Ubayyat Ibn Thamdan at the Tahawi in Efypt, ca. 1955
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 old Shaykh on the mare, and the electric pole as a lonely testimony of creeping modernity in a scene that could otherwise have taken place a thousand years ago. And the mare of course: look at that perfect specimen of a desert mare: the full powerful croup, the walk, the carriage of the neck, and the long head so full of character. The strain above all: Faran Ibn Thamdan of the Sba’ah Bedouins was the owner of one of the three or four best strains of ‘Ubayyan Sharrak in North Arabia, a strain which produced some of the best foundation horses of the Arabian breeding program on my home country of Lebanon some fifty years ago.
More about the strain of Ubayyan ibn Thamdan later, once I am done staring at this picture.
He’s also a very good rider! Grand Prix dressage riders don’t have the fully functional ,’jinetta like,’ position he shows.
Best wishes
Bruce Peek
This mare very much reminds me of Kali Ma EEE, tail female *Samriah/Hamdaniyah-Simriyah (Albert Harris Sa’ud import). Wonderful photo. Thank you for sharing it Edouard.
It is always enjoyable reading your analysis Edouard of anything related to the Bedouin life. You come from the heart of the culture and you can very well spot the smallest details and put them in the right perspective.
This is the Obeya of Ibn Thamdan himself which is listed in the herd book of Shaikh Faisal Abdullah Saoud and for which Ibn Thamdan came to Egypt to visit the Tahawies and receive the rest of her price. Mohammed is still surprising us with more of these treasures.
Lovely mare, and as Bruce says, good rider.
that’s the best ridden historic photo i’ve ever seen. usually they’re sat in the middle of the back hanging onto reins with head stuck up in the air. nice to see some effort was put in by some afterall.
The Arabian Horse Association should reproduce the photo of Sheik Faysal and send it out to every member and horse show judge stating that this is now the perferred standard, both of horse confirmation( look at the mares substantial legs, and lifted back) and rider position- heels well down- hands at navel level and not too heavey rein contact with relaxed upright balanced rider posture.
Best wishes
Bruce Peek
Tres amigos,lectores de su Blog, inspirados tambien por el Blog, unieron fuerzas para tratar de conservar la linea de la yegua arabe egipcia Tahawy que llego a chile. Asi lograron juntar 3 hembras.Los unicos arabes asil que hay, son egipcios, por lo que deberan continuar en esa linea.Soñando, esperan algun dia importar semen de algun potro asil. Debera ser de Francia ya que las formalidades sanitarias son mas faciles para chile.
Three friends, readers of his blog, also inspired by the Blog, joined forces to try to keep the line of a Tahawy Arabian mare who arrived in Chile. So they found 3 mares.The only Arabs asil there are in chile are Egyptian, so they must continue in that line.Dreaming,they hope someday import semen from some asil stalion.It shall be from France as health formalities are easier for chile.
Dear Gerd,
can you give us the names of these mares in Chile who trace to Tahawi breeding? Thank you in advance.
Dear Joe:
The importrd mare was http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/neveen2
She had several daughters,some are dead, others in other hands and used with non asil stallions.
We have http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/pb+muahjid (stallion)
The mares are: http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/nueva+ortigosa+bint+ghezira
http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/nueva+ortigosa+ghaza
http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/pb+thina
and the stallion we have is: http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/zt+sadra.
We admired the fantasic work of some asil precervationists and decided to try to do something. This horses are not so “showy” but good riding horses.
Wow Gerd, this is great to see that you have a strong family from Folla, the rare Shuwaymah Sabbah strain. Neveen left one female family that has a number of mares from it but you have more from her than in the US. Also your young stallion is from the great mare ZT Jamdusah one of Serenity Sonbolahs finest branches.
If you look closely on the all breed database pedigrees it gives the female line of your mares as coming from Bint Folla (1956) but that is a mistake. It should be instead her full sister Bint Folla II (1963) which is how the pedigree for Neveen appears in our registry and in the Egyptian records. Neveen came to the US as a yearling and left one female line before your country was blessed with her influence.
Thank you Joe, you are right, we are blessed and thanks to mr Montt who imported the mare. He also has one or two daughters of neveen. But we have to be alert, a lot of asil mares are crossed with non asil stallions.