Daughters of the Wind

A number of rare mares of old American lines have recently been brought to the attention of the Al Khamsa Preservation Task  Force which I part of; the mares’ owners are either looking for people willing to take on preservation projects, or simply asking the task force about the right stallions for their mares; One … Read more

My heart is bleeding every day with what is going on in Syria, and Aleppo and Homs in particular, where I spent the nicest childhood and teenage days. Ever since things have started taking an uglier turn over the past months, I have lost all sense of joy and laughter, and I now find that life … Read more

While Edouard is preparing to return home, I thought it would be fun to post a few images. Being a visual person, I so often see common features among unrelated bloodlines that I thought it would be fun to post these two sets of comparisons. The first is the Davenport bred chestnut stallion Plantagenet, born … Read more

I saw this pretty 16 year old desert-bred Kuhaylah Nawwaqiyah mare during my visit to the Tahawis last weekend. She belongs to Mrs Helga, the wife of Sh. Sulayman al-Tahawi. She is perfect. She is one of the tribal mares the Tahawis are trying to register with the EAO. I always forget if her name is … Read more

Monica Respet and Linda Uhrich — both great friends and amazing persons — took a day trip to see my Jadiba and her new colt Jamr, and they sent me this picture. Monica painstakingly uploaded and emailed me 36 pictures of mother and son.

Friday July 13, Jadiba delivered a chestnut colt by Vice Regent CF, while I was in the Nile delta area visiting the Tahawis. She is doing well, and so is the foal. I am told he has a large blaze and two diagonal white socks and a hot temper. I am happy all went well, … Read more

Page 133, where he discusses big race-horse stables at the Beirut racetrack: “Walking on the footsteps of H.R.H. Prince Mansour [son of King Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud, and the owner of a large stable at the Beirut racetrack] is his brother H.R.H. Prince Badr ibn Saud, who launched his own stables in Beirut, which brought together a nucleus of … Read more

Anthesis CF (Plantagenet x Meringue by Sir Marchen), now 30, is one of the nicest asil mares of Davenport lines alive today, in my opinion. She has produced a string of very special horses including Firebolt by Clarion CF, Lexington CF by Regatta CF, Fragrance CF and Chancery CF by Regency CF, and others.

I feel so very lucky that Mohammad Abdallah Saoud al-Tahawy and Yasser Ghanim al-Tahawy gifted me a xeroxed copy of the book of Ali al-Barazi on Arabian horses, which I had lost several years ago. That book revives bits and pieces of Northern Arabian Bedouin oral history which had died with the passing away of the old story … Read more

Full sister of Bint al-Barra above, Cinnabar Myst (ASF David x Mystalla) was bred to Clarion CF (Regency x Chinoiserie) last week. Also on lease from Trish Stockhecke.

And this is Bint al-Barra (ASF David x Mystalla), the Kuhaylat al-Krush which I leased from Trish Stockhecke of Canada.Photo by the same talented photogpapher.    

Here is the Kuhaylat al-‘Ajuz mare Jadah BelloftheBall (Invictus Al Krush x Belladonna CHF), tail female to *Nufoud who is currently at Craver Farms to be bred to Triermain CF and who belongs to Jeannie Lieb.

 I am especially pleased with how my little Wadd is turning out; the father-to-daughter inbreeding on Triermain was a gamble, and it paid off. I was worried about him turning out “too pretty”, as in “feminine”, but he’s looking just fine, so far. Those of you who have been following this blog for some time know that I really dislike … Read more

and here’s Wadd (Triermain x Wisteria by Triermain) who is 9 months old and who looks a lot like the rest of the family, especially his older brother Tantris, now dead, by Javera Thadrian.   

Here’s Wadhah (Javera Thadrian x Wisteria)  

Yesterday Anita Westfall (photographer emeritus) was at Craver Farms and she took thousands of pictures. Anita is not a professional photographer, she does it just for fun, yet her name will come down in the breed’s hirtory as the creator of some of the Arabian breed’s most iconic shots, including these of Prince Hal (Tripoli x Dharebah), … Read more

I am in Cairo for work, for the next few days, coming from Tunis. Very interesting time, horse wise and politics wise. I can’t say the same about the traffic though. I will never get used to it.

Abdur Rahman Mohamed is the new owner of Lexington CF (Regatta CF x Anthesis CF by Plantagenet) and he sent me these photos of his stallion, which the Davenport breeders community thought was lost in a West Virginia sale. Not professional shots (heck, none of the recent photos on this website are professional shots but I couldn’t care less), … Read more

There an ongoing email conversation between a number of us about coming up with a list of existing priority stallions of Davenport lines with no progeny so far, which should not be gelded if at all possible, or only gelded after being collected and frozen, following the recent gelding (for valid reasons) of a good … Read more

Not sure how clear this drawing of the mare Sahara is. She is the desert bred Kuhaylat al-Mimrah mare imported to Poland from Arabia in1845 by Count Julius Dzieduszycki, but don’t you think she looks an awful lot like the mare GH Janet (Thane x HB Diandra) at 0:21 in the youtube video here:    

I am back in hotel room in Tunis after a long way at work, and I am looking at a copy of Al Khamsa Arabians III I brought with me to give to a friend in Egypt. I just came across a paragraph from an aticle by Michael Bowiling, reprinted from the Sept/Oct 1997 issue of Arabian Visions that I … Read more

Today, my 27 year old Ma’naqiyah Sbayliyah mare Dakhala Sahra (Plantagenet x Soiree by Sir) was bred to Monologue CF (Riposte X Soliloquy CF by Regency CF), through artificial insemination at Tom and Jess Maiyer’s in Galion, OH. If she conceives, there will be an embryo transfer to one of the Maiyer’s mares. This is a foal I have … Read more

Today the magnificent Clarion CF (Regency CF x Chinoiserie CF by Dharanad) owned by  Kirby Drennan bred the Kuhaylat al-Krush mare Cinnabar Myst (ASF David x Mystalla by SL Jacob).

Is anyone keeping a log of part-Davenport Arabians? They used to be featured in Craver Farms’ newsletter Our Quest, but  I haven’t seen a tally in many years. Isn’t this something an Al Khamsa volunteer would want to do? By the way, I am longing for a push to revive the identity of “Old American” … Read more

Check out this journal article by Louise Sweet in a 1965 issue of the “American Anthropologist” on “Camel Raiding of North Arabian Bedouin: A Mechanism of Ecological Adaptation”. The entire article is available for viewing free of charge.

Bassam Hawarneh just informed me that the 2002 Hamdani Simri mare Jadah Selma (Paul Maud Dib x LR Jane by Maxxum CF), one of the last asil tail female descendants of the Blunt/Ali Pasha Sherif mare Sobha (Wazir x Selma) is now a riding horse in Alpharetta, GA. She is next on the Preservation Task … Read more

A lot has been taking place lately on the preservation front, which has not been appearing on this blog. It’s not quite for lack of time, it’s just that at some point this past year, I realized I needed to move from talking about things to helping get things done. And since a lot of … Read more

Anyone has the new contacts of Pam Baker of Myrtle Beach, SC? Her old email is bouncing back..

Does anyone know anyone who knows anyone who did an update on Miss Ott’s list of Sub-List *Nureddin’s? The task is daunting, and I don’t want to reinvent the wheel. I am curious to see what’s left that is otherwise Al Khamsa eligible.. Just out of curiosity.