Quiet Nobility

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Some time in 2023-24, the concept of “quiet luxury” gained traction in fashion circles online and offline. It’s always been there, in close circles, but it’s now out in the mainstream. My built-in web AI defines quiet luxury as “an understated fashion movement that prioritizes high-quality materials, timeless design, and discreet elegance.” It tells me … Read more

Apocryphal story

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Some thirty years ago, an aprocryphal story spread in Arabian horses circles about a purported conversation between a senior Western official and a Saudi prince (their names are not the point of the story). It goes that the Western official pleaded for the Prince to register his large herd of Arabian horses — two hundred … Read more

Alexis Wrangel on the Arabian horses of Iraq 1958

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“Nowadays breeding of the Arabian in the Middle East has concentrated on race horses for the Beirut and Cairo race tracks. However this breeding has been tainted by the intrusion of English Thoroughbred blood in the Arabian horses of Iraq. The Iraqi Arabian is bigger and runs faster — but he has lost the look … Read more

Colorized 1906 photo of *Haleb

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I am not sure who colorized this well-known photo of *Haleb, taken by Arthur Moore during Davenport’s trip to Arabia in 1906, but they did a good job (except perhaps for too many blue gowns). The quality of *Haleb shows well. I am reminded of his descendant Mayassah.

Barakah Al Arab and Badia Al Arab, October 2025

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Badia Al Arab is by Monologue CF out of Barakah Al Arab. Barakah Al Arab is by Wadd Al Arab out of Jadah BelloftheBall. Wadd Al Arab is by Triermain out Wisteria CF. Three generations Al-Dahdah breeding. الكحيلة بركة العرب وبنتها بادية العرب يوم السبت

Abu Khamseh, 1995 Wadnan Khursan stallion

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The Wadnan (or Wathnan) stallion Abu Khamseh (Khamseh x Parsa by Hashem) was one of Europe’s most important endurance horses. The first photo was taken in his prime, the second as was completing a 200 km ride, and the third by Christelle Seranne in old age.

Jedran, 1932 Saqlawi Marighi stallion

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Facebook pages are reposting this photo of Jedran (Ghazi × Baribeh) a 1932 chestnut stallion from the lineage of Basilisk. He was bred by W.R. Brown, stood at Travelers Rest, was sold to the US Remounts and was used in service from 1935 to 1945. Photo from The Arabian Horse News magazine February 1955. He … Read more

From Segario 1902 to Munir 2024

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Somehow I had never seen this photo of Spencer Borden’s stallion Segario, an important sire in early American Arabian horse breeding. Someone posted them on allbreedpedigree.com. He is in the pedigree of Mayassa Al Arab, and of her son Munir Al Arab (by Pulcher Ibn Reshan), photo below. Munir belongs to Debbie Mackie, who’s been … Read more

On the Bu’ayran strain

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Ahmad Tariq al-Hashimi sent me this old photo, likely taken in Iraq at the beginning of the 20th century. You see an Ottoman official, and the text is in Ottoman Turkish. The mare on the left is Kuhaylat al-Ajuz and the one on the right is a Kuhaylah Bu’ayrah. Both are superb representatives of the … Read more

Habib, 1974 Saqlawi stallion in Austria

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This stallion is not your usual Egyptian horse. Born at Gustl Eutermoser in Austria in 1974, he traces to the desert-bred Mabrouka, gifted by King Ibn Saud to the King of Egypt in 1945. He is special in that six out of sixteen of his 4th generation ancestors are desert bred. The headshot photo was … Read more

Lady Anne Blunt among the Shaykhs of the Bani Lam of Lower Mesopotamia and their Wadnan horses

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From her Journals and Correspondence (J&C, edited by Archer and Flemning), comes an account of the travels of Lady Anne and Wilfrid Blunt among the Bani Lam of Lower Mesopotamia and Khuzestan. It took place during their 1879 journey through al-Amarah in Lower Mesopotamia through Khuzestan/Arabistan by way of Dezful and Shustar all the way … Read more

Hamza, Jallad, Palmira, Bint Palmirah photos

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Stephan Eberhardt shared with me these photos from a book he has: from top to bottom: Hamza (chestnut Nesman stallion), Jallad (grey Wadnan stallion) and Palmira and Bint Palmirah (the two chestnut Wadnah mares, out of three in the bottom photo). He tells me that he saw both Jallad and the black mare Jezabel at … Read more

Two more photos of Jezabel

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Wilton posted these two photos of Jezabel a few years ago. I believe that he got them from a German magazine. The first one features an older Jezabel with her last foal Juno by an Egyptian horse of show bloodlines. The second shows her with the Hamdani Simri stallion Inta (Ibn Insiatur x Sabah).

“Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life” a 1925 movie on the migration of the Bakhtiari tribes of Persia

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Yet another movie recommendation from Kina Murray is the 1925 silent movie “Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life” on the migration of the Bakhtiari tribes of Iran. It’s an hour long. Kina tells me that there is a much a better version, without all the irritating advert interruptions on youtube, but that one has to … Read more

Arab tribes of Khuzestan

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THe Encyclopedia Iranica has an interesting article on the Arab tribes of Iran, which takes a long historical perspective over thousands of years. The following excerpt on the tribes of Khuzestan is informative: There are numerous Arab tribes in Ḵūzestān, all of which still speak Arabic. The most important ones at the turn of the … Read more

One the main Iranian asil sire line

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The stallion Karoun, a Jilfan Jarjari from the strain of the Bani Malek tribe of Khuzestan born ca. 1942, is the main sireline progenitor for Iranian Arabian horses. Genetic Y-DNA studies have found this sire line to fall under the most common Arabian male haplogroup (Ao-aA1a). Below is a table from Kate McLachlan’s recent Khamsat … Read more

On Gassem Ali Zarqan, an early Bedouin leader and breeder from Iran

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Lately, I have been digging into the origins of Iranian Arabian horses. Using authoritative works in the Arabic language such as ‘Abbas al-‘Azzawi’s monumental “Tribes of Iraq” in four volumes and other sources, I was able to identify several of the older, original horse breeders mentioned in the first studbook of the Asil Stud of … Read more

Jezar by Sarhan x Jezabel

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Jens Sannek continues to gratify me with photos of desert Arabian imports to Europe and their progeny. This photo came to him from the late Austrian breeder Anton Tucek. It shows Anton’s 1991 bay stallion Jezar, by the Bahraini stallion Sarhan out of the black Iranian mare Jezabel. He had obtained Sarhan (Maanaghi Saghir x … Read more

Jasminah to be bred to Hayoun for a 2027 foal

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Jasminah will be bred to the 2001 stallion Hayoun (Hashem x Palmira) for a 2027 foal — his photo and the hypomating below. Hayoun is the full brother of the dam of Abu Khamseh (photo below), a significant stallion in European endurance comptitions. Abu Khamseh is already in Jasminah’s pedigree.

Jasminah, 2017 Wadhnah Khursan mare

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You may be wondering about the reason for the series of recent blog entries on the Iranian Arabian horses. That’s because of Jasminah, a 2017 Wadhnat al-Khursan mare from the breeding program of the late Ulrike Marcik in Spain. Wilton had already written about Jasminah on this blog, a few years back. Jasminah traces twice … Read more

“Migrate to Survive” documentary about Iranian asil horses

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Thanks to Kina Murray for reminding me of this wonderful documentary, “Migrate to Survive”, about the Iranian asil horses of Mary Gharagozlou. Some really nice mares and stallions are featured, including the black one Mary is seen riding into the mountains in the screenshot below, and a couple of noticeable grey and chestnut mares.

On the various strains of Iranian Arabians, by Mary Gharagozlou

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Quoting from her article on the Asil Horse of Khuzestan (full article here on the WAHO website), a good starting point for information on this topic: Of the tribes mentioned by Layard in the first quotation, branches of the Al Khamees, Al Kathir and the Bani Lam are existent today in Khuzestan. The Bani Lam … Read more

A quote from Prince Mohammed Ali’s

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book “Breeding of Pure Bred Arab Horses: “Some Europeans make a big distinction between a Syrian, or desert and Najd horse; etc. All these horses are from the same origin ….. I am often amused to read about horse lovers who have had to deal with Arab horses; they seem to be quite convinced that … Read more

On the origins of the desert-bred stallion Dynamite II, imported from Egypt to Tunisia in 1928

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The following on the desert-bred stallion Dynamite II is an excerpt from a typed text in my archives, “Les Chevaux de Pur Sang Arabe de Sidi Thabet — Tunisie 1931”. The text looks like it was copied from an anonymous 1931 book the details for which are available online, here. The text cites Dynamite II … Read more

Solomon, a Courthouse Hamdani Simri

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The photo below comes from James Fleming’s 1992 booklet, The Courthouse Arabian Stud of Bill Musgrave Clark, published by Alexander Heriot. Solomon was the first foal of his dam. In 1952, he was exported to Italy along with his half-brother Sennacherib, by Joseph. Neither horse left offspring at the Courthouse Stud. Solomon’s sire Atesh was a … Read more

Early mentions of the Musinn strain in Western sources

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[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, … Read more

Rzewuski on the Wadhnan strain

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Said Rzewuski: “Woznah: La fondatrice de cette race très fameuse par ses qualités pour la guerre fut dans l’ère nommée la Djahélieh (le paganisme) consacrée a l’étoile qui précède, de pair avec une autre, le lever de Canope. Race très antique et précieuse. Anti-prophétique. Rarissime. Forte membrée. D’origine des environs de La Mecque.” In English: … Read more

Shaykh at five

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Shaykh Al Arab a.k.a “Notch”, a Ma’naqi Sbayli horse that I bred out of a mare leased from DeWayne Brown, has grown into a nice riding horse for the Doyles. Photo and video Lyman Doyle.

El Hamdan, El-Haml & Aja

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Three more photos I found, showing three generations from El Hamdan, pictured age ten; El-Haml at seven and Aja at two. Photographer(s) unknown, but photos graciously provided by Gisela Aschenborn Uijs. El Hamdan above and below El-Haml Aja

Barakah-line stallion

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I was recently gifted three boxes full of material by my mentor, Gisela Aschenborn Uijs as they’re moving from the iconic Farm Orumbo-Nord where the renowned mares Nabilah and Barakah were guests. One find was four photos that, after a few phone calls, turned out to be Sidi Abu Khai , a 1984 stallion bred … Read more

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