Bedouins

Pretty Bedouin mare in the Naqab desert

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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

On the year of the migration of the Sba’ah back to Saudi Arabia

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When I first opened Volume One of the Syrian Studbook some twenty five years ago, the first thing that struck me was the very limited number of horses that traced to the Sba’ah Bedouin tribe. After all, this powerful and wealthy tribe which is part of the larget ‘Anazah confederation spent its summer quarters in … Read more

On the Tarabin Bedouins in Lady Anne Blunt’s Journals

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One of the most interesting passages of Lady Anne Blunt’s Journals and Correspondence is her visit to the Bedouin Tarabin tribe of the Sinai peninsula and the Negev desert, during her and Wilfrid Blunt’s crossing from Cairo to Jerusalem in February 1881, and her account of their camel and horse-related traditions; here is on the … Read more

“En Syrie avec les Bedouins”

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Today was one of those days when you receive a bottle you threw in the oceans of your memories ten years ago. Back in 2004, I made a note about a rare book I have long wanted to read or get a hold of. It’s French Army Commandant Victor Muller’s “En Syrie avec les Bedouins: les Tribus … Read more

Trad al-Milhim

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I recently found out that Trad al-Milhim al-Mizyad (below), the leader of the Hsinah Bedouins of the Syrian desert, was a frequent visitor of my maternal grandfather’s house, in Hims, Syria. My grandfather, Salim Yazigi (1902-1989), was a Syrian police (“gendarmerie”) officer who retired with the rank of general, and his relationship with Trad al-Milhim, whose … Read more

Photo of the day: desert-bred Rishah Shar’abiyah, Syria

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This desert-bred mare is a representative of the rare and precious strain of Rishan. She traces to a most ancient and authenticated marbat of the Rishan strain, that of Ibn Hathmi of the ‘Abdah section of the Shammar Bedouin tribe. Her breeder Ayid al-Fnaish obtained the line from Ibn Hathmi a few decades ago. Mustafa … Read more

Nimr Shabareq, asil Ma’naqi Abu Sayfayn stallion from Syria, now in France

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Nimr Shabareq (photo below, by Zaarour al-Barary out of Yamhad by al-A’war) is one of the desert bred stallions that were recently imported to France. He is now standing at stud with Louis Bauduin, who took this picture and gave it to Arnault Decroix, who sent it to me (Merci, Arnault). This is not your … Read more

Mahrous, desert bred Ubayyan and herd sire at Jabri Arabian, Syria

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The ‘Ubayyan Suhayli stallion Mahrous was, until his death in the late 1990s, the herd sire at Mustafa al-Jabri’s stud in Aleppo, Syria. Today his sire line is, along with that of the Damascus stallion Ayid, the most prolific in modern Syrian Arabian horse breeding. If you check Mahrous’ entry in the Syrian Arabian Horse Studbook, … Read more

Remembering Mabruk, the desert-bred Kuhaylan al-Nawwaq stallion

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This horse should have been mine, years ago. Actually, he was about to be mine, and he somehow slipped between my fingers by going to greener pastures. I first encountered him on a hot summer afternoon in 1996, while on a visit to the Aleppo Equestrian Center, with friends Radwan Shabareq, Kamal Abdul-Khaliq, and my father, Salim al-Dahdah. We had … Read more

On the connections of the Tahawi tribe with specific ‘Anazah Bedouin clans

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The Tahawi family website in Arabic is a gold mine of original information on the asil horses of Egypt’s Tahawi tribe. Here’s what I found today on this website concerning the horse Barakat, who is the paternal grandsire of the three foundation mares Folla, Futna, and Bint Barakat [my own annotations in between square brackets]: “The stallion … Read more

New York Times 1906 feature on Davenport’s horse importation

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Check out this article from the New York Times archives, dated Oct. 14, 1906, on the importation of 27 horses from Arabia by Homer Davenport. You can actually go to the website of the New York Times, type “Homer Davenport” in the search box, and access a lot of really interesting articles from the archives section. Don’t … Read more

Dham al-Jarba, Wati al-Ghishm and the ‘Ubayyan story from Mustafa al-Jabri

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Mustafa al-Jabri is a longtime Syrian breeder of desert Arabian horses from Aleppo, Syria, and a beloved family friend.  Mustafa’s stud near Aleppo, which has up to 100 mares and two dozen stallions, is one of the most highly regarded studs in Syria. Over the past decades, Mustafa spent extensive amounts of time with Bedouins … Read more

Why do Arabian horse imports from Saudi Arabia don’t have ‘substrains’?

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Blog reader Mathias, from Germany, asked a pertinent question a few weeks ago: How come, he observed, “the horses from Saudi sources […] mostly have one strain name and no substrain, like Turfa and […] the mare Ghazala imported to Germany from Saudi Arabia”? I had never noticed before, but Mathias is correct. Check out the available, recorded … Read more

More on Kuhalyan al-Jalala

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I found some of my notes on the subject of the now extinct strain of Kuhaylan al-Jalala. Victor Muller, a French army intelligence officer who had overall responsibility over the Syrian desert area at the time of the French Mandate on this country authored an authoritative book on the Bedouins of Syria. In one chapter, … Read more

Photo of the Day: Samura, Kuhaylat al-Jalala, from Russia

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Samura, a chestnut 1895 mare, is a first generation offspring of two desert-bred Arabians imported to Russia by Count Stroganov and Prince Sherbatoff, and was bred by the former at what is now the Tersk Stud. Stroganov’s breeding program was completely wiped out in the events that led to the bolchevik revolution of 1917, and nothing remains … Read more

The story of Kuhaylat al-Musinn of Ibn Saud

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[Edouard’s note: the story below was sent to me to Pure Man in Arabic, and is posted here under his name. Translation mine. It was first published a year ago, almost day for day and is being republished now]

These horses, al-Musinnat [plural form of Kuhaylat al-Musinn or al-Musinnah] are very ancient. They are from the horses of ‘Abdallah ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Faysal ibn Turki Aal Saud, the brother of King ‘Abd al-Aziz Aal Saud.

Prince Abd Allah, the brother of the king, had kept his horses in a private, separate farm. Upon his death, the horses went to his son, Prince Abd al-Rahman, and then to his grandson, Prince Faysal. And Prince Faysal is now aged. Then the horses went to Prince Turki Ibn Fahd Ibn Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Faysal ibn Turki, who is now preserving what remains from the asil horses, per God’s will.

Some of the Musinnat horses of Prince Abdallah, the brother of King Abd al-Aziz, participated in the Hedjaz campaign [i.e., the takover of the Hedjaz region from the Sharif of Mecca by the army of Ibn Saud in 1924].  Two men from Ibn Saud’s army fought particularly well in some episodes of this campaign: the first was Badi ibn Dhubyan from the tribe of Subay’, and he was riding a Musannan stallion that belonged to Prince Abdallah, the king’s brother. The second was Ibn Wareek, a Qahtan Bedouin from an ancient horsebreeding family.

Both fought pitched battles on horseback against one of the Sharif’s toughest warriors: Kharbush al-Dhuwaybi of the Harb tribe, who was riding a black stallion. Badi killed Kharbush in one of the battles, and the Sharif’s troops and Bedouin auxiliaries were defeated.

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Les Buveurs d’air et les filles du vent

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Bien que je suive très attentivement et très régulièrement les articles de ce blog merveilleux , je me rends compte avoir laissé passer de nombreuses occasions d’apporter commentaires et précisions. Je m’empresse donc de réparer cette négligence en ce début d’année 2010. Tout d’abord , je m’étonne de la perplexité qu’a suscité la petite maxime … Read more

Statistic of the day: 225,000

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225,000 is the size of the Bedouin population of Syria and Lebanon in 1924, as estimated by the French Haut Commissariat de la Republique Francaise (the HCRF, which is the French mandatory power in both Syria and Lebanon) in its 1930 report “Les tribus nomades et semi-nomades des Etats du Levant places sous Mandat Francais”. … Read more

The strain of Kuhaylan Abu Junub survives in Saudi Arabia

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I have always felt considerable sadness whenever an Arabian horse strain dies out. With it, part of the rich and colorful history of this breed vanishes forever. I can’t really say why, but to me it feels just like losing the last copy of a rare manuscript. Most of the best-known and most important Arabian … Read more

Another picture of the desert-bred Kuhaylan al-Musinn stallion Ra’ad, from Syria

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One more picture of Omar Anbarji’s now deceased desert-bred Kuhaylan al-Musinn stallion Ra’ad, this time by a professional photographer. I think this is the fourth picture of him I post. I would like to familiarize readers with the foundation stock of the Syrian Arabians, because I feel they will become more and more significant in … Read more

A Bedouin poem about ‘Arar ibn Shahwan, owner of the Dahman strain

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Click on the YouTube link below to listen to a story and poem (in Arabic) about ‘Arar ibn Shahwan, the original owner (ra’i) of the marbat of Dahman Shahwan. The audio was prepared by Sa’d al-Hafi al-‘Utaybi. ‘Arar is the from the very noble and ancient Dhayaghim clan of the Abidah section of the Qahtan … Read more

The archives of Gertrude Bell, “Uncrowned Queen of Iraq”

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The archives of Gertrude Bell, sometimes referred to as the “Uncrowned Queen of Iraq” ( how I hate that title!), are at Newcastle University in the UK. If you do not know who Gertrude Bell is, or simply wish to know more about her, then click here. The archives include this first photo of a Shammar … Read more

Two desert bred Kuhaylan al-Wati stallions with the Shammar in Syria

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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 … Read more

More Bedouin poetry about Arabian horses from 1,500 years ago

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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 … Read more

Arabic verses on desert horses from 1,500 years ago

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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 … Read more

Introducing new guest blogger: “Pure Man”

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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 … Read more

Le Cri d’Alarme

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Je voudrais rappeler le cri d’alarme lancé par Monsieur Robert Mauvy ! :  “Renouvelant mon cri d’alarme, mon cri de désespoir ! Il faut absolument et à tout prix sauver ce qui reste du véritable Pur Sang Arabe. Il est impossible de laisser disparaître l’une des plus belles oeuvres du Créateur. Que l’initiative privée, que les … Read more

Strain of the Week: Kuhaylan al-Wati — famous relatives

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According to the Abbas Pasha Manuscript, sometime in the first half of the nineteenth century, a Bedouin warrior by the name of Rashid ibn Jarshan, from the tribe of al-Buqum, owned a branch of the strain of Kuhaylan al-‘Ajuz that was known as Kuhaylat Ibn Jarshan, after his name. His marbat was famous, and one of his mares was … Read more

Strain of the Month: Kuhaylan al-Wati

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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 … Read more

Lost asil tail females: *Abeyah

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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 … Read more

Ninety-Nine and 44/100 Percent*

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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 … Read more

Strain of the Week: Mokhtar, a Krush al-Baida stallion in France

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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.  … Read more

The young colt of Ibn Ghurab

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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. … Read more

Discussion avec le jeune émir des Shammar à Hassakè (Avril 1992)

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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 … Read more

Famous quote: Lady Anne Blunt on Faris al-Jarba

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Since the last couple posts have been about mares of the Shuwayman Sabbah strain bred by the Shammar, here is a quote from Lady Anne Blunt‘s “Bedouin tribes of the Euphrates” (p. 235) that had a lasting impression on me:  “Faris’s own mare is a tall bay, Shuéymeh Sbàh, with a powerful shoulder, great girth, … Read more

Book: Desert Legacy, in Search of Syria’s Arabian Horses, by J. Sannek and B. Loewenherz

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In 1997, Jens Sannek and Bernd Loewenherz published what is perhaps the most interesting book to be written in recent times by Western travelers looking for Arabian horses in their original homeland. Traveling with a party of about 14 people which included French preservation breeders Jean-Claude Rajot, Louis Bauduin and Benoit Mauvy, as well as several young children, and joined by Syrian guides and … Read more

Book: Nomads of the Nomads: the Al Murrah Bedouin of the Empty Quarter (by Donald P. Cole)

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The Bedouin tribe of Al Murrah has been immortalized by Wilfred Thesiger‘s gripping classic “Arabian Sands” (1959). If you want to have a less romanticized account of the life of this South Arabian Bedouin tribe, then you ought to read this book, by Donald Powell Cole of the American University in Cairo. Yet Cole’s book was written in the early … Read more

Hakem, the young stallion of Ibn Ufaytan

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It was already two in the afternoon when our van stopped at the house of Faddan Ibn ‘Ufaytan, the owner of the marbat of Ma’naghi Hadraji I had heard so much about.   We had spent the entire morning looking at the horses of the Sherabiyin, in the villages of Tall al-‘Arab al-Gharbi and Tall al-‘Arab al-Sharqi, formerly Kurdish villages … Read more

Ibn Ufaytan

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My fourth feature in the “Strain of the Week” series is late. This time, I will be telling you about the Ma’anaghi Hadraji strain, and in particular about the marbat (Bedouin stud) of Ibn ‘Ufaytan of Shammar.  Meanwhile, here is a picture of Faddan Ibn ‘Ufaytan (left), the Shammar Bedouin who owns the strain, which we took … Read more

Kuhaylan Ibn Jlaidan: a photo and a hujjah

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I found a picture of a Kubaylat Ibn Jlaidan to show you, as well as a writtten certificate of origin (hujjah, plural hujaj). The picture, taken in the mid 198os, does not do justice to the mare, and I hesitated a bit before posting it: it shows a chestnut desert-bred mare in rather poor condition, against a … Read more

Kuhaylan Ibn Jlaidan

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Kuhaylan Ibn Jlaidan is the third strain featured in the “Strain of the Week” series.  You will almost certainly not find a representative of this strain outside of Arabia today. A few of you may have heard of it in the context of their trips to Syria. The strain is emblematic of the Shammar tribe, as … Read more

Kuhaylan al-Mimrah and the “People of the Horses”

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As with many Arabian horse strains, Kuhaylan al-Mimrah takes its name from its owner.  The Kuhaylat al-Maryum mare that came from the tribe of al-Dhafeer to tribe of the Sba’ah became known as Kuhaylat al-Mimrah, or Kuhaylah Mimrahiyah, after the Sba’ah Bedouin who owned her. The strain bred on at al-Mimrah’s, and was passed to his sons and grandsons. Of these, … Read more

Photo of the day

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I took this photo of the Asil stallion Khalid (Mahrous x Khalidah) in Aleppo, Syria in the mid-1990s, at the farm of Mustapha al-Jabri.  Khalid is a half-brother to the stallion Basil, the subject of an previous post by Joe Ferriss.  Both Khalid’s sire and dam are desert breds.  Notice the excellent legs and the strong sinews on … Read more

Blogging as an anger management technique

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I am never tired of showing this picture of the lovely mare Wadeehah, a 1970 desert-bred Asil Ma’naghiyah Sbayliyah from the marbat of ‘Atiyah Abu Sayfayn.  The strain is also known as Ma’naghiyat Abu Sayfayn.  I took this picture of Wadeehah in 1992 in Aleppo, Syria, where she spent the latter part of her life in the … Read more

Book: the Rwala Bedouin Today

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If anyone of you is in the mood for some serious reading about Bedouin tribes in modern day Arabia, then William Lancaster’s The Rwala Bedouin Today is the book to read.  I found it a rather easy read for an academic book that delves deep into into anthropological theory.  It describes in detail how the Rwala creatively used … Read more

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