Last week Basil Jadaan sent me photos and videos of his mares. He is carefully rebuilding his stud after having lost all his horses during the Syrian civil war. This is his lovely 2007 Ubayyat Ibn Suhayyan mare Zamzamah. She is by a Kuhaylan Hayfi government-owned stallion Midyan al-Ghouta (Layth al-Arab x Mayyada), out of Zamzam, who was by Dinar (Al-A’war x Aseela) out of Raabi’ah (Al-A’war x Freiha al-Sughra). Freiha al-Sughra was bred by Shammar Bedouin Hamid Ibn Suhayyan, the owner of the strain. The strain is a branch of ‘Ubayyan, which the Shammar clan of Ibn Suhayyan has been breeding for close to 200 years. Before that, the strain was with al-Lumaylimi of the Wuld ‘Ali Bedouin, and before that with al-Hunaydees of al-Dhafeer. The maternal grand-dam of this mare was the full sister of the stallion Shahm that was imported to France but died soon after.