A blog on desert arabian horses, past, present and future
روى الضابط الفرنسي فيكتور مولر رئيس الاستخبارات الفرنسية في البادية السورية في عهد الانتداب الفرنسي عن لسان مشل باشا الجربا أن العبية الشراكية التي درجت إلى شمر بكون شمر والشريف تفرعت إلى فرعين فرع عند عبدة شمر هدية من الشيخ فارس أبو مشل باشا إلى ابن ربيش من عبدة وكان هذا الخط موجودًا عند ابن … Read more
Colin Pearson and Kees Mol’s “The Arabian Horse Families of Egypt” has this story, at once beautiful and sad, about the relationship of the Sharif of Mecca (and King of the Hijaz from 1916-1924) Hussein ibn Ali, head of the Hashemite royal family with one of his mares, Zahra. The story is buried in an … Read more
حديث ابراهيم الدواس السعدي من ال سعدي عوارف شمر أجراه إدوار الدحداح وحازم الوعر عام 2006 :عن كحيلة الشريف هم اصحاب رسن كحيلة الشريف جابوا الرسن معهم من نجد من أكثر من 150 سنة الحين عندهم فرسين واحدة بنت صقلاوي السبيه والثانية أمها بنت صقلاوي أحمد الدهام الاثنين عشار من صقر سوريا حصان حمداني كحيلة … Read more
An interesting account from the Meccan chronicle Ghayat al-Maram bi Akhbar Saltanat al-Balad al-Haram by ‘Izz al-Din al-Hashimi al-Qurashi under the year 917 Hijri (1511-12 CE): The Sharif Barakat raided the Mafarijah [a tribe of the Bani Lam] and their allies the Bani ‘Uqbah. He [the Sharif] had some of the Mafarijah with him. Then … Read more
Jeanne Craver just sent me this other photo of the desert-bred mare 214 Scherife (Cherife), the Shammar-bred Kuhaylat al-Sharif, which was imported by Fadlallah al-Haddad to the Austro-Hungarian empire in 1903. She actually very much looks like the the Kuhaylat al-Sharif of Ibrahim Dawwas al-Saadi, who was registered in the first Syrian Studbook as … Read more
Samura, a chestnut 1895 mare, is a first generation offspring of two desert-bred Arabians imported to Russia by Count Stroganov and Prince Sherbatoff, and was bred by the former at what is now the Tersk Stud. Stroganov’s breeding program was completely wiped out in the events that led to the bolchevik revolution of 1917, and nothing remains … Read more
One day in 2006, my friend Hazaim al-Wair and I, intrigued by the addition of “al-Baida” to the strain of many (not all) Kuhaylan al-Krush horses in the Syrian studbook, made a number of phone calls to inquire about the owner of the marbat of Krush al-Baida. All the roads led to one Shaykh of Shammar by the name of Mayzar al-‘Abd … Read more
I took this pricture in 1996, on a horse trip outside Aleppo. These kids lived in the stables, among the horses their father cared for. What struck me is how the colt seemed to be one them, following them everywhere, and wanting to partake in their games. The colt is a Kuhaylan al-Krush, whose dam, … Read more
Kuhaylan Ibn Jlaidan is the third strain featured in the “Strain of the Week” series. You will almost certainly not find a representative of this strain outside of Arabia today. A few of you may have heard of it in the context of their trips to Syria. The strain is emblematic of the Shammar tribe, as … Read more