conformation, and chose to work with quality individuals. Frank also looked at, in addition to conformation, overall balance in a horse, and quality/nobility, and breed type, and movement. Another thing to note is the line breeding to Portia, who was Frank’s favorite mare at Craver Farms when he visited in the 1970s and early 1980s. Two of his foundation horses are out of Portia herself, and two more go to Portia in tail-female through her daughter Iras. The fifth horse, Organdie, was tail-female to Ceres, but Organdie was also by a Portia son. Frank told me that he chose Organdie because he wanted something from the Ceres line because the Ceres horses of the time (Ceres herself was only 12 when Frank bought Organdie as a yearling in 1975) were straighter in the hocks.
Frank chose Mariner because he was a well balanced individual with carriage and nobility, was a Portia grandson, and had an attractive head, and good breed type. He chose HB Octavia because he wanted a Portia daughter. On his reasons for selecting Organdie, see above. Janet English had acquired HB Diandra from Frank as a young mare and went back to Craver Farms and selected Thane as her foundation sire. She told me that she had a difficult time selecting between two Lysander sons, Thane and Florentine, but finally decided on Thane. Frank also used Thane on both of his foundation mares. Finally, Frank decided he wanted another stallion from Craver Farms. I remember in 1981 he was looking at Cerulean CF, among others, but he finally settled on Brigantine because he was a beautiful horse with good neck and carriage, offered some extra height, was a Portia son, plus the idea of getting back close up to Tripoli also intrigued Frank.
Frank Hannesschlager was my mentor in the 1970’s. He showed me the young mares when they arrived as well as Mariner and Brigantine. We leased DI Kestrel (Brigantine x HB Octavia), bred by Frank and Trudy, once we discovered she was here in the Okanagan about 45 minutes from us. She only produced two foals by Jubilation CF, having begun her career as a broodmare at 14 years old. Jubilation CF was our only Straight Davenport stallion at the time: the filly is deceased; and the stallion now has one Straight Davenport colt to his credit. DI Kestrel was gifted to us without papers in her latter years and is still with us. She is 50% Portia.
Can she still produce Marilyn?
No, she has not been fertile for years. We had semen from Portico shipped, but motility due to lengthy wait at Customs was poor. All future attempts to breed her were not successful. We purposely took her to the Equine Specialist to do the procedure, but in vain. She is a double granddaughter of Portia and doesn’t trace to Dharebah. A great loss overall as her siblings didn’t breed on. Her son CW Antonio was by Jubilation CF so we also lost the Core Haifi designation, but he is a lovely stallion and has one colt to his credit this year.