A blog on desert arabian horses, past, present and future
.. was Shaykhan Al Bahrain, a.k.a “Robbie” (Kuhailaan Aladiyat Hashal x Labwah Al Shaykah), a three year gelding of the Ubayyan Sharrak strain owned by Jenny Krieg. He was just stunning: tight, compact, powerful, stylish and well built. I missed the opportunity to get him when he was a stallion (I had a lot on … Read more
AAS Nelyo who is eleven this year, looks like a *Muhaira reincarnation, the color, the body, the style, the bump on the nose, etc. His is closely linebred to her — I counted seven crosses including the tail female — so that’s no surprise. He is dark (no white marks) and was standing in the … Read more
ورد في كتاب أصول الخيل (المعروف أيضًا بمخطوط عبّاس باشا) فصل العبيّات ما نصّه “أفاد بدّاح الصيفي وشافي ولد فهيد الصّيفي ومسعود ابن غدير مشايخ سبيع أنها عبية شرّاكية للشرّاك من بني خالد واندرج من الشرّاك فرس صفره لولد أخته هنيديس من السلقة من عنزه وصارت خيل عند الهنيديس من قديم مبطي على شياخة سليمان … Read more
ورد في مخطوط أصول الخيل المعروف أيضًا بمخطوط عباس باشا ذكر سليمان آل محمد من شيوخ بني خالد فجاء في فصل العبيات في سياق قصص عبية الصيفي ما نصه أفاد بداح الصيفي وشافي ولد فهيد الصيفي ومسعود ابن غدير مشايخ سبيع أنها عبية شراكية للشراك من بني خالد واندرج من الشراك فرس صفره لولد أخته … Read more
Lately, I have been enjoying regular evening discussions with Radwan. He is energized now that several of the mares he had lost to the IS were found and brought back. He is part of a WhatsApp group with Bedouin shaykhs and breeders in Syria to discuss desert horses and strains. Yesterday’s discussion yielded a wonderful, … Read more
The 1983 stallion Mas-huj stood at the farm of Basil Jadaan near Damascus for one season, when this photo was taken. Basil gave a copy of the photo to Hazaim Alwair who published it online for some time. Mas-huj was from the city of Hama, from an old lineage of Ubayyan Sharrak tracing to the … Read more
Zenobia, born in 1977, was one of the prettiest asil mare in Lebanon, my father’s favorite horse, and a notoriously difficult producer. A ‘Ubayyah Sharrakiyah tracing to the marbat of Ibn Thamdan of the Sba’ah, with a regal pedigree that was linebred to Mach’al, the foundation stallion of Lebanese asil breeding. She left no asil … Read more
Another Hanad son is the 1930 ‘Ubayyan Sharrak stallion Sanad (Hanad x Saba by *Deyr). I had never seen a picture before. Here’s one, not very good.
Some time ago, I wrote about how the 1964 mare Carila (Caravan x Akila by Akil), the last asil mare from the female line of the Davenport mare *Abeyah was lost in the 1990s despite a last minute preservation effort.. Recently, while going through Datasource, I was thrilled to find out that an asil line to *Abeyah has actually survived, … Read more
She originally traces to the marbat of Ibn Duwayhiss of the ‘Anazah, and was bred at the Jabri Stud.
This is Jalaa’, a young chestnut ‘Ubayyan Sharrak stallion at the Jabri stud farm in Aleppo. Jalaa is a ‘Ubayyan Sharrak of the marbat of Ibn Duwayhiss of the ‘Anazah. Thanks to Arnault for posting his pedigree on allbreedpedigree.com. Photo by G. Waiditschka. He is by the Shabareq-bred Ma’naghi Sbayli stallion Tadmor (Al-Aawar x Holwah) out … Read more
Below is a translation of the Arabic language hujjah of the mare *Abeyah, imported by Homer Davenport from the Northern Arabian (i.e., Syrian) desert to the USA in 1906. It is adapted from the translation of this hujjah which I did in 2005 for the reference book Al Khamsa Arabians III. The Al Khamsa Arabians … Read more
This photo was sent by a horse merchant in Syria to one of the Tahawi clan leaders in Egypt, bto probe his interest in purchasing the horse. Here is what figures on the back of the photo: “Photo of the Saqlawi Jadrani horse, his sire is ‘Ubayyan of the horses of Ibn Samdan and his … Read more
Mustafa al-Jabri is a longtime Syrian breeder of desert Arabian horses from Aleppo, Syria, and a beloved family friend. Mustafa’s stud near Aleppo, which has up to 100 mares and two dozen stallions, is one of the most highly regarded studs in Syria. Over the past decades, Mustafa spent extensive amounts of time with Bedouins … Read more
My father is here in the USA, visiting with me. We often get the chance to reminisce about the hundred or so horses he bred or owned when he was actively breeding, but also about those he was never to obtain, for one reason or another. Laila (photo below, which my father took) is one of these. … Read more
Below is one of the first photos I took, at age 12 in 1990 or 1991, with my father’s Nikon. The mare in the picture is Tahirah, then a 25 year old ‘Ubayyah Sharrakiyah from the marbat of the Saffaf family of Hama. Hama is an ancient city in central Syria, just west of the … Read more
This document recently appeared on one of the discussion threads below. For those of you who know the Abbas Pasha Manuscript in its English edition, this is just the first page in one of the original Arabic editions.. This is a quick and dirty translation (writing from work, gotta go home soon), without the Quran … Read more
In my opinion, *Abeyah was the best mare of the Davenport importation, and perhaps one of the best mares to come out of Arabia. She was certainly the best authenticated one. Look at my translation of her hujjah (also published in Al Khamsa Arabians III): I, o Faris al-Jarba, witness that the bay mare which … Read more
Another photo courtesy of Jean-Claude Rajot is of the stallion El Obayan, a ‘Ubayyan Sharrak, which the Veterinary Dr. Bardot bought in 1923 from the city of Hama in Syria, for the stud of Tiaret in Algeria. El Obayan was in the stall next to El Managhi, who was featured earlier. In Algeria, El Obayan … Read more
“Excellent horse, but his grey color makes him unusable”. So the French government, prompted by the cavalry’s dislike of the color grey, sold the stallion Burgas to Poland in 1923, without using him. Burgas, a Saqlawi Jadran by a ‘Ubayyan Sharrak, born in 1907, was one of 20 Arabian stallions imported to France in … Read more
I thought I’d share this photo of Nawal with you, after the mention of the strain of ‘Ubayyan ibn Duwayhiss in a previous post of mine. ‘Ubayyan ibn Duwayhiss is a branch of ‘Ubayyan Sharrak owned by the Sba’ah tribe. Nawal was bred by Khairi Ajil al-Dibs, of the Aqaydat semi-nomadic sheep herding tribe, on the … Read more
The dark chestnut stallion Shaykh al-‘Arab is one of the foundation stallions of the (now defunct) Lebanese Asil Arabian horse breeding. Born in the desert somewhere between Hims and Palmyra, he was bred by Rakan ibn Mirshid, Shaykh of the Gomussah section of the Sba’ah Bedouin tribe in the 1930s, then sold to Beirut for … Read more
Another photo of my beloved Zanoubia, an Asil mare of Lebanese bloodlines. Zanoubia was by Ach-hal, a stallion of the Kubayshan strain, and out of Zanoubia (II), a ‘Ubayyah Sharrakiyah tracing to the marbat of Ibn Thamdan of the Sa’ba’ah tribe.
A previous post gave me the occasion to mention Zanoubia, which is something I have been looking forward to for some time now. Zanoubia was my first mare. Rather she was the first mare from my father’s horses in Lebanon that I considered mine. She did not make it in my recent top ten of the best Asil mares ever bred; … Read more