… and this is Mazfufah (Haleem x Ma’zufah), who is Matrubah’s full sister. Matrubah was featured in an another post I wrote earlier today. Pure Man, who sent me Mazfufah’s picture, also told me the two mares are almost total look-alikes. Of course, one needs to recognize that Matrubah’s picture was taken by a professional, while her sister’s was taken by an occasional photographer, and shows the mare in an ungroomed condition.
“Pure Man” sent me this beautiful picture of the desert-bred mare Matrubah (Haleem x Ma’zufah), an asil Kuhaylat al-Krush from Saudi Arabia. Matrubah is owned by Prince ‘Abd al-‘Aziz Al-Sudayri and graces his new Aziziyah Stud. More on this original branch of the Kuhaylan al-Krush strain in this earlier post here. I know there is not many of you reading this blog who think that a desert bred horse cannot also be beautiful, but those of you who still think so, think again.
Those of you who have looked at the Saudi Arabian Stud Book may have noticed that most of the horses registered in it trace back to a grey horse by the name of Al-Harqan, born in 1947. This horse is the sire of 25 horses in Volume I of the Saudi Stud Book. Pure Man, who by virtue of his knowledge of asil Arabians in Saudi Arabia, is a main contributor to this blog, tells me that Al-Harqan is Kuhaylan Harqan by strain. He also tells me that King Abdel-Aziz Aal Saud (d. 1953) asked a Bedouin from the tribe of Harb by the name of Ibn Fadliyah for a stallion from his famed Harqan horses, and that Ibn Fadliyah gave the king his best stallion: Al-Harqan. Pure Man also tells me that before Al-Harqan, the House of Saud maintained two other stallions of the same strain, but that they don’t appear in modern pedigrees because Saudi authorities did not keep written stud records back then. I think the strain of Kuhaylan Harqan is extinct in the tail female today, but I may be wrong, because there might still be desert horses of this strain in Saudi Arabia which I would not…
Every time I look for a substantive article on Arabian horses online, I keep stumbling on something that was written in “Arabian Visions” like this informative article on the Perdue’s Rudalaro breeding program in Lamar, Colorado. I am a big fan of this program by the way, and especially of one of its flagship stallions: Fa Raad (Fa-Turf x Raada), whose famous picture is featured below. Arabian Visions was the magazine R.J. Cadranell published in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Michael Bowling and Rick Synowski contributed to it from time to time. I never got the chance to ask RJ why he stopped issuing it. I wish he – or somebody else – would resume publishing it. It was such a precious learning tool. Check out Michael’s CMK website for a list of Arabian Visions articles and other good articles on the subject. That will make for a few dozen hours of good reading, for those who haven’t read these articles yet..
This is a rarely seen picture of the very pretty asil Babolna mare 25-Amurath Sahib (Amurah Sahib x 221 Kuhaylan Zaid, by Kuhaylan Zaid), courtesy of Jeanne Craver. The blood of legends like Kuhaylan Zaid, Siglavy Bagdady, Kuhaylan IV, Amurath 1881, Jussuf, Tajar, and Ghadir, to name but a few, flows in the veins of this mare and her living descendents, who are “living history” as far as the Arabian horse (in its asil and non-asil forms) is concerned. I am never tired of repeating that the blood of the descendents of this mare constitutes one of the last hopes for an outcross to the heavily inbred European asil bloodlines.
Here is the comment from Jehangir Rustomjee, Bahrain Royal Stud registrar: “It is with great regret that I inform you that neither of the Royal studs have any female Dhahma (Dahmeh) descendants left, my eyes well up and my chest tightens as I convey this to you. I am so pleased at the international interest in our horses about who so little is known outside Bahrain.” How tragic that a strain precious and ancient as that of the Dahmah would die out in its cradle. The link to the Dahman strain on the Bahrain Royal Studs website is still there. Check it out it while it lasts. Thank God a thin line to the mare Sawannah remains in North America, as well as the Bint El Bahreyn Egyptian horses too, of course. [Basil and Hazaim, if you are reading, this sad news makes Dahmat al-Tuwaymin all the more precious now.]
Jean-Claude Rajot, who has lately been a frequent visitor of Syria (more on these visits later, including from Jean-Claude himself), sent me these photos of a couple horses in the stud of Hussain al-Ghishm in North Eastern Syria. Both horses are of the Kuhaylan al-Wati strain. The al-Ghishm, a family of ranking shaykhs of the Shammar, have been famously breeding desert-bred Kuhaylan al-Wati for at least five human generations. Their horses are asil and are held in high repute across the desert. I have been meaning to keep these photos for a full entry on the Kuhaylan al-Wati strain, as part of the “Strain of the Week” series, on which I am way behind, but they have been sitting in my hard drive for some time now, and thought, hey, the pictures speak for themselves anyway.. The older stallion is al-Ghishm’s main breeding stallion. I think his name is Amer Hakem but I am not sure. I especially like the younger colt. Of course, even though both horses are in very good health, you shouldn’t compare their condition to that of horses grazing in Europe or America’s lush pastures. PS – this is the best blood in the Syrian desert.…
I am done reading my latest issue of the Khamsat magazine, which features the WAHO 2007 conference in Syria. Joe Ferriss has a nice article on “Some Reflections on the Continuity of the Desert Horse”, and Hazaim al-Wair and I have an article in that same edition with some nice photos too. Below is a photo of Joe Ferriss (to the right) and Pam Studebaker (current Al Khamsa President) with yours truly, during the 2001 Al Khamsa Convention in Springfield, IL.
This one has an “artistic” touch to it. Still, the grey horse leading the pack has an impressive tail carriage.
Note the well-built grey horses with the high-tail carriage in the video.
These are some of the horses of the Bedouin tribe of Yam, who lives in the area in and around the famous historical city of Najran, in the province of same, which lies in South-Western Saudi Arabia. Pure Man tells me that the Yam Bedouins in this area of Saudi Arabia, while now settled, are known to have preserved ancient horsemanship traditions. He also tells me that they have preserved Arabian horses pure since the time of their grandfathers, and that they are deeply attached to their horses and very proud of them. They should be. Yam’s horses mostly belong to the two strain of Kubayshan — an ancient strain originating from that area, with the Qahtan tribe, Yam’s northern neighbors — and Khumayssan — a strain I had never heard of before. They are reportedly asil, but have never been registered in WAHO by the Saudi Government authorities in Dirab (and it’s better like this – who is WAHO anyway to tell Bedouins what standards of purity are?). Below is the picture of a sunset in Najran
Now this one is asil. This is al-Sakb, a desert-bred Hamdani from Saudi Arabia, bred and owned by Pure Man. His sire: Suhayl, an Ubayyan; his dam: Wajjabah, a Hamdaniyah, by the stallion al-Harir, an Ubayyan out of Wassamah, by Qays, a Suwayti.
Tiwaiq is the head stallion at al-Khalediah Farm in Saudi Arabia. Al-Khaledia, the property of H.R.H. Prince Khalid ben Sultan ben Abd al-Aziz Aal Saud, is one of the largest horse farms in the Middle East, with more than 500 Arabian horses. Judging from pictures such as this one and others (here), Tiwaiq, described on the website as a ‘pure desert horse’, does not look like an Arabian to me, but like a good English Thoroughbred. I wish there was a pedigree to look at.
I am back in the USA after more than a month in Morocco, Yemen, Lebanon (home) and France. It’s good to be back. There’s lot to catch up on, including news on the upcming Al Khamsa 2009 Convention in Redmond, Oregon. Check the website here, and if you haven’t registered yet, click here to do so.
Louis Bauduin just sent me this older photo of the masculine stallion Jazour, a Kuhaylan al-‘Ajuz, by Saadi out of Izarra. Jazour was bred in France by Robert Mauvy, and reflects a blend of Tunisian and Algerian breeding. Too bad Izarra, bred by Admiral Cordonnier at Sidi Bou Hadid in Tunisia, never left a female line. A young Louis is holding the bridle.. Jazour is the sire of Kerak, bred in the Netherlands, by the late Dr. Foppe Klynstra, a friend of Mauvy’s out of the striking desert-bred mare Nijmeh, herself from the Majali Bedouins of Jordan. Both Nijmeh and Kerak are pictured in Klynstra’s beautiful book “Nobility of the Desert“. More on Nijmeh later.
A famous verse from a long poem by Beduin prince and poet Imru’ al-Qays al-Kindi (501-544 AD), where he describes his Arabian horse: Lahu aytala zabyin wa-saaqa na’amatin wa-irkha’u sarhanin wa-taqribu tatfuli In English (translation mine): “He has the flanks of an antelope, the legs of an ostrich, the trot of a wolf and the gallop of a young fox.” “He” refers to the poet’s horse, of course. Below is a picture of an Arabian wolf (Canis Lupus Arabs) from the Saudi Arabian desert reserve of Uruq Bani Ma’arid.
This magnificent white stallion is not a show horse but a desert bred stallion that took part in a halter competition organized in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. His name is Ruzayq, and he was sired by Haleem, a Hamdani. Ruzayq stands at the Saudi government stud in Dirab. He traces to Saqlawi mares bred by the Bani Sakhr tribe (now settled in both Jordan and Saudi Arabia). The Shaykhs of this tribe, Aal Fayiz, were famous for their Saqlawis. Thanks Pure Man for forwarding this beautiful photo. What a horse. What a HORSE.
This is a famous photo. The masculine stallion pictured is a Hamdani from the Bahrain Royal Stud, by al-Jallabi al-Mashoosh al-Thani (Specked Jellabi II) and out of “the Hamdaniyah of Fatis”. Fatis was the old “Master of the Horses” (stud manager) who was in charge of the stud from 1942 to 1974, according to this website that also has a picture of Old Fatis.
Below are three beautiful verses from famed pre-Islamic Arab poet al-Nabigha al-Dhubyani (535 AD -604 AD) about the desert Arabian horses of the Bedouin tribe of Asad. Al-Nabigha praises the tribe in this poem, and part of this exercise consists in praising its horses: fihim banatu al-‘asjadiyyi wa-lahiqin, wuruqan marakiluha min al-midmari yatahallabu al-ya’didu min ashdaqiha, sufuran manakhiruha min al-jarjari tushla tawabi’uha ila ullafiha, khababa al-siba’i al-wullahi al-abkari which in English, approximately translates into the following: [translation mine]: “Among them are the daughters of al-‘Asjadi and Lahiq, their flanks are grey from training Daisy juice drips from their cheeks, their nostrils are yellow from chewing on groundsels They call their young, who trot back to their mothers like worried adult leopards” It’s notoriously difficult to render the beauty of Arabic poetry in other languages, but these lines are particularly challenging to translate because they describe events and things tied to the particular context of pre-Islamic central Arabia. Some further explanation is due: “Them ” in the first verse refers to the Asad tribe. Al-‘Asjadi and Lahiq are famous pre-Islamic desert Arabian stallions from some 1500 years ago. This verse is proof of their actual existence. More about them later. The reason al-Nabigha…
I have written a lot about the Kuhaylan Krush strain recently, more particularly on the branch of that strain that has been associated with the Dawish leaders of the Mutayr tribe. The mares Dafina (to the UK in 1926) and probably El Kahila (to Egypt in 1927) are both representatives of this branch, and so are the three Blunt imports to Sheykh Obeyd: the mares Aida, and Jauza and the stallion Krush. Below are two modern day representatives of that famed strain. The two mares Sharidah and Ma’yufah were bred at the stud of Prince Turki Ibn Fahd Ibn Muhammad Aal Saud in Najd, Saudi Arabia, then exported to the Nujaifi stud in Mosul, Iraq. PS — I wonder what an mtDNA test would show, if samples from these two mares were compared to the Dafina and El Kahila lines, or to some of the Krush Al-Baida horses with the Shammar Bedouins in Syria. The latter are known to trace to the “white Krush” of Ammash Raja al-Dawish of Mutayr, through a mare that had gone to Ibn Rashid. Read more about the Krush of Shammar in Syria here.
Strain: Ubayyat al-Suyayfi.
Another picture of the masculine Hamdani stallion Haleem, a senior stallion at the Stud of Prince Turki ibn Fahd ibn Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman Aal Saud at Zurayq, near al-Kharj in Saudi Arabia. Prince Turki’s grandfather Muhammad is the brother of King Abd al-Aziz, the founder of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. You’ve already seen a video of Haleem here.
This is old Nader, a senior stallion at the Dirab government stud in Saudi Arabia, a Hamdani Simri by Eidan (# 263 in the Saudi Studbook) out of Nadra (#400). Nader is from that same Hamdani line that was kept at the Royal Saudi stud of al-Kharj, and from which several of the 1960s desert-bred imports to the USA (*Amiraa, *Halwaaji, *Rudann) trace to. Notice that this would mean that these imports are Hamdani Simri, too as a result. Only the Hamdani strain information was available before. Pure Man (translated from Arabic by Edouard)
A previous entry (here) on the strain of Kuhaylan Krush al-Baida mentioned the mare Dafina, a 1921 Kuhaylat al-Krush, sent by King Abd al-‘Aziz Aal Saud to Lady Wentworth of the UK in 1927, through Mr Gilbert Clayton, the British Representative in what was not yet called the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Dafina was apparently bred by the Mutayr tribe, and sired by a Kuhaylan al-Krush from the same marbat. An asil line tracing to Dafina in the tail female survived until at least the mid 1950s, when the last asil mare was bred: this was the oddly-named and heavily inbred Foum Tattoene (by Flame of Reynall x Yaronda by Flame of Reynall), born in 1954. Had it survived, this precious line would have also safeguarded rare lines to the Blunt desert imports Jilfa (a Jilfat Sattam al-Bulad from the Shammar), Ashgar (a Saqlawi Ubayri from the Shammar), and Meshura (a Saqlawiyat ibn Derri from the Anazah). Below is another picture of the regal Dafina, from an old article on the Krush strain, (fraught with faulty assumptions, by the way, including the wrong assumption that the Lebanon-bred Krush Halba is the Blunt Sheykh Obeyd desert stallion Krush):
In 1953, K.M. Kelly, an American working in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, received a gift from Shaykh Khalifah bin Muhammad Aal Khalifah, the chief of police in the neighboring emirate of Bahrain (then a British protectorate), and cousin of Bahrain ruler Shaykh Salman ibn Hamad Aal Khalifah, who ruled the country from 1942 to 1961. See the family tree here. That gift was a chestnut mare, *Sawannah, born in 1948. She was later imported to the USA, and she still asil descendents in the USA and Canada. A September 1975 letter by Danah Aal Khalifa, gives some information about *Sawannah, in response to an inquiry about the mare: “The mare Sawannah pictured above was identified by Fatis, the old studmaster of H.H. Shaikh Issa bin Salman Al Khalifa, as a Dahmah, belonging to Shaykh Khalifa bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, (chief of Police). Dahmeh was bred by Shaykh Salman, Ruler of Bahrain at the time, out of one of his mares of the Dahman strain, and sired by one of his stud stallions serving at the time.” Whether *Sawannah was a Dahmah Shahwaniyah, a Dahmat Najib, a Dahmat Kunayhir, or a Dahmat Umm Amer is not mentioned. That is where an MtDNA comparison with the lines still…
What you have below is a very precious and informative document: It is clipped from an Arabic horse magazine article, a scanned copy of which was sent to me by Pure Man. It sheds light on Arab royalty’s regular practice of sending each others horses as gifts. The letter, from King abd al-Aziz Aal Saud of Saudi Arabia, to Shaykh Hamad ibn Issa Aal Khalifa, ruler of Bahrain, mentions the former’s awareness with the latter’s loss of the treasured Dahman strain. It also mentions that the father of the King of Bahrain had once offered a Dahmah mare to the father of the Saudi King. Finally, it offers to send the daughter of that mare, by a Hamdani stallion, to the rule of Bahrain as a replacement. You can read a short account of that story here. The letter starts with the usual blessing, “In the name of God Most Merciful and Compassionate”. To the left, there is the number of the correspondence item, and the date of the correspondence. Only the year is legible: 1356 Hijri, which is our 1936. To the right, in elaborate calligraphy, there is the mention: “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Diwan [Office] of his Majesty the King.”…
This document recently appeared on one of the discussion threads below. For those of you who know the Abbas Pasha Manuscript in its English edition, this is just the first page in one of the original Arabic editions.. This is a quick and dirty translation (writing from work, gotta go home soon), without the Quran verses in the reversed triangle: “Warning/advice about breeding/mating horses; I say, about stallions to be mated; the first to be mated (yushabbi) is Duhayman Shahwan from the strain (rasan) of Kunayhir, and Duhaym al-Najib; the second is Kuhaylan al-Mimrah; then al-Saqlawi al-Jadrani and it is from three branches, the dearest of which is the strain of al-Simniyyat, then the strain of al-Sudaniyat, then the strain of al-Abd; followed by the strain of al-Saqlawi al-Ubayri and al-Marighi, which are the same strain; and following that, Hadban al-Nzahi which consists of six strains: the first (ie, the best) is Hadbat al-Munsariqah; the second is Hadbat Mushaytib; the third is Hadbat Jawlan; the fourth is Hadbat al-Fard; the fifth is Hadbat al-Mahdi; the sixth is Habdat al-Bardawil which is not to be mated; following that is Kuhaylan al-Tamri; and after that, Shuwayman al-Sabbah; and after that, Hamdani Simri al-Khalis; and…
… and this is Ruzayq (Haleem x Zahria), one of the Suwayti [May 16th correction by Edouard: Ruzayq is not Suwayti but a Saqlawi originally tracing to the horses of the tribe of Bani Sakhr] stallions at the government stud in Dirab. Those of you who have been following this blog over the recent weeks are already familiar with Haleem the Hamdani stallion in the video. For an additional picture of the stallion Ruzayq, click here, and scroll down.
One more nice picture coming through “Pure Man” is that of Al-Jahfaa, a desert bred mare from Saudi Arabia. She is a Suwaytiyah by strain, by the Suwayti stallion El Bashir and out of the mare Al Hanfaa.
Pictured above is Shadia I, 1939 bay mare by El Zafir x Shams INS. Her dam is a granddaughter of El Kahila, the first Saud mare to be given to Inshass from King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud. Saudi Arabia has been a source for some horses in the Inshass stud in Egypt. Members of the Saud Royal family had been generous in giving a number of their “asil” horses to the father and son Kings of Egypt, King Fouad and later his son King Farouk. For the most part names of each family member appear in the Inshass Stud book which is not a complete document but does give us some insight into these horses. I have compiled a list here of horses identified as coming from the Sa’ud family to Inshass stud: 1. El Kahila, dark bay mare born 1921 strain: Kuhaylah Krush. Her strain is not listed in the Inshass studbook but her daughter is listed as Kuhaylah Krush. 2. El Obeya Om Geris. Collin Pearson book designates her as a gift from King Aziz Ibn Saoud perhaps in early 1931, arrived with foal by “Koheilan El Azouz. Her strain is Obeya Om Grees [Abayyah Om Jurays], her…
I am honored to introduce “Pure Man” as the latest addition to the growing list of the “Daughter of Wind” guest bloggers. Of all the distinguished ladies and gentlemen who have contributed (and still contribute for some) to this blog from time to time, “Pure Man” is the one I know least. In fact, I know about him just as much as most of you do. I know that he is a citizen of the Kindgom of Saudi Arabia, that he breeds desert-breds (real ones, not Egyptians labeled as “desert Arabians” for marketing purposes), and that he hails from the one of the largest, most noble and most powerful Bedouin tribes of Najd. I know he has the courage and the intellectual honesty to speak his mind, and that he is a straight shooter. I know that he comes from a civilization _ the Bedouin civilization – where being politically correct is certainly less valued than being honest and true to ones beliefs. His name and the name of his tribe will not be disclosed here, to protect him, unless he chooses otherwise. His opinions – and I do not necessarily agree with all of them — and his style have…
This mare is one of my all-time favorites. I had featured her earlier on this blog, here. Her name is Reem al-Oud [see correction below, actually this is Reem’s daughter Bint al-Oud], she is a Ubayyah Suhayliyah (a branch of the Sharrakiyah) from the tribe of Shammar in Syria. She is currently owned by Shaykh Mayzar al-Ajeel al-Abd al-Karim al-Jarba. Shaykh Mayzar is a direct descendant of the famous Shaykh ‘Abd al-Karim al-Jarba, who led a bloody rebellion against the Ottoman Turks. The Turks quelled the rebellion, hung ‘Abd al-Karim on a bridge in Mossul, Iraq, in 1874. They put his half-brother Farhan in charge of the Shammar in North Arabia. ‘Abd al-Karim’s mother, Amsheh al-Husayn (a daughter of Husayn al-Assaf, the Shaykh of Tayy) then fled North Arabia with her younger son, Faris, and sought refuge with Ibn Rashid, the ruler of Hail in Central Arabia, and the leader of the Shammar there. Years later, Lady Anne Blunt met both Amsheh and Faris. Faris became Wilfrid Blunt’s “blood brother”. Back to Reem al-Oud. She is from the marbat of Maskawi al-Ju’aydan al-Shammari, whose clan, al-Ju’aydan, breeds some of the best Ubayyan Suhayli horses among the Shammar. Maskawi’s father Madfaa…
This is Ahazeej, an asil desert-bred Ubayyat al-Suyayfi from Saudi Arabia. Sire: Qais (by Safeer x Mohret Qais by Bahar), a Suwayti; dam: Azheeq, a Ubayyat al-Suyayfi.
“Pure Man” told me about Jafil (El Basheer x Hadha), an asil Arabian stallion from Saudi Arabia, of the ‘Ubayyan al-Suyayfi strain (that’s how it’s pronounced by the way) that was gifted to a European Royalty. He doesn’t know the name of the King, but thinks it’s either the Netherlands or Belgium or Luxemburg. If someone from any of these countries happens to read this entry (Patrick?), it would be great if they could look him up. I would also try looking in Denmark and the othern nordic kingdoms. It would be great news if Jafil, who was bred by Prince Turki ben Fahd ben Mohammad, would be made available at public stud. If anyone knows about Jafil, please feel free to let us know.
By now you know where the photos come from. This is Al-Hazim (Al Wadah x Khuzama) from the King Abd al-Aziz Arabian Horse Center in Dirab, Saudi Arabia. His strain is Kuhaylan Abu Arqub. By the way, the photo of Al-Hazim’s sire Al Wadah, also an Abu Arqub, grace one of the volumes of the Asil Arabian Club, which means that the Dirab horses horses have the European label “Asil”. “Pure Man” can you tell us where the Abu Arqub horses of Dirab came from?
The string of beautiful photos through “pure man” continues. I am glad readers are enjoying it, because one of the main objectives of this blog is to make the case for the desert Arabian horse in its homeland today, and a picture is worth a thousand words. This is ‘Ajibah, a Hamdaniyah, daughter of Haleem. Haleem was featured in a video in an earlier post.
I finally had a chance to look at the lengthy section on the strain of al-Shuhayb in “Kitab al-Usul”, which is Saudi historian Hamad al-Jasir’s edition of the Abbas Pasha Manuscript (the copy of Khayd al-Din al-Zarakli). Al-Shuhayb is the strain of the beautiful mare Sarkhah featured here. I will provide you with a detailed account at some other point, but for now suffice it to say that Kuhaylan al-Shuhayb is a branch of Kuhaylan Ibn Wabera (rather, the two are one and the same strain), and that the strain belongs to the ‘Ajman Bedouin tribe. The strain originated with the Sharifs (descendents of the Prophet) of the Yemeni region of al-Jawf (Jawf al-Yaman), which is as far south in the Arabian Peninsula that Arabian horses can get. It’s so nice to see that this strain is still in existence.
Another photo coming through “pure man” is that of the beautiful asil Arabian mare Al-‘Aadiyah (Al Wadah x Afaf), from the King ‘Abd al-‘Aziz government stud of Dirab, in Saudi Arabia. Al-‘Aadiyah is a Kuhaylah Umm ‘Arqub by strain. I recall reading somewhere that this particular strain had been owned by the Saud Royal Family for a long time. Other, separate branches of the strain are still present in Syria too. Enjoy!
Since we are talking about Ubayyan al-Suyayfi, here are a couple pictures, also from Pure Man, of another stallion from this srain. This is Taj El Melook, by Haleem (Saudi Stud Book #862) who was featured here, and out of Al Hafna (Saudi Stud Book #1915). Since we are talking about Ubayyan al-Suyayfi, here are a couple pictures, also from pure man, of another stallion from this srain. This is Taj El Melook, by Halem (Saudi Stud Book #862) and the horse feature here, and in this video, and out of Al Hafnaa (Saudi Stud Book #1915).
Another nice picture from “pure man” features Afruq (Al-Ahzum x Afaq), a desert-bred stallion ‘Ubayyan from Saudi Arabia. His sire’s strain is Suwayti, and his dam’s strain is ‘Ubayyat al-Suyayfi, a famous strain in Najd. The strain of ‘Ubayyan al-Sufayfi is that of the sire of a number of mares that were sent as a gift from the King of Saudi Arabia to the King of Egypt in the early 1940s: these were Nafaa, a Kuhayklah; Hind, a Saqlawiyah; and a third mare and probably a fourth mare whose lines died early, and the names of which escapes me now (I think one was out of a mare by the strain of “Saada al-Debdab”, and the second one out a mare by the strain of “Sowaytiyat Ben Kowayed” – Ref. “The Arabian Horse Families of Egypt”, by Pearson, Archer and Mol). From this, it seems that ‘Ubayyan al-Suyayfi was a strain much favored by King ‘Abdul Aziz ibn Saud and his sons from early on. I haven’t quite yet figured out how to transcribe the marbat in English, and there may be a variety of possibilities: al-Sayfi (least likely); al-Saiifi, al-Sayayfi, al-Sayifi, or al-Suyayfi (most likely). It’s a detail really, but I will try…
Today is a happy day. Over the past few days, a string of photos and videos has been coming from “Pure Man”, with awesome images of desert Arabian stallions. I mean, real desert Arabian horses. Born there, raised there. A delight to watch as they move and prance. “Where are the mares?” I thought. Well, here they are. This is one of the most beautiful desert mares I have ever seen. Some months ago, I put in a list of my 10 ten favorite mares, a list that had taken years to coalesce in its present form. That was before I see this picture of Sarkhah (Qais a Suwayti x Sahwah a K. al-Shuhayb), a stunning Kuhaylat al-Shuhayb from Saudi Arabia. This mare instantly skyrocketed on top of my all time favorites. Wow. I confess knowing close to nothing about the strain of Kuhaylat al-Shuhayb. I know that the late Saudi Arabian erudite Hamad al-Jasir, in his original Arabic edition of the Abbas Pasha Manuscript (the Khayr al-Din al-Zarakli copy, not the Gulsun Sherif copy; sorry to get so technical on you guys, but this matters) has dedicated many pages to Kuhaylat al-Shuhayb, or al-Shuhaybah. I never bothered to read the section on al-Shuhaybah,…
Below is the hujjah (authenticity certificate) of the desert-bred stallion Taamri, imported to the USA by Sam Roach in 1960. Hujjah translation mine (cf. Al Khamsa III, p. 216). In the name of God, the Most Merciful and Compassionate, City of Riyadh, Region of Najd Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 12 Rajab 1376 corresponding to February 12th 1957 I, the undersigned, Mutlaq al-‘Atawi, supervisor of the Royal Stables of the Horses of his Royal Highness King Saud Ibn ‘Abdul ‘Aziz, declare that the following pieces of information are true The horse “Tamri” and his characteristics are as follows: The color of his body is “Tamri [“date-colored”, from ‘tamr’, date]; and his mane and tail are red; and he has a star and a white spot on his forehead, and a thin line of white hair on his left shoulder, and a small line of white hair toward the end of his mane; and a dotted line of white hair on both sides of his belly, exactly on the place of the strap, and a white hoof on his rear hind leg; as to his other hoofs, they are dark-colored, and he has a marking in the shape of an _] in the…
Someone guessed (or knew) that the “mystery mare” was a ‘Ubayyah. She is indeed a ‘Ubayyah Sharrakiyah of the marbat of al-Sahlan of Shammar al-Jazirah, or a ‘Ubayyah Suhayliyah. If you are that someone, just respond to this thread.
In 2000, while I was still living in Lebanon, I recall taking a trip to the area of Byblos, north of the capital Beirut, with my father, General Salim al-Dahdah, to see two young stallions that had recently been imported from Bahrain to Lebanon. The stallions were a gift from HH Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salman Aal Khalifah to a Lebanese engineer by the name of Riad Az’our. There was a bay and a grey; and one was a Rabdan and the other a Hamdani. They both were quite tall, and stood high on the ground. I also recall their highly expandable nostrils as they moveed, and their high tail carriage. I am sorry I don’t have pictures at the present time. I don’t know whether they are still alive, and still in Lebanon. If so, then someone should use them. HH Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salman Aal Khalifah is the same person who provided Jenny Lees of Pearl Island with some of her Bahraini stallions and mares. He is also the same person who gave Bill Biel in Michigan his stallion Mlolshaan Hager Solomon (Rabdan Al-Wasmy x Mlolesh Asila) in 1988. The stud of Shaykh Muhammad has a new webiste, which is…
Three desert-bred stallions from Najd, a Kuhaylan (called Namar), a Hamdani (called Robban), and a Ubayyan (called Hardane) are featured in this recent Youtube video. I wonder what marbat of Kuhaylan Namar is from.
In a recent post, I was expressing the hope that *Kola, the Arabian mare of French bloodlines imported by W.R. Brown to the USA in 1921, had left some living asil progeny. If that was the case, I had proposed to submit a proposal for her inclusion in the Al Khamsa Roster. It now looks like I was being too optimistic. Jeanne Craver was too kind to go through the progeny of *Kola in the AHA Datasource, and just told me that nothing is left that would be otherwise Al Khamsa eligible (i.e., Al Khamsa + *Kola). Everything was “completely wiped out in the *Raffles/*Raseyn movement of the 60s”, wrote Jeanne. Not only is there nothing left from *Kola’s two daughters Fath and Fadih, but nothing remains either from her influential son Kolastra (by Gulastra), and his own son Chepe Noyon (out of Guemura). What a shame.. The mare Hallaba, b. 1970, by HMR Haltak (who by the way also carries rare lines which I think were recently lost to Al Khamsa) was one of the last asil mares carrying a line to *Kola, through Chepe Noyon. Take a look at her stunning pedigree here. One more line gone down…
I just found the pedigree of the handsome Saudi stallion Haleem (Qais x Nawal by Eidan), whose video was featured earlier. He is #862 in the Saudi Stud book. There is a picture too, and a list of his progney, which includes the stallion Lazam Najd, also featured in a video below:
Two other Youtube videos from the same provenance, show the handsome desert-bred stallion Lazam Najd, a Suwayti al-Hafi by strain. He is a son of the Hamdani stallion Haleem, featured in an earlier video posted here. This is the first time I hear from the strain of Suwayti al-Hafi, although I am familiar with that of Suwayti al-Farm, which was the marbat of Muhsin al-Farm, the Shaykh of the Bani ‘Ali section of the Harb tribe. Suwayti al-Farm is one of the mains strain currently represented in Saudi Arabia. But what is Suwayti al-Hafi, the strain of Lazam?
Someone just sent me this You Tube video of a superb 19 year old Hamdani stallion by the name of Haleem. It looks like the video was taken in Saudi Arabia. I wish someone could share more information about this horse, his background, his registration number (if he is registered somewhere..). We need horses with the masculinity and the stamina of Haleem to to rejuvenate the blood of degenerate show animals.
Sandra Uhlig’s mare Djoumanah El Nil, from Germany, has an interesting pedigree: Egyptian bloodlines on top, and a Jiflan Dhawi tail female from Tunisia through the mare Malaga and her dam Berriane. Berriane was bred in Algeria and imported to Tunisia by Admiral Cordonnier for his Sidi Bou Hadid stud). Note the line to the stallion Barr in her pedigree, through his grandson Koraich. More about Barr later. Jenny Lee’s weanling Amr, from the UK, has a different yet equally interesting pedigree. His sire is the Egyptian stallion Goudah (Gad Allah x Ramiah), and his dam Jenny’s Bahraini mare Shuwaimeh Bint Warda.
In 1921-22, W.R. Brown imported a number of Arabian horses from France to the USA, for Army Remount purposes. Two of these horses, the mares *Kola (Latif DB x Destinee by Maksoude DB) and *Balkis II (El Hassan DB x Bedadine by Edhen DB) have left important lines in mainstream US Arabian horse breeding, *Kola through her daughters Fadih (by Sargon) and Fath (by *Rodan), and her son Kolastra (by Gulastra); *Balkis II through her daughter Fenzileh (by *Rodan). Balkis II also came with a colt (*Babel, b. 1921) [correction, *Babel was a filly] by the desert bred stallion Gadban, imported to France in 1902. I don’t know whethe any of *Kola, *Balkis II and *Babel have surviving asil progeny today. It wonder if anyone has gone through the trouble of looking for their progeny from Al Khamsa eligible horses. It would certainly be worthwhile to do so. If they do, I am going to try and put together a submission for inclusion into the Al Khamsa Roster of the following nine desert-bred horses, all of them included in the pedigrees of *Kola, *Balkis II and *Babel: — Latif, a desert-bred a Hamdani from the Fida’an tribe, imported to France in 1909 — Maksoude,…
The horses of Tzviah Idan are now on Facebook. One link includes horses of Egyptian bloodlines that Tzviah imported from Babolna, and the other is a link to their progeny. Tzviah, I like them all, and feel that you’ve been doing an outstanding job, but I can’t help feel that there is something extra special about Hila B and her progeny. PS — social networking sites are all over now. I never thought I’d be linking to Facebook on an desert Arabian horse blog..
I personally believe that the strains of Arabian horses are mere family names, created to identify lineages of asil horses in an oral society. I have had the occasion to make my case in other venues. I also believe that strains and types are to be dissociated, and cannot be related to each other in general. Finally, I don’t believe that anyone, however expert they are, can guess the strain of a horse simply by looking at him. So lets play a little game: the first reader to guess the strain of the mare in the photo below gets to write post (or an article) on Daughter of the Wind on the topic of his/her choice (related to Arabian horses of course). The possible answers are in a poll which you can find by scrolling down, on the bottom right of the website. Good luck (since it’s a matter of luck and not more)! Note: the sire, the dam and the maternal grandsire of the mare are from the same strain and marbat. In case some of you are tempted to say that a horse is only representative of the type of the strain which is most represented in its pedigree, and…
Yet another great article by Joe Ferriss, this time in the Khamsat magazine (scroll down), with comparisons, pictures and descriptions asil Arabian horses, old and new.
As I get ready to post the second entry on Kuhaylan al-Wati, after weeks and week of delay, you can read the previous entry as a refresher..
The mare *Amiraa was a 1959 grey Hamdaniyah bred by the Sa’ud royal family and imported in 1960 to the USA by Sam J. Roach. Below is her hujjah, as I translated it into English for Al Khamsa Arabians III: “In the name of God the Most Merciful and Compassionate Riyadh, Region of Najd, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 11 Jumadah al-Akhar 1380 I, Mutlaq al-‘Atawi, head of the royal horse stables of His Highness King Saud ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz, declare that the following testimony is correct: On the 11th of Rabi’ al-Thani 1378, the ownership of the red Hamdaniyah mare “Halwaaji” was transferred to Sam Roach. And it was know that this mare was in foal to the grey Hamdani horse “Mas’ud” at the time of the transfer of her ownership. And the horse “Mas’ud” covered the mare “Halwaaji” onthe date of the 14th of Dhu al-Hujjah 1377, and he covered her another time on the date of the 16th of Dhu al-Hujjah 1377. And I certify in front of God Most High that the mare “Halwaaji” and the horse “Mas’ud” are both from pure blood and a noble origin, tracing to horses whose purity of blood and lineage have been preserved by the Saud family.” [Signature of Mutlaq al-‘Atawi] Witness: [signature], The Secretary.” Translation ends here. Photo…
Another nice article by Joe Ferriss in the Arabian Essence online magazine, on the desert-bred stallion El Deree and his get.. Joe’s articles, always insightful and often filled with old pictures I have never seen before, are the only thing I read in this magazine. To me, everything else is glossy pictures of poor four-legged creatures forced to adopt artificial pauses, with shaved ears and make-up on their nostrils and their eyes. But the most appalling sight is no doubt that of these poor little foals with shaved heads and faces. For heaven’s sake, these are Arabian horses, not sheep! Not sure if this is the right time to start another war — I feel I have been provocative enough here — but I happen to have to lot to say about El Deree and his origins. Maybe another time.
Louis Bauduin sent me this picture of the stallion Ya’sub in old age. Ya’sub (Shawani x Belkis by Irmak), now deceased, was bred by Jean-Claude Rajot, and owned by James Legros. He combines two of the best Tiaret (the famous French government horsebreeding stud in Algeria) bloodlines: the Shuawyman Sabbah line to Cherifia (b. 1869, bred by the Sba’ah tribe, imported to Tiaret) through his sire Shawani (Saadi x Zarifa); and the Jiflan Dhawi line to Wadha (bred by the Fad’aan tribe, imported to Tiaret in 1875( through his dam Belkis (Imark x Belle de Jour by Iricho).
I am back on the map, and slowly emerging from processing a couple hundred emails that have piled up in my inbox during my absence. I am looking forward to the new Khamsat issue, with a focus on the WAHO 2007 conference in Syria. Hazaim al-Wair and I have an article in there on Arabian horse strains represented in the Syrian Arabian Horse Studbook, in which you will see some of the pictures you’ve already seen and liked on this blog, and some which you haven’t seen yet, like the one below. This is Hallah, a Kuhaylah Khallawiyah bred by the tribe of Tay in North eastern Syria in 1983, and owned by Mustapha al-Jabri, who sold her to one of the Gulf countries (I think Kuwait) in the mid-nineties (not sure of the exact date, either). Enjoy the picture which I took in 1993, and more on the strain and the mare later..
I can’t believe it’s been more than one month I haven’t blogged. I just flew into Kuwait city, coming from Yemen, where I spent a little less than a week, for work. I had been meaning to see the registering authorities of the newly accepted Yemeni WAHO studbook, but ended up working round the clock for three days in a row, in the mountain areas of Ibb and Ta’izz. Yemen is just gorgeous. Despite being one of the poorest countries in the world, it is one of my favorite Arab countries, and I like everything about it: the people, the culture, the history, the architecture, the food, etc. I will be in Kuwait for five more days, also for work. That’s another country I have come to like over the years.. I have been fascinated by Arab seafaring history for some time now, and Kuwait was one its hotspots. If you are a sailing buff or just happen to like good travel literature, then I recommend you read “Sons of Sinbad”, by Australian traveler and photograph Alan Villiers. It is an account of the author’s voyage on of the last Arab sail boats along the centuries old maritime trading line from Kuwait to Zanzibar via Aden (and back).…