A blog on desert arabian horses, past, present and future
Meet the newest member of my little herd: Elegance CF 2001gm Darlene Summers graciously allowed me to acquired this mare from her after I fell head over heels for her the first time I met her in August of 2015. These pictures were taken the morning after I’d brought her to my place in September 2015. … Read more
Edouard asked if I would write a series of posts explaining how I provide optimum nutrition for horses in my care. What is Optimum Nutrition? It is about feeding what the horse requires not just in the way of calories but equally important the major and trace minerals they require in the proportions they require, … Read more
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.
I am digging into older pictures of Jadiba and reminiscing about how grand a broodmare she is. Too bad I came across her in her later days and that she only produced one foal. By the way, there is something special and attractive about the shape, thickness and setting of the tail in these horses of predominantly Blunt … Read more
It was taken by Ursula Guttman (thanks Betty Finke for the credit), and features the 1925 Saqlawi Jadran son of Mabrouk Manial out of Negma that was sent from Egypt to Germany’s Weil stud. What tail carriage this line has.
This desert bred Kuhaylat al-‘Ajuz from the ‘Anazah in Syria was one of the purest, noblest and best Arabian mares in the world, in my opinion. Now gone, like so much else in this dear place. Photos from the early 1980s in Syria.
Hassan Bey (Ghawi x Ghazil by Abu Zeyd) a full brother to Gulida’s dam.
and an eternal favorite of mine, among Davenport stallions. What class, what style, what carriage, what prancing.. Pedigree here.
The fifth horse I have bred since coming to the USA fifteen years ago was born August 11, a bay Ma’naqi Sbayli by Monologue CF out of CSA Baroness Lady. A Davenport and Egyptian cross with a tail female to Lady Anne Blunt’s Ferida. He was born three weeks early. At first his mother refused to … Read more
He is a slow grower, but has already made a lot of progress. I believe this horse will show his full potential once he’s reached the age of 7 or 8. Jamr is the son of Jadiba daughter of Jabinta daughter of Bint Malakah daughter of Malakah daughter of Zoe daughter of Serije daughter of Sedjur … Read more
Hansi Heck-Melnyk is one of two women (the other being Tzviah Idan) behind my acquaintance with Asil Arabian horses in the USA. In 1994, at the WAHO conference in Morocco, she saw a teen-ager sitting on his own at a dinner, started talking to him, then after he went back home in the pre-internet age, started to … Read more
I was thinking this morning, after re-reading this entry here; the shape of Domow’s head as seen in these early twentieth century pictures provides an additional argument for her being by *Astraled (Mesaoud x Queen of Sheba), who had a large, long and rather plain head, instead of Abu Zeyd (Mesaoud x Rose Diamond) who had a … Read more
“Belle”, a.k.a. Jadah BelloftheBall (Invictus Al Krush x Belladonna CHF) was confirmed in foal to my Wadd Al Arab (Triermain CF x Wisteria CF) two days ago. It’s just great to have a home-bred stallion at hand to breed to.
This year a Bezatal grand-daughter won the Tevis Cup 100 miles ride 50 years after Bezatal’s first win in 1965.
SMR Filouette is 14 years old and her rider, Potato Richardson, third time Tevis Cup winner (and 22nd time finisher) is 73 this year. Respect. The mare is general list, tail female *Werdi through Kapiti and her daughter Talima by Oriental (like my Mayyassah)
If you happen to take good care of your horses, or you if you know that you will take of your first horse, and are interested in starting a new preservation breeding program centered around the esteemed Arabian horse strain of Ma’naqi Sbayli, please contact me: ealdahdah@hotmail.com I have a mare from that strain, 10 … Read more
Note the huge eye. He is leaving tonight to go to Kathryn Toth in Ohio, where he will be used on her two rare Arabian mares, a Hadbah and a Hamdaniyah. I want to thank Pamela Klein for her gift of him, and Darlene Summers for the chance to co-own him with her.
Another shot of Monologue from last weekend. Click on the picture to expand it.
This is the latest mare to join my herd, along with her 15 year-old daughter who is also black (not that it matters). Juans Aana (El Reata Juan x Suuds Juli Aana by PRI Saqlawi Suud) is a Ma’naqiyah Sbayliyah, going back in tail female to Haidee imported by Major Roger Upton from the Gomussah Bedouin … Read more
He is looking really good.
CSA Baroness Lady “Lady” (Sar El Dine x Takelma Rosanna by Prince Charmming) is a 1999 mare from the rare Ma’naqi Sbayli line tracing to Ferida of Lady Anne Blunt. She is 10 months in foal to Monologue CF. She is for sale to a good home, if you know someone.
Click on it to enlarge it.
Jamr will be three years old very soon. He is coming along, but still needs more time, at least two more years to show his full potential. He’s always had nice ears, tipped inwards and slightly backwards at the top, that deep jowl keeps getting deeper, and the eye is showing better. Jamr al Arab … Read more
This is Jadah BelloftheBall (aka “Belle”, and I am going to change this name with the registry). The background is an eyesore, but she otherwise looks good. She is a 2002 Kuhaylat al-‘Ajuz, tracing to *Nufoud, a mare from the stables of Ibn Saud. Her sire is Invictus Al Krush and her dam is one … Read more
This is my DA Ginger Moon (DB Destiny Moniet x Kumence RSI by Monietor), a Saqlawiyah Jadraniyah, tail female to Rabanna carrying a high percentage of horses from the lines of Abbas Pasha and Ali Pasha Sharif. Her body is still too thin to take a full conformation shot. She was in foal to the Bahraini stallion Mlolshaan … Read more
So yesterday and today I went up to Pennsylvania to see my horses, and Jeannie Lieb met me there. I learned a lot from Jeannie about proper nutrition and hoof care, and I took hundreds of photos of my horses — with the iPhone unfortunately. Still, many are not that bad. Here are a couple of Wadha. … Read more
Gulastra (Astraled x Gulnare by Rodan). Charles Craver has taken video of him at B. Tankersley in D.C. at age 30-plus.
This filly is the best news of the foaling season in the US so far. A young Ma’naqiyah Sbayliyah (yay!), by a Doyle (100% old Blunt) stallion out of a mare with seven crosses to Julep (Gulastra x *Aziza). She is the result of the first cross of a stallion from the Julep-Gulastra-Astraled tail male to … Read more
This young stallion from France is, in my opinion, one of the most representative elements of the original Arabian type. This is one of the types once favored by North Arabia’s Bedouins as a sire. Click on the photo to enlarge it. He is Murad Sbaa, by Shueyman el Badawi and Murad Ouarda Sabah, by Jahir et Murad … Read more
Jeanne Craver just shared this photo of the 2003 Kuhaylan Hayfi Davenport stallion Twickenham (Regency CF x Kiddleywink CF by Regency CF), who is still at Craver Farms. I have always loved that little stallion.
I was browsing the internet (I finally got connected a connection set), and I came across an amazing photo of the 2011 stallion Shuwayman Fahad. He is by Mahboob Halab (desert bred lines from Syria) out a Mokhtar (desert bred, Syria) daughter, so 75% desert Syrian lines (and some of the bset) and the grand-daughter … Read more
Jose Manuel from Spain sent me these photos of his amazing 1999 Syrian stallion Najm Yarob (Fawaz x Karboujah by Saad x Roudeinah by Mashuj x Jamrah by Awaad x Doumah), a Kuhaylan Krush that is a close relative to the black Mokhtar (Awaad x Doumah). Look at this black skin, this muzzle, and this … Read more
Check it out here.
Of the new generation of stallions rising at the EAO thanks to Ali Shaarawi’s tireless efforts, the Saqlawi Gabour (El Ragel x Gobrana by Kasemy x Gomanah by Maleeh x Bedaat by Ibn Akhtal) is certainly my favorite. He is not striking, but is well built and well balanced.
I so like this photo of the 1985 black Ma’naqi Sbayli mare Suuds Juli Aana (PRI Saqlawi Suud x Julyana ZHS). The muzzle, the jaws, the look in the eye (reminiscent of a mare from Cal Raswan’s pictures of desert horses, don’t remember which one), and again, that overall air of a wild animal. In the … Read more
So we will be heading back to the USA this summer after two years in Egypt. I am both happy and not happy about this development. I don’t know what it is, or rather, I don’t know how else to put it, but in Egypt, gravity, in the sense of the force that ties you … Read more
This photo of the 1964 French and North African Arabian stallion Saadi (Ourour x Oureah by Ghalbane OA) has recently surfaced on the internet. I had not seen it before. It is likely from a magazine.
I am in Doha, Qatar for two days. I just came back from a visit to the brand new “old suq” of Suq Waqif. It’s an anthropological experience of the first order, in how a country can and did re-imagine and reinvent its past, or rather bits and pieces of the past of many neighboring countries, … Read more
This was taken in a Damascus interior by French photographer Gervais Courtellemont in 1908, and gleaned off the internet. The Facebook website I got it from notes that the oldest color photo ever was taken by the Lumiere brothers in Lyon in 1907 using the same autochrome technology. What epitomes of refinement old Damascus and … Read more
Today was an important and solemn day of my two-year stay in Egypt. I found the Cairo cemetery where Lady Anne Blunt is buried and the old lady who guards it led me to her tomb. The “noble lady of the horses” was right there. I had a thought for many of you, and wished you … Read more
By far my favorite stallions at Mrs. Barbary’s Shams El Asil farm are the 2002 bay Hadban stallion Zay El Amar (SEA Halawat Zaman x Meshmesha by Anas x El Anood by Akhtal) and his own sire the 1998 grey SEA Halawat Zaman (SEA Shams El Asil x SEA Set el Hosn by Lokman a.k.a. Ibn … Read more
Pedigree link here. Dam of Sahmet, and granddam of Saher, Safir, and others.
Yet another Hayfiyah, and another Presto CF daughter (it’s never too late) out of Ala Athena Hafiah (Riposte CF x Femina by Ibn Alamein), one of my favorite mares of this strain. She is pretty and looks a lot like her dam.
A newly born Kuhaylah Hayfiyah filly of Davenport bloodlines by Presto CF (Ibn Alamein x Pretty Fancy by Ionian) out of Du Soleil BPA (Triermain CF x Circe by Odysseus) at Claudia and Jim Burris. The dam is a Triermain daughter out of a Triermain sister.
From the collection of his grandson and namesake Ahmed Ibish, Jr, who writes: These are some photos of winning horses of Ahmed Ibish, you can identify them with the previous photos, by horse shapes and numbers. It’s a pity no names preserved. I can only recollect my father describing how some of his father’s … Read more
Jeannie Lieb’s war mar Fin deSiecle CF (Jamboree CF x Bonne Fortune). I saw Jamboree at Craver Farms last month, and what a regret he is not as fertile as she should be. What a good sire, judging from his only offspring.
News this morning that Saudi Arabian airstrikes have leveled the 1,100 year Imam Hadi mosque in Sa’dah, in the far north of Yemen. Sa’dah is one of the last well-preserved medieval cities in the Middle East.
This Kuhaylat al-Krush filly of Davenport lines is the second ray of the hope this strain, also born this month at Kim Davis’. She is by HH Tantalus Krush out of HH Nadira Krush.
This wonderful, very promising black Kuhaylat al-Krush filly was born this month at Kim Davis’ in Illinois, out of HH Karisma Krush (Othello LD x Kashmir Krush LD by Sportin Life). After the devastating tragedy that befell the group of Krush mares in Texas, she is one of two rays of hope for the next … Read more
This Arab (ie, Bedouin, not Egyptian peasant) village was right next to Lady Anne’s Sheykh Obeyd property. The photo was taken in 1911. Today it is a sprawling informal, poverty-stricken suburb of Cairo, home to around a million people.
This rare shot is from the Facebook page “Ahl Misr Zaman” which I thoroughly recommend you to follow. It’s a great window to Egypt’s past. King Fuad of Egypt and the Sudan heads the procession (in black, towards the right). The page notes that Prince Kemal El Dine was offered the Egyptian throne upon the … Read more
The other day I was on the 16th floor of the Egyptian Ministry of Finance (the one where they have this impressive portrait gallery of all former ministers of finance), and I saw a painting of Muhammad Sherif Pasha (with a tenure date around 1840, don’t remember exactly), with the mention “father of Ali Sherif … Read more
From Carrie Slayton, a fellow Arabian horse preservationist (thank God for these angels): “Polynesia LD foaled a lovely bay Sharp filly April 23rd,sire is the Davenport stallion Fire Dragon LF. She will be named DI (Desert Ice) Pele, for the Hawaiian volcano goddess”. That’s the same pedigree as this horse, three generations of Davenports on … Read more
This is one of the nice surprises which maintaining this blog can offer you from time to time. Some time ago, Dr. Ahmed Ibish, the grandson of his famous namesake, left some comments on Daughters of the Wind about his grandfather’s involvement with horse-racing, and he now sent me these precious, precious photos. I believe these are … Read more
This morning I was reflecting on the number of tail females left at the Stud of Ali Pasha Sharif after the plague which ravaged his stud around 1875, until his death in 1897. It is surprisingly small: 1) Ghazieh line (Saqlawi Jadran ibn Sudan); mares: Horra, Helwa, Bint Helwa, Johara, Bint Horra, Yemameh (dam of … Read more
I could not get decent pictures of Jamr (Vice Regent CF x Jadiba), who is not three years old yet, and is going through a growth spurt — a real teen-ager. I was taken aback at first (my eye got used to the Egyptians) but then I took a second look and thought he was … Read more
That’s the best head shot I could get of my DA Ginger Moon, a tail female Rabanna mare, with lots of Blunt and Ali Pasha Sharif blood (and it shows). There is a lot of the Bint Moniet el Nefous in there (Nazeer x Moniet el Nefous), close up, and it shows too. That’s a very different … Read more
Last week I saw “Belle” for the first time. Jadah BelloftheBall (I so don’t like that name and I want to change it) is Jeannie Lieb’s gift to me in 2013. I liked the mare, she sent all the right vibes to me. Looking at her, you’d easily forget you are in the woods of … Read more