The Story of Jenny Lees’ Hamdaany Kuwaiti, the “20 dinar horse”
You ought to read the absolutely lovely story of how a British breeder Jenny Lees of Peark Island Stud, got aquainted with Arabian horses while living in Bahrain.
Jenny writes that her Hamdaany Kuwaiti was said to bred by the Anazah and had come to Bahrain through Kuwait, hence his name.
Back in the 1960s, around the time when the Sheykhdom of Kuwait became independent (in 1961), it began imlementing a policy of inviting Bedouin tribes from the Syrian desert, which was then suffering from a severe drought, to settle in Kuwait and become Kuwaiti citizens. These were mostly Anazah tribes. This movement was part of a larger pattern of reverse migration of Bedouin tribes that had moved to the north some two hundred years earlier, back to the south. Most ‘Anazah Bedouins, mostly Hssinah, Sba’ah, Ruwalah, and Amarat, and some Fad’an, headed back south, trading the increasingly burdensome policies of the Syrian and Iraqi socialist regimes for the relative wealth of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar. They brought many, many horses back with them.
Most of these ‘Anazah tribes settled in Saudi Arabia’s “Northern Border” province, around ‘Ar’ar and Hafr al-Batin, in the Eastern Province, and in the al-Jahra area of Kuwait. Jenny’s Hamdaani Kuwaiti could well have been bred by one of these “northern” ‘Anazah clans, who would have just settled in independent Kuwait.
I know this a great woman and a friend of the Arabs and the Arabs friend of Jenny Lees great woman
Hello Edouard thank you for the fascinating information on Kuwait and the tribes. I later found out that my Hamdaany had been purchased with his dam and sister by Hassan Bin Saleh Al Rouaihi Master of of Horse to the Amir of Bahrain HH Sheikh Isa Bin Sulman Alkhalifa. I was told that Hamdaany’s dam and his sister being Asil were incorporated into the Amirs stud. Like many colts Hamdaany was given away and sadly fell on hard times before I purchased him. The whole thing went full circle when HH The Amir gave me permission to keep Hamdaany at his stables. I will never forget the evening Hassan came to Manama to pick up my stallion. Hassan said just lead him straight up the ramp, do not think about anything just walk and he will follow, so I did and sure enough Hamdaany followed me in. Hassan slammed the ramp shut leaving me in the dark trailer with the stallion who promptly dropped his head and slept all the way to Riffa. In the stable yard HH Sheikh Isa was waiting to see my “20 dinar horse” and as I walked down the ramp he started laughing “It’s the Kuwaiti.” he said “I gave him away years ago and now you have brought him back here. ”
Edouard,it would be interesting to know about the tattoos and to know which tribe/breeders used these marks.
Jenny
Pure man…thank you. My Arab friends and their horses have always brought with them warmth,loyalty kindness, happiness and love.
Jenny
Do you have a drawing of his tatoos?
Do you also whom in Kuwait did the Amir of Bahrain purchase him, his dam and his sister from?
I have a few photos of Hamdaany where the tattoo is clearer I will look through and email this to you. It looked like stars in a circle. When I first had him I thought he had maybe had an accident and run into something so that he had been damaged on each shoulder and the hair had grown back white. Hassan bin Saleh later explained to me that they were the mark of the tribe who bred him. The Hamdanieh from Kuwait in the Bahrain stud book says that she came via the Amir of Kuwait, I will also send you a copy of this. Jenny