The *Nufoud tail female on the brink of extinction
I have written about the 1982 “war mare” LD Rubic (Plantagenet x Tarrla by Tarff) several times on this blog. She is the kind of mare I wish I had owned or bred. She is a great-grand-daughter of the desert bred mare *Nufoud, a Kuhaylat al-‘Ajuz from the Saud royal studs. *Nufoud was imported to the USA by Albert Harris in 1932 through Amin Rihani. At that time, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was still the Sultanate of Najd and Hijaz. LD Rubic is also a great-grand-daughter of another Saudi royal mare, *Turfa. LD Rubic was bred by the late Carol Lyons, out of the last Al Khamsa mare of that strain, Tarrla. Carol saved that line and many others from extinction.
Rubic left two sons and five daughters: of the sons, Salil Ibn Iliad produced a number of asil mares here and there. He is getting older. The other son AB Razeel, is younger but has not had progeny as far as I know. The five daughters of LD Rubic are: MSF Rubie, Bint Rubic CHF, MSF Shamis, AB Dafiinah, and Belladonna CHF. MSF Rubie is a problem breeder, and has not had a foal in a long time. Bint Rubic CHF has registration papers problems, which we are trying hard to solve … in addition to locating her. She has no replacement to date. MSF Shamis, who is dead, had a son, AEP Kamar, a stallion at Monica Respet’s. AB Dafiinah is with Linda Uhrich but has not had a foal yet. Belladonna CHF (Audobon x LD Rubic), now dead, is the main progenitor of this family. She had three fillies and two colts, for her owner Randall Harris (no relation to the Albert Harris above). One filly, Jadah Nufoud, died young. The other two, Jadah Necessity and Jadah BelloftheBall, are still alive, and I will hopefully be able to report on them soon. They, as well as AB Dafiinah, are the only remaining hope for this strain, yet none has produced a filly yet. The two sons of Belladonna, both special, especially the black one, are still with their breeders, Randall and Mary Sue Harris.
Most of the horses mentioned above (except MSF Shamis, AB Dafiinah and AB Razeel) have the particularity of having no Blunt/Crabbet bloodlines, which makes them an outcross to the vast majority of Arabian horses alive today. Back in 2001, when I was 23 and still a newcomer to the universe of Arabian horse breeding in the USA, I saw Belladonna at Randall’s and I offered him a good price for her. She was the first US-bred mare I wanted to own. Randall either did not take me seriously or did not want to sell her, and nothing ensued. I regret not having insisted more. If you look at the photo below (courtesy of Jeanne Craver), you will understand why.
We hope this mare line will survive and breed on. Belladonna is a lovely mare. I am wondering is their any pictures of the mare *Nufoud, or how did she look like?
Hi Edouard, I did find more information on the whereabouts of Bint Rubic CHF and they told me she was sold, but not before she had other Asil foals, which could not be registered, due to being separated from her papers. Sadly, they did not keep the name of the person who bought Bint Rubic CHF. On the other hand, Pam Baker, who still owns MSF Rubie, reported to me last month that Rubie showed a strong heat, which she never does, so was mated with her half brother, SALIL IBN ILIAD. I have just asked her status, to see if she has reported to come back into heat again. Pam Baker at Japaa Arabians is near Myrtle Beach, SC. This would be a miracle.
Hi Lesley, who are the foals by? I trust we can help with the registry. We found a solution to the paper issues.
Oh, Edouard, you’re right. She has a bright but gentle face. What a lovely mare. I’m glad you have Bell.