A blog on desert arabian horses, past, present and future
Hujaj (plural of hujjah), the Arabic authentication certificates, come in all shapes and forms. Some consist of a few handwritten words scribbled by the breeder or owner on a piece of paper. Some are more elaborate, the work of government officials, with dates, stamps, letterahead, and formal language. Some are the words of barely literate … Read more
I have been reading a passage in the Arabic original version of the Abbas Pasha Manuscript on the testimony of an elderly man of the Ruwalah Bedouins about a certain Kuhaylah mare. Here is my translation into English: “Some say that she is Kuhaylah, and other people say that she is ‘Ubayyah, and we don’t … Read more
The authentication document — in Arabic, hujjah — of the Blunt desert-bred import Meshura is not done yielding more information. One year after having published its translation and commentary into English in the book The Arabian Horses of Abbas Pasha, I keep learning new things about it. As background, Meshura great-grand-dam, “The Mare of Daghir”, … Read more
Arnault Decroix posted this gorgeous photo of his stallion Shueyman Fahad on social media today. The horse was bred by Jean-Claude Rajot from his Shuwayman Sabbah line, tracing to the beautiful Hamada of Robert Mauvy, and before that to the desert-bred Cherifa of the Sba’ah Bedouins. His sire Mahboob Halab and paternal grandsire Mokhtar, were … Read more
The photo below comes from the Imperial War Museum’s Ministry of Information Second World War Collection. The description from the Imperial War Museum’s page reads as follows: CONTINGENT ARRIVES IN ENGLAND FOR VICTORY PARADE, LIVERPOOL, LANCASHIRE, ENGLAND, UK, 1946 (D 27677) Sergeant Major Mahmoud Zahaire of the Trans Jordan Frontier Forces tends to the two … Read more
I like this fuzzy video screenshot of Nelyo, the 2015 dark bay Ubayyan stallion I got from Edie Booth a couple of years ago. It shows his “style” when moving and his flowing lines, including the arch of the tail “comme un jet d’eau” as the French would say. The lines are such that one … Read more
The circumstances of the acquisition by Lady Anne Blunt of the Bahraini mare Bint El Bahreyn, an existing line in Egyptian Arabian horses, are well documented in her Journals and Correspondence, which Rosemary Archer and James Fleming published in 1986. The published Journals, however extensive, are only a curated subset of Lady Anne’s original handwritten … Read more
The Abbas Pasha Manuscript was completed in 1853 and is a compilation of accounts dating ca. 1850. Its Kuhaylan section has three short but interesting accounts about the “Five, the Mares of the [Prophet’s] Companions [al-Sahabah]. Account of ‘Arar Ibn Hunaydi, an elderly man, in a Ruwalah majliss of more than thirty people: “one Ma’naqiyah … Read more
In my earlier dives into the Abbas Pasha Manuscript, I had somehow missed this statement on the origin of the Saqlawi Jadran strain: Talal Ibn Ramal [a Shammar Bedouin notable from Najd] was asked: from whom did the Jadraniyah originally reach Ibn Jadran? The aforementioned stated before the gathering that these were ancient utterances [qaalaat … Read more
Today I took — yet another — deep dive into the Saqlawi Marighi section in the Arabic version of the Abbas Pasha Manuscript as published by the KAPL from the original of Gulsun Sherif. What I like the most in the book are the snippets where Bedouins share their views on breeding and conformation. These … Read more
In my book The Arabian Horses of Abbas Pasha: New Discoveries: The 1860 Abbas Pasha Sale List and Other Original Documents (Ansata Publications, 2022), with Kate McLachlan and Moira Walker, I showed how the strain of the Blunt mare Basilisk and hence that of her female descendants, including the Pritzlaff mare Rabanna and her own … Read more
From Rehan Ud Din Baber’s page, quoting King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud in the book ‘Ibn Sa?oud of Arabia, his people and his land’ by Ameen Rihani: “The Arabs of the North,’ he said, ‘ are heavy of foot and stolid; the people of Najd are quick, light, wiry. They snap and break not. Like … Read more
I am happy to introduce Silvia Bacci as a guest blogger from Argentina on Daughters of the Wind ab horse in the way it came to us, when they were taken away from their cradle land. From Silvia: I have loved horses since I was born. And that love hasn’t diminished with age but on … Read more
In the British Museum lies this wall panel relief believed to represent queen Shamsi of the Arabs following her defeat at the hands of Tiglath-Pileser III’s Assyrian armies in 732 BCE. The four camels and the vase she holds in her hand are a representation of the tribute her Arab tribes had to pay to … Read more
Edie Booth posted this new-to-me, fuzzy, yet revealing photo of Jalam Al Ubayyan on her Instagram account. He was an Ubayyan Sharrak from the strain of Ibn Jalawi in Eastern Saudi Arabia. Somewhere on this blog, I wrote about what Dr. Ahmed Mabrouk of the RAS said about this strain on his visit to Ibn … Read more
Shams Al Arab (Cascade DE x SS Lady Guenevere) is built like a tank. Jeanne Craver and I were discussing whether her muscular hindquarter was more like that of a Doyle horse or whether it was more characteristic of the Drissula horses. She think it’s the latter and that her old mare Soiree (Sir x … Read more
Shams is Shaman’s maternal sister, out of DeWayne’s mare SS Lady Guenevere and by Cascade DE, a young Doyle stallion born in 2018. She is very strongly put together — look at that rear end! — but her neck could be a tad too short. Then again, her back is very short too, as DeWayne … Read more
Looking good with a lot of maturing left to do. I am confident however that he will continue to fill up and will live up to his promise. He has substance and style and oozes masculinity. He moves well too. He is more old Blunt than the Crabbets themselves. I want to see him in … Read more
Twenty three years on, this remains one of my favorite pictures ever. I miss the man and the times.
This colt which Belgian breeder Patrick Vermuyten recently bought really caught my eye. He is from the Bint Kareema line, hence an Ubayyan by strain. Bint Kareema‘s (Rasheed BLNT x Kareema) is in my view one of the Arabian breed’s most underrated lines. Despite its very small numbers (mostly in Europe), it has consistently produced … Read more
Little Wujra, Wadha’s new filly by the Bahraini stallion Shuwaiman Al Rais, was put down yesterday at the veterinary hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She only lived three weeks, two of which at the hospital. She was born dysmature (with a “dummy foal syndrome”) and was afflicted with soft tendons. At first she was … Read more
This morning Lyman Doyle bred Kinza to Jenny Krieg’s magnificent Bashir Al-Dirri for a 2024 foal. They are from two different branches of the Basilisk female line: Bashir traces to the Peraga branch (*Mirage x Slipper), of which he is the last asil representative, while Kinza traces to the better represented Rabanna (Rasik x Banna) … Read more
On July 27 — my birthday — Wadha foaled a chestnut filly, sired through artificial insemination by the Bahraini stallion of Jenny Lees, Shuwaiman Al Rais (photo below). Further news about this loooong-awaited filly will be shared once she is out of the woods (i.e., the U Penn vet hospital in New Bolton, PA), so … Read more
The little Ma’naqiyah filly seems to be doing well at the Doyle Ranch in Oregon. I named her Shams — the Arabic word for the sun. Because she is a welcome ray of sunshine after a string of colts — three very nice ones but still not helping with keeping this precious strain going. Second … Read more
After four years of trying, SS Lady Guenevere (“Guen”) gratified me with a filly yesterday, born at the Doyles’ ranch in Oregon. The filly’s sire is Cascade DE, a young Doyle stallion. I have been leasing Guen and her daughter Pippa by Chatham DE from DeWayne Brown in the hope for a filly. She is … Read more
The answer is Tunisian! Not Syrian, not old or new Egyptian, not Davenport, not Saudi, not Bahraini! Here are two more pictures of him at the Tunisian government stud of Sidi Thabet where his owner is keeping him. Enjoy.
This new-to-me photo of the Syrian Kuhaylan Mimrah stallion Basil (Mahrous x Halah), of the breeding of the late Mustapha al-Jabri was taken at the Damascus Government Stud . It recently appeared on one of the many Facebook pages now focusing on Syrian Arabians, one hosted by “Alhorane”. I remember being struck by this horse … Read more
Yet another one of my smartphone favorites is this photo of a Syrian Kuhaylat Ibn Mizher mare of the horses of Shaykh Hashim al-Jarba. Her name is al-Tayou’, and she is 13 years old. The strain is an offshoot of Kuhaylan Krush. She is a granddaughter of the black Saqlawi Marzaqani stallion Barazan I like … Read more
Another horse photo I had favorited on my smartsphone is this head shot of a Bahraini stallion of the Musannan strain at Jenny Lees in the UK. I forget his name now.
Going through some photos on my smartphone, which has an admittedly nice sample of the horses I like. This is the outstanding Jabinta (Jadib x Bint Malakah by Subani), a 1969 Saqlawiyat al-‘Abd (*Wadduda line) and the maternal granddam of my Jamr Al Arab. As my father would say in Lebanese Arabic, ya haik khail … Read more
Kate found this “new” photo of the early Crabbet mare Bozra, by Pharaoh out of Basilisk. Both sire and dam were desert-bred, and both of the strain of Saqlawi ibn Dirri — a branch of the Saqlawi Marighi, itself a branch of the Saqlawi Ubayri (not Jadran). This mare would not be out of place … Read more
My black stallion Mushahar Bex recently foaled a beautiful black colt out of one of the mares of Sha’laan Ibn Jlaidan of the Shammar. This colt is going to be a stallion in the future, in my opinion.
Today the vet found Barakah Al Arab (Wadd Al Arab x Jadah BelloftheBall) 22 days in foal to Monologue CF. I am very excited about this foal prospect, expected in mid April 2024. A foal from Monologue is something to look forward to, especially at his age.
Can anyone guess the origins of this stallion? A/ Babson Egyptian B/ New Egyptian C/ Davenport D/ Syrian E/ Bahraini F/ Saudi G/ None of the above
Muhammad Ma’sum al-Aqub has got a nice filly by my black Kuhaylan al-Wati stallion, out of his Ubayyah Sharrakiyah mare, from a Shammar strain that traces back to the Sba’ah. It’s the strain of Habbo al-Shgayyif of the Thabit Shammar.
Another desert scene from the collection of French enthnographer Robert Montagne shows the tents of town merchants that use to stay among camel herding Bedouins on a seasonal basis. They would sell them the necessities that the desert environment could not produce: sugar, tea, coffee, dates, rice, spices, metal utensils, etc. Bedouins, their leaders in … Read more
A nice desert scene from the collection of Robert Montagne at the Musee du Quai Branly in Paris, showing sheep herders in the Syrian desert, around 1930
From the collection of Jesuit priest, pilot and archaeologist Antoine Poidebard at the French Musee du Quai Branly comes this photo of a group of sheep herders from the Shammar tribe. The back of the photo has the following writing in French: “Berger bédouin de la tribu Chammar / Haute Djéziré / Cliché Poidebard”- manuscrit … Read more
From the collection of French anthropologist Robert Montagne at the French Musee du Quai Branly comes this photograph of a vivid desert scene showing a desert well and a camel (in the back) pulling waterskins out of the well.
A gorgeous photo from yet another collection at the Musee du Quai Branly, this time that of famed French anthropologist Robert Montagne, who studied Bedouin society and culture. The title in French is: “Desert de Syrie — Reunion dans la tente d’un grand chef bedouin de la tribu des Rwalla”. The young man to the … Read more
Also from the Varliette body of photographs at the Musee du Quai Branly in Paris comes this beautiful photo of a camel-herding tribe marching. The palanquin of the daughter of the chief of the tribe is in the middle of the picture. The photo is also associated with Albert de Boucheman’s masterpiece “Materiel de la … Read more
From the Varliette collection at the French Musee du Quai Branly comes this stunning photo of a “Tribe Marching” (Tribu en ordre de marche). It was taken between 1920 and 1934. The photo seems to have been published in Albert de Boucheman’s foundational study “Matériel de la vie bédouine”, of which I own a rare … Read more
From the Varliette collection of photographs at the Musee du Quai Branly in Paris comes this photo taken between 1920 and 1934 of a Bedouin sheep herders’ encampment near Palmyra in Syria, titled “Campement de Bedouins Moutonniers”. Sheep herding tribes present in this area and at that time include the ‘Umur, the Fawa’irah, the Lhayb, … Read more
Title: From the same Jacques Edinger collection as the earlier photos on this blog, housed at the Musee du Quai Branly in Paris comes this photo titled “Chameau entravé de la tribu des Rwalla.”
From the same collection at the Musee du Quai Branly as the pictures in the earlier posts.
From the same collection of Jacques Edinger at the French Musee du Quai Branly: inside a chief’s tent: the divider separating the public area of the tent from the private quarters (now a rare, highly sought-after item); a barebones camel saddle, and the falcon on his perch.
Also from the collection of Jacques Edinger at the French Musee du Quai Branly — Jacques Chirac is this photo of a Bedouin leader and his beautiful mare from the Negev/Naqab desert around the city of Beersheba/Bi’r al-Sab’. Note the prickled ears, the small muzzle, the protruding eye sockets and the broad, flat forehead on … Read more
From the collection of Jacques Edinger at the French Musee du Quai Branly comes this bueatiful photograph titled “Fils de chef bédouin tenant le cheval de son père” (“Son of Bedouin chief holding his father’s horse), and taken between 1930 and 1937 in Syria.
I seldom post photos of horses for sale on this blog, if at all. Once in a blue moon, I make an exception for horses I would have liked to acquire myself. This one is one of them. Bev Davison has a gorgeous black colt for sale. Pedigree here. His name is SpiritWind Sahmadhi by … Read more
I am so taken with Belle’s new colt by Jamr, born a couple months ago at the farm of their new owner Moira Walker. Moira named him Belisarius. He is a throwback to the USA Arabians of a hundred years ago, those you find in black and white photographs of horse magazines and books. At … Read more
Today Barakah Al Arab was bred to Monologue CF for a Sharp foal of the *Nufoud Kuhaylan ‘Ajuz tail female of King Ibn Sa’ud; and Madinas Miracle was bred to Jamr Al Arab for a foal from the rare Ubayyan strain belonging to Ibn Jalawi.
I have not looked at my “Aldahdah Index” in a while. It is a compendium of standardized entries on older Middle Eastern Arabian horses, mostly Syrian and Lebanese, in the style of the Raswan Index. I will publish it one day. I looked up the entry of the Khdili stallion of Abbud Ali al-Amud, who … Read more
The stallion below is the Saqlawi Jadran Benlarich Futhi El Arab (Sidi El Thabi x Johrhemar El Lulwa), tail female to Ghazieh through the Orpen import Nabilah (Enzahi x Zamzam). He was a versatile riding horse, with a show record under saddle, and an endurance career with over 1600km, that included completing the Fauresmith National … Read more
Below is a photo of the young filly that my father traded Dahess for. She was 10 days old in the picture. Her name was Amshet Shammar, born in 1995. Her sire was al-Aawar, the desert-bred Hamdani Ibn Ghurab stallion, and her dam was the old bay Krush mare Ghallaiah, which Radwan Shabareq had acquired … Read more
This afternoon I scanned some photos from a trip to Syria my father and I took in 1995 (almost 30 years ago, yikes!). I am more aware than ever about the need to put old analog records in digital format and online. Starting with Dahess, the handsome Ubayyan Suhayli stallion my father had just traded … Read more
I have been trying to go back in time as far as possible with the pedigrees of modern Syrian Arabian horses, looking for male ancestors as early as the 1930s and 1940s. It’s a difficult task, because the registration of Syrian foundation horses (the first wave in Volume 1, and the second wave in Volume … Read more
A photo of Tarff (*Fadl x *Turfa) I had not seen before — he is in two of my mares. What a good mare *Turfa was, perhaps one of the best ever imported to the US. I second the old saying among US Arabian horse breeders that the more *Turfa in a horse, the better … Read more
Very happy with how Shaman is turning out (look past the winter coat ), and he is not three yet. I am inching closer towards the type of horses I want to see. I like them built like tanks, the stallions very masculine and the mares very feminine, all very dry and superlative movers. No … Read more
The Sba’ah ‘Anazah had a first-class marbat of ‘Ubayyan Sharrak known as Ubayyan al-‘Awbali. The ‘Awbaliyyat were the Ubayyan Sharrak mares of al-‘Awaabilah clan of the Mihlif of the Mawayiqah of the Sba’ah. The Nawwaq clan owners of Kuhaylan Nawwaq are from the Qasim (Gasim) section of the Rasaalin of the Sba’ah. The Ma’naqi Sbayli … Read more
The last horse I bred in Lebanon before moving to the USA in 2000 was this handsome young colt, by the Ma’naqi Sbayli stallion Dinar (Al-Aawar x Aseelah) out of my Saqlawiyah Sha’ifiyah Fadwa (Al Kaher x Loumah, by Faisal x Hababah). Fadwa was a striking bay mare, the outcome of an Egyptian-Syrian cross as … Read more