Unidentified early RAS stallion at Cairo Museum of Agriculture
This framed photo from the Cairo Museum of Agricultural Museum was not labeled, and was hanging too high on the wall. I could not identify it.
A blog on desert arabian horses, past, present and future
This framed photo from the Cairo Museum of Agricultural Museum was not labeled, and was hanging too high on the wall. I could not identify it.
Many points about the above photo make me think that it is of Nazeer, probably taken in the 1950s. I have numerous other images of Nazeer to study for comparison and while he looks somewhat different in some pictures, the leg proportions and angles suggest that this is Nazeer. Also the mane is on the correct side for being Nazeer. The eye and head proportions match other photos of him and the shape of the hind quarters and shoulder points and angles also match. It is not Shaloul, whose mane falls on the opposite side and Shahloul’s point of the buttock is set lower than Nazeer and Shahloul’s flanks are deeper, lower with gaskins somewhat wider than Nazeer. It is also not Sid Abouhom whose Jibbah was different and neck shape different and set different. The chest depth of Sid Abouhom was deeper than Nazeer. Also Sid Abouhom’s mane fell to the other side. There really are not any other grey horses of prominence at the RAS during this time which have this look and proportions, unless it was one of Mansour’s other sons not now represented. For instance Mansour’s son Ibn Mansour (x Bint Rissala) looked very much like Nazeer in proportions. But he was given to King Ibn Saud in 1939 at age 8 and left no RAS produce, so doubtful if it is him. So my guess is that the above photo is of Nazeer.
Joe, the one thing that makes me wonder if this horse is Nazeer is the proportions of the forearms and cannons. The forearms are very short in length. Like you, I started studying pics of all the Grey-colored horses for comparison but none of them really matched. At first, I thought Hamdan but my photo library isn’t as extensive and I remember Hamdan as a more robust horse, than the horse pictured. The only other horse that I can think of would be the brother of Shahloul and Hamdan?
I don’t know as much you do about Nazeer’s conformation, and you are probably right, but something tells me this photo is from an earlier time than the days when Nazeer was older. It’s more an RAS time photo than an EAO time photo.
Do we have a photo of Ibn Manial (Nasr x Bint Obeya) grey, 1928? The sire of Baraka and Kawsar?
So, this photo could be in the early 1940s and still an RAS photo of Nazeer (EAO was not until after 1952). I have access other RAS photos from that WWII period and some of the horses were quite thin and not fair to publish. These include Layla the dam of Sid Abouhom, Yashmak dam of Rashad Ibn Nazeer, and also Zam Zam the dam of Saklawia II to name a few. So this is still likely to be Nazeer during that time in the mid 1940s. I also have access to images of Ibn Manial (Nasr x Bint Obeya) and he is nothing like this horse above. One image when he was young is found in the English translated IOHB in the photo section at the end of the book, the other is an RAS photo of him in old age and appears on page 389 of Judith Forbis’s blue cover book Authentic Arabian Bloodstock (I). Ibn Manial shows the distinct neck shape found in many of Nasr Manial’s get as well as the swan-like body shape.
It is interesting to note there are a number of RAS photos in the Judith Forbis collection that are photos taken in front of kind of picket fence with palm trees behind it. These include some of the Wentworth horses that were not used for breeding. So Edouard, if you go back to the museum, see if you can see any photos with the picket fence in the background and determine the approximate time frame of those images.