A blog on desert arabian horses, past, present and future
Below is a photo of the grey mare Sabine, foaled in 1900, who is presumably the daughter of two of M. Portalès’ imports. The picture comes from the article, ‘Les chevaux du midi’, printed in the 27 October 1907 Le Sport universel illustré. Mossoul’s entry in volume 11 of the Stud-Book français (1894) says he … Read more
The photos below come from ‘Le haras de Pompadour’, printed in the 14 April 1900 edition of Le Sport universel illustré. Mossoul, an ‘Anazah stallion, imported in 1892. The article has a brief description of Mossoul, praising his forehand, chest and haunches, while casting a critical eye at his top line: Mossoul, de la tribu … Read more
The photos and text below come from ‘Le haras de Pompadour’, printed in the 21 April 1900 edition of Le Sport universel illustré. Kadidja, imported in 1892. Malakaa, imported in 1896. El-Zhora, imported in 1896. She was nicknamed The White Pearl with a Black Collar, due to her tattoos. An excerpt from the article follows … Read more
One of the five mares brought back to France by the mission of De Saunhac and Chambry of 1902 was the tall bay mare Naeleh, born in 1898. Her photo below is from a 1902 article in French magazine le Sport Universel Illustre, which describes her purchase in Damascus. The caption for the photo in … Read more
Yesterday Michael Bowling shared with me this lovely post card of an Arabian mare and her foal at the French government stud of Pompadour, in the Correze district. No date on the postcard.
At last I get to see a picture of Bossa Nova (Iricho x Bassala by Masbout), thanks to Adrien Deblaise who sent me this one today. Â Bossa Nova, of the Jilfan Dhawi strain that traces to the mare Wadha from the Fad’aan tribe, was bred by the French government stud of Pompadour, by Iricho, an … Read more
This is another photo of the magnificient Dahman (a Dahman x a Rabda). He is to France what *Haleb, who was bred about the same time, is to the USA. Dahman, a Rabdan by strain, is by the far the best desert horse horse ever imported to France, in my opinion. He was a herd stallion with … Read more
Louis Bauduin sent me this picture of the stallion Ya’sub in old age. Ya’sub (Shawani x Belkis by Irmak), now deceased,  was bred by Jean-Claude Rajot, and owned by James Legros. He combines two of the best Tiaret (the famous French government horsebreeding stud in Algeria) bloodlines: the Shuawyman Sabbah line to Cherifia (b. 1869, bred by … Read more
Another horse from Egypt that has left his mark on Tunisian breeding is the chestnut Ibn Fayda (Ibn Rabdan x Lady Anne Blunt’s Feyda), a gift from Egypt’s Prince Kemal El Din Hussein to the Tunisian government stud of Sidi Thabet. This chestnut Ibn Fayda, b. 1925, is the full brother of the bay Ibn … Read more
Niazi is another desert bred stallion imported to France. He may have been part of the last importation before World War, but I am not sure. I don’t know his strain either. What is sure is that he is one of the first French imports whose records show the mention “asil”, a term seldom used … Read more
The magnificent grey stallion pictured below was bred was Robert Mauvy in 1969 near Tours, in France. Mauvy also bred his sire Amri (Saadi x Zarifa) and Amri’s dam Zarifa (Matuvu x Iaqouta). He sold Amri to Idaho in the USA as a three year old, but not before he used him on a couple … Read more
(See the comments section below for a translation of this blog entry to English) A l’origine, en tant qu’améliorateurs des races locales, essentiellement en vue de fournir des produits pour le service de la guerre. La base de nombreux élevages a été les animaux pris dans les combats contre l’Empire Ottoman. Il en est résulté … Read more
One more French desert-bred import. This one is Nibeh. All I know about him is that he was bred by the Fad’aan Bedouin tribe and imported to France in 1912, where he stood at the government stud of Tarbes (one of the three main Arabian stallions depots in France, with Pau and Pompadour). If anyone knows … Read more
Musette (b. 1932), a Saqlawiyah by strain, is a good specimen of the Asil Arabians bred by the French government stud of Pompadour in the first half of the twentieth century. She reminds me of some of the first and second generation offspring of the horses imported by Homer Davenport to the USA in 1906. … Read more
In 1909, a French government commission led by Inspector Quinchez bought 24 desert-bred stallions from the Egyptian racetrack of Sidi Gaber in Alexandria. Of these, 17 went to Algeria (then a part of France), and the remaining 7 were distributed in government studs across mainland France. The seven were: Dahman, Meenak, Farid, Aslani, Hamdany El Samry, Latif and Maarouf. The … Read more
It’s been some time I have been saying that I will write a post about this French Arabian stallion, by the desert import Latif, from the Fad’aan tribe, out of the French-bred mare Djaima, by Khouri also an import from the Fad’aan. That article will come soon, I promise. Meanwhile, here is Denouste, a Mukhallad by … Read more
WARNING: DON’T READ ON UNLESS YOU ARE A PEDIGREE FREAK OR INTEND TO BECOME ONE. Of the Arabian horses bred in the three North African countries of Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, the latter is the only one that did not develop its own “brand” of Arabians. Rather, Morocco relied on importations from its two North … Read more
Some of you have emailed me privately with questions about French and North African Asil Arabians of the past and the present. Thank you for your messages. It is nice to see that there is interest in these horses. I reread the posts I have been writing on French Asil horses to refresh my memory. … Read more
The entries on the French Asil Arabian horses continue to generate a lot of interest. To some, the photos of classic specimen of Arabians horses were like an eye opener, shedding light on Asil breeding in a country that has imported hundreds of desert bred stallions and mares from Arabian, and set up large-scale breeding ventures that go … Read more
Look at the picture of the magnificent El Sbaa below: a French government commission led by M. Rieu de Madron purchased this Asil Ma’anaghi Sbayli stallion straight from the desert [correction: from Cairo, Egypt] in 1925. El Sbaa stood at the Stud of Pompadour, France, but he was ill suited for its humid climate, so … Read more
This is one of my favorite old pictures. The horse pictured is Dahman, a dark chestnut stallion bred by the Shammar Bedouin tribe in 1905, and sold to a French horse-buying commission led by Inspecteur Quinchez in 1909.  Dahman was a herd sire for the Shammar prior to his importation to France. He was by a … Read more
It tends to change every other day. For what it’s worth, here is today’s top ten: 1. Reem al-Oud, (Ubayyan Suhayli x Ubayyah Suhayliyah) desert bred from the Shammar tribe, born ca. 1980 2. Reema, (Ma’anaghi Sbayli x Hamdaniyah Simriyah) desert bred from the Aqaydat , born ca. 1975 3. Jauza, (Dahman Shawan x Kuhaylat al-Krush) desert … Read more