Ma´anaghieh Tabasheer and offspring at Royal Stud, Bahrain

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Ma´anaghieh Tabasheer 1057, grey mare, born 1997, by Musannaan Dinaar 866 out of  Maanaghieh Shalfa 774 and her filly Ma´anaghieh 1789 by Mlolshaan Wesam 1371: Ma´anaghieh Ghada 1665, grey mare, born 2013, by Dahman Hoobeishi 1085 out of Ma´anaghieh Tabasheer 1057 Ma´anaghieh Maysa 1625, grey mare, born 2011, by Obeyaan Al Muheeb 957 out of … Read more

Suwaiti Mamdooh

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Suwaiti Mamdooh M671 at the stud of Sh. Muhammad B. Salma in Umm Jidr. From a strain recently received from Saudi Arabia after the original Bahraini line of Suwaitia Kuwaitia had died out. He looks different from the other Bahraini horses. Photos Amanda Jane Smith.

Extinct and surviving Bahraini strains

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Putting together information from Judi Forbis’ series of articles “Pearls of Great Price” on Bahraini horses as reproduced in Classic Arabian Bloodstock, with information from Dana Al Khalifa’s introduction to her “Living Treasures of Bahrain”, and comparing these with the current strains existing at the Bahraini Royal studs, one can list the Arabian horse strains … Read more

Kuhaylat al-Aadiyat

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One of the main reasons why some strains do not appear in the Abbas Pasha Manuscript is that they had not been formed or named yet. One example is Kuhaylan Hayfi in Northern Arabia, and another is Kuhaylan Al-Aadiyat in Bahrain. The latter strain is peculiar to Bahrain, stemming from a Kuhaylah Ajuz of the Bedouin … Read more

Differences between males and females in Bahraini Arabian horses

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Again, elevating this other quote Laszlo relayed from Valerie Noli-Marais’ 1972  article in Arabian Horse News, because it’s very relevant to the discussion about the pronounced male-female difference in Arabian horses, but also to other earlier discussions on dished profiles: ”The stallions are between 14.3 and 16 h.h., very masculine, short-backed and compact, with long … Read more

The real Drinker of the Wind

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In a comment on an earlier post, Laszlo reminded us of this quote from Valerie Noli-Marais in an article from a 1972 Arabian Horse News issue about the horses of Bahrain: “When a Bahrain Arabian horse is taken off its hobbles and proudly bursts into motion, with mane flying, dark kohl ringed eyes flashing, tail straight up … Read more

Mlolesh Samra and offspring in Bahrain

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Mlolesh Samra 1020, bay mare, born 1996, by Kuheilaan Umm Zorayr al Dheelem 407 out of Mlolesh Alyatima Radhwah 412 with her filly Mlolesh 1780, black by Jellaby Balsam Mlolshaan Wesam 1371, bay stallion, born 2004, by Kuheilaan aafas Rakaan 886 out of Mlolesh Samra 1020 Mlolshaan Al Ward 1471, bay stallion, born 2012, by … Read more

Tuwaisaan al Jamur

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Tuwaisaan al Jamur 1613, bay stallion, born 2010, by Obeyaan Barakat 1093 out of Tuwaisah Newaadir 859   And his dam: Tuwaisah Newaadir 859, bay mare, born 1991, by Hamdaany Shaamikh 81 out of Tuwaisah Ttaraayif 758  

One of the first photos of me on a horse

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  This was taken in 1980 or 1981, near the town of Rayak, in the Biqa’ valley of Lebanon. Rayak, more specifically the village of Hawsh Haala, outside Rayak, was where we put our horses. We had a partnership with the Hindi family over the horses, since the time of my grandfather, Edward Al-Dahdah, in the late … Read more

Hijab, Saqlawiyah Jadraniyah ibn Amud

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This Syrian mare bred by Basil Jadaan in 1994 was exported to France at a young age. Photo from owner Chantal Chekroun. Hijab met an untimely death, but leaves behind a son, Manjad Maram Al Baida, by Mokhtar, and a daughter Quokriya Al Shatane, both by Mokhtar, another of Basil’s horses imported to France. Mokhtar if still … Read more

Probable Origin of the Hadban strain of the Jarba — Shammar

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From the Abbas Pasha Manuscript — that bottomless treasure — page 546: “and we mated her a second time to the Hadban horse of Saffuq al Jarba, and he is of the horses of al Jaless of al Kawakibah” Elsewhere in the Manuscript it is recorded that the stud/marbat of Hadban Enzahi of the al-Kawakibah … Read more

Daughter of the Wind switches to Arabic

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When I started this blog, more than eight years ago, it was out of a need to connect American breeders and lovers of desert Arabian horses with facts, stories, and like-minded people from the rest of the world. I believe this task has now largely been fulfilled, not necessarily by this blog, but mostly by the … Read more

Roaning in Arabic as applied to horses: ablaq

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Coat colors in old Arabic treatises on horses pose a big challenge not just because of their sheer number — close to a hundred — but also because they do not follow quite the same pattern as color coat definitions of Arabians in the west: grey, chestnut, bay, and black. I having been trying to look … Read more

Beteyen ibn Mirshid

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I had never seen this photo of Beteyen Ibn Mirshid of the Sbaa Bedouins before. It is apparently featured in Von Oppenheim’s book. Can anyone confirm? He was the owner of Queen of Sheba, of the Blunts.  

“Yellow” as a color in Arabian horses

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This is with respect to the discussion on the color “yellow” in Arabian horses in the preceding entry. This mare (Pirouette CF) would qualify as “yellow” in Bedouin parlance. This is confirmed in old Arabic dictionaries (“Lesan al-Arab” which dates back to the 14th century AD), and also by  Tweedie and Raswan.

Update on *Nufoud tail female

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There are only four mares and filles from the *Nufoud tail female accounted and all are in PA. Linda Uhrich owns AB Dafinah (HHA Manabi x LD Rubic), and Monica Respet owns her daughter, Niina Nufoud. Then there is “Belle” and her daughter Barakah, with me. Jadah Necessity, 1997 gm, is unaccounted for, last with … Read more

Farhan al-Olayyan

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I have been trying to get a photo of him. He was Miqhim Ibn Mhayd’s slave and one of his most trusted men. Following the relocation (exile?) of Miqhim from Syria to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the late 1950s, he acted as Miqhim’s agent to acquire several hundreds of desert bred horses, mostly mares, … Read more

Goodbye Aana

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The sweet Juans Aana (El Reata Juan x Suuds Juli Aana), a Ma’naqiyah Sbayliyah from the line of Haidee, 26 years old this year, left to what seems to be a good retirement home yesterday. I kept her 16 year old daughter which I still hope to breed this year. If it’s a colt, I … Read more

Three different types

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Belle (top) looks the most deserty of all my horses by far, and has the longest ears, Jamr (middle) has the crested neck of his Crabbet ancestors, and Wadha has the most “classic” head and largest eyes of the three. And there is only so much a smartphone camera can do.

Farhan al-Olayyan up to the 1980s

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This serves mostly as a note to myself: I found an intriguing reference to Farhan al-‘Olayyan in a Syrian hujjah of a horse born in the mid 1980s. I had long thought that Farhan al-‘Olayyan, a former black slave who had acted as an agent of the Saudi royal family for the purchase of hundreds … Read more

How Ma’naqi mares are special

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My Syrian friend Radwan — one of the persons from whom I keep learning — told me that desert mares from the Ma’naqi strain were characterizeda, among other features by long ears, large and long mouths that ran deeper into the muzzle than horses from other strains, and horizontally placed eyes, more so than horses from … Read more

Bahraini horses outside the royal family

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Ahmad Saffar from Bahrain told me the other day that wealthier Bahrainis from the ahali — the population, so not royals — kept marabet of Shawafan and Wadhnan until the 1970s, when they turned to Thoroughbreds and part bred Arabs for racing. They had obtained these strains from Southern Iraq — presumably the area around Basra and … Read more

On breeding for straight profiles

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I never believed straight profiles were a defect. Most of the desert Arabian horses I grew up with in Lebanon and Syria had straight profiles. Very early on, I found that quote in Lady Wentworth’s “Authentic Arabian Horse”, perhaps taken from Lady Anne Blunt’s unpublished manuscript; it echoed what I was seeing and learning about … Read more

Jamr last week

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This time it was hard to grab good shots of my young stallion Jamr, who kept prancing. His hindquarter is shaping into true old Crabbet style, and each time I see him he looks different. He is 43.5% old Crabbet lines, his dam was double that percentage.  

Belle and Barakah

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This young filly is the happy outcome of a sustained preservation effort of the Kuhaylan ‘Ajz line of *Nufoud, and of the small number of Arabian horses without Crabbet bloodlines. Her name means “divine blessing”. May she be blessed and continue this precious line of royal horses. Her dam Jadah BelloftheBall (“Belle”) was rescued several … Read more

Inaam Al Krush

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Jackson Hensley sent this photo of his stunning Monologue CF son, Inaam Al Krush. I had seen him a few months ago, and liked him, but he looks even better in this photo. Reminds me of that iconic photo of Kuhailan Haifi O.A. That Monologue CF, I should have bred all my mares to him.