Tracing the Harqan strain to 1650

Another Kuhaylan al-‘Ajuz strain from the sharif. The below account of the Kuhaylan Harqan strain in the Abbas Pasha Manuscript offers some of the clearest indications for dating an Arabian horse strain. The accounts of Kuhaylat al-Ru’ail and her name is al-Harqah: Those present at the gathering of Ha’il were queried about al-Ru’ail, “as it is said it is yours, O Shammar”. Talal Ibn Ramal and ‘Ubayd ibn Rashid reported: “The accounts we have heard from the forebears were that, in early times, al-Suwayt was in the home area [dirah] of al-Jabal [Jabal Shammar]. He [al-Suwayt] would raid the people of Najd each time one of the ashraaf from the people of Mecca took over power [in Najd]. When the Sharif Muhammad al-Harith, the leader of the ashraaf at the time, took over power [in Najd], he [i.e., al-Suwayt] raided Najd [again]. Muhammad al-Tulay’, a son of ‘Abdah, of the Fdayl of the Shammar, unhorsed the Sharif Muhammad al-Harith and took him prisoner. He made many demands over his release. Among his demands was the Kuhaylah. And she [i.e., a mare from that line, not the ransom mare herself] went to Abu Utait, the Shaykh of the Faddaghah [section] of…