Saadey (below) was a Sa’dah al-Tuqan, foaled in Arabia in 1892, and purchased from Abdallah el-Khamud by Prince Shcherbatov in 1900. At the state stud at Derkul, Saadey was covered by the imported stallion Sem-Khan (purchased in Cairo), but did not produce a foal. In 1902 she gave birth to a filly, Elvira, by the Kuhaylan Swayti stallion El-Kader. Seglawiey (below) was another desertbred mare at Derkul. Foaled in 1894, she was out of a Saqlawiyah Jadraniyah of Ibn Sbeyni from the Fad’aan, and sired by a Kuhaylan Abu Junub. She, like Saadey, was imported to Russia by Prince Shcherbatov for the state stud at Derkul in 1900. In 1902, Seglawiey produced a chestnut filly, Nadide, by the Crabbet-bred stallion Naaman. Photos from the History of Russia in Photographs.
Zarifa (below) was bred by Count Stroganov from his imported stallion Sherrak, out of the mare Ghazu. Zarifa’s dam Ghazu was a grey mare foaled in the desert c. 1879/1880, sired by a Dahman ‘Amer. Stroganov purchased her on his first expedition to Syria, in 1888, from the Sba’ah. She produced seven foals in Russia, sired by Emir-el-Arab, Sottamm el-Kreysh, Sherrak, and Ashgar (Emir-el-Arab x Anaze). Zarifa herself produced three foals by the time the 1903 stud book was compiled, a chestnut colt and filly by Emir-el-Arab in 1900 and 1901, and a grey filly by Sottamm el-Kreysh in 1902. Photo from the History of Russia in Photographs.
Below are two of the mares that Prince Aleksander Shcherbatov bought on his second expedition to Syria. Djerifa (above), a Sa’dah al-Tuqan mare bought in Deir. From Saadan Togan strain. Red mare, imported, height 2 arshins 2 ¼ inches. The horse was born in 1895 in Mesopotamia, at Bedouin Yedjaefee Ibn-Sakhu ‘s of Agkhedaat tribe. Sire: stallion of Abeyan Sherrak strain from Bedouin tribe Moadja (of Sebaa Anaze). Dam: bought by Ibn-Sakhu from Bedouin from Saekkh tribe (of Shammar) in 1892. “Djerifa” was purchased personally by Prince A.G. Shcherbatov in 1900 in Deira on Euphrates, from Bedouin Yedjaefee Ibn-Sakhu and brought to Russia. Stud Book of Arabian horses with their pedigrees present in Russia According to the 1903 stud book, Djerifa was barren to the cover of both Khamad and El-Kader, in 1901 and 1902 respectively. Shemsa (above), a Ma’naqiyah Hadrajiyah mare. From Manegi Khedrudj strain. Bay mare, imported, height 2 arshins 2 ½ inches. Born in 1894 in Arabia at Bedouin Hussein Effendi, son of Sheikh of Baggara tribe. Sire from Mangegi Ibn-Sbeyel strain. Dam born at Hussein Effendi, sired by stallion from Kekhaylan Nouag strain. Purchased personally by Prince A.G. Scherbatov in Mesopotamia in 1900 from Hussein Effendi…
There appears to have been a senior stallion at the Sa’ud Royal Studs in the 1940s of the strain of Obeyan el Seifi (correct spelling Suyayfi, a strain well referenced in the Abbas Pasha Manuscript); he is the sire of several mares and one stallion sent as gifts to King Faruk of Egypt. One of these mares is Hind (b. 1942), whose family spread worldwide; another is Nafaa (b. 1941), which is frequently discussed on this blog, although she has a much smaller family. According to the Inshass Original Herd Book (IOHB), Obeyan el Seifi had two more offspring that went to Egypt but did not leave any modern day progeny: a mare, Durra (b. 1943), out of a “Sa’adaa el Debdab”, and a stallion, Mabrouk (b. 1943), out of “Sowaytia ben Kowyel”. These are grossly misspelt names of prominent Bedouin leaders, but the way they were misspelt does give us clues some about the horses origins. Here’s how: “El Debdab” is actually El Deydab (better spelling: al-Daydab), a Bedouin leader of the Suwaylimat tribe (a part of the Jlass, which is the ‘Anazah confederation headed by the Ruwalah), and early supporter of the Saudi monarchy; they are now settled…
Teymur sent this picture of the other foundation sire of the Turkish Arabian breeding program, the 1928 bay stallion Sa’d (Kuheylan Cietni x Kuheyletul Sade Tukan), also known as Baba Saad, a Kuhaylan Sa’dan al-Tuqan, by a Kuhaylan Ju’aytni. He was Turkey’s most famous racehorse.
The Abbas Pasha Manuscript [1993, edited by J. Forbis and G. Sherif], which is essentially the transcription by Abbas Pasha’s envoys of Bedouins’ testimonies about their horses, is the foremost primary source on the Bedouin-bred Arabian horse available today. Its hundreds of testimonies is the precious remnant of an oral culture, now long gone. No wonder modern Saudi families and clans who have nothing to do with horses anymore are relying on it as a bargaining chip to ask for favors from the Saudi royal family, or to ascertain their social status (things along the lines of: “Your Highness, my ancestor gave your ancestor a precious mare, they were close, it is written in the horse book, so now I need… from you in return”). However great the legacy of Judith Forbis as a breeder of Arabian horses of the show type has been, her most enduring legacy, IMO, is to have made this book available to Western audiences. Page after page, the information in the Manuscript debunks many Western misconceptions about Bedouin horse breeding. Really, the only thing missing from the book is an index of the individual horses, strains and Bedouins mentioned. Check out this quote, page 439 [notes between brackets are mine]: “The Sheikhs of Subayah [actually, Subay’, a Bedouin tribe…
One more picture from AHA Datasource, this time of Samh, another son of two Hindi imports, *Daham and *Bint Attebe. This is how people liked show horses to look like in the 1950s.
This picture is from the AHA Datasource online, and shows Nazira, the daughter of two 1949 Hindi imports, *Daham, and *Dalal.
Another of the Hindi imports of 1949 from Lebanon was *Bint Attebe (Attebe x Yumna), bred by Subhi Hindi. She was Grand Champion mare at the All Arab Show in Estes Park, Colorado in 1958, and US Top Ten mare in 1959, where she beat one of the recently imported Nazeer daughters.. Definitely one of the best mares ever imported to the USA from the Middle East, in my opinion.
AHA’s Datasource has some nice photos of the 1949 Hindi imports. Here are a couple of the handsome Sa’dan Tuqan stallion Daham (Shaykh al-Arab x Muna). His sire Shaykh al-Arab was featured on this blog, a couple years ago, and was the cornerstone of Lebanon’s asil Arabian horse program in the 1940s.