Daughters of the Wind

The pedigree pages at skowronek.io pertaining to Skowronek’s non Arabian ancestors are updated and a new article discussing the local mares at the heart of his pedigree was published yesterday. Some of the horses referenced we have discussed previously on this site, so I will list them here for those that are interested: The local mares including Szweykowska and Polka. Stallions including Szumka I, Szumka II, Zboj, Gniady, and the sires of Sawicka Anusia, Sawicka Duza and Matka.

I am still looking for a first class stallion, more than fourteen years after having acquired my first US mare. I came across many outstanding stallions during these years, but I was never lucky enough to acquire one. The Davenport stallions Popinjay CF, Javera Thadrian, Triermain CF and Daedalus LD were some of these. Also the Ma’naqis RB Bellagio, which I saw, and Dakhala Sabiq from the breeding of Jeanne Craver, which I did not see. They must have been something else, judging from the photos. Proud carriage of head and tail, sparkly eyes, deep jowls, a slight arched neck, high withers, a short back, a deep girth and a long hip are a must. Have you recently seen a horse with these features?

I absolutely love this horse. He reminds me of the horses of my childhood. Whenever I see a picture of him, I recall his grandparents, great-grandparents, and the horses of Aleppo before the Syrian war. He has the deep, full chestnut color of his grand-dam Hanadi, a superior broodmare, and of Hanadi’s daughter, which was my father’s mare. His owners Fabienne Vesco and Jean-Claude Rajot can be proud of him. He has produced very well. Photo by Severine Vesco.

From the BBC the other day comes this wonderful article on 4000 years old recipes from Mesopotamia.

I just downloaded the “Book of Sheep” and the “Book of Camels” of Al-Asma’i from archive.org. Al-Asma’i was also one of the earliest authors of the “Book of Horses”. Al-Asma’i was the rival of Abu ‘Ubaydah, the author of another early “Book of Horses”. I don’t nearly love sheep and camels the way I love horses, and I know little about either. I thought it interesting however to compare the same author’s treatment of this triad of domesticated animals. A nagging question is whether the early Books of Horses were describing Arab horses, or horses in general, or both. The question becomes especially relevant to color patterns unusual in modern-day Arabian horses. Of course both cite Arabic poetry to illustrate their descriptions, but this may or may not have been a literary device of the time. One needs to be weary of jumping to the conclusion that the horse described is an Arab because Arabic poetry is used to illustrate the descriptions — without ruling out this possibility. In particular, I would like to learn whether the sheep described are similar to the ‘awass breed of the Bedouins — the ovine equivalent of the Arab horse, and whether other types…

The more pictures I see of this horse, the more I like him. The old blood of Ali Pasha Sharif’s horses comes through very strongly in him. He is the sire of little Kinza. This is one of the few times I was happy with my choice of stallions. Look at that withers/shoulders complex.

By Sheikh El Arab out of Ragia by Ibn Rabdan. Dam of Ibn Halima by Nazeer, who became Ansata Ibn Halima in the USA. Long ears (good, an indication of asalah), long face (good), narrow forehead (less good). That type of Straight Egyptian horses disappeared in one generation. Mares like these were absorbed in the Nazeer/Morafic tsunami. Pity.

She is perhaps the very last one from that strain left in the desert, and a distant relative to the Davenport Hadbans.

The picture is not so good, but the mare pictured is interesting. She is the only offspring the Shuwayman stallion Mahboub Halep produced in Syria before leaving for France. Her strain is Kuhaylan al-Wati (same strain as Kuhaylan Jallabi, by the way) Sire: Shuwayman, Mahboub Halep (a maternal grandson of Al-Aawar with another cross to him further back through Barakah whose sire was the Hamdani Ibn Ghurab the horse of Lofan, whose sire was al-Aawar), from the strain of the Shaykhs of the Shammar Sire of dam: Rabdan, Zayn al-Khayl from the strain of the Shaykhs of Tai Sire of grand-dam: Krushan, Bahr Al Hadi, from the strain of the Shaykhs of the Shammar (a son of the Hadban stallion Burhan who was a son of the Hamdani of Lofan al-Hadi son of Al-Aawar) Sire of great-grand-dam: Krushan, Bahr Al Hadi, same as above (so one more cross to Al-Aawar) Sire of great-great grand-dam: Hamdani ibn Ghurab, Al Aawar. He sired Nawrooz. Sire of great-great-great grand-dam: A Kuhaylan al-Wati from her family, from the strain of al-Ghishim Sire of great-great-great-great grand-dam: also a Kuhaylan al-Wati, but not sure if same horse as above or not. So in total at least…

An very early photo, taken in 1857, of this superb Mamluk Sultan mausoleum, which now lies in the heart of Cairo. Abbas Pasha had just died afew years earlier.

Tamaam DE died a couple days ago at the Doyle ranch in Oregon. I am happy the two leased Ma’naqiyah mares are in foal to him for next year. I hope one of them produces a colt so I could use him as a stallion. What a dream to have one’s own Ma’naqi stallion.

A fascinating article in the BBC.

How do they manage to produce horses of this caliber, amidst war, insurgency, uncertainty and the absence of the rule of law?

Who was the George O’Brien who imported *Munifeh and *Munifan from Saudi Arabia in 1947? Was he a US politician? or an ARAMCO executive?

Folks from the Jazirah area of Syria have been sending me pictures and stories of horses that remain there. This beauty is one of them. I also saw pictures of other gorgeous horses of the Rabdan, Rishan, Saadan, Jilfan and Khallawi strains. You would be stunned. It would seem like the Bedouin’s pool is bottomless, despite the civil war including the most recent Turkish attack on these specific areas.

Another surprise from this past week’s visit to my horses was little Barakah (Wadd Al Arab x Jadah BellOfTheBall). She is now three years old. I left her a little filly. She is now a young mare who cycles and all. She measured at just above 14 hands, which is a good size for this age. She has a deeper girth than her dam and a straighter back. That’s her sire Wadd’s influence. But she lost her dam’s beautiful level croup and inherited instead her sire’s short slopey croup and short hip (which Wadd in turn inherited from his dam Wisteria CF). She also has attitude, unlike her dam. She may outgrow some of that, and still has a lot of growing to do.

In other news, Monologue CF is back home in Pennsylvania, after spending several months at Laura Fitz in Michigan. Two of her mares are in foal to him for this spring. Laura took great care of him, and he has never looked better in many years. This horse has been moved around so often over the years, and it has affected him. Born at Craver Farms in Illinois in 2001, he was bought by Jackson Hensley then of New Mexico, then went to Pamela Klein in Virginia. Pamela gifted him to Darlene Summer. We took him back to Craver Farms, before shipping him to Pennsylvania. From there he gave him to a promising preservation breeder from Ohio where he was unlucky, so we took him back. Laura Fitz then took him on and brought him back in shape. Here is a shot taken off the fly by Sheri of JNS Equine Transport, who transported him back from Michigan to Pennsylvania. His eye is huge and bright, his neck is long, his shoulder has a good slope, his croup is level and his tail is set very high. He throat has a clean arch, and his nostrils are large and elastic.…

Last Thursday, I managed to take a day off while in the US for work and drove out to Pennsylvania to see my horses. I had not seen them in a year. I feel terrible about that. The young ones have grown so much. Jamr, at seven, is now a fully grown stallion. He certainly IS small. We measured him at 13.3 1/2, just under 14 hands. I am not a fan of 16 hands Arabians, but under 14 hands is too small for my taste. I am more than 6 feet tall. His neck is also too short. Or the withers are pushed forward and eating at the neck. The crest is nice through, and so is the arch of the throat. He has other qualities: he looks very masculine; his back is short, his hip is long, his girth is moderately deep, his coupling is strong, his chest is broad enough and his jowls are very deep. His eyes are expressive and soulful, without that troubled, anxious expression of some show horses. His profile is very straight, but he makes it up with a broad forehead, deep jowls and a fine muzzle. His ears are short, which is…

If only I did not have enough horses, the Kuhaylah Hayfiyah filly ADA Tharwat al-Awdah (Porte CF x Pirouette CF) would have found a way to my barn.. Photo by Michael Bowling.

I am irked that we still know so little about this horse. We know his color (chestnut), his name and his date of birth (1885). I also read somewhere that he was thought be a “high caste Arabian”. Probably a race horse, or an army horse. Probably exported from Basrah, or Kuwait to Bombay. Bombay/Mumbai may have kept customs documents. The British army too, perhaps. We know a lot more about Lord Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford, who brought him from India to England in 1892. He served in Egypt in 1882, which is probably why he gave the horse this name. Mameluke sired the mare *Shabaka for another important Englishman, Lord Arthur Cecil. Shabaka was imported to the USA by Spencer Borden, who bred her influential son Segario. My 2013 mare Mayassah Al Arab is the last living Al Khamsa horse tracing to him. If a stallion is ever to rise from Mayassa’s line, I better start finding more information about Mameluke. India is the right place to start, but where in India?

I am back in Washington, D.C. for a few days. How I miss that place, especially in the fall season. I biked by the statue of General George Henry Thomas on the circle that bears his name. I wonder which horse served as a model for this statue. It looks nice, but certainly not as nice as Ibrahim Pasha’s equestrian statue in downtown Cairo. Now that’s a horse I would have liked to have seen. He must have been belonged to the collection of Viceroy Mohammad Ali.

Bev Davison posted these photos on Facebook. They feature the white belly spots of DA Ginger Moon (top) and her full sister DA Moon Sister (bottom). This follows an intense discussion on this blog about extreme white markings.

and Ginger is still wonderful. What a grand broodmare she is. Neck, hip, withers, ears, and what style on top of that. Jabbar is also a very good sire, and I think he deserves to be used more. Photo by Bev Davison who keeps her for me. I always quote this passage from Lady Anne Blunt’s Journals, on March 15, 1887, about her selection criteria when purchasing new horses: “He [Zeyd] is to be very particular about plenty of bone, height of wither, length, of course everything else perfect and origin mazbut.

This is Nahaab, a yearling born March 2018. I just love the “son of the desert” look and feel on him. The level croup. The high set tail. The authentic lineage. He looks like he came straight out of a black tent of Arabia. He would be a good match for my Kuhaylat. Might even help preserve their desert bloodlines. (Just messing with you, in case you were still wondering) For comparison, this is Najm Yarob, the Syrian stallion of Jose Manuel Meizoso in Spain. I just love the “son of the desert” look and feel on him. The level croup. The high set tail. The authentic lineage. He looks like he came straight out of a black tent of Arabia. He would be a good match for my Kuhaylat. Might even help preserve their desert bloodlines. Some “Arab” horses have diverged so much from the original desert horse that it is high time to recognize they have become a separate breed. That applies to horses of the extreme race type as well as horses of the extreme show type, regardless of pedigree.

Thanks for Kate for sending me this beautiful video.

Photos by Bev Davison who keeps her for me.

For those who haven’t seen it, since Jeanne was mentioning it.

Also from Ibn al-Kalbi’s Book of Horses, my translation: David, the Prophet of God, was very fond of horses. He could not hear of a horse cited for his bloodline (‘irq), its authenticity (‘itq), it’s beauty (husn) or its speed (jari) without sending for it, until he gathered a thousand horses. There were none other on earth at the time. When God called David back [to him], Solomon inherited his kingdom and his inheritance. He sat in his father’s seat and said: “David did not bequeath me an asset I like better than these horses”. He trained them and served them. Note the order of the qualities David was said to be seeking.

I always found this story very touching. It is related in Hisham Ibn al-Kalbi’s book of horses, one of the earliest such compilations by Muslim authors: We were by the coastline; a stallion was brought to be bred to his mother; he refused. So they brought her into a house, threw a cover the door, and put a blanket on her. When he was done covering her, he smelled the scent of his mother. He put his teeth on the root (asl) of his male organ, cut it off and died. The story was related by al-Awza’i to Abu Yusuf to Ibn al-Kalbi.

From Jeanne Craver comes this photo of the Davenport mare Adorned (Prince Hal x Moth by Tripoli), with the reference to the earlier discussion on pronounced white markings.

This is Royal Court Jester. He is not an Arabian horse (no panic yet). He carries less than 0.2 percent pinto blood from a single cross at the 10th generation. The remaining 99.8 is general list Arab blood. Tobiano is a dominant gene, so at least one parent need to carry it. I wonder, through, whether this is the same gene as that responsible for extra white markings? My question reflects my ignorance of equine genetics.

I am looking up the horses Kate mentioned in the previous entry. Below is Fenwick Orion, another 100% Crabbet of Australian lines. His markings are quite striking. They are so unusual that one is tempted to look for non-Arabian blood (of which there is a little, way back), and attribute his coat color pattern to it. I think one should instead look for the resurgence of markings that were more familiar in the past, but have been bred out. Arabic books on horses from 1200 years ago mentioned such markings and colors in great detail. While it remains unclear whether their authors were referring to Arab horses only, the sheer number of Arabic terms used to describe these unusual coat color patterns is in itself evidence of the familiary of ancient native speakers of Arabic with such horses with such markings. This one is FV Aul Rabba, who is CMK with a majority of Crabbet lines.

Very interesting white markings on this 100% Crabbet stallion (with multiple lines to Skowronek and Dargee) and a tail female line to the Kuhaylat al-Krush desert-bred mare Dafina. The VIIIth century CE Arabic horse books (kutub al-khayl) describe such markings at length. There must have been more Arab horses with such markings in the past, before these were bred out, and it’s interesting to see them pop out again in a pedigree like this one. Some eleven years ago, the late Joe Achcar posted the photo below, showing a similarily marked stallion of Syrian and Egyptian bloodlines.

Much ink has been spilled on this subject, and I guess the short answer to the question is that one can say both. “Arabian” refers to “Arabia” the land, like “English” does to “England”. When one says “Arabian horse”, they link the horse to “Arabia” the land. When one says “Arab horse”, they link the horse to the “Arab” people. “Arabia” the land and “Arab” the people are related, because “Arabia” is how the Romans called the “lands of the Arabs”. The term was carried over from Latin to other European languages. So you’d think that the difference does not really matter, because both “Arabian horse” (the horse of/from the “land of the Arabs”) and “Arab horse” (the horse of/from the Arabs”) eventually go back to “Arab” in the end. But “Arabia” and “Arab” are not exclusively related: not all the people who ever inhabited (or still inhabit) Arabia were (are) Arab. Persians, Hebrews and Ethiopians did live there too. So did a lot of non-Arab ancient people who were native to Arabia. Of these, the Sabaeans of Queen of Sheba fame are the best known today. Personally, I would go for “Arab horse”, although I have used both terms…

A nice photo of the 1896 Hamidie mare Zitra (Mannaky x Galfia), a Hamdaniyah Simriyah. She has this “upper class” look for an Arab horse. This is the tail female to Antan, Regency CF and other greats at Craver Farms. Photo courtesy of Jeanne Craver.

*Werdi was one of the Davenport imports. I may have identified the owner of her dam, as mentioned in her hujjah, but I am awaiting confirmation from sources in Hamah. Here is the available information meanwhile: It can be inferred from *Werdi’s hujjah that her dam was the “grey mare of Faris Agha al-Turkmani of the people of Hamah“. This gives out the owner’s first name (Faris), his title (Agha), his ethnic origin (Turkmen), the city he was from (Hamah in central Syria, south of Aleppo), and the approximate date he lived (1893). A quick internet search with the keywords “Faris + Agha + Hamah” in Arabic yielded a Faris Agha Tayfur who fit all five criteria above. This was encouraging because I already knew that the Tayfur were one of Hamah’s most prominent families. I met several horse breeders from this family in Hamah in the late 1980s . Gertrude Bell, on page 224 of her book “The Desert and the Sown” (I downloaded a free online copy here) mentioned the Tayfur among Hamah’s four prominent families along with the Barazi, the Azem and the Kaylani (who held the position of Naqib al-Ashraaf in the city). The Tayfur are…

*Werdi was one of the mares imported by Homer Davenport to the USA in 1906. Her hujjah (certificate of authenticity) is particular among the hujaj of the Davenport imports in that its front side is for a bay mare that is *Werdi’s close relative, most probably her sister, but not *Werdi herself. The hujjah belongs to a bay or dark brown mare without markings, purchased by a man from Aleppo. This bay mare’s sire is a Ma’naqi Sbayli, the horse of “Nawras Effendi the Naqib of Ma’arrah which is a dependency of the vilayet of Aleppo“. Her dam is the “grey mare of Faris Agha al-Turkmani of the people of Hamah“. The bay/brown mare is a Kuhaylah Krush to be mated. I did a little bit of research on Nawras Effendi. He turned out to be a prominent man in the town of Ma’arrah. Perhaps he was the most prominent person in the city. Ma’arrah is a large, ancient, historical town south-west of Aleppo. It suffered a lot in the Syrian civil war. The “Naqib”, short for “Naqib al-Ashraaf”, is the head of the congregation of the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad, the Ashraaf (in the plural, the singular is…

This is the third time I come across the name of this Damascene horse owner in primary sources about horses exported to the West. He amazingly connects together three Western horse figures: Wilfrid Blunt (concerning Saladin), Homer Davenport (concerning *Simri), and Khalil Bistany (concerning *Al-Mashoor). Check this out: From Lady Anne’s Journals and Correspondence, October 6, 1911   “Fauzan brought to Mutlak who brought it to me the answer from his Damascus friend Said Abu Dahab about the horse (Mr. Learrmouth’s purchase then nearly two years ago). It was bred in the village of Jerud (near Damascus) and bought from [the] Juardly [ie, a man of Jerud] who bred it by Musa el Seyyid, they telling him it was Hamdani — no mention of Simri. That was what had been ascertained. A quite different story to that of the “pure as milk on a dark night” pedigree.”   From the hujjah of *Al-Mashoor: And the sire of that horse is the Hamdani Semri of the well-known Musa al-Sayyid Abu Hamdi from the neighborhood of al-Midan Bab Musalla” From the hujjah of the Davenport import *Simri, purchased in Damascus: His sire is Kuhaylan al-‘Ajuz, of the horses of Sa’id Agha [hard to read, most probably al-Daquri,…

I also read “the Horse” by Al-Asma’i today. I came across this mention: It was mentioned that Hisham [the Umayyad Caliph Hisham ibn ‘Abd al-Malik, died in 743 CE] said: “I desire to see al-Dhaa’id [a horse] defeated. So they brought him a birdhawn of the Berbers [birdhawn barbari], called al-Mukatib, after a disease had weakened the legs of al-Dhaa’id, who had been undefeated for twenty years. He put them together […]. They tied and he [al-Mukatib] did not outdistance him at all. We have here an indication that by ca. 740 CE, the horses of the Berbers, however fast they were, were considered birdhawn. These would be the ancestors of today’s Barb horse. The Barb is the historical horse of the Berbers.

Today I read Hisham Ibn al-Kalbi’s (d. 819 CE) “Horse Lineages in the Jahiliyyah and Islam” from cover to cover. It is a a quick read, and the earliest of the Arabic books on horses. I was looking for specific things, but I found this fascinating story, about a specific horse named al-Dubayb. My translation: Al-Dubayb: the horse of Hassaan ibn Hanzhalah al-Taa’i. He carried Khosrow Anushirvan [on his back] when he [i.e., Khosrow] was defeated by Bahram Chobin, so he [i.e., Khosrow] survived. And there was a long story about him. So Hassaan ibn Hanzhalah recited: “I avoided Khosrow being trounced; I was not going // to leave him looking for a horse on foot! I offered him the chest of al-Dubayb // as the mare of the Turks and Kabul went off” Khorsow’s birdhawn had reared and thrown him. When his reign stabilized, Hassaan came to see him [i.e., see Khosrow], and he [i.e., Khosrow] granted him the district [tassuj] of Khutarnia. This amazing story relates how Hassaan ibn Hanzhalah, an Arab knight from the tribe of Tay in the army of Sassanian Persian King Khorsow, saved the king in battle by putting him on his horse and…

Muhammad Othman Abdallah Saoud al-Tahawi, also known as El Tahawy Saoud, is a folk historian of the first order, a preservationist extraordinaire and the guardian of this tribe’s heritage and history. With yours truly at my house in Cairo in 2014. How I miss those Cairo evenings, the endless conversations, the taste of sugarcane juice, and the smell of nightblooming jasmine from the garden outside.

It is so nice to see Hazaim Alwair’s Davenport breeding program grow. His two Hayfi mares Provance CF (Triermain CF x Anjou CF) and Confetti CF (Triermain CF x Domina CF) produced beautiful colts by Gilaad Ibn Dubloon (Dubloon CF x Genuine Tes by Tesio CF) in 2018. They are Jabal Alasil to the right, and Sakhr Alasil to the left, both in the Core Haifi group. There is a third colt, by Gilaad out of Una CF, who is apparently the best of the three.

This beautiful, well balanced mare is now with Michael Bowling. If I am not mistaken, Valse Triste TW carries the highest concentration of Tripoli blood in a living Davenport Arabian. She is by Trilogy (by Prince Hal who was by Tripoli out of Trill by Tripoli out of Moth by Tripoli) out of a Brigantine daughter (Tripoli x Portia by Tripoli) who was by Sir (a Tripoli son).

In the name of God the Most Merciful and Compassionate City of Riyadh Region of Najd Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 11 Rabi’ the second 1378 corresponding to 25 October 1958 I, Mutlaq al-‘Atawi, supervisor of the royal horse stables of his Highness King Saud ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz, declare that the following testimony is correct: The filly “Halwaaji”, characterized by the following: The color of her body is red [“ahmar”], and her tail and mane are “red”, she has a big white blaze on her forehead, her upper and lower lips are white on their right side, and dark on their left side, she has a bunch of white hair on her neck, under the left side of her mane more specifically, she has an irregular string of white hair on the back side of her neck, her left hind left leg has a white stocking with a white hoof; as to her other hoofs they are dark, and on her left upper hind leg she has three white spots of white hair; she also has a three small white dots on her upper front legs; She was born in the stables of his Majesty’s horses in Khafs Daghrah in the…

There has been a lot of speculation about the sire of the desert-bred Davenport import *Mowarda, in particular whether he was the horse that was imported to the USA by one of Davenport’s companions and later registered as *Abbeian 111. The Arabic language famously lacks the verb “to be”. Phrases like “the dog is big” and “the big dog” are harder to differentiate than in English. The presence or absence on the definite article “al-” in the ajective is the way they can be differentiated. This is how it works: al-kalb al-ahmar, literally “the dog the red” means “the red dog”. al-kalb ahmar, literally “the dog red”, means “the dog is red”. Accordingly, the hujjah of *Mowarda would read as follows: Wa-inna umma al-hisani al-madhkuri tushabba wa-abuha al-hayfi; wa abu al-hisani al-madhkuri al-mawjudi bi-yadi al-mushari ilayhi ubayyan sharrak Note the bold “al-” for now. Literally: And mother of the horse the referenced to be mated [feminine] and father of her the Hayfi. And father of the horse the referenced the present in the hand of the aforementioned Ubayyan Sharrak. The ajective “referenced” modifies “horse” (*Mowarda, age and coat color described earlier in the hujjah) in the first sentence. It does…

She is growing by leaps and bounds, and has filled up. I like the dark skin around the muzzle, and the long ears, and the setting of the neck. I would like to calculate the percentage of Crabbet and Abbas Pasha blood there (Gulida, Ghadaf, Rabanna, Bint Serra, Bint Rissala, Bint Durra, Kazmeen, Nusi, etc). She certainly looks like a Crabbet filly of the old type. I always wanted a filly from the Rabanna line. Here she is.

Bev’s mare GulastrasSpirit SDA had a beautiful filly by Sierre Cheyenne four days ago. I just love these horses. So much style, such true old type. Photos by owner Bev Davison.

This post continues the series on the Nasiri book. In an earlier post, I had referred to the ten groups of horses featured in one of the sections: that from Hijaz, Najd, Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Libya, North Africa, etc. They were generally classified by region, and called ansaab, which translates as “lineages”. I speculated about whether these lineages were “Arab”, since we now know that the Nasiri book featured at least one mention of “asil Arab” horses in 1333 CE. Another book written at the about the same time as the Nasiri book provides a clue. It is a book about horses, called “Kitaab al-Aqwal al-Kaafiyah wa-al-usul al-Shaafiyah fi al-Khayl“. It was written by the Rasulid king of Yemen, Ali ibn Dawud ibn Yusuf ibn Rasul, who reigned between 1322 and 1363 CE, his capital at the splendid Yemeni city of Ta’izz. Passages about a horse plague indicate the book was written some time after 1327-1328 CE. No English translation exists as far as I know. An Arabic edition from 1987 was published by the University of Qatar. I just ordered it. Meanwhile, we will have to make do with excerpts from a French translation by N. Perron, published…

This son of the Doyle stallion Tamaam DE and the rare Sarita Bint Raj does not cease to amaze me. Look at the withers-shoulder-neck complex! Photos by Lyman Doyle. Pippa is the mare in the bottom.

This black mare, of the Ma’naqi Sbayli strain tracing to Haidee, is the maternal grandmother of my SS Shadows Aana. Her formidable build, her high withers and her very deep girth, are some of the reasons I like this line so much. Mares like her can be the cornerstone of an entire breeding program.