A blog on desert arabian horses, past, present and future
Jeanne Craver just shared with some of us on the Al Khamsa board this video of the WAHO 2007 convention in Syria. Jeanne expresses it well when she writes: “It is such a bittersweet film, linking our minds to that wonderful trip and all of the spectacular photos, with the constant reminder of the disaster … Read more
Today marks the 5th anniversary of Daughters of the Wind, and the 5th anniversary of my daughter Samarcande who inspired this website. She is now a young lady, a future champion swimmer and horse-back rider. She also loves ice cream.. I realize I have been less active than in previous years; this is partly because … Read more
Last week I was talking with a Syrian friend from Aleppo over the phone. Conversations always start with updates on the security situation there, and end with what they were supposed to start with — horse talk. I was telling him about the recent concerted preservation effort that is underway in the USA, to conserve … Read more
The blind Hamdaniyah Simriyah mare Jadah Kerasun, one of the last four remaining tail females to the Saud Royal Stud import *Samirah seems to finally have found a permanent home with Marge Smith of Oregon. Pamela Klein agreed to haul the mare from the Midwest to the Northwest at a discount rate, and Carrie Slayton … Read more
This is what winter looks like in Northern California. And this is what a 19yo Davenport mare looks like when training a young eventer (note stirrups crossed over withers). Bruce Peek will immediately note the reach of her inside hind. 🙂 Blessings of the new year to you all — Ambar
Here’s of one of the joys of maintaining a website like Daughters of the Wind: a few weeks Husayn al-Mansur al-Yami of Najran in Saudi Arabia sent me the following message, which I reproduce here in full: Hello Edouard, Under the” Video of the Day” section of your blog, I read something about Najran horses … Read more
I was looking at the current Babson Egyptian Arabian stallions tonight, and I was struck by this younger stallion, bred by Dan Ulm. The 2001 chesntnut Saqlawi Jadran stallion Du Akhir Flame (Ibn Mahrouf x Serra Afina by Serr Rou) is quite something. He is really well built, and I especially like the shoulder, the … Read more
A couple blocks from the Casdagli palace, in the Garden City district of Cairo, lies the palace of Princess Nematullah Kamal El Dine, wife of Prince Kemal El Dine Hussein, and daughter of the Khedive Tewfik. The palace, restored and renamed Qasr al-Tahrir (Liberation Palace) but amputated of its garden which became part of the now-famous … Read more
Old Egyptian Arabian horse records have preserved the trace of a Mr. Kasdughli, who owned Arabian horses which he obtained from Lady Anne Blunt during her last years at Sheykh Obeyd near Cairo and from Prince Kemal El Din Hussein of the Egyptian Royal family, and perhaps other sources as well. Here’s on the Dahmah … Read more
My kind of mare. By Sportin Life out of Sarra Al Krushah by Asar Al Krush. Davenport lines. She reminds of Qadheefah, a bay Ubayyah Suhayliyah from the stud of Mustapha Jabri outside Aleppo. Note the high withers, the deep girth, the hocks well let out, and the long ears. As long as there are … Read more
Jose Manuel from Spain sent me this nice note: “I am a follower of your blog and I would like to tell you thanks so much for your wisdom about the arabian horse and the Bedouins because they go together. following your suggestions I saw the stallion Najm Yarob in abrash krush stud near Madrid( … Read more
Photo from the Davenport Project on Facebook. This was the benchmark for an Arabian stallion, by the way. Today’s beauty champion winners belong to another race, a distant descendant from the original one. They are post-Arabians, and it is time to recognize this fact.
I have one thing to say to those Arabian horse breeders around the world who cheated by replacing a mare with another, and registering the progeny of the second mare as being from first: with mtDNA scientific progress on your doorsteps and the genetic tracing of female lines, you are doomed. You, your horses and … Read more
Something needs to be done for the Syrian Arabian horses in the Aleppo area, fast. The price of fodder has been multiplied by ten, and horses from solid studs are starving. Some of us are trying to think of long term solutions, fast. A question here: it is currently difficult to get export papers from … Read more
I am stuck in the Frankfurt airport on my way to Cairo (again) because of a snowstorm, and was reading this future studies article on what the Middle East will be looking like fifty years from now. The scenarios outlined are quite grim. Most of them involve a combination of large-scale and extended droughts, environmental degradation … Read more
Jamal Pasha, known as al-Saffah (“The Blood Shedder”) was governor of the Ottoman Vilayet of Syria just before World War I. He is shown here surrounded by the Shaykhs of Iraqi Bedouin tribes, celebrating the completion of the al-Hindya dam on the Euphrates river near al-Hilla, south of Baghdad. Photo from Wikipedia.
I had never seen this one of him. From the Davenport Project on Facebook. Titled: “Muson at the New Jersey State Fair, 1907”
I have just returned from an exhausting trip to Cairo, Egypt, and will be back on Daughters of the Wind soon. Sorry for the prolonged absence.
Carrie Slayton finally found the whereabouts of the oddly named 1994 Saqlawiyat al-Abd (*Wadduda tail female) mare Oupz Running W (Midbar Balladeer x Serbinti by Serhm), who is a niece of Jadiba, and which turns out to be chestnut (the AK online Roster says she is grey). Joe Ferriss had written about both mares a … Read more
This morning while looking at old pictures I stumbled on two photos of my first mare (or at least the first mare of my father’s stud that I considered mine): Halima, registered in Volume 1 of the Lebanese Studbook as Al Tuwayssa (Malik x A Tuwayssah mare by Radwan), was a 1986 grey mare of … Read more
This facebook website pictures some of the widespread desctruction that befell several historical sites and old cities in Syria. “Like it” or rather, dislike it..
I am quoting this passage of Wilfrid Scawen Blunt’s “My Diaries, being a personal narrative of events, 1888-1914” about his visit to the stud of the Ottoman Sultan in 1893, page 126: “In the evening we drove to the Sweet Waters and were shown the Sultan’s mares. There were, I believe, about 150 of them, … Read more
Check out the hundreds of beautiful photos of Davenport horses in Christine Emmert’sfolder of the ‘not yet sorted’ section of the Davenport Arabian Horse Conservancy website. Most photos were taken at Michael Bowling’s open barn/house in September 2012. Wonderful collection of horses including: Pretty Special CF, Eldar HD, Poeticus HD, Latitude HD, Porte CF, Pirouette … Read more
I am going to start a new series on this blog on “ten myths about Egyptian pedigrees”. Stay tuned.
Jeanne Craver sent me this photo of the black Kuhaylan al-‘Ajuz stallion Jadah Sharuuq (Lifes Capade LD x Belladonna CHF by Audobon), a Sharp (no Blunt/Crabbet blood) stallion bred by Randall and Mary Sue Harris of Peoria, IL, from lines from Carol Lyons. This rare and precious stallion is just five generations removed from the … Read more
Recently I reactivated my “Daughters of the Wind” page on Facebook. Everything I post here will show there, and so will the comments you post here. One basic rule I learned from the social media types at my work is that, if you want to reach more people, you’d better go where they already are … Read more
The other day, Jeannie Lieb pointed me to an excellent Davenport Hamdani stallion which I had not heard about before: Titian CF (Riposte x Neroli by Regency), a full blood brother to my and Darlene’s Monologue CF. Look at his long neck and his balanced conformation.
Also from Facebook — and I gave up on trying to compete with it here, lol — comes this gorgeous photo which Edna Ehret posted of the asil 1984 Ma’naqi Sbaili stallion Dakhala Bashiq (Plantagenet x Soiree by Sir), the full brother of my 1985 Dakhala Sahra, both bred by Jeanne Craver. Two failed embryo … Read more
Bonnie Brown Duecker posted this photo on Facebook of her lovely 28 year old Kuhaylah Hayfiyah mare Pretty Special CF (Lysander x Pretty Fancy by Ionian), one of the last Lysander daughters. Photo by Ch. Emmert.
These two photos of Ribal (Berk x Rijma by Rijm) I had not seen before.
One reason I enjoy keeping this blog is the unexpected encounters that I had the chance to make through it over its nearly five years of existence. One such encouter was the one with Obeyd al-‘Utaibi (“a.k.a Pure Man”) a ‘Ataiba Bedouin of Saudi citizenship who maintains the spirit of old Arabian Bedouin horse breeding — as opposed to the … Read more
Just like “code is poetry” to the WordPress blogging community, to me the way sires and dams, strains and names, tail males and tail females combine to make a pedigree come to life feels like the rhymes and rythm of verses in a poem. Bad pedigrees are like bad poems, I cannot read them without cringing. A … Read more
A great article by Rick Synowski by Michael Bowling and RJ Cadranell — of course, sorry — on “Reconstructing Domow”, that matriach of old American breeding. I never tire of re-re-reading it. I leased two Krush mares with Domow in the pedigree. The usual instruction with this photo: flip your head 30 degrees to the right … Read more
There was a meeting of Davenport and CMK folks and their horses in California last week. Many horses were shown, and many photos were taken. See some of the photos by Carol Mingst, here. Here is one of my favorite Davenport mare Pirouette CF, by Carol Mingst, and another of her daughter, ADA Sareeah (by Dubloon … Read more
Lorien HD (Trilogy x Jonquil CF) 2006 gray mare. 2012 photo by Carol Mingst. Her sire Trilogy (Prince Hal x Trill) 1980 grey stallion. 2003 video capture by Kat Walden.
… a Kuhaylan Hayfi grandson of Portia. This was taken yesterday (22 Sep 2012) at the New Albion Stud in Davis CA. (Also recently confirmed by a repro vet: Porte’s semen should ship well.)
Also from the DAHC website, this gorgeous photo of Portia (Tripoli x Dhalana by Salan), a Kuhaylah Hayfiyah bred by Charles Craver, and the founder of a dynasty of her own at Craver Farms. I have met a couple of mares in Syria at the stud of Basil Jadaan in the early 1990s that bear … Read more
A photo of the Kuhaylan Hayfi Davenport stallion Anchorage (Ibn Alamein x Alaska by Tripoli) bred by Charles Craver. From the DAHC website
Lisa is asking how well Davenport and Part Davenport Arabians do in high level endurance racing. Does anyone have numbers, facts, etc to share?
Cathie Fye recently shared with me this picture of her 2003 Dahmah Shahwaniyah mare Thank Heaven (*Mlolshaan Hager Solomon x Llanys Winddancer x Ru Serr Llany), one of two daughters of the Bahraini stallion Mlolshaan in the USA. She is doing well in endurance, as she should. Look at the gaskin, and the clean hocks. … Read more
I went to see Jadiba and her foal on a rainy day couple weeks ago, and all I could back with were a few head shots of which this is one, against an unflattering background.
What follows are pictures of horses from a little known and much underlooked asil line in the USA, that of the Saud Royal Stud’s Hamdaniyah Simriyah mare *Samirah, through her daughter Koweyt by Alcazar, Koweyt’s daughter Konight by Kaniht (all from Albert Harris’ breeding) and Konight’s 1963 daughter Ameera Moda by Fa-Turf (so lots of desert … Read more
Christine Emmert just shared with me this beautiful photo she recently took of the Davenport Kuhaylah Hayifyah mare Wotan’s Winnie (Wotan x Danseuse CF by Lysander) during the Ed Skinner Memorial Trail ride. Thanks Christine!
Take a preview of the 2015 Arabian Horse World Championships, and get your snorkels and wet suits ready if you don’t want to miss them. Notice the “ultra-refined” head, “exotic” arched neck, the “classic” dished profile, and the “extreme” muzzle of this young competitor. The eyes would have looked bigger if the makeup wasn’t wiped … Read more
The grand Hamdani Simri stallion Regency CF (Ibn Alamein x Bint Antan by El Alamein) died last week at age 31. Of the more than 600 (!) Davenport stallions horses (of course) bred by Charles Craver over more than 50 years from dozens and dozens of stallions, 76 (more than 15%) are his direct offspring. Photo … Read more
From the archives of the Institut Francais du Proche-Orient in Damascus
I found an interesting online database of Arabian horse pedigrees, which includes “all Arabians bred by Wilfred Blunt, Lady Anne Blunt, Lady Wentworth, Cecil Covey between 1878 – 1971”. It seems serious, and is perhaps based on access to the Blunts’ various studbooks. I am going to use it.
Someone Marie Arthur posted this picture on Facebook of the Kuhaylah Hayifyah Davenport mare EK Asiirah UF (Portico x Astranah by Astrologer) bred by Joyce Gregorian, and it struck me. I really like this mare. I even like her one obvious defect: a shorter and thicker neck, which is/was the case with many many desert bred … Read more
Much of Arabian horse breeding program in the West follows patterns based on the exclusion or inclusion of specific horses or groups of horses: within the Babson Egyptians, for example you have the non-*Maaroufa, which is a sub-group that excludes lines to this mare. The Babson Egyptians are themselves an artificial sub-group of Egyptians Arabians, … Read more
This is a bottle in the ocean.. about whether anyone knows anything about a 1999 grey Al Khamsa Arabian mare oddly named Kiefer El Sherif (Hadaya Nile Anwar x Sherlaila by Sheriz) tail female to the W.R. Hearst import *Layya, hence an Obayyan by strain. Jenny Krieg — who owns her sister Maraya and Maraya’s … Read more
Have those of you who live in the Mid-West and South of the USA vaccinated your horses against the West Nile virus? Soon I will be needing a vaccine for the East Nile virus, which is a good virus to catch 🙂
This is true and an important point Edouard in looking to the future options of diversity. The Egyptian horse has long benefited from the influence of the Astraled sons: Sotamm (Astraled x Selima), Rustem (Astraled x Ridaa), and Gulastra (Astraled x Gulnare) as well as the Berk son Hamran (Berk x Hamasa). All of these … Read more
The Blunt Hamdani Simri stallion Sotamm (Astraled x Selma II) is in every single Egyptian pedigree by now. He is of course the sire of Nazeer‘s maternal grandsire Kazmeen (Sotamm x Kasima). He is also in the n0n-Nazeer’s New Egyptians through El Sareei (Shahloul x Zareefa by Kazmeen), Sid Abouhom (El Deree x Leila out of Bint … Read more
Guillaume Lambert has published excerpts of a precious 1866 letter from Emir Abd al-Qader al-Jazairi to French Army General Eugene Daumas about the asil Arabian Horse and its living conditions of French USCAR website . It is in French but worth translating through Google Translate and reading. Guillaume thinks this letter was probably the last one between the two … Read more
I wrote this entry mostly for myself, for the record: I was finally able to retrace the whereabouts of my mare Jadiba from the time she was born until she ended up in my ownership, thanks to information from Shirin Samiljan, Charlotte Newell, Carrie Slayton, Pam Studebaker and Jill Erisman. — She is registered as … Read more
This is one of my all time favorite Arabian horse photos. The stallion featured in it, the 1971 chestnut Saqlawi Jadran Ibn Tirf (Sutan x Shillala by Gulson), is one that I would have liked to breed myself. Ibn Tirf was owned by the late Joyce Gregorian of Upand Farm, who wrote this beautiful article … Read more
A view of Aleppo taken from it’s citadel by a member of Homer Davenport’s expedition to the Arabian desert in 1906.
I am fascinated with Arabic etymology, and in particular by Arabic words with roots in other languages, as well as by words in other languages with Arabic roots. Here’s a nice blog on the topic. Some entries requires knowledge of the Arabic language but not all.