This iconic photo of the 1967 Kuhaylan Hayfi stallion Monsoon (Tripoli x Ceres), taken by Anita Westfall, was republished on Facebook recently, and received many “likes” and nostalgic recollections. The late Charles Craver holding the bridle.
Wadhah is now 11, and looks truly magnificent. She is in foal to Monologue CF, and due in mid-May for her first foal. She really looks like the Thadrian daughter that she is. She has fully transitioned from the zarqa (darker, blue-grey) to the safra (light grey, almost white, with yellowish mane and tail) shade of grey. That’s when you wish you had brushed her before the photoshoot.
The dry, arid climate and terrain of the South Western USA are much closer to that of the steppes of Arabia than the wetter climate and more lush pastures of, say, the mid-Atlantic region or the plains of the Midwest. I have observed that these drier conditions are resulting in Arabian horses that look much closer to the horses raised in Syria and Arabia, and to those raised in Namibia and the drier parts of South Africa. Drier skin, stronger, more solid bone, more visible tendons, and something different in the way the eyes shine that I cannot describe. This observation is a central tenet of the writings of French master breeder Robert Mauvy, based on his empirical observations. I would like to read any scientific papers on the climate and terrain impact on horse phenotypes, if anyone knows of any. The mare below, Roxana Star (Personic LF x Jauhar Al Khala by Sportin Life), a Kuhaylah Hayfiyah of Davenport bloodlines born in 2005, illustrates this observation. She is in the Southwestern USA, with Christine Emmert. Photos by Christine.
She is looking glorious at age 21. How time flies. She was a young mare when I saw her at Carol Lyons in 2002. Her origin is so well authenticated, and so is her filly’s by the Doyle stallion Chatham. It does not get more mazbut than that. Photo by Lyman Doyle.
The first crop of Davenport/Doyle crosses has arrived at the Doyle farm. It is absolutely first class. En Pointe CF (Triermain CF x Pirouette CF by Javera Thadrian) produced a superb, very well-balanced filly Chatham DE (second from top), and her daughter Andorra DL (Dubloon CF x En Pointe CF) produced an excellent colt by Tamaam DE (first from top). Photos by Lyman Doyle. Lyman correctly points out that the colt’s head looks more like Doyles, while the filly’s head looks more like Davenports.
Christine Emmert is a great photographer of horses. She took this photo of Bonnie Duecker’s Davenport gelding Mai Raisuli (Indie Star x Pretty Fancy by Lysander). You see the resemblance with Anita Westfall’s iconic photo of Lysander (below): the ears, the jaws, the forehead.