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
Some progress in linking primary sources on older Bahraini horses to each other. The below is an Ubayyah mare in Volume 1 of the Amiri Arabian Stud Book of Bahrain (page 63): Compare with the description of this mare in Judi Forbis’ AHW “Pearls of Graet Price” series, following her 1970 visit to the Amiri … Read more
Quoting from her article on the Asil Horse of Khuzestan (full article here on the WAHO website), a good starting point for information on this topic: Of the tribes mentioned by Layard in the first quotation, branches of the Al Khamees, Al Kathir and the Bani Lam are existent today in Khuzestan. The Bani Lam … 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
I had been telling you about the strain of Ubayyan al-Khudr of the Bani Sakhr in earlier posts. I stumbled upon a reference to this strain, as I was doing a new translation of the hujjah (certificate of authenticity) of the Arabian stallion Marhum. This was a desert-bred horse born in 1890 and imported from … Read more
I have managed to trace back the strain of Ubayyan Abu Jurayss (Umm Jurayss for the females) to the ‘Utayfat (alt. spellings ‘Atayfat and ‘Otayfat), one of the main clans of the Wuld ‘Ali tribe of ‘Anazah. But I don’t know yet how they got to the Wuld ‘Ali and where from. In the below … Read more
Kate recently asked about how old the strain name of Ubayyan Suhayli was. In other words, when did the specific strain of Ubayyan Sharrak owned by al-Suhayli of the Shammar stopped being referred to as Ubayyan Sharrak and became known as Ubayyan Suhayli after its owners’ name. The earliest written reference to Ubayyan Suhayli I … Read more
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
I looked up the mentions of the Bedouin tribe of Bani Sakhr in the Journals of Lady Anne Blunt. There are five of them, ranked below in chronological order. [Saw at the Tahawis] One bay Abeyan el Khudr from a tribe near the Bani Sakkhr beyond the Hauran… [A Shaykh of the Samaritans told us] … Read more
I have long been a fan of *Al Hamdaniah, the desert-bred mare that was imported to the USA in 1947. This “bloody-shouldered” mare bred by Saudi prince Saud ibn ‘Abdallah ibn Jalawi, governor of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia — was the subject of the first entry on this blog, more than 16 years … Read more
He looks better each time I see him, if you can see past the mud and the winter coat. It’s not just his improving condition, but also his reaching maturity stage, at 8 years. He exactly what you would expect from his pedigree, the linebreeding to *Muhaira in particular. I am looking forward to what … Read more
I like this fuzzy video screenshot of Nelyo, the 2015 dark bay Ubayyan stallion I got from Edie Booth a couple of years ago. It shows his “style” when moving and his flowing lines, including the arch of the tail “comme un jet d’eau” as the French would say. The lines are such that one … Read more
Edie Booth posted this new-to-me, fuzzy, yet revealing photo of Jalam Al Ubayyan on her Instagram account. He was an Ubayyan Sharrak from the strain of Ibn Jalawi in Eastern Saudi Arabia. Somewhere on this blog, I wrote about what Dr. Ahmed Mabrouk of the RAS said about this strain on his visit to Ibn … Read more
This colt which Belgian breeder Patrick Vermuyten recently bought really caught my eye. He is from the Bint Kareema line, hence an Ubayyan by strain. Bint Kareema‘s (Rasheed BLNT x Kareema) is in my view one of the Arabian breed’s most underrated lines. Despite its very small numbers (mostly in Europe), it has consistently produced … Read more
This afternoon I scanned some photos from a trip to Syria my father and I took in 1995 (almost 30 years ago, yikes!). I am more aware than ever about the need to put old analog records in digital format and online. Starting with Dahess, the handsome Ubayyan Suhayli stallion my father had just traded … Read more
A headshot of the Ubayyan stallion AAS Nelyo, my recent acquisition from Edie Booth. He is registered as a bay, but the colors I see range from a very dark liver chestnut to a light, dusty bay, almost dun, to a seal brown. Some days, he just looks purple, like when Moira Walker took this … Read more
In his 1936 book “A Journey to Arabia”, Dr. Ahmed Mabrouk of Egypt’s Royal Agricultural Society (RAS) has this to say of the horses of Prince Sa’ud Ibn ‘Abdallah Ibn Jalawi, the governor of the al-Hasa province of the new kingdom of Saudi Arabia: “In the Prince’s stables, near his private palace, I saw about … Read more
On a very old strain, from the Arabic original of the Abbas Pasha Manuscript, translation mine: The Gmassah [a branch of the Sba’ah tribe] were asked about the [strain of] ‘Ubayyah of Ibn ‘Alyan, which marbat she is from? The elders of the Sba’ah informed that: ‘She is ‘Ubayyah Huwaynah, [belonging] to [the tribe of] … Read more
The following are excerpts from the RAS Dr. Ahmed Mabrouk’s book “A Journey to Arabia”, pertaining to his visit to Eastern Arabia in 1936: [King Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia] gave me two recommendations, one to H.H. Prince Seoud Ibn Galawi, Ruler of El-Ehsa […]. The well known hospitality of H.M. The King and his … Read more
I bought AAS Nelyo last July from Edie Booth as a potential outcross for my horses down the line. He is a ‘Ubayyan, from the line of *Mahraa, a 1943 mare of the horses of Sa’ud ibn ‘Abd Allah Ibn Jalawi Aal Saud, the governor of the oil-rich Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. I think … Read more
This evening I had a bout of nostalgia for my old horses, so I went looking for pictures of Dahess, the desert-bred stallion my father and I bought from a racing stable in Beirut in 1993. I was 15. One afternoon, as I was just coming back from school, my father told me that he … Read more
Manua was bought in Homs by Prince Shcherbatov in 1900, on the second trip that he and Count Stroganov made to Syria, but went to Stroganov’s stud in Russia, rather than Shcherbatov’s. Her sire was a Hadban Enzahi; her dam was from the Sba’ah and sired by a Kuhaylan al-Ajuz horse. From Abeyan sherrak strain. … Read more
The horses below are half-brothers and -sister, bred by Count Stroganov, out of the mare Anaze. Anaze was an 1877 ‘Ubayyah Sharrakiyah, sired by a Ma’naqi Ibn Sbayli. Her breeder is not given in her Russian stud book entry, only that Stroganov bought her in Deir on the Euphrates in 1888. Abeyan (above) was an … Read more
Below is one of Count Sergei Aleksandrovich Stroganov’s desertbred stallions, gifted to him by Sheikh Nasr Ibn Abdallah, when he visited Stroganov’s stud farm in Russia. Sherrak, an ‘Ubayyan Sharrak stallion from the marbat of Abu Jreyss. From Abeyan Sherrak strain of Abu Djereys family. Grey stallion, imported; height 2 arshins 2 ¼ inches. Born … Read more
Prince Alexander Grigorievich Shcherbatov was one of the Russian aristocratic horse breeders, who established an Arabian stud in the late nineteenth century. Together with his brother-in-law, Count Sergei Aleksandrovich Stroganov, Prince Shcherbatov, inspired by the Blunts, journeyed to Syria in 1888, in order to purchase Bedouin Arabian horses. They succeeded in buying horses from the … Read more
Last week Basil Jadaan sent me photos and videos of his mares. He is carefully rebuilding his stud after having lost all his horses during the Syrian civil war. This is his lovely 2007 Ubayyat Ibn Suhayyan mare Zamzamah. She is by a Kuhaylan Hayfi government-owned stallion Midyan al-Ghouta (Layth al-Arab x Mayyada), out of … 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
The ‘Ubayyan colt Kasim was a gift from King ‘Abd al-Aziz Aal Saud to the Earl and Countess of Athlone (Queen Victoria’s granddaughter) during their visit to Arabian in 1938. I donated this photo and that of *Turfa and Faras which you saw on this blog earlier, the Arabian Horse Archives. They were a gift … Read more
This mare, also a ‘Ubayyah, and also a daughter of Achhal, was the last two “asil” Lebanese mares. She was owned by Abd al-Hamid al-Halabi, who bred her to French stallions (non-asil) that my father had selected for Lebanon in 1992. She left no “asil” progeny as a result. Like most everyone in the Middle … 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
Obeyaan Mirage the Bahraini Ubayyan stallion which the Royal stables of Bahrain have gifted to Warren and Regina Staas arrived today at their farm. He is very handsome, and comes from old lines. This is the fourth Bahraini stallion to come to Europe in the last five years, after the Kuhaylan Ibn Aafess stallion “Kuheilaan Afass … Read more
I love this photo of the desert-bred Ubayyah Suhayliyah Reem al-Oud in Bedouin gear with Kina Murray riding. It was taken in the North East Syria in 2002. Here’s Kina’s description of this moment: “Attached is me having a gentle walk on an elderly mare on the trip when we went to do the investigation … Read more
Ubayyaan Azheer M361 at the Stud of Sh. Muhammad B. Salman. Photo Amanda Jane Smith.
Obeyaan Shamet 1335, grey stallion by Kuheilan Aafas Falaah 916 out of Obeyah Karaeb, born 2006 His dam Obeyah Karaeb 1042, bay mare, born 1997 by Jellaby Nejib 404 out of Obeyah Danaanir 808
I finally saw the Arabian horses of Bahrain, those “Pearls of Great Price”, after a 30 year wait. Thanks to Jenny Lees who arranged the private visit to the Stud of the late Sheikh Mohammad Bin Salman Aal Khalifah, we, my father and I, had the privilege of seeing these horses two days before their … Read more
Yesterday, Lee Oelllerich sent me these photos of the 1967 ‘Ubayyan stallion El-Haml (El Hamdan x Al Fellujah by Al Felluje) at 3 years old. What a horse, and what a combination of good horses. These BLUE STARs can surely improve any stock, Arabian or not, Al Khamsa or not. Click on the photos to enlarge … Read more
I am extremely impressed with the structure and conformation of Jenny Krieg’s filly, Ubayyat al-Bahrain, one of two daughters of the twenty seven year old desert-bred Bahraini stallion Mlolshaan Hager Solomon, out of the Ubayyah mare DB Kalilah. I don’r think she is even two years old. To be honest, I have never seen such … Read more
Susan Whitman recently sent me this picture of a promising and very correctly built 2011 colt from her tail-female Turfa program, MD Turfairan (MD Ibn Hattairan x MD Bint Turfaira by El Rabih). I especially like the photo of his maternal grandsire El Rabih (Al Felluje x Sharifa Abkar by Famaje), a Ubayyan stallion, with … Read more
Mohammad Mohammad Osman Faysal Abdallah Saoud al-Tahawi sent me this beautiful photo of his grandfather Faysal on a Ubayyat Ibn Thamdan mare, taken around 1955. I like everything about this photo: the whitewashed tombs in the background, straight out of the Arabian Nights, the mud brick walls and the mud houses and the oasis, the … Read more
Another one of the nice tail female *Muhaira horses is the asil ‘Ubayyan stallion El Rabih (Al Felluje x Sharifa Abkar by Famaje), bred by Buddy Argo, and owned by Susan Whitman until his death in 2008.
I am a big fan of the asil Arabians that trace to the ‘Ubayyan mare *Muhaira. I believe she is as important an influence as *Turfa in US pedigrees, especially the ones close to the desert. The mare below, Maur Halawa (Arrogaance x Maur Blue Treasure by Arrogaance), bred by Maureen Matheson, is one of … 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.
The desert-bred ‘Ubayyah Suhayliyah mare Reem al-‘Ud, bred by the Shammar tribe in northeastern Syria, also known as “the mare of Mattori” from one of her past Bedouin owners, was featured several times on this blog. Here is yet another photo of her in extreme old age, which shows well the black skin around her … Read more
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
Read this entry in the stud book of Faysal ‘Abd Allah Sa’ud al-Tahawi, excerpted from the tribe’s website: “Then, in the year 1356 H, we bought the bay ‘Ubayyah Sharrakiyah from Ibn Samdan, when she was in foal, and she gave birth, while in our ownership, to a chestnut colt whose sire is the [Kuhaylan] … Read more
Veteran preservation breeder George Hooper sent these old pictures of the asil ‘Ubayyah mare Nauwas (Al-Khobar x *Muhaira), one of my favorite mares of old Saudi bloodlines, and her filly foal Hisani Jzairah by the desert bred sire *Jalam al-Ubayan. The one below is of Nauwas and her colt Princeton Kadil:
This handsome eight years old desert-bred stallion is from the Najd Stud of Prince Turki near al-Kharj, and we saw him during our recent trip with the Asil Club delegation.
Ubayyan al-Suyayfi stallion by Haleem out of Waqairah, from our recent trip to Saudi Arabia with the Asil Club
She originally traces to the marbat of Ibn Duwayhiss of the ‘Anazah, and was bred at the Jabri Stud.
This stallion was the favorite of my wife Gabriele and I during our visit at the Najd Stud near Al-Kharj in Saudi Arabia: Nabeh, a fleebitten grey stallion 8 years by Haleem (already featured on this blog earlier), from the Ubayyan al-Sufayfi. Nabeh was the most beautiful desert-bred we saw on our trip, with small … Read more