A blog on desert arabian horses, past, present and future
Zaala (Aissaoui x Ifada, by Sabour) 1969 arabian mare Breeder: Sheikh Amara B. Lacheb Owner: M. Jelaila Born at Maknassy, Tunisia Photo: Roland Stichlmeir https://beta.allbreedpedigree.com/zaala-SiQKYn6J/pedigree Samra (Esmet Ali x Ifrikia, by Kefil) 1966 arabian mare with her 1986 foal by HosniBreeder: Sidi ThabetOwner: Sadok Essaied Photo: Roland Stichlmeirhttps://beta.allbreedpedigree.com/samra-TiIgY1re/pedigree Saada (Esmet Ali x Rafiaa, by Bango) … Read more
For a long time there was a shadow hanging over the lineage of the senior Tunisian stallion Dynamite III (Esmet Ali x Nachoua by Madani), photo below. He and his many sons (Akermi, Safouen, Bardo, Halim, Touwayssane, etc), were accomplished racehorses of the first order and sires of racehorses in Tunisia and beyond. They were … Read more
Susanne Schreibvogel published these two photos, along with a short article in Arabische Pferde Des 92 – Feb 93 after she payed a visit to Sidi Thabet. I’ve added a translation of the photo captions. “Mourad M’Barek, Sidi Thabet’s director, with one of the two-year-old arabian mares.” “The twenty-year-old, Tunisian-bred, chief sire Dynamite III by … Read more
I am even more disconnected from the racing scene in the USA than I thought. I recently found out that the 1983 Tunisian Jilfan Dhawi racehorse Okba (Koufi x Ahram by Esmet Ali)Â had been imported to the USA where his offspring (out of mares from non-asil race Russian, Polish, US/Kontiki and other racing lines) have … Read more
Stephan Eberhardt shared with me this photo of his Algerian/Tunisian/Egyptian mare Dachna (Khaiber x Dahna by El Aswad a.k.a Ibn Galal-15), a Shuwaymah Sabbah tracing to the Tiaret mare Cherifa. I am always pleased to see that these asil lines  from North Africa have crossed well with Egyptian lines in Europe. The mare has two close … Read more
To complete the trio of photos from the French and North African studs, here is one of the Tunisian stud of Sidi Thabet, also courtesy of Michael Bowling.
As mentioned in an earlier post last year, a small number of horses still trace to the very old Mukhallad strain including  this 2001 chestnut stallion whose extraordinary pedigree is heavily line-bred to asil Algerian,Tunisian and old French lines of the highest caliber. Here is a  nice shot of him which I had not seen … Read more
Patrick from Belgium sent me the list of the Tunisian Arabian stallions accredited by the Tunisian government’s Fondation Nationale D’Amelioration de la Race Chevaline (FNARC), which is under the Ministry of Agriculture. He tells me that 30-50% of the stallions are still from the old Tunisian bloodlines (at least on paper), and the rest from … Read more
I took this photo of the Kuhaylan al-‘Ajuz Chahata (Hosni xHamida by Soufyan) at the stallion depot of the Tunisian government stud of Sidi Thabet in 2006. He was a great race horse, and I thought he was exceptionally well built, while at the same time displaying good Arab type. I wonder what’s with the … Read more
I had been reading about the Tunisian government stud of Sidi Thabet in Robert Mauvy’s writings since my teenage years. I happened to be in Tunisia for work and did not want to miss the opportunity to go there and visit, so I took half a day off, bought a Kodak camera for 10 bucks … Read more
I am writing in response to Edouard’s article on Esmet Ali. I have photos of him as a foal at his mother’s side, as well as documents about his debut at the Tunisian racetrack of Kasr Said. I can garantee you this is the same horse as the later Esmet Ali. All you have to … Read more
The outstanding stallion Esmet Ali (photo below) is at the center of a controversy that has been quietly brewing for several decades now in Tunisia and beyond. Since Esmet Ali is in the pedigree of almost every single Arabian horse in Tunisia today, the matter is of some importance. I do not know what position … Read more
Ezzina (Chaabane x Wilaya by Ragheb), proudly owned by Walid Maazaoui, is one of the last asil mares in Tunisia. Ten years ago, Tunisia was still one of the last reservoirs of asil blood in the “East”, but that is quickly changing, and today there are only a few dozen asil mares and stallions left. The country … Read more
Jazour est né en 1968 chez Mr Robert Mauvy. Ce magnifique bai, par Saadi et Izarra, par David, de lignee Kuhaylan al-‘Ajuz (tracant sur Samaria), très athlétique a fait ses preuves sur le terrain, en participant à des raids d’endurance qu’il a souvent gagné. Il fut aussi un excellent géniteur. Il gagna notament une course d’endurance où il … Read more
I “stole” this picture from the Internet, but it’s for a good cause. This is Jehol Sahraoui (Ouaffar x Kalthoumia by Sabour), for a long time the head sire at Mrs. Gisela Bergmann’s stud in Ghardimaou in western Tunisia. Mrs. Bergmann has bred precious ‘old’ Tunisian lines for some thirty years, and Jehol Sahraoui, born … Read more
Recently, Ambar Diaz started posting photos of some of this blog’s authors and regular contributors mounted on asil Arabian horses, as a way to put names on faces. Here is a photo that reader Predrag Joksimovic sent me of himself, mounted on Mahiba (Shams El Arabi x Mansoura), a very deserty little mare. Mahiba’s sire … Read more
The series on desert-bred Arabian imports to North Africa continues thanks to breeder and blog reader A. Deblaise. This is Aziz, one of the earliest desert-breds imported to Algeria by the French. I know nothing about his strain or his original breeder.         All I know is that he … Read more
Last week, I wrote about the quest of Robert Mauy’s friends, Jean-Claude Rajot and Louis Bauduin of France, to regenerate the bloodlines of their Arabian horses with the importation of stallions from the Arabian desert, or North Africa. Jean-Claude and Louis’ quest first took them to Tunisian and Algeria in the late 1980s. They saw many … Read more
Sandra Uhlig’s mare Djoumanah El Nil, from Germany, has an interesting pedigree: Egyptian bloodlines on top, and a Jiflan Dhawi tail female from Tunisia through the mare Malaga and her dam Berriane. Berriane was bred in Algeria and imported to Tunisia by Admiral Cordonnier for his Sidi Bou Hadid stud). Note the line to the stallion … 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
Nasr, the chestnut [January 23rd: Sporthorse-data lists hims as “brown”, and the French studbook as “bay”] horse pictured below was a desert-bred stallion that was imported to the Tunisian stud of Sidi Thabet in the 1920s.  He was imported from Egypt, where he’d had a good career as a racehorse. French masterbreeder Robert Mauvy, who knew … 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
It’s been some time I have been telling you this: some really good Arabian horses can come out of the North African government studfarms. This is an unidentified mare at the Tunisian government stud of Sidi Thabet. Photo courtesy of Jean-Claude Rajot and Louis Bauduin, 1988.
(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
Dynamite II is a desert-bred stallion imported to Tunisia by the French in 1920. He is recorded to be by a Hamdani out a mare by the name of Tayyara. I should have more information in my archives (including on his strain) but need to look it up. Meanwhile, here is the picture. The sireline … Read more
Believe it or not, this extremely pretty and typey mare is an Asil Arabian from Tunisia. Hadia, a Kuhaylah al-‘Ajuz, by Kefil out of Rafiaa, by Bango) was bred at Sidi Thabet in 1958, and is the dam of many successful racehorses. She is one of the few greys Sidi Thabet retained for breeding. She … Read more
Madani (by Souci x Sissana by Mossoul) was one of Tunisia’s best Arabian racehorses in the 1950s. This old photo was originally published here. Madani is among others the sire of the stallion Inchallah, exported to France in the late 1950s. He also has progeny in Germany.
He reminds of a mythological creature, with flowing lines, and a graceful way of carrying himself. The best blood of North Africa flows in this horse’s veins… Rubi de la Mouline (Ilamane x Hamma) is a Kuhaylan al-‘Ajuz, tracing to the desert-bred mare Samaria, imported to France in 1887 by M. De Ganay, then exported to Tunisia, where her … Read more
.. is Naziha, an Asil Kuhaylat al-‘Ajuz from Tunisia. That this small North African country is home to such classic specimen of Asil Arabians as Naziha may come as a surprise to some, yet Tunisia harbors one of the best collections of Asil Arabians anywhere. Most Tunisian Asils trace to desert-bred horses imported from Arabia by the French. The French? France occupied Tunisia in 1881, but kept … Read more