Photo from Amirhossein Ghasemi. The stallion is Ghare (Tarokh x Nastaran by Haddad), a Wadnan Khursan. He has one distant line to Majid Bakhtiar’s stallion Ajdar, also a Wadnan Khersan of the Mir marbat. Ajdar’s photo is below.
This black horse from Iran is the only son so far of Dowran I who was pictured before. Photo of Amirhosein Ghasemi. Don’t know his strain.
Amirhosein Ghasemi from Iran sent me this photo of his stallion Dowran I (Insiatur x Bint Dowran by Dowran), a Wadnan Khursan from Iran. Here is an extensive pedigree from allbreedpedigree.com, with the usual disclaimers about the site.
Mourad Oufah Habib (Jahir x Murad Had’ra by Medicq Allah), a Shuwaymat Sabbah, and one of Louis Bauduin’s mares in France foaled a colt last year, by the asil Syrian stallion Mahboub Halab, who also happens to be a Shuwayman Sabbah from the Shammar Bedouins. Louis sent me these two pictures of the mare; the first one shows the mare heavily in foal on April 30th, and the second, followed by her baby on May 1st.
Reader Amirhosein Ghasemi from Iran is the administrator of the online Persian Horse Forum, and a breeder of asil Araiban horses, and turkmen and Kurdish horses too. He sent me these breathtaking photos of one of his asil stallions, Nasman. I am completely taken with this horse. His strain, also Nasman, is now only found in Iran, and traces back to the old Arab tribe of Bani Lam (so do the Hadban, Shuwayman and Wadnan strains).
Veteran preservation breeder George Hooper sent these old pictures of the asil ‘Ubayyah mare Nauwas (Al-Khobar x *Muhaira), one of my favorite mares of old Saudi bloodlines, and her filly foal Hisani Jzairah by the desert bred sire *Jalam al-Ubayan. The one below is of Nauwas and her colt Princeton Kadil:
Arnault Decroix sent me the following account of the first endurance race (13 miles) of the Syrian stallion Hussam al-Shamal: “Hussam a fait sa course avec Nicolas aux Andelys en Normandie. Epreuve élevage 20 kms pour 6ans. Il l’a fait en 14,84 kms/heure, le meilleurs temps de l’épreuve de vitesse imposée entre 12 et 15 kms/heure. Ayant été gêné par d’autres concurrents pendant la course, il a terminé sur l’hippodrome à 40 kms/heure, parfaitement sec avec une récupération à 40 de pulsation. Pendant la course il était tout à son affaire, restant trés froid, ce qui n’était pas le cas au vet gate où il avait tendance à s’enerver à la vue des autres chevaux…A la remise des prix, le jury à souligné ses origines syriennes et son cachet et le public de cavaliers et d’éleveurs, semble t’y avoir été sensible de par leurs applaudissements. Il fera une autre course de 40 km le 9 Juillet à Vatteville la rue toujours en Normandie et si tout va bien une 60 km par la suite.” Here are some pictures of this race from Arnault:
Marie Arthur sent me these four lovely pictures of her asil Kuhaylat al-Krush filly: IV Milady Qiana Krushah by IV Sir Nekey out of IV Shtika Al Krush. This one will be a true beauty. I can’t wait to see her grow.
Adrien Deblaise sent me this picture of his new filly: Bismilah Bint, a Jilfat al-Dhawi by the Syrian import Hussam al-Shimal out of his mare B’Oureah Marine (Ourki x Bismilah by Irmak).
Laszlo Kiraly of Hungary has two colts this year, both sired by his stallion Dahhmany Bagdady (Wahhabit X Tisrina B by Salaa El Dine): the first, Shahhran Bagdady (below) was born on 5th of March, out of the Wahhabit daughter Shahhra (Wahhabit x 225 Sheherazade B by Ibn Galal III). The second, Sulayman Bagdady is out of the Farag II daughter Soraya B (Farag II x 204 Ghalion) and was born on the 10th of April. Both colts are from the Kuhaylah al-Shaykhah line of 60-Adjuse, and combine old Babolna, Egyptian and Davenport bloodlines. Laszlo says little Sulayman moves like a dancer.
The 1974 Hadban Inzihi stallion Asjah ibn Faleh (*Faleh x *Dawlat by Anter) was the best Egyptian racehorse of all time. I am no fan of what the Egyptian horse has become today, but that was a very good horse. See the naturally arched neck, curvy throat and deep girth. He was no china doll. Ralph Suarez’s blog has an article about his sire *Faleh, here.
Guest blogger and friend Ambar Diaz in California is now the proud owner of the very pertty Kuhaylah Hayfiyah mare Pirouette (Javera Thadrian x Piquante by Plantagenet), one of the jewels of the Craver breeding program.
It is that season of the year again, and new asil Arabians colts and fillies are being born all around the world. Here is the filly, now two weeks old of Walid Maazaoui’s Tunisian very asil 1992 chestnut mare Ezzina (Chaabane x Ouilayah by the handsome Egyptian stallion Ragheb). Walid is a modern preservation breeder, one of those few like-minded breeders around the world who pay special attention to keeping their horses’ bloodlines pure and protected. He goes to great pains to select the right stallion for his mare, and is now considering a breeding to the Syrian desert-bred stallion Mokhtar, the black Kuhaylan al-Krush, bred by the Shammar Bedouins and now in France. Walid’s mare Ezzina is particular in that she does not have any lines to the now ubiquitous (yet asil) Tunisian stallion Esmet Ali. Note the very close cross to Oramino 1947 (Masbout d.b. x Ramie by El Managhi d.b.), one of Algeria’s last asils.
Adrien Deblaise also sent me this recent photo of another Syrian stallion now in France, Hussam al-Shamal (Ra’ad x Rouba al-Shamal by Al-Abjar), a Kuhaylan al-Nawwaq bred by Saed and Raed Yakan in al-Bab near Aleppo, Syria. Hussam is owned by Damacus breeder Naji al-Chaoui, who has him stationed in France with Arnault Decroix. Adrien has a very nice filly from Hussam that will be featured here next, out a mare from an old asil Algerian line.
French preservation breeder Adrien Deblaise sent me this recent picture of the young Syrian asil stallion Nimr Shabareq (Zaarour Al-Barary x Yamhad by Al-Aawar), a Ma’naqi Sbayli of the marbat of ‘Atiyah Abu Sayfayn, bred by Radwan Shabareq of Aleppo. He is now in France covering mares at Louis Bauduin’s. See how much he’s changed from the last time he was featured here.
Rodger Davis of Desert Bred Arabians and Cindy Stafford, of Freeburg, IL, sent me the above pictures of a gelding they bred, DB Dahman (AHR*576605), out of the mare DB Jasidah by DB Shahhat. DB Dahman is currently owned by Paula Kaigh who has been competing with him an endurance since 2004. He has completed 1,230 endurance miles with a record of 10 first place finishes and 8 Best Condition awards. When they’re not doing endurance, Paula has been training DB Dahman at arena jumping and reining.
This is the well balanced and very correct stallion Saqlawi Jadran stallion Jadib (Ghadaf x Gulida by Gulastra), bred in 1954 by Ellen Doyle, with young Barbara Baird up. He carries ten close crosses to the Blunt’s Mesaoud (through his sons Seyal, Harb, Astraled, Abu Zeyd and Daoud, and his daughter Risala), and it shows.
Almost ten years after I became acquainted with the horses descending from the 1906 importation of Homer Davenport, one of the many things that still astonish me about them is the relatively large number of the grandsons and great-grandsons of *Wadduda (one of the stars of the importation, with *Haleb and *Urfah) who rose to prominence by becoming major breeding stallions at a time when the Arabian horse population in the USA was very small. Here is a list of grandsons: — Antez (out of Wadduda’s daughter Moliah); — his half-brother Dhareb; — their half-brother Mustakim (Oriental x Moliah). — Jadaan (out of her daughter Amran); … and great-grandsons: — Akil (out of *Wadduda’s grand-daughter Sedjur); — Hanad (out of her grand-daughter Sankirah); — Kasar (out of her grand-daughter Fasal); — his half-brother Salan; — their half brother Caravan. Wow. Below is the grear sire Caravan (Ribal x Fasal by Hamrah), at 32.
A few days ago, I began a thread on the early story of strain of Kuhaylan Abu ‘Arqub, as it was mentioned in the ‘Abbas Pasha Manuscript. The information is reconciled from two slightly different sources: first, my notes from the English translation of the Manuscript (a copy of the book is in my father’s library in Beirut); second, from the book “Usul al-Khayl” by Hamad al-Jasir, which contains excerpts of the original Manuscript in Arabic (and a xeroxed copy of which was given to me by my friend Hazaim Alwair). The story of Kuhaylan Abu ‘Arqub involves central Arabian tribes such as the Qahtan, the Bani Khalid and the Mutayr, as well as the House of Saud, who were major breeders of the strain in the 1850s. The Manuscript’s account of the strain stops around this time. There are conflicting accounts of what happened to the strain after that, but what is clear is that the strain reappears in areas of the desert further to the north, with the “northern” tribes of the Bani Sakhr in today’s Jordan and the Hadideen in today’s central Syria. More recently, and according to author Khalid Bakr Kamal in his book “the Arab Horses”…
Bill Biel, the owner of the desert-bred Kuhaylan al-Mulawlish stallion “Mlolshaan Hager Solomon“, told Jenny Krieg that he was open to shipping semen from his 25 year old Bahraini stallion, if his semen actually proved shippable. This is a unique opportunity to breed from the only Arabian horse currently alive in the USA that was actually born in Arabia. Kuhaylan al-Mulawliwsh is known as Kuhaylan Mulawlishan. Photo Jenny Krieg.
I have never seen these two pictures of the Saqlawi al-‘Abd stallion Tripoli (Hanad x Poka by *Hamrah), the foundation sire of the modern Davenport program. Both are from the Davenport Arabian Horse Conservancy website.
When I purchased my first copy of the Abbas Pasha Manuscript, I was surprised not to find a mention of the well-known strain of Kuhalyan Abu ‘Arqub (fem. Umm ‘Arqub). Its absence was particularly puzzling since it was listed as one of the ten favorite strains of the viceroy of Egypt Abbas Pasha Hilmi I. Upon taking a closer look however, I found it, “hidden” under the inconspicuous strain of Kuhaylan al-Fajri, which I had never heard of before. Here is what the Manuscript has to say about this strain of Kuhaylat al-Fajri or Umm ‘Arqub, around 1850, which is when the manuscript was compiled: — it goes back to Kuhaylat al-‘Ajuz, and is ‘to be mated in the darkest night’ (which means that the tribe could use males from the strain as stallions). — it is of a precious stud (or marbat in Arabic). — it is originally of the ‘Abidah sub-tribe of the great Bedouin tribe of Qahtan (where a lot of the best and most ancient strains seem to have hailed from — stay tuned for a list of these ‘Abidah strains). — it passed from the ‘Abidah to a man of the Bedouin tribe of Bani…
just very busy with unfolding events in the Middle East.. I will resume writing soon.
Ambar Diaz told me that the Kuhaylan Hayfi stallion Ascendant (Monsoon X Demetria by Lysander) died last week at Michael Bowling’s in California. He was 32. The only remaining link to the Monsoon sire line is through Ascendant’s son SA Apogee.
If you have not done so already, check out the rerun of this article by Charles Craver on the Davenport Arabian Horse Conservancy (DAHC) website. It is adorned with this beautiful photo, below, of the 1998 Kuhaylan al-Krush stallion Indie Star (Mandarin x Gbarh Asjah by Astrologer), bred by the late Carol Lyons. My kind of Arabian horse head. Photo of Indie Star by C. Emmert.
Matthias Oster sent me these two photos of the 2003 mare Wassayef al Thalitha (Nader x al-Barsaa). She won the Saudi desert bred mare class at al-Khalidiyyah show. Her owner is HM King Abdallah ibn Abd al-Aziz Aal Saud. I could not imagine her being owned by anyone else than a king.
Karsten Scherling just sent the link to the article of Matthias Oster about the visit of the Asil Club delegation (and our own Rosemary Doyle!) to Saudi Arabia. Lots of pictures of desert horses, some of which Matthias has shared here before. Thank you Matthias for your generosity.
I recently received some fresh news from Muhammad al-Tahawy who maintains the fascinating website of the Tahawi tribe with a large section dedicated to their horses. Muhammad directs me to one of the sections of the website, where he is regularly uploading photos and documents of original horses purchased by the Tahawi from Syria, mainly from the central city of Hama, a major horsebreeding center near the pastures of the Sba’ah Bedouins. Here is one such photo, reproduced with his permission. This is the legend on the back of the photo, and my translation follows: “This mare, a Kuhaylat al-Mimrah, now in Hama at the Iskafi [‘the shoemaker’, not clear whether it’s a reference to the owner’s surname or his profession], and she is the daughter of the grand old mare, whose owner was offered 800 gold pounds and refused to sell her, and she [i.e., the dam] is currently with him.” The information on the back of the photo does not tell us who the owner of the dam was, but we know this from another source: in his book “the Arab horse”, Hama native and racehorse owner Ali al-Barazi talks about the Kuhaylat al-Mimrah mare of Mukhtar [Mumtaz,…
This handsome eight years old desert-bred stallion is from the Najd Stud of Prince Turki near al-Kharj, and we saw him during our recent trip with the Asil Club delegation.
This is the Kuhaylah Haifiyah GH Janet (Javera Thadrian’s full sister), welcoming her 2005 gray daughter (by Ascendant), Brighton TAH. I’m not sure who took the photo — probably Tanya Hardin, the breeder. (Because it’s a little bit of an obsession with me lately, I want to point out that Janet’s head has never seen an #40 clipper blade, and doesn’t need it to show off her beautiful eye and fine dark skin.)
Between the photo of Aghal and the one of Audacity, I had to share this one taken of an Audacity granddaughter in 2007, as a long yearling. This is ADA Skylarking, a Kuhaylah Hayfiyah, as photographed by the talented Christine Emmert.
Ubayyan al-Suyayfi stallion by Haleem out of Waqairah, from our recent trip to Saudi Arabia with the Asil Club
Daughters of the Wind is now on both Facebook and Twitter.
She originally traces to the marbat of Ibn Duwayhiss of the ‘Anazah, and was bred at the Jabri Stud.
Audacity (Lysander x Bint Dharebah by Monsoon) was one of the pretties Kuhaylah Hayfiyah mares of Davenport bloodlines, and the matriarch of a important sub-family of equally beautiful horses, including Audobon, Nuance, Affinity, Piquante, and Pirouette . Bred by Craver Farms.
This is the winner of the fillies class for Saudi Arabian desert breds at the Al Khalediah show, when the Asil Club delegation was last there; her name is Mukhtarat al Aziziyah (Zeeban al Thani X Hayaratny al Mazyoona), breeder Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Khalid al Sudairi, of the Al Aziziyah stud. I don’t know her strain.
DB Rulique (Ruta-Am x Desert Malique by Desert Jalam) is a 1987 Hamdani Simri stallion bred by Rodger Davis entirely from original desert stock. He traces in tail female to Sindidah, a mare from the stables of the House of Saud. His owner Kelly Miller of Alberta, Canada, trained him as a level 3 dressage horse. Bedouins consider the ‘blood marking’ on the body to be a mark of ‘asalah’ (purity, authenticity). Photo from Lee Oellerich, who owned the horse for a couple years.
The cause of the asil Arabian horse in the USA just gained a major boost last week, with the coming of Hazaim Alwair to this country. Hazaim, a heart surgeon, and a native of Hims in Syria, is now settled in Greenville, NC, and is more knowledgeable and passionate bout the Syrian asil Arabian horse than anyone I know. Wait till you meet him, and you’ll understand what I mean.
Below is a photo of Hamdani Ibn Bahri (Bahri x Qaisumeh by Qaisum who is Bahri’s full brother), a 2001 asil Hamdani Simri stallion from the breeding of Lee Oellerich in British Columbia, Canada. He has six lines to the stallion *Taamri, DB and carries 50% Taamri blood and three lines to *Rudann, DB and thee lines to *Halwaaji, DB. *Taamri, Rudann, and *Halwaaji were all imported to the USA in 1960 by Sam Roach from the Saud Royal Stud of al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia. The hujjah (certificate of authenticity) of *Taamri was featured here.
In this photo, Bill Cody (Buffalo Bill) on *Muson, and Said Abdallah on *Wadduda, face off in a the Wild West show in 1907. Both *Muson and *Wadduda were imported from the Arabian desert by Homer Davenport in 1906; Said Abdallah, one of the slaves of Bedouin leader Hakim Ibn Mhayd came to the USA with *Wadduda, which he did not want to leave.
This stallion was the favorite of my wife Gabriele and I during our visit at the Najd Stud near Al-Kharj in Saudi Arabia: Nabeh, a fleebitten grey stallion 8 years by Haleem (already featured on this blog earlier), from the Ubayyan al-Sufayfi. Nabeh was the most beautiful desert-bred we saw on our trip, with small and tippy ears, a pretty face and also special action. He had less cadence and a longer stride trotting. By the way all the stallions at the Najd Stud are ridden daily. They looked like they could make perfect dressage horses. Of the 300 asil horses in that private stud, about 20 were from the Kuhaylan Krush strain, 20 of the Hamdani Simri strain, 5 of the Suwayti al-Firm strain, 4 of the Kuhaylan al-Musinn strain, 4 of the Shuhayb strain and all the rest of the Ubayyan al-Suyayfi strain.
This photo is of my stallion Dahman Al Bahrain (now deceased) a chestnut Dahman Shahwan, born in 1977, by Mirath out of Hadriya DB. Dahman was a Flat Racing, Endurance and CTR veteran and a winner of numerous Match races. His dam Hadriya lived to be 36 years old and produced to age 28. His sire Mirath (Ruta-Am x Taamhaal) was also a Racing, Endurance and Trail Ride stallion of pure Hamdani bloodlines and had a priceless disposition. He was the sire of racing and endurance horses, including Naizahq, out of Dahmah Al Shaqra, who ran 4 furlongs in 47.2 seconds, and 1 furlong in 11 second. This is the blood that has been used for centuries to upgrade and regenerate the breeding programs of Egypt, Poland and Europe in general. “Blood alone is the most important factor in selecting a stud stallion. Quality means evidence of blood. Blood implies superior energy, wind, muscular power, endurance, bones of ivory-like texture, steel-like tendons and faultless disposition.“ “Dahman” was one of the greatest horses I ever put my saddle on. I could write a book just about him. I still have two of his daughters Hadiyeh and Bahiyeh.
Below is a photo of a USA bred Arabian mare, which we saw at the stables of Prince Turki bin Fahd Bin Jiluwi Aal Saud, a scion of the Jiluwi family who were the Eastern al-Ihsaa (Hasa) province governor. The mare is a Dahmat Shahwan, AAS Sawannah, by AAS Hezzez out of DB Jasidah by Desert Jalam. Prince Turki bint Fahd Al-Jalawi told us that this mare traces to the horses of his family’s stud in al-Hufuf, and that he had bought her because this line had died out in Saudi Arabia. Prince Turki also imported two ‘Ubayyah mares from his grandfathers’ horses: Sahar Ataeq and DB Faimah, both from the *Muhaira tail female. It is nice to see that least one member of the Saud Royal family obtained horses preserved with us Westerners back their homeland, and is proud to continue the horsebreeding tradition of his family.
Another photo from our trip to the Najd Stud near al-Kharj, in Saudi Arabia is that of Shamlan, a 10 year-old stallion by Qais out of al-Shaymaa, from the ‘Ubayyan al-Suyayfi strain.
Here is another photo from our trip to Saudi Arabia, with the Asil Club delegation. This one was taken at the Najd Stud of Prince Turki Bin Fahd Bin Abdullah Al Saud near al-Kharj. This was the highlight of our trip. There are about 300 asil DB horses in that stud, as well as some Egyptians of the Dahman Shahwan line. We saw very nice stallions that could have stepped out of the historic photographs of the Blunts and others. Below is the bay stallion Alfat, 12 years, by Al Beshir out of Al-Sayeda, from the strain of ‘Ubayyan al-Suyayfi. Matthias
Matthias is back from Saudi Arabia from a horse tour organized by Europe’s Asil Club, and he and his wife brought back pictures of Arabians of the desert-bred lines, including one he sent me, below, of the stallion Khaleel Dirab, a Kuhaylan Abu ‘Urqub by by Rezaiq out of Khuzamah, bred and owned by the Dirab government stud. Rezaiq was featured here before. Not sure why the Dirab folks insist on mimicking the West by putting this stupid makeup on their desert-horses; it makes sick to see this proud asil steed, this son of the desert, this Kuhaylan (he who has beautiful eyes [naturally] with black around them, as if it was kohl), Kuhaylan by strain and by soul, so painted like a vulgar show horse. More soon on the background of the Kuhaylan Abu ‘Urqub horses of the Dirab Stud, and on that strain in general.
An exciting collaborative project that brings together Jeanne Craver, Radwan Shabareq, Joe Ferriss and your favorite Arab blogger is in the works, which will hopefully find its way on the equine section of your bookshelves as of this coming June. I foresee its impact on the scholarship on Arabian horses to be nothing short of transformational. More in the coming weeks…
Another handsome young stallion from the Jabri Stud in Aleppo, Syria, is Yazan. Photo by Gudrun Waiditschka. Don’t know his strain or his pedigree, but will inquire.
Take a look at the descendants of the 1920 stallion Ribal (Berk x Rijma by Rijm), one of the foundation sires of old American (asil) Arabian horse breeding: he has 11 progeny that bred on within Al Khamsa (asil) lines; I am re-listing them below: 1. Baribeh, out of Babirah (who is from 100% Blunt lines) 2. Ghadaf, out of Gulnare (who is from 100% Blunt lines) 3. Ghanighat, out of Guemura (who is from Blunt and other Old English lines) 4. Ghawi, out of Gulnare (100 % of Blunt lines) 5. Sahalli, out of Sherah (who is from 100% Davenport lines) 6. Curfa, out of Nardina (who is from 100% Blunt lines) 7. Pareta, out of Zenee (who is mostly from Davenport lines) 8. Borkaan, out of Babe Azab (who is from 100% Davenport lines) 9. Caravan, out of Fasal (who is from 100% Davenport lines) 10. Royal Amber, out of Babe Azab (see above) 11. Yakouta, out of Ferdika (who is from 100% Blunt lines) All of these 11 offspring of Ribal are otherwise foundation horses of early American breeding and have bred on successfully outside the asil realm. Of these 11 lines, no less than five lines…
Another younger asil stallion of the Dahman Shahwan strain owned by veteran breedere Lee Oellerich of Canada is Haziz (Bahri x Hulaifa), a full brother of Hulaif, pictured below. No wonder Bedouins used the word ‘Bahr’ (sea) to refer to their horses, ever since the time of the Prophet Muhammad: the action of this horse is reminiscent of sea waves swirling towards you.
Another stallion of Lee Oellerich in Canada in Hulaif (Bahri x Hulaifa by Naizahq) a 1997 asil Dahman Shahwan stallion of the strain tracing the *Sawannah, imported from Bahrain to the USA in 1954. The photo is from Lee and a bit fuzzy, but it shows the might of this horse.
The glorious asil Hamdani Simri stallion Bahri (Ruta-Am x Taamhal by Taamri out of Halwaaji), a four-times grandson of the desert, since all his grandparents were imported by Sam Roach from the stables of King Ibn Saud in al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia. Bahri was bred by Lee Oellerich in Canada, and is still doing great at 28 years old. His color certainly comes from his double grandsire *Taamri, whose name means ‘date-color’ from ‘tamr’, dates in Arabic.
This is Jenny Krieg’s mare HS Marayah, from the rare Shaykhan strain from Lebanon, which is actually Ubayyan Sharrak. Photo C. Emmert, 2009
This is Jalaa’, a young chestnut ‘Ubayyan Sharrak stallion at the Jabri stud farm in Aleppo. Jalaa is a ‘Ubayyan Sharrak of the marbat of Ibn Duwayhiss of the ‘Anazah. Thanks to Arnault for posting his pedigree on allbreedpedigree.com. Photo by G. Waiditschka. He is by the Shabareq-bred Ma’naghi Sbayli stallion Tadmor (Al-Aawar x Holwah) out of the Jabri-bred mare Shareefah (Ihsan x Dalahem by Mahrous out of Nawal). Al-Aawar was featured here; Holwah here; Ihsan here; Mahrous here and Nawal here, all on this blog. Here is a full shot, also by by G. Waiditschka.
Edouard’s posting of the mare Afaf reminded me strongly of En Pointe CF. She is a 1998 chestnut Kuhaylah Hayfiyah, by Triermain CF out of Pirouette CF. The first photo gives a better sense of her style; the second of her conformation (although note that she’s not standing on level ground, so don’t be fooled into thinking she’s butt-high; she’s not. Blame the photographer. *raises hand*) The background for these photos is Homer Davenport’s childhood home, Geercrest Farm, in Silverton Oregon. They were taken in 2006 during preparations for “Davenport’s Arabian Quest”, a “living history experience” retelling the story of the importation for busloads and busloads of visitors.
I am taking a break from writing about asil horses to support my Egyptian and Yemeni friends as they fight for democracy against the oppressive regimes of Hosni Mubarak and Ali Abdallah Saleh. Arab horses and heritage are important, but Arab freedom and dignity are more important. By the same occasion, you get are rare glimpse into my political views. 😉
Another photo taken by G. Waiditschka at the Jabri Stud outside Aleppo, Syria. This one shows the young mare ‘Afaf, a Hamdaniyat al-‘Ifri (from the same family as the stallion *Ta’an who was imported to the USA). These horses, also known as Hamdaniyat al-Tulan after their original Bedouin owner Munwikh al-Tawil, are Hamdani al-‘Ifri. Al-‘Ifri was a man from the ‘Anazah who bred a most famous and reputed marbat of Hamdani Simri. In the Northern Arabian desert, the two marabet of Hamdani al-‘Ifri and Hamdani Ibn Ghurab are equally valued branches of Hamdani Simri.
The photo is part of a series of professional shots which G. Waiditschka took at the stud of Jabri Stud. I don’t know the stallion, nor his strain, but I will call Mustafa to find out. The last time I was there was in 1998 and Omeir was certainly not born yet. That said, he looks to me like a son of Zayn al-Khayl, the Rabdan stallion which Mustafa got from the Tai Bedouins. Note Omeir’s general likeness to the asil Kuhaylan Haifi stallion Zachary, owned by Diane Lyons in Oregon, USA. Photo below by C. Mingst.