Blunt

On the strain of Bint El Bahreyn in Lady Anne’s Journals

by

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

More Shams

by

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

Introducing Sharif Al Arab, 2022 Ma’naqi Sbaili colt

by

It’s a colt — the third in a row from that Ma’naqi line. This morning Pippa went into labor and quickly delivered a healthy chestnut colt at Terry and Rosemary Doyle’s in Oregon. He is by Bashir Al-Dirri, Jenny Krieg’s excellent horse (below). His name is Sharif Al Arab. Sharif means “distinguished, eminent, illustrious, noble, … Read more

Beautiful Jadiba

by

I am digging into older pictures of Jadiba and reminiscing about how grand a broodmare she is. Too bad I came across her in her later days and that she only produced one foal. By the way, there is something special and attractive about the shape, thickness and setting of the tail in these horses of predominantly Blunt … Read more

Lady this afternoon

by

CSA Baroness Lady “Lady” (Sar El Dine x Takelma Rosanna by Prince Charmming) is a 1999 mare from the rare Ma’naqi Sbayli line tracing to Ferida of Lady Anne Blunt. She is 10 months in foal to Monologue CF. She is for sale to a good home, if you know someone.  

Lady Anne Blunt’s purchasing criteria

by

You get a window into Lady Anne Blunt’s selection criteria when purchasing new horses when reading this passage of her Journals, March 15, 1887: “He [Zeyd, who was sent on a purchasing trip in the desert] is to be very particular about plenty of bone, height of wither, length, of course everything else perfect and … Read more

My Ma’naqiyah

by

That’s a recent shot Darlene Summers took of my CSA Baroness Lady (Sab El Dine x Takelma Rosanna by Prince Charmming), a 1999 Ma’naqiyah Sbayliyah of overwhelmingly Egyptian lines, with 6 generations of Egyptian sires on top of the old Crabbet female line. She is in foal to Monologue CF, a stallion of Davenport lines, due in August … Read more

Annotations to Lady Anne Blunt’s Journals and Correspondence

by

Lady Anne’s Journals and Correspondence, edited by Rosemary Archer and James Fleming, and published by Alexander Heriot & Co. Ltd Booksellers and Publishers in 1986, is, together with the Abbas Pasha Manuscript (Forbis and Sherif), the most important publication on the Arabian horse in recent memory. I have read it time and again, and I … Read more

“She outraced all of them by far”

by

These were Barghi Ibn Dirri’s own words, in my translation of the certificate of his mare Meshura, a Saqlawiyah Jadraniyah of Ibn Dirri, who was bought by Lady Anne Blunt, and who was Pharaoh’s sister, Azrek’s maternal aunt, and a close relative of Basilisk’s: “I declare that I took part in a raid with a group of … Read more

Welcome, Ginger

by

I recently acquired DA Ginger Moon (DB Destiny Moniet x Kumence RSI), a 1998 Saqlawiyah Jadraniyah, from Sheila Harmon of Destiny Arabians, Idaho. She is tail female to the Blunts’ desert-bred mare Basilisk through Rabanna, and has lots of Blunt/Ali Pasha Sharif blood throughout the pedigree. Photos below, taken by Sheila in 2009. I have long been … Read more

The Venus Hadban line in Lady Anne Blunt’s writings — a new discovery

by

I am in Yemen for the week. I am done with work for today, and the only book I brought with me is Lady Anne Blunt’s invaluable Journals and Correspondence (Archer and Fleming, 1986). Lately I have been combing the Journal entries for references to non-Blunt, non-Ali Pasha Sherif early foundation stock of Egyptian Arabian … Read more

CSA Baroness Lady to be bred to MSF Hamdani Simri for a 2015 foal

by

Hopefully, on Sunday the Ma’naqiyah mare I recently acquired, CSA Baroness Lady will be bred to MSF Hamdani Simri (Faydin x IMF Badia Nafila by PRI Gamil Halim) of Lesley Detweiler, a stallion of very similar pedigree. It is a preservation breeding. Both have highly unusual (within Al Khamsa) Blunt/Crabbet tail females, the mare to … Read more

New Mare

by

CSA Baroness Lady, a 1999 Ma’naqiyah Sbayliyah, joined the Al-Dahdah herd yesterday from her breeder Carol Stone.  Oh, how I love this strain, and could write pages and pages of non-stop praise for it. This is the tail female of Milanne, Ferseyn, Farana, Amber Satin, and other American greats, back to *Ferida of Lady Anne … Read more

Lady Anne Blunt and the Tahawis

by

From Lady Anne Blunt’s Journals and Correspondence under the January 13, 1903 entry: “Course to Om Kamr (for the third time). We started at 7.30 am making for the Hamad. Cantering on we  came in sight of a tent, which at first H.F. [Wilfrid Blunt a.k.a. Head of the Family] thought might be Abu’s tomb … Read more

Sotamm

by

The Blunt Hamdani Simri stallion Sotamm (Astraled x Selma II) is in every single Egyptian pedigree by now. He is of course the sire of Nazeer‘s maternal grandsire Kazmeen (Sotamm x Kasima). He is also in the n0n-Nazeer’s New Egyptians through El Sareei (Shahloul x Zareefa by Kazmeen), Sid Abouhom (El Deree x Leila out of Bint … Read more

Saraly El Shahin, 1994 asil Hamdaniyah Simriyah in Hungary

by

I have been telling you about that Hamdani Simri line in Europe, the one from the mare Sobha of Ali Pasha Sharif, which went to the Crabbet Stud and eventually to the Courthouse Stud. A Hungarian preservation breeder, Laszlo Kiraly, bought what seems to be the last three registered asil mares from that line, Saraly … Read more

Anne Blunt’s mother

by

Yesterday, a reader, Kim Fortune, sent me this New York Times article (I am using her words here) “recognizing the late mother of Anne Blunt, Augusta Ada King, and her amazing mathematical skills and her development of the computer.

Jadiba, welcome

by

You may be wondering what’s with the recent flareup of blog entries on *Wadduda and some of the Doyle horses… Well, there’s a reason. As of this morning, I am the proud owner (I still can’t believe it actually) of Jadiba (Dib x Jabinta, by Jadib) a 23 year old chestnut Saqlawiyat al-‘Abd tracing in … Read more

Jadiba, welcome

by

Does anyone know where the three mares: Kali Ma Eee (Cerulean CF x Sha Bint Ameera), 1987, bay; Sha Princess (Kamil Ibn Sahanad x Shaa Bint Ameera), 1986 bay; and Bint Bint Moda (Kamil Ibn Sahanad x Sha Ghazya), 1986 bay, are, if they still are alive? All three tail female *Samirah, from the horses … Read more

Photo of the day: Jadib, 1954 asil Arabian of old Blunt bloodlines

by

This is the well balanced and very correct stallion Saqlawi Jadran stallion Jadib (Ghadaf x Gulida by Gulastra), bred in 1954 by Ellen Doyle, with young Barbara Baird up. He carries ten close crosses to the Blunt’s Mesaoud (through his sons Seyal, Harb, Astraled, Abu Zeyd and Daoud, and his daughter Risala), and it shows.

Tail female asil lines in Europe (non-Egyptian)

by

This entry expands the list to non-Straight Egyptian asil tail females in the USA to lines surviving in Europe and South Africa. It ties together several other blog entries that preceded it. So in Europe, and also excluding relatively recent Tunisian, Algerian, Moroccan, Bahraini, Syrian and Saudi imports to European countries, you have the lines of … Read more

Asil Crabbet damlines one hundred years later

by

Recently, I have been re-reading a lot of the old articles RJ wrote for Arabian Visions magazine, to refresh my memory as I start working on an Al Khamsa project on rare lines (more on this later). One of my favorite RJ articles is “The Blunts and Crabbet Stud: An Abbreviated History and Description of the … Read more

On Carl Raswan as a reliable source of scholarly information on Arabian horses

by

Take the time to (re)read this article by RJ Cadranell, one of the best ever written on the sale of Egypt’s Ali Pasha Sharif collection of asil Arabian horses, drawing on two souces: Lady Anne Blunt (her Journals, her Sheykh Obeyd Studbook, and some of her private, unpublished notes) and Carl Raswan (his Index). By … Read more

Those who are gone, and those who are left

by

In 1952, Charles Craver acquired the asil Crabbet mare *Ringlet (by Astralis x Rudeyna by Daoud), around the same time two other giants, Dr. Joseph L. Doyle, and Richard Pritzlaff were acquiring the asil mares Gulida (by Gulastra x Valida by Ghawi) and Rabanna (Rasik x Banna by *Nasr), respectively, which they bred to the stallion … Read more

Barely Surviving Lines: Courthouse Hamdani Simri line through Safarjal

by

Don’t ask me how this ancient line made it into the 21st century. It’s a near miracle. Lady Anne Blunt imported the Hamdani Simri mare Sobha (Wazir x Selma) from Egypt in 1891, from a certain Mahmoud Bey who got her dam from the Abbas Pascha collection. Sobha’s line was one of the most represented lines … Read more

Another asil line from South Africa: Rosina, a Kuhaylat Rodan

by

Some time last year, this blog featured the precious asil Kuhaylan al-Mimrah line to the mare Baraka (Ibn Manial x Gamalat) which has been flourishing in South Africa. The series of postings on Baraka and her descendents attracted a lot of attention from South Africa and Namibia, and is by far the most popular thread on … Read more

Carol Monkhouse and the quest for the last asil Crabbet lines

by

I finally got to meet Carol Monkhouse at the Al Khamsa Convention in Oregon. Carol was visiting from the UK, with her husband Terry Lee. She has a couple mares, Maloof Habiba (Maloof Habibi x Maloof Sahara by Subani) and Maloof Hadiya (Parnell x Devlin), and their offspring, which she keeps at the Doyle ranch, in … Read more

Sixty years of Doyle Arabian breeding in the USA

by

Sixty years ago, in 1949, a young Terry Doyle and his father, Dr. Joseph Lyman Doyle (“Doc”), hauled the asil mare Gulida (by Gulastra x Valida by Ghawi), a Saqlawiyah Jadraniyah tracing to the marbat of Ibn Sudan, to their farm in Sigourney, Iowa. They bred her once to the asil stallion Nusi (Gulastra x Nusara), a … Read more

Famous quote: Lady Anne Blunt on straight profiles

by

This is from a handwritten note which I copied from Lady Wentworth’s “The Authentic Arabian Horse”. I don’t have the book with me (it’s in Lebanon in my father’s library), but I vaguely recall that it is an excerpt from Lady Anne Blunt’s manuscript, which she was working on before her death in 1917, and which … Read more

Robert Mauvy’s teachings and his disciples

by

My friends Jean-Claude Rajot and Louis Bauduin have been breeding Arabian horses for a long time. They are the students and friends of the late Robert Mauvy. Robert Mauvy is, simply put, the Westerner who came the closest to understanding the Arabian horse and to breeding it as its original custodians, the Bedouins of Arabia, … Read more

“Hurrah! The five from Arabia have arrived…”

by

Hence read the start of a journal entry Lady Anne Blunt wrote in 1911 (Lady Anne Blunt, Journals and Correspondence, edited by Rosemary Archer and James Fleming, 1986). The entry, brisking with excitement and enthusiasm, recorded the arrival at Sheykh Obeyd, Lady Anne’s Egyptian studfarm, of five of the choicest, best-authenticated desert-bred Arabian horses ever to get out of the … Read more

Dafina, a 1921 Kuhaylat al-Krush from King Abdul Aziz Aal Saud

by

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 … Read more

*Sawannah, 1948 Dahmah from Bahrain in the USA

by

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 … Read more

Mystery mare is Reem al-Oud, Ubayyah Suhayliyah from Syria

by

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 … Read more

Lost asil tail females: *Abeyah

by

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

Nefisa and her daughters at Crabbet

by

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 … Read more

Lost asil tail females: Dajania

by

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 … Read more

A hidden gem in Egyptian Arabian bloodlines?

by

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 … Read more

Shaykh al-‘Arab, forgotten king of a lost kingdom

by

The dark chestnut stallion Shaykh al-‘Arab is one of the foundation stallions of the (now defunct) Lebanese Asil Arabian horse breeding. Born in the desert somewhere between Hims and Palmyra, he was bred by Rakan ibn Mirshid, Shaykh of the Gomussah section of the Sba’ah Bedouin tribe in the 1930s, then sold to Beirut for … Read more

error: Content is protected !!