Yesterday, January 11th 2009 marked the first birthday of “Daughter of the Wind”. I want to pause for a minute and take a look at one year of blogging about desert Arabian horses. As a trained economist I can’t resist sharing the latest figures from my dashboard. Since March 26th, 2008 (which is when I started keeping track of stats) there have been 10,694 unique visitors and 163,884 clicks or visits to the website; it has featured 6 bloggers (me included), who posted a total of 240 posts, with 87 readers posting 925 comments. 100 links were added and 281 tags created. Also, 70% of the reader used English on their web browsers (which doesn’t mean they all come from English speaking countries); 10% used French; 5% used German; 2% used Hungarian; 2% used Arabic and the rest were divided in 19 other languages. Beyond the numbers, Daughter of the Wind has drawn together readers from countries as diverse as Croatia, Hungary, Iran, Israel, Mauritania, Namibia and South Africa, in addition to the US, Canada, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, etc. It has featured the wonderful asil Arabians of South Africa as well as the precious Babolna lines of Hungary, and shed some light on…
A nice picture of Jalam al Ubayyan as a young stallion in Saudi Arabia. He was bred in 1949 by Saud Ibn Adballah ibn Jalawi, Governor of the Saudi province of al-Hasa, and was imported to the USA by Connie Cobb in 1966. He is present in many of the shorter (i.e., closer to the desert) pedigrees of US-bred asil horses (mainly through the category known as BLUE STAR Arabians). Photo courtesy of the late Billy Sheets. Not sure if it was published before. Click on the picture to enlarge it.
I don’t know where to start from.. the story of Kuhaylan al-Wati is so long and so rich, and begins way before the strain acquired its current name.. It also encompasses a number of other related, albeit better known strains. While I mull this over, let me leave you with this picture of Falat, a Kuhaylat al-Wati (by a Ma’naghi Hadraji from Ibn Ufaytan) from the sons of Hakem Hsaini al-Ghishm of the Shammar Bedouins. This family is the owner of the strain.. Falat was later sold to Radwan Shabareq of Aleppo, Syria.
As a follow up to the previous post on the quizz mare, Binni II (*Shams x *Munirah), here is a picture of her dam *Munirah, a Kuhaylat ‘Afayr bred by the Saud royal stables, imported in 1962 from Saudi Arabia to the USA by Richard and Laura Cavedo. Photo courtesy of Jeanne Craver. Thanks Jeanne!
In my opinion, *Abeyah was the best mare of the Davenport importation, and perhaps one of the best mares to come out of Arabia. She was certainly the best authenticated one. Look at my translation of her hujjah (also published in Al Khamsa Arabians III): I, o Faris al-Jarba, witness that the bay mare which on her face has a blaze and on her two back legs has a stocking, [i.e.] she has two stockings on her hindlegs, that she is ‘Ubayyah Sharrakiyah from the marbat of Mit’ab al-Hadb, [that she] is to be mated in the dark night, [that she] is purer than milk, and we only witness to what we know and do not keep [information] about the unknown. Faris al-Jarba bore witness to this [Faris al-Jarba’s seal] A hujjah couldn’t get any better than this. Concise, to the point, and written and sealed by the supreme leader of the preeminent Bedouin horse-breeding tribe of Arabia Deserta: the Shammar al-Jazirah. In comparison, how many horses otherwise known to have been berd by the Aal Saud have Ibn Saud’s own seal on their hujjah? How many other imported mares have Faris al-Jarba’s seal? [I know of only another one: the…
Do you happen know who this gorgeous beauty is (was)? Clue: bred in the USA, but a daughter of the desert. Definitely an absolute favorite of mine, judging only from the few (rather poor) pictures I have of her. Here is another one:
I just wanted to take this occasion to wish everyone a Happy, happy new year. It’s been a great year for Daughter of the Wind, which by the way will blow its first candle in a just a few days.. Here’s to another great year of enjoying these wonderful horses and the great people who breed them across the world.
A recent entry featured the beautiful Mauvy stallion Moulouki. Here is a picture I took in 1995 of his son Doum (x Shawania) who like his sire before him, stood at stud at Pierre-Henri Beillard’s Le Sureau (South western France), which is now being dispersed. [Update Jan. 5th, 2009: Doum was also bred by Mauvy]
When I started this blog, I thought I’d be able to write about a strain each week, which means you should have read about 50 strains by now. Well, I was able to only feature six strains on this blog, with varying degrees of detail: Kuhaylan al-Hayf (i.e., K. Hayfi), Kuhaylan al-Dunays (i.e., K. Dunaysan), Kuhaylan al-Mimrah, Kuhaylan Ibn Jlaidan (a branch of Kuhaylan al-‘Ajuz), Kuhaylan Krush al-Baida, and Ma’naghi Ibn Ufaytan (a branch of Ma’naghi Hadraji). Here’s a new year resolution: I will try to feature ten strains in 2009, and will call it “Strain of the Month”, accounting for the summer break, when I will try to leave my laptop at home. Here’s what I have lined up so far in no particular order. The list is based in part on requests received from readers and friends, and in part on personal selection: – Kuhaylan al-Wati – Kuhaylan al-Khdili – Jilfan Dhawi – Kuhaylan al-‘Armush – Kuhaylan al-Sharif – ‘Ubayyan Suhayli – Ma’naghi Abu Sayfayn I still have three slots to fill; if you have any favorite strains you’d like me to feature, just let me know by replying to this threads, and I will do my best…
The distinctive descriptive characteristic of the Arabian Horse is that it is “Pure”. What is “Pure”? Among the Bedouin breeders from which we have these horses, the term “pure” is related to the concept of “asil.” To these people it was extremely important that a horse be asil. The trouble is that asil is even harder to define than pure. It is related to nobility of breeding and can be used in regard to creatures other than horses, including people. According to the literature, the Bedouin themselves did not agree as to what the term meant. A horse might have been asilto one tribe and not to another, or asil might simply mean that a horse’s ancestors had been owned by one family for many years: “My grandfather owned this family of horses and his father owned them before him. Of course, the horse is asil.” Chances are the Bedouin owners of horses are inclined to consider their own horses asil. Maybe there is some tendency for horses to be described as asil when sold to western countries. An interesting illustration of this is given in Davenport’s book where a pretty filly is offered for sale. Questioned, the seller said the filly was pure to Davenport, but not to God. [The…
I can’t resist sharing with you the nice holiday card I just received from Joe and Sharon Ferriss. Thank you Joe and Sharon.. and the one Laszlo and Eva Kiraly also sent me.. Thanks Laszlo and Eva.. and a Happy Holiday to all..
The magnificent grey stallion pictured below was bred was Robert Mauvy in 1969 near Tours, in France. Mauvy also bred his sire Amri (Saadi x Zarifa) and Amri’s dam Zarifa (Matuvu x Iaqouta). He sold Amri to Idaho in the USA as a three year old, but not before he used him on a couple of his best mares (I actually sometimes wonder if Amri left anything out there). Moulouki‘s dam Izarra, a beautiful grey mare, was a gift to Mauvy from Admiral A. Cordonnier, who certainly maintained the best private Arabian stud in North Africa, near Bizerte in Tunisia. Izarra (by David x Arabelle by Beyrouth) was bred by Cordonnier and so was her dam Arabelle. Their tail female was to Samaria, a grey Kuhaylat al-‘Ajuz mare born in 1882 imported to Pompadour by Mr. de Ganay in 1887. Ganay bought Samaria for 8,000 Francs (an enormous amount!) from Khalid Bey al-As’ad of Taybeh, a village now located in Southern Lebanon. The al-A’sad were until the 1970s the overlords of South Lebanon and the most powerful family among this area’s Shi’a population. The older al-A’sad lords were known to maintain a small stud of Arabians that they’d usually acquire…
If you anyone knows someone who could volunteer to write intelligently about asil horses in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain today, please email me privately at ealdahdah@hotmail.com. I am looking for someone who knows the horses and the country context hands on, and preferably but not necessarily from there. Fluency in English is not required since I am ready to translate. This would leave me handling Syria and North Africa.
I know there were Al Khamsa eligible tail-female descendants of Dajania after Nadirat, although they might not yet be in the Al Khamsa database. One is Nadirat’s 1946 daughter Aalastra, by Gulastra. And of course there was Nadirat’s famous 1935 daughter Aarah, by Ghadaf. Nefisa is one of the most interesting of all the Crabbet broodmares, with her 21 live foals. Nine of these were fillies. Although Narghileh and Nasra were the two retained for breeding at Crabbet, and probably two of her best, the other fillies are worth a look too. Nefisa’s first filly was Nahla 1889 (by Ashgar). The Blunts actually planned to retain her for breeding, but she died in the fall of her three-year-old year from overeating acorns in Crabbet Park. Nefisa’s next filly was Nejiba 1892 (by Azrek). From her picture, this was a really dandy grey Azrek daughter. She did produce four foals at Crabbet, all colts. One died, one was sold to India, one to Scotland, and one was given to a nephew of Lady Anne’s who lived in Greece. Nejiba herself was given away at age 11 to the son of a longtime friend of Wilfrid Blunt’s. Nefisa’s next filly was Narghileh 1895,…
It seems almost impossible to believe that this line has been lost to asil breeding in the tail female. Where have all the Kuhaylan Da’jani gone? Dajania‘s was the second-most important line in Crabbet breeding, which is one of the preeminent components of today’s mainstream Arabian horse breeding. True, there has never been as many mares from the Dajania tail female as there has been from the Rodania line at any given point in time, but that makes this line’s contribution to the breed all the more spectacular. Dajania’s daughter Nefisa (x Hadban) produced 21 foals at Crabbet. Of the mares, Narguileh (x Mesaoud) and Nasra (x Daoud) were the most prepotent. A look at Al Khamsa’s online Roster allows one to trace the evolution of Nefisa’s Al Khamsa eligible progeny over the first half of the twentieth century. The record is impressive, but but most of the contribution to asil breeding is through males: Nadir, Narkise, *Nasik, Rustnar, Najib, *Nafia, Nusi, Adonis, etc. The last Dajania Al-Khamsa eligible tail female descendent is Nadirat (Rizvan x Nusara), born in 1927, when most of us were not born yet.. That said, Al Khamsa doesn’t accept Nureddin II (by Rijm x Narguileh,…
Part 1 introduced the young stallion Menjad Maram al-Baida, whose sire and dam were imported from Syria to France. Some people would refer to this horse as a “Straight Syrian”. I don’t like this phrase, nor any term with “Straight”. Others who know more than I do don’t seem to like it either. [Incidentally I wonder whether the descendants of the Arabian horses imported to the USA by H. Davenport would qualify. And the Tunisian, Algerian and French horses too. All these folks imported most if not all their horses from Syria]. We had left off with Manjam’s maternal great granddam Marwah, a Saqlawiyah Jadaniyah straight from the marbat of Ibn Amud, arguably the most authentic desert-bred marbat of Saqlawi Jadran in the second half of the twentieth century. More about this marbat in a subsequent entry dedicated to this strain. I first saw Marwah at Basil’s in 1990, when I took the (rather poor) picture above. A very small mare (you can tell from the way her handler is holding her bridle in the picture), with a strong girth, high withers, a very short back, a flat croup, a round hindquarter, she conveyed an overall appearance of roundness and sturdiness that was reminiscent of the descriptions I had read of…
The new Al Khamsa website’s got a facelift. Check out the nice feature on Portico CF, too.
It’s been some time I have been telling you this: some really good Arabian horses can come out of the North African government studfarms. This is an unidentified mare at the Tunisian government stud of Sidi Thabet. Photo courtesy of Jean-Claude Rajot and Louis Bauduin, 1988.
Recently I became aware of the existence of a young bay stallion of desert-bred stock that was bred in France, where he is now standing at stud. The name of this young stallion is Menjad Maram al-Baida, and his strain is Saqlawi Jadran (photo below, from his owners website). Menjad was bred by Mrs. Chantal Chekroun, and sired by the black stallion Mokhtar out of the bay mare Hijab. Both Mokhtar and Hijab were owned by Basil Jadaan in Damascus, Syria, then by Mrs. J. Menning to whom Basil gave them, and are now owned by Mrs. Chekroun. Mrs. Chekroun sold Menjad to Sophie and Dominique Balthasar of the Haras de la Lizonne, and still retains a full sister. A sketchy pedigree of Menjad looks like this: Awaad (S. Shaifi x Mumtazah) Mokhtar …
A heads up for the joint Al Khamsa / CMK preservation symposium that will be held in Redmond, Oregon in August 2009. The 1924 stallion Gulastra will be the star of the event. It will coincide with the 2009 Al Khamsa Convention.
Here is the link to the Babolna Roster Proposal that seeks to include Babolna bred asil Arabians into Al Khamsa. It contains a wealth of information about the proposed foundation horses, as well as the rare pictures, including the only picture of 25 Amurath Sahib I am aware of. Jeanne Craver put the proposal together, with key support from R.J. Cadranell (mainly), T. Idan, T. Rambauer, J. Sennek and myself. The proposal passed a first round of voting at this year’s Al Khamsa convention in Tulsa. If it passes the next round at the 2009 Oregon convention, then the eligible living descendants of these horses are in!
Think of this new “Lost asil tail females” series as an obituary section in a newspaper.. I know there is no point in grieving over what is lost, but it’s a good reminder of how lucky we are to have what we still have. The series starts with *Nedjme, just because “she was given the position of the first registration in the stud book of the Arabian Horse Club of America, […] an indication of the regard in which she was held by Arabian horse breeders in this country of her day” (Craver and Craver, Horses of the White City). *Nedjme was one of the horses the Ottoman Hamidie Society exhibited at the 1893 Chicago World Fair. She is registered as a Kuhaylat al-‘Ajuz by a Saqlawi Jadran. However, evidence from a letter J.R. Dolbony (who was involved with the Hamidie Society, perhaps as an performer in the Ottoman exhibition) to Homer Davenport, mentions that her dam was of the Sa’dat al-Tuqan strain, from the Wuld Ali Bedouins and her sire of the Nkhayshi strain, from the Hssinah tribe, which is certainly more interesting. Whatever the case, *Nedjme was the pick of the Hamidie Society horses, and fetched the highest price when the…
A previous entry had discussed how the young children of Shammar Shaykh (and prominent Syrian politician) Mayzar Abd al-Muhsin al-Jarba lost the ownership of their father’s prestigious marbat of Kuhaylan Krush al-Baida strain upon the latter’s death (late 1960s? early 1970s?), and how the man Mayzar had entrusted with his assets took the horses for himself. That man was a Bedouin from the Faddaghah section of the Shammar tribe, by the name of ‘Iyadah al-Talab al-Khalaf, and was also known as al-Qartah. Al-Qartah bred Mayzar’s horses until the mid-1980s, continuing the practice of close inbreeding that Mayzar (and perhaps Mayzar’s father and grandfather before him) had been practising before. The grey Mumtazah was Iyadah al-Qartah’s main broodmare. Both her parents were bred by Mayzar Abd al-Muhsin al-Jarbah, and all four grandparents were from the same Kuhaylan Krush al-Baida strain. It’s not clear whether Mumtazah was bred by ‘Iyadah al-Qartah, or whether she was taken by him from Mayzar’s estate as a foal. An impressive mare with a crested neck not unlike the Godolphin Arabian (see my picture of her in old age, below), Mumtazah produced the bay mare Doumah, also by a Kuhaylan al-Krush (maybe a full brother), and the grey…
. These two horses are from the Tabib blood line They are completely diferent from the French horses,with Thouroughbred blood, that we posted and from today French race horses. The Iraqis are saying roughly that if Tabib (al Souri) was really a Thouroughbred or an Anglo Arab his sons and grand -sons should have been faster than ordinary Arab horses. Dr. Mohamed el Nujaifi have published the results and times recorded by Iraqi horses on the Bagdad racetrack with and without Tabib blood they are almost the same. He also posted the times of Iraqi Anglo -Arabs, there is really a difference between the times recorded between them and the Tabib blood line horses. I ‘m not taking the Iraqi horses defense ,they are WAHO registered,and free to be sold anywhere in the world.This is what matter for the Iraqis after a ban who lasted more than 15 years,and many scandals due to wars, horses substitution and forged papers;the same happened in the beginning of the 90’s with Russian horses due to the late USSR end. Today everything is in order and they can export horses,the Nujaifi’s sent, this year, 6 horses to race in Europe with not much success ,I may say. They dont care much on what we think about their horses, as long…
I am preparing an entry about the stud of the Iraqi family of al-Nujaifi near Mosul. This family has been breeding Arabian horses for the past 100 years and even sold some mares to the Turkish horsebuying commission in the 1930s. This short report from the WAHO website showcases the young stallion Dahman Bagdad from the al-Nujaifi breeding (scroll down to the Iraq section). Dahman Baghdad
Third and last photo sent by Laszlo Kiraly of his horses in Hungary. This is Dahhmany Bagdady (Wahhabit x Tisrina B), Laszlo’s stallion. Dahhmany is a unique combination of Egyptian bloodlines, Davenport (Old American) and Babolna blood (through Siglavy Bagdady VI). Wahhabit was Siglavy Bagdady VI’s only asil son.
Another photo courtesy of Jean-Claude Rajot is of the stallion El Obayan, a ‘Ubayyan Sharrak, which the Veterinary Dr. Bardot bought in 1923 from the city of Hama in Syria, for the stud of Tiaret in Algeria. El Obayan was in the stall next to El Managhi, who was featured earlier. In Algeria, El Obayan sired the Jilfat Dhawi mare Baraka, who in turn sired the mare Gafsa by Bango. Gafsa was owned by master breeder A. Cordonnier of the Sidi Bou Hadid stud in Tunisia, and was the dam of the Cordonnier stallion Inchallah, exported to France, where he stood at the government stud of Pau. I need to scan a picture of Inchallah and share it with you.
As Edouard said “relying on second hand sources can be a problem”.I say relying on first hand sources can also be a problem. Are the sources and information for accepting a horse as Asil always reliable.? Take the Egyptian Stud Book we have to rely on the word of Egyptian stud manager who sometimes wrote under “Asil” Anglo Arabs(Raswan index photocopies),we never heard about this horses, were they being used as “Asil” on Arab mares ? who knows? maybe. The horses bought from Hazem Pasha( a thcherkesse) by El Hadad were very tall horses,a little bit unusal for Bedouin bred horses. the mares height: Geheilt el Sheriff 1.58m, Kheila 1.60m, Siglavy Bagdadi was 1.56m.Mersuch 1.57m.Those horses were not ,except Mersuch, Hazem pasha breeding.Siglavy Bagdadi is said to be by the Ruweylat, Wifrid Blunt wrote that Iraqi tribes crossed their mares with Turkmen horses,the south of Bagdad region was breeding horses for the Indian race market, (Major General Tweedie,The Arab and his horse). It is very difficult to recognize a Pure from a part bred ,Edouard father experienced this in Beirut,the only way is inside informers like the police. Ie:In 1897 Prince Roman Sanguszko acquired from Ali Pasha sherif a white stallion called “Massad”.”Massaad” was “the one sent from…
Another 25 Amurath Sahib tail female, and Asil foundation mare at Laszlo Kiraly, is 205 Farag II (Farag II x 226 Ibn Galal I). 205 Farag II is a grand-daughter of 25 Amurath Sahib through this mare’s son Farag II, and a great-grand-daughter through this mare’s daughter 3 Siglavy Bagdady VI, which adds the precious blood of Siglavy Bagdady VI (b. 1949), who was recently featured on this blog… What a bonanza of great horses in one pedigree, so close: Kuhailan Zaid (featured here), Kuhailan Haifi, Amurath Sahib, Kuhailan Haifi I (here), Siglavy Bagdady II, Koheilan IV (here), etc. Photo courtesy of the mare’s owner, Laszlo Kiraly, who is certainly one lucky man.
Cher ami, Un grand merci pour vos très édifiantes communications. Oui,le cheval arabe asil a toujours été très rare et extraordinairement précieux . Il a toujours été majoritairement aux mains des bédouins car c’est chez eux qu’il est apparu et chez eux qu’il se maintient dans sa pureté originelle. Le pur-sang arabe est ARABE et ses éleveurs sont les bédouins. Vérité première . Avant de poursuivre, j’ai cru percevoir dans vos propos une certaine nostalgie voire une certaine inquiétude quant à l’avenir de la race. Si cela était le cas , et bien que je ne puisse me targuer d’une expérience semblable aux vôtres, il est de mon devoir de vous soutenir et de vous donner confiance. Sachez qu’aux pires moments pour ce cheval, R. Mauvy , tout en dénonçant amèrement les dérives constatées, n’a jamais douté que la race perdurerait dans toute sa noblesse et toutes ses qualités. A une certaine époque (au milieu des années 70), l’hypocrisie des « marchands » était telle qu’ils annonçaient, à grand renfort d’articles dans les revues spécialisées, sa disparition effective dans son berceau d’origine et présentaient bien évidement l’occident, et eux-mêmes en particulier, comme ses nouveaux détenteurs. Là encore, seuls les Mauvy, plus timidement les…
Jean-Claude Rajot just sent me this rare photo of the important desert bred stallion El Managhi, bought in 1923 in Hama (central Syria) by veterinary Dr. Bardot for the Algerian stud of Tiaret. The stallion Bango, bought in Alexandria was part of the same importation. There is another picture of him in F. Klynstra’s book “Nobility of the desert”. Note that according to R. Mauvy, there is no indication that his strain was Ma’naghi, as his name may suggest. Most Tunisian Arabians now include his blood yet El Managhi’s most important product was perhaps the Asil Jilfat Dhawi mare Saponnaire, dam of Bassala which was acquired by the Pompadour stud in France. Here is an incomplete list of El Managhi’s progeny.
Food for thought: “The Arabian is not a color breed, so markings and color are not all that important, except that the body spot has been discriminated against in the judging rules — though recently modified and accordingly, has been considered “unclean” by novices. Some the more naive — unfamiliar with the breed’s tradition of plentiful markings — have considered it a “sign of admixture.” Instead, it is more likely a sign of the breed’s antiquity. In the first place, the reason for this “anti-white” clause was to discourage production of pintos in the breed, and after decades of teaching that “Arabians are never parti-color,” it is embarrassing to admit that they are.” Gladys Brown Edwards “Know the Arabian Horse”
This picture of 225 Scheherezade (Ibn Galal III x 220 Ibn Galal I)is courtesy of her owner Laszlo Kiraly of Hungary. 225 Scheherezade has two crosses to the Babolna mare 25 Amurath-Sahib (Amurath Sahib x 221 Kuhailan Zaid), including one in the tail female. As such she traces to the desert bred 60 Adjuze imported by M. F. el Haddad to Babolna. More on 60 Adjuze in a next post. The Asil Club recognizes 25 Amurath Sahib (and hence 225 Scheherezade) as Asil, and by next year Al Khamsa will vote on whether to include 25 Amurath Sahib in its Roster too. The mare unanimously passed a preliminary vote this year. 225 Scheherezade, you truly are a princess of the Arabian Nights.
Even the otherwise ultra-standardized pedigrees of Egyptian Arabians can yield a surprise or two. That of the mare Bint Nafaa and her descendents, with their cross to El Gadaa, a horse bred by Fad’aan Bedouin leader Miqhim ibn Mahayd, and later raced in Egypt and used by Hamdan stables, is a case in point. The stallion Ghandour (ca. 1930) is another. Ghandour was reportedly sired by Merzug, a good racehorse owned by Mahmoud al-Itribi at one point, out of Lady Anne Blunt’s Jazia (Sahab x Jauza), a Kuhaylat al-Krush. Jauza is one of my all-time favorite Asil mares judging from the one picture I have seen of her. Ghandour was also raced by Itribi Pasha before being used by the Royal Agricultural Society (RAS) of Egypt as a stallion. The RAS History book has him as “an imported Arab and very good racer, owned by the late Mahmoud Pasha El Itribi”. A quick search on Itribi Pasha on the net yielded meager results: a list of Egyptian Pashas mentions him as a notable from the Daqahliya farming area by the Nile delta, who was granted the title of Pasha in 1919. I recall seeing a photo of him somewhere. That said, Ghandour was the sire…
This is a picture of Nouro, an Arabian stallion from Syria being trained at the stables next door to where I work as a racehorse trainer.
As I put the final touches of the fourth and last entry of the feature on the Krush al-Baida strain, take a second look at the three previous entries on this precious strain, here, here, and here. Also, check out this account of a conversation about Krush al-Baida with Shaykh Faysal ibn Sattam ibn Mayzar al-‘Abd al-Muhsin al-Jarba. By the way, the Royal Stud of the Kingdom of Bahrain still retains a line from the Kuhaylan al-Krush strain, from the same branch as Krush al-Baida, “the White Krush”. Here is an exerpt from the Krush page of the Royal Stud’s website, followed by a picture of a Bahraini representative of this strain: “It is said by some that the original Krushieh mare came from the Muteyr tribe – and by others that the original came from the Al Rasheed, Amirs of Hail from 1835-1924. Yet everyone agrees that the strain has been in Bahrain since the 1850’s. This old family of Krush is perpetuated through the tail female line, and is predominantly of bay colour.” Note that the Krush al-Baida horses of the marbat of Mayzar al-‘Abd al-Muhsin al-Jarba of the Shammar tribe in Syria are from the very same fountainhead – that…
This paint horse has 99.8% Arabian blood. If he were to be crossed with an Asil mare, the offspring would be a 99.9% Arabian horse, much like more than 95% of all WAHO-accepted horses. Count Alexander Dzieduszycki, the president of the Arab Horse Breeding Society of Poland from 1925 to 1945 called such horses “full blooded Arabs”. Now someone try and explain this to a Bedouin!!
I just bought Edward Skorkowski’s “Arab Breeding of Poland” from the website of a bookstore in Iowa. I read many excerpts of it before, but was never able to put my hands on a copy. My first reaction was: “okay, so that’s where all these old photos of Polish Arabians on the Net comefrom..”. My second reaction while browsing through the book was one of astonishement at the enormous amount of information squeezed between the two covers. Then I started reading, and I was quickly turned off after a few pages. I need to vent my frustration on someone, and you, my patient reader, are going to be that someone. So, what’s this whole business of linking strains to types based on skull measurements? “The family of Milordka is a Saqlawi judging from the measurement of the skulls”. Really? The last I heard was that Milordka was an indigenous Polish mare. Not a desert-bred mare. Not an Arabian mare. A mare with no origins. A kadeesh, in my language. Appending Arabian strains on indigenous Polish mares to turn them into Arabians, and using some pseudo-scientific way such cranial measurements to justify this new “metamorphosis”, is a smart trick indeed. Nice try.…
Kuhailan Haifi I is the only son of the desert bred import Kuhailan Haifi out of the Babolna mare Mersuch 1-3-1 (Kohejlanka in Polish breeding). He was exported to Babolna in 1938, where he was renamed “Tajar”. He left two Asil mares: 21 kuhaylan Haifi I, which left no Asil progeny; and 250 kuhailan Haifi I the dam of the Stallion Siglavy Bagdady VI which Edouard recently wrote about. This leads me to surmise that there may be Asil horses from Babolna lines left, trough the Babolna mares taken by the Germans during WWII, rescued by the Poles, who returned them in 1951 to Babolna. Maybe Tzviah can help ?
The three mares Rabda Khuszaiba, Hadba Inzihi, and Szeikha were bought by Zientarski and Raswan in the same mission as the stallions Kuhailain Haifi, Kuhailan Zaid, Kuhailan Kruszan and Kuhailan Afas. The photos of these 3 mares are taken from Britta Fahlgren’s “The Arabian Horses Families of Poland“. All three mares were bred by and bought from the large Muntafiq Bedouin tribe. Rabda Khuszaiba (by a Kuhailan Krush x Rabda Khuszaiba) had a small breeding record, and all her progeny seems to have been lost during World War II. Hadba Inzihi (by a Kuhailan Krush x Hadba Inzihi) was also lost during the war with nothing left from her (neither Asil or non-Asil). Szeikha (by a Dahman Shehwan x Kuhailat Adjouz) produced three mares by Kuhailan Kruszan OA. Only one mare, Udzda, left some non-asil progeny: that was the asil mare Ferha by Kuhailan Abu Arkub (himself by Kuhailan Zaid db).
Some time in 1998 I had dinner with Sheikh Hmeidi al-Daham al-Hadi al-Jarba supreme sheikh of the Shammar tribe (qabilah) and its “satellite tribes” (acha’ir), as per his visiting card… When I asked him about the ghazu (tribal raids), Sheikh Hmeidi (Abu Faris) told me the following: “The ghazu between large tribes was not quite an act of war but rather a kind of competition the aim of which was to send the message to the raided tribe: “we are stronger than you”. The ghazu between the major tribes followed certain codes and regulations, at last between the Major tribes. Minor tribes and marauders raided to steal. Not major tribes. The raiding tribe had to inform the raided tribe of the ghazu, and it didn’t matter if the ghazu took place one year after the information was sent. The ghazu must take place in daylight to avoid colleteral damage like hurting women, children, or elderly people. Any such death led to all-out war, something nobody wanted. The ghazu was done through a combination of camels and horses. 90% of the distance was covered on camelback, and war mares were only used for the last part: the sudden attack and the escape.” That’s why…
Kuhailan Afas (by a Kuhaylan Wadnan x a Kuhaylat Aafess) came to Poland from the island of Bahrain in 1931. This stallion, along with Kuhailan Haifi, Kuhailan Kruszan, Kuhailan Zaid and a few mares, were bought by Bogdan Zietarski and Carl Raswan for the Gumniska stud. The Gumniska stud was owned by the Sanguszko princely family of Poland. Kuhailan Afas left three asil sons: -Bad Afas 1940 x Bad by Diab db -Drop 1939 x Donia by Koheilan Haifi db -Don Afas 1940 x Donia by Koheilan Haifi db Donia is out of Donka (Schehan Shammar db x Koheilan II), she is Babolna bred; this is the same dam line of the asil mare 25 Amurath Sahib.
Pictures taken at Mustapha al-Jabri’s farm in 1991-92. Later, a photo of Al Ward el Mayel was widely used, especially in the “Arabian horse world” were he was pictured jumping in front of a wall, if somebody can remember. Please Edouard give us the pedigrees and strain of the grey Taan and of Al Ward al-Mayel. Thank you.
Thanks Edouard so much for your wonderful post on Mubarak. It was not until 1996 that I had the pleasure of seeing this copper chestnut stallion of Ibn Ghurab at Al Basel the new government stud at the time. When I saw him I had the same reaction as you regarding how much like the Davenport stallion Plantagenet he appeared. Similar color but also similar charisma particularly in the eye and expression. He was quickly presented in hand and then his handler jumped on him for a quick bareback ride back to his stall. I thought I would share a photo of him I took in the late afternoon of that November 1996 day. Those who are familiar with the Davenport horses in the U.S. will certainly see the similarities. You can see the wonderful expression. It is so refreshing to see such continuity of centuries
The blog entry “Amer: a Saudi race stallion” and the ensuing online conversation has generated a heated debate, with potentially explosive consequences for many involved. To summarize using politically correct language: the stallion Amer, currently owned by Umm Qarn farms of Qatar, is an extremely controversial horse, owned by extremely powerful people. He has dozens of offspring around the world. Many people have questioned Amer’s purity over the years, more or less openly. Many people have written to WAHO about him (good luck with that…). There is lots of big money involved, and a lot of vested interests at stake. Fraud, when it does take place, takes place behind closed doors. You will not see the real pedigree in any WAHO-approved studbook records, and I don’t imagine anyone putting their lives and jobs on the line to enter a royalty-owned stud (how?), ask for DNA sample from Amer and his likes (how?), receive it, compare it with DNA sample from English Thoroughbreds in Jordan or elsewhere (which ones? how? culprits died long ago), send the whole package to labs for analysis (which labs?) and publis the results somewhere (where?). So all that’s left is people word, good faith, reputation, and…
I first saw Mubarak in 1989 when an old truck disembarked a batch of three horses at the farm of Hisham Ghurayyib in Damascus, Syria. I was told that the truck had just come from the desert area of al-Jazirah, “Upper Mesopotomia”. It was my first encounter with Arabian horses born and raised in the desert. I was 11. My father was breeding Asil Arabians back then and I was familiar with the first generation offspring of desertbred horses, or horses born on the fringes of the desert, but I had never seen the “real thing”. My very first reaction was one of disappointment. Not only were the three horses – a black Kuhaylat al-‘Armush mare, a fleebitten Kuhaylat ibn Mizhir mare, and a chestnut Hamdani Ibn Ghurab stallion – tiny, they were worn out, and extremely thin. They feet were badly damaged, and the hooves were so overgrown that the poor horses could badly walk. Were these the “horses of the desert” (khayl sahraa)? My father had given me his Nikon and asked me to take photos of all the horses, while he was checking them out and asking about their origins. I took a rapid photo shot of the…
(See the comments section below for a translation of this blog entry to English) A l’origine, en tant qu’améliorateurs des races locales, essentiellement en vue de fournir des produits pour le service de la guerre. La base de nombreux élevages a été les animaux pris dans les combats contre l’Empire Ottoman. Il en est résulté dans de nombreux pays une jumenterie plus ou moins pure que l’on a tenté de conserver par l’achat d’étalons importés d’Orient. La Hongrie avec la race Shagya a été éminemment honnête. La France, avec deux variétés régionales, le Tarbais et le cheval du Limousin a eu la même démarche. A partir de Napoléon III, le pays a cherché à se constituer une jumenterie pure (Asil) afin de pouvoir disposer de reproducteurs pour améliorer la race Barbe en Afrique du nord et perfectionner l’Anglo-arabe naissant. Les établissements les plus remarquables ont été Tiaret en Algérie, Sidi Thabet en Tunisie et Pompadour en France. C’est à partir de cette époque que l’on s’est rendu compte de la différence de qualité entre les produits de la métropole et ceux des deux autres établissements (dégénérescence rapide sous l’influence des sols et du climat). Entre les deux guerres et surtout…
Another favorite photo of a second generation offspring of four desert breds. This is Ibn Taamrud (b. 1988), an Asil Hamdani, by Taam-rud (Taamri x Rudann) out of Alwal el Shahhat (Jalam al-Ubayyan x Sindidah). All four grand-parents are either from the stables of the Royal House of Saud and their close relative Ibn Jiluwi. My translation of the hujaj of both Taamri and Rudann is in Al Khamsa Arabians III.
Question : Quand a eu lieu la dernière razzia en Syrie ? Réponse : La dernière razzia a eu lieu en 1943, des Shammar sur les Sba’ah. Ils sont partis d’ici (Hassakè ou al-Hassakah) avec 100 cavaliers le matin. Ils sont tombés sur le campement Sba’ah distant de 40 miles, à midi. Tous les cavaliers étaient de retour dans l’après-midi. Question : Vous voulez dire dans la nuit ? Réponse : Non, non dans l’après-midi. Je me suis permis d’insister : mais vers les 8 ou 9 heures du soir ? Réponse empreinte d’un certain agacement : Non dans l’après-midi vers les cinq heures ! Voilà ce qu’aux yeux des Bédouins leurs chevaux pur sang sont à même de faire naturellement. Il est à noter qu’à l’heure actuelle cette moyenne horaire correspond à ce que l’on fait avec les 4×4 en dehors des pistes.
Edie Booth of Antique Arabian Stud, Canton, Texas, just posted this video of three of her Asil stallions on the comments section of this blog. The black stallion is AAS al-Sakb, and the grey one is AAS Enan. I don’t know who the third one is. [Update Nov. 18, 2008: Edie Booth tells us the third horse is AAS El Hezzez]
I love this picture, and I love this horse. Alwal Bahet (Jalam al-Ubayyan x Sindidah), an Asil Hamdani Simri, the son of two desert-bred horses imported from Saudi Arabia to the USA, is just magnificent. Click on his parents’ link to learn more about his background. I read somehere that this picture was taken a few days (hours?) before he died, at the venerable age of thirty.
I am starting a series on the desert-bred Arabians imported to Poland and Hungary in the twentieth century. The first I will highlight is Kuhailan Zaid. This stallion came to Europe in 1931 at the same time as Kuhailan Haifi and Kuhailan Afas. He was purchased by Bogdan Zietarski and Carl Raswan for the Hungarian stud of Babolna. He was bred by the Ruwalah Bedouin tribe, by a Kuhailan Abu Junub out of a Kuhaylat al-Zyadah. Here’s Zietarski’s account of his purchase: “At last they bring a stallion of Kuhailan Zaid strain; bay, stripe, black legs over the knees, a splendid line of the trunk, a long strongly expressive neck, a dry head, legs somewhat worn out, hoofs in awful condition, but on the whole with much type, a first class sire, as created for Babolna… We buy him without any bargain.” Kuhailan Zaid was a herd sire at Babolna between 1931 and 1946, and 26 of his daughters were used for breeding, but only a handful of his sons (none in Hungary, only in Poland). Of these Kuhailan Abu Urkub (b. 1935) out of 22 Kemir, and of Kuhailan Said (b. 1934) out of 204 Kemir were perhaps the most influential. Both of them are asil.
Amer is one of the most successful current arabian racing sires and has produced nearly 300 offspring to date. His progeny has raced in Europe and Middle East and currently more than 80 offspring have won a total of 339 races. 40 of these wins are Group 1 wins, 39 by horses bred and raised at Umm Qarn’s farms in UK and Qatar. His progeny have additionally been placed in 25 Group 1 races, won 4 Group 2 races and 6 Group 3 races. The text and photos are taken from Umm Qarn Farms, Qatar, Amer’s owners (joe)
The first Saudi Arabian Stud book was issued in 1991 by the “Dirab Arabian Horse Center” later named the King Abdul-Aziz horse Center. In 1935 Dr. Mabrouk of the Royal Agricultural Society of Egypt, traveled to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on a horse-buying mission. He wrote about and took pictures of the horses he saw, from the stud of Prince Faysal in Taif near the Red Sea to the stud of Ibn Jiluwi stud near the Persian Gulf. As I’m now in Beirut and the book is in my stables in Damascus ,a post will follow with pictures from Dr. Mabrouk’s trip (if they are good) inshallah. In 1936 a lot of Saudi horses died of a horsesickness, so King Abdul-Aziz received as a present a lot of mares and stallions of Syrian origin,especially from Ibn Mehayd, the sheikh of the Fad’aan Bedouins, Looking at Volume I of the Saudi Arabian studbook one notices the following : The strains are Hamdani Simri, Kuhaylan Abu Arqub, ‘Ubayyan al-Saifi, Kuhailan Suwayti al Firm, Kuhaylan al-Sekti, etc. Saqlawis are very rare. A quick survey of the 1980’s Saudi mares gives the following: Daughters of Safeer (100) a Hamdani Semri: 474 Farasha Kuhaila Sowaitia; 476 Soad Kuhaila Um Arqub; 481 Afeefa Kuhaila Sowaitia; 503…
… occurs in the archives of Dur-Sharrukin (today’s Khorsabad), the capital of Assyrian King Sargon II (721-705 BC). It dates from around 715 BC. It mentions king Sargon II exacting tribute from “Pir’u king of Musuri, Shamsi queen of the Arabs (a-rib-bi in the original text), Itamra king of Saba, the kings of the coast and the desert I received gold, products (?) from the mountain, precious stones, ivory, all kinds of perfumes, horses, and camels as their tribute.” The same tablet mentions “the distant Arabs, dwellers of the desert, who did not know learned men or scribes, who had not brought tribute to any king”. In other words, these Arabs are the Bedouins. Horses? Yes! Horses as tribute from the Queen of the Bedouins to the allmighty Assyrian king! (There is some speculation as to whether “Pir’u king of Musuri” is one of the Pharaohs of Egypt). Of course, a large number of earlier ancient Middle Eastern sources mentions horses, but this one is the earliest one where the mention of horses is paired with a mention of the ” dwellers of the desert”. Perhaps the coolest thing is that these Arab Bedouins were ruled by a woman. I…
I am no “expert” on Polish Arabians (and I have a lot of trouble with the concept of “expert” in general anyway), so don’t expect these posts will tell you anything many of you don’t know already. I am writing them for the record only. As a reminder to reader that there was a blessed time when some Arabian horses from Poland – this great horsemanship country – were Asil. Then there was a time when only, or two, or perhaps three Polish Arabians were Asil. That was in the 1960s and 1970s, not such a long time ago. When Arwila, Rozka, Lassa and a few others were alive. Now that time is gone. This new series of posts will feature the last Asil mare from each desert-bred line imported to Poland or the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Lets start with Arwila (Amurath Sahib x Wilga, photo above from Skorkowski’s book, I think), a Kuhaylat al-‘Ajuz tracing to the desert bred Gazella, imported by Count Juliusz Dzieduszycki in 1845. Her pedigree is one of the 24 extended pedigrees originally compiled by Ursula Guttmann in her 1968 book Arwila was born in 1947 and exported to England in 1965. She did not leave any Asil progeny. The…
A beautiful representative of the Shaykhan strain tracing to the Lebanon-bred mare *Layya imported by W.R. Hearst is the 1992 mare Nile Swan (Ansata Nile Comet x Fadda Laila). Congratulations to Michelle, her new owner. I hope this mare and others from her strain, like Jenny Krieg’s HS Marayah, contribute to a renaissance of this rare and precious strain.
This morning I was talking to Jean-Claude Rajot over the phone and I asked him if he would agree to write on Daughter of the Wind. I didn’t think he would, but I still asked. He agreed. And I am happy he did. Jean-Claude, a French breeder of Arabian horses, is the president of USCAR (Union pour la Sauvergarde du Cheval Arabe). USCAR is a grassroots preservationnist organization of the old kind (the good kind), in many ways the French version of the US-based Al Khamsa. Jean-Claude was also a disciple and one of the closest people to master breeder Robert Mauvy, during the last 11 years of Mauvy’s life. Mauvy called Jean-Claude “mon fils” (‘son’). Jean-Claude and friend Louis Bauduin, USCAR’s vice-president, owned several of Mauvy’s horses. Their offspring now constitute the nucleus of their breeding programs. Mauvy’s teachings have had a most profound influence on me. His small book “Le Cheval Arabe” is my Arabian horse Bible since I was ten. One of the book’s photos features the stallion Cherif (by Saadi x Zarifa, by Matuvu), bred by Mauvy in 1967. A chapter of the book is dedicated to the nursing of Hamada (by Irmak x Shawania by Amri),…