Daniah with the pretty face and the dark mane is the youngest, and is now with Lyman Doyle in Oregon. Diva, the oldest, now dead, is the fleabitten (marshoosha) with the good bone, large eye and broad forehead. Danika is the “yellow one” (safra) and the most refined of the three. She is still with me in France.

Diva is the dam of Darak (with me in France) and Dafuq (with Lyman in Oregon). Danika is the dam of Daniah and Danah (a bay, very different from the rest, also with Lyman Doyle, not pictured). Dhahabiah, not pictured, is Danika’s full sister and the dam of Daneer (also with Lyman). Danika and Dhahabiah are the daughters of Deedee (dead), who was Diva’s sister. It’s confusing, even to me, but in a good way.

There was truly a Sitah type at Danah Al Khalifa’s.

The top one is captioned: ”The ruler of Bahrein’s Palace, Rifa’a, Bahrain, circa 1926, and the bottom one: The palace of the late ruler of Bahrein at Sakhir, Bahrain, circa 1926. Of course, horse breeders will recognize these names as the sites of two historical studs of the rulers of Bahrain (cf. Jellaby Al Sakhir, named for being the premier stud there, or Dahman Rifaa, a.k.a. Dahman III)

The Sakhir Palace was fully redeveloped in the 1990s, as you can see from the below video, also from Getty Archives:

I am as likely to learn about a never-seen photo, a new piece of information through this blog or by email that I am likely to find out about it on social media. Also, young people (almost exclusively from the Arab world, where there is no respect for intellectual property rights, I am sorry to say) have taken to pilfer this blog’s posts as well as my social media publications and republish them under their names, which I found very annoying. I choose not to see that. I am keeping my Messenger account for private exchanges. To hell with the rest.

This way, I will return to writing more on this blog, which I always found rewarding and stimulating.

The Rider and Driver also printed two articles on the Hingham horses.

The first, from 10 November 1917, describes several of the stallions at the farm.

Next to come out was the b. s. Hamrah, two white hind feet and one front stocking, that was brought direct from Arabia. The golden sheen on his bay flanks betokened the splendid condition of this handsome son of the Desert. H e has been bred to pure and half bred Arab mares, also thoroughbred mares. This horse comes of the Seglawi Jedran family which is said to be the most popular of all the families of the Arab horse and considered by many Bedouin tribes better than any of the other desert blood. Only a few are left among the Anezeh tribes, the late Abbas Pasha having bought nearly all of the Jeglawi [sic] Jedran, paying such fabulous prices as $15,000 for a single mare. Hamrah was bred in 1904, has immense power and the finest possible action under the saddle in the gallop.

After Hamrah came Letan, who gave the writer an opportunity to wax lyrical on Muson:

In artistic contrast to the golden bay of Hamrah, the […] groom, either intentionally or otherwise, next led out Letan, a gr. s. with steel colored mane and tail and mottles of deeper shades over his sleek body. This horse by Muson, a picture horse of great substance and an animal of marvelous endurance, was proven by the fact that in shipping from Arabia he stood on the forward deck of the vessel without lying down for nineteen days.
Muson, the sire, comes of the Keheilan family … Muson was himself a white stallion, bred in 1889 and of spectacular beauty. He descends from the historic mare that “stood listening” in ancient times and is supposed to have heard approaching danger. Muson created a sensation in Madison Square Garden in 1907 while ridden by Col. Cody, (Buffalo Bill) in his Wild West Show. A number of his colts born in America are most highly prized by their owners and reflect his wonderful individuality.

The Nanshan son Jeremah followed:

Jeramah [sic], another gray with white dapples, had the misfortune to lose his dam when only two weeks old and had to be brought up on cow’s milk. He is a beautiful three-year-old stallion by Hamrah and promises to equal his sire in speed, gameness and saddle horse qualities.

Whatever his qualities, Jeremah seems to have sired only one registered foal, the mare Zoba, out of his half-sister Hasiker. Zoba’s daughter Daud left foals sired by the Czubuthan son Pelkinie; her second daughter Feisal produced foals by Pelkinie, Lotnik and the Skowronek grandson Jarid, as well as a filly Reshan Azab, by Janeo (King John x Babe Azab), who has two generations of descent in the Al Khamsa Roster. This was the only Al Khamsa line tracing to King John. Feisal also had a daughter Bahdrina, by Bahrdin, a stallion of entirely Blunt Crabbet blood.

Deyr’s son Harara came in for praise as a desirable cavalry type:

All the armies of the world are now looking for short-legged horses, not too tall, and one of those that appealed to us was Harara, a ch. stallion five years old, by Deyr. This horse was imported from the Desert and stands scant 15 hands.
Deyr is a golden ch. s., 14 years old, with white blaze and left hind sock. He came direct to America from the Desert and is leaving his impress on the horses in his new found home.

Next was the young Wadduda son Yemen, called Lenan by the magazine; the writer preferred to dwell on the exploits of his dam, however. He was followed by a chestnut whom I believe is Moharra, the son of Abeyah:

Monara [sic], a beautiful liver colored ch. s. next made his appearance and gave us a thrill of the oriental atmosphere he carried. He is eleven years old and came to America in utero, now standing 14.1 and being a rare type to get polo and army mounts.

Another Abeyah son, Maleik, followed; apparently the editor of The Rider and Driver was one of the judges who chose his sire Haleb as “the most typical horse for Morgan breeders at the Rutland Fair Horse Show”. Maleik was not himself described, but Haleb was praised as being “a beautiful animal, compactly built, beautifully fronted, and docile as a child.”

Also seen was the three-year-old Fartak, son of El Bulad and Farha, who “seemed more like a thoroughbred than an Arab, standing 15.1 and being a superb specimen of the breed”.

In February 1921, a follow-up article to the photos printed in the previous issue of The Rider and Driver, wrote briefly about the Hingham Stock Farm and its horses.

Hamrah came in for more praise, as the senior stallion at stud:

Hamrah, the premier sire, is Desert bred with a golden sheen and white star and not a blemish on his fluted legs or burnished body. He has proven to be one of the surest of foal getters. A lot of young colts reflect him credit, such as the beautiful gray Jeriemah [sic], dam Nanshan (the World’s Fair mare), standing 14.2, with superb bone and the usual width between the eyes denoting proverbial Arabian intelligence.

Also singled out were Jadaan and a son of Maleik:

There are other good-looking ones by other sires such as Jaddaan [sic], by Abbeian, 14.3, a four-year-old that will grow to 15 hands, a stout made one, and Nissaab, a beautiful bay with black points and star, by Maleik, a three-year-old, standing 14.2, a grandson of Haleb.

The filly Paulan (Fartak x Meleky) “is of the polo type, and was sold to the Japanese Government”, while the yearling Mershid is described as “a beauty that lit up the place … a gray with a strawberry belt”.

Compare the headshot of my Lizaar above, with that her tail female ancestress *Turfa, below, photographed on her way to the UK in 1937. As an aside, I think that *Turfa’s photo below was taken at her documented stopover in Port-Said in Egypt, not in Jeddah as the comment on the Arabian Horse Archives hypothesizes.

The genetic testing was led by Dr. Barbara Wallner of the University of Vienna veterinary institute; she is part of the team behind the advances in Y-DNA male line genetic studies (Remer 2022, Radovic 2024, etc), so an eminently credible source.

The historical research was done by Michael Bowling and the Cravers, based on primary sources (ownership transfer documents, registration applicaiton) as explained here, and is equally credible.

I witnessed it all unfolding, so I am very excited about this new Arabian horse (and Davenport) sireline. The breed needed it. One result of that switch is that the verified Deyr sireline that unfolds through Kamil Ibn Salan, Antez and Harara is down to a thread. There must be one or two males left from it.

The mission of the Davenport Arabian Horse Conservancy is “to enhance public awareness of the Arabian Horse as Homer Davenport knew it.” Our horses are central to that vision and function; we are responsible for their healthy management and their genetic conservation. We pursue studies of the desert traditions as sources become available, and also the history of the individuals and groups of horses as they move from tribal hands into those of the west.

Homer Davenport made information widely available about individual horses, their origin, and in many cases their use and travels after importation. We have less detail directly from the successor program of Peter B Bradley’s Hingham Stock Farm, but early registration records have been preserved.

The Conservancy applies scholarly standards to historical questions, and takes advantage of scientific advances as they become applicable. Coat color inheritance principles helped to uncover the case of Halawa, whose recorded parentage was incompatible with her coat color, and clarified the switched identities of Petra and Halloul, registered as mature mares, where again coat color called attention to the problem.

More recently the application of mitochondrial DNA testing, specific to comparison of direct dam lines, uncovered another identity switch of the mares Freda and Saleefy, which must have occurred between leaving Massachusetts by train and arriving at the Diamond Bar Ranch in California. This finding again changed straight Davenport pedigrees.

In 2026 the Conservancy, with assistance from private owners, contributed samples to the expanding Y chromosome study of Arabian male lines at the veterinary school in Vienna, Austria. Among the lines tested were those of the Davenport sires Harara and Hanad, registered as sons of *Deyr. The Conservancy sampled descendants of Harara through two sons of Antez, his only source; and of Hanad through two of his own sons. Sampling two branches of each line is meant to strengthen the evidence for correct pedigrees.

The two Antez lines matched each other; the two Hanad lines matched each other. The Antez horses did not match the Hanad ones. The simplest explanation of this finding is that either Harara or Hanad was not actually sired by *Deyr.

The Craver Farms files of early registration and transfer records present a discrepancy which can explain this finding. When Hanad’s dam Sankirah was transferred from Bradley’s ownership to that of Mrs J G Winant, in December 1921, we read “The above Mare was bred to Stallion Azra no. 32 on the 28 day of June, 1921.”  Later, on Sankirah’s colt Hanad’s registration application, the sire named is Deyr no. 33, the breeding date is the same, and the foaling date is May 29, 1922, consistent with normal gestation from that breeding date. Both forms were signed by Martin Towle, the manager of Hingham Stock Farm.

The skeleton of *Deyr is known to have been preserved, so direct DNA testing remains a possibility, but at present the indication is that Hanad was sired by *Azra. This finding documents a direct sire line from the 1906 Davenport importation that was thought to be lost, not only in straight Davenports, but in the Arabian breed at large.

This notification will be shared with the Arabian Horse Association and Al Khamsa Inc.

The royal gift seems to have consisted of four horses, two males and two females: *Turfa, Faras, Kasim and Manak. *Turfa appears in the photo in the upper left corner. A better version of this photo (below) is in Peter Upton’s “The Arabian Horse” with the caption “Turfa in Port-Said” (or something similar). Because she was the only grey in that lot, the photo in the oval frame under it must also be hers. If so, then we’d be looking at the first quasi facial view of *Turfa.

Photos by Moira Walker who is boarding her for me.

She is by Bashir Al Dirri (now gelded unfortunately) out of my Kinza Al Arab. She looks amazing for a two year old. Photo by proud owner Irmi Atam in Washington state.

The eight are *Turfa, Hannah, Faras, Nuhra, Bahrain, Kasim, Khaibar and Manak. Four females and four males. Nuhra and Bahrain were from “H.H. the Sheik of Bahrain, Persian Gulf, South Arabia”. *Turfa, Hannah, Faras, Kasim, Khaibar and Manak were from “His Majesty King Ibn Saoud of Nejd, Arabia”.

Concerning *Turfa, as indicated before, Al Khorma is a town east of Mecca where a stud of the Saud family was located, not a strain or marbat.

He carries some very endangered old American lines forward.

Courtesy of Nina Heidke, who continues to breed the horses of her partner Lee Oellerich, including descendants of *Hadriyah (*Jalam Al Ubayyan x *Savannah) of the Dahmah Shahwan strain.

The best surprise was Monologue CF who is 25 years old this year, and looks very good for his age. He is now fully owned by Darlene Summers.

Strain: Hamdani Simri.

Nelyo is a good horse overall: flat croup, high set tail, good length of hip, deep girth and deep loins (very important to me), strong backbone, deep jowls, pleasing dry face with a lively, soft, intelligent eye, nice throat arch and long neck. Also good movement and carriage of tail. The downsides are a neck that’s relatively low set when at rest, long ears (a defect in a stallion but a desirable feature in mares), a slightly longer back and a chest that’s a bit narrow. Not major defects by any means but I need to be careful to which mares I breed him to. I would love to have his style and his “stamp” on the *Nufoud mares, and I am going to try him on my new *Turfa mares too.

You would have noted that I am quite critical of my own horses because I feel that it’s the only way to improve my stock. No barn blindness here.

Strain: Ubayyan, most likely Ubayyan Sharrak.

She looks more like an Egyptian mare in this photo, despite having only fiven percent Old Egyptian blood (*Fadl and Sirecho crosses).

Her dam Barakah who is ten years old this year. She has a certain style and dryness that reminds of me desert horses. She transmitted her round barrel and deep girth to her daughter. Looking at her face (the eyelids, the fleebites on the face, the black skin around the eyes and muzzle and the soft look in the eyes) brings back childhood memories of times spent around horses in Syria and Lebanon.

I think I will change her name in the AHA registry into a name more befitting of her noble origins.

I first saw Nejed Cupid, who is in foal without a precise due date. She is twenty years old but does not look her age. She is 95 percent desert bloodlines — the main reason for my getting her — and only 5 percent Egyptian (*Fadl and *Nasr). Her *Turfa crosses are in the back of the pedigree, including the female line, but she looks a lot like horses with *Turfa up close (e.g., Ibn Sirecho, a *Turfa grandson). Like most *Turfa horses, she has a pleasing head that’s a tad too short and a tad too square, but with a small muzzle and deep round jowls. Now I am not sure how much of that head shape is attributable to *Fadl as opposed to *Turfa, because as you know, one can’t get *Turfa in Al Khamsa pedigrees without *Fadl. Like most other horses with *Turfa, she also has a flat, round croup with a long enough hip sand high tail set, a thick tail bone, solid legs with good, flat bone, and large round hooves. On the minus side, she is a little long in the back, but that’s nothing stallions like Jamr can’t fix. Overall, quite a solid mare, not my best one, but bloodlines and conformation I can definitely build on to get where I want to get. So I am happy with her, and will be watching her pregnancy closely. Some photos below.

The first mare, Nejed Cupid is the one on the right of the picture, and is in foal to the stallion on the left for a winter (!) baby. The sheep are not part of the lot. The second younger *Turfa mare, Lizaar Del Siksikas, is not in this photo.

Al Khamsa has the following information on the Bahraini mare Nuhra (two photos above):

A 1936 bay Kuhaylah Wadnah Khursaniyah mare bred by the Amiri Stud of Bahrain. By a Kuhaylan Jallabi by a Kuhaylan Jallabi, and out of a Kuhaylah Wadnah Khursaniyah by a ‘Ubayyan. NOTES: This information is referenced to the Amiri Stud Book of Bahrain and the Arab Horse Society stud book (Vol. VI, 1944, page 254). Nuhra was imported in 1939 to Englad as a gift from the ruler of Bahrain to the Earl of Athlone.

I wonder who her sire was. We know from Ahmed Mabrouk’s 1936 account and the foundation stallion’s chart in the Amiri Studbook of Bahrain (below) that the sire of the first speckled Jallabi was a stallion of the Shawaf strain, so that Jallabi could not be Nuhra’s sire.

We also know from the Amiri Studbook that the second speckled Jallabi (famous photo below) was born in 1930 or 1932, and that his sire was the first speckled Jallabi. Could he have been the sire of Nuhra? Could there have been another Jallabi stallion sired by a Jallabi stallion in Bahrain at that time?

There is this mention on the Bahraini Royal Stud website, which borrows from and builds on Volume I of the Amiri Arabian Horse Stud Book of Bahrain (photos from Volume 1 are below, by Valerie Noli-Marais):

Another replacement was sent by Shaikh Abdulla Jassim Al-Thani of Qatar, Dahmeh El Shagara. Dahmeh El Shagara was a good producer. She was the dam of Dahman Alawwal (by Mlolshaan Speckled). 

Now here is Judi Forbis who saw him at the stud of Jezra and wrote about him in the “Pearls of Great Price” series that was published in Arabian Horse World in 1971, following her March 1970 visit to Bahrain

“Of particular interest at this stud [Jezra] was old DAHMAN, well over thirty years of age. He had been used extensively and while having size and great forehand depth, he was light behind, short and somewhat rounded in croup and possessed a strangely pointed triangular head which was very large, convex, bony and coarse, though dry. It is said he is responsible for many of the plain heads on Bahrain today. Sired by a Mlolshan, he was out of a chestnut Dahmah who was one of the old Khalifa mares left on Qatar and eventually sent back to Bahrain as a gift from Abdul Jasim [Abdallah bin Jasim] al Thani, the ruler of Qatar” (EAD note: ruled 1913-1949).

Below his photos in Danah Al Khalifah’s “Living Treasures of Bahrain, captioned: “Old Bay Dahman, in his shady teasing cage, photographed at the age of 30 years while he was still at stud. Born 1938 died 1970.”

I realize I had written a similar entry some 12 years ago. I must be getting old.

1/ In Judith Forbis’ “Pearls of Great Price” 1971 AHW article:

“…an ancient Arab named Fetyz, whom nobody knows the true age of and who attended Sheikh Isa’s great granfather.”

2/ In Volume 1 of the Amiri Arabian Studbook of Bahrain:

“In 1969 old studmaster Fatis realized that in the herd of broodmares in his change there was only one Kuheila’t Umm Zorayr, […] Fatis took her up to the Palace and put her in race training!”

“After the death of the old studmaster in charge, from 1942 to 1974, registering each purebred became a necessity”

3/ On the website of the Bahrain Royal Stud:

“There was a fourth mare, Hamdanieh Fatis 202 bred at Al Kharj in Saudi Arabia.“

This photo and legend: “Old Fatis on Old Shawaf” are also on this website:

Also this photo, riding what looks like the same Shawaf stallion (I really like this horse)

4/ Another, nicer and larger photo in Danah Al Khalifah’s photo book “The Living Treasures of Bahrain” also riding this Shawaf.

5/ A September 1975 letter by the late Danah Aal Khalifa in response to a request to identify the mare in a photo sent to her by Lee Oellerich of Canada identified the chestnut mare *Sawannah, born in 1948, and later imported to the USA, as follows:

“The mare Sawannah pictured above was identified by Fatis, the old studmaster of H.H. Shaikh Issa bin Salman Al Khalifa, as a Dahmah, belonging to Shaykh Khalifa bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, (chief of Police). Dahmeh was bred by Shaykh Salman, Ruler of Bahrain at the time, out of one of his mares of the Dahman strain, and sired by one of his stud stallions serving at the time.”

Compare with the description of this mare in Judi Forbis’ AHW “Pearls of Graet Price” series, following her 1970 visit to the Amiri Stud in Jezra, where she saw 40 mares and two stallions, including Old Dahman I:

“Chestnut Obeyah mare whose dam was from Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, high white stockings, human eye, big broad blaze, including both nostrils and a white patch on her belly.”

The two sources very likely describe the same mare. Compare:

This mare was probably an Ubayyah of Ibn Jiluwi. Volume 1, in its introductory paragraph on horses of the Ubayyan strain, mentions that “the strain was the speciality of the Al-Jiluwi family in Al-Hasa province in Saudi Arabia”. Judi said: “dam was from Dhahran”, which is the largest city in Al-Hasa. Pity this branch seems to have died out, as there is no trace of it in Volumes II and III.

The original was issued by Fouad Abaza Pasha, Director General of the Royal Agricultural Society and witnessed by Dr. Abdel Alim Ashoub, Chief Animal Breeding Section, Royal Agricultural Society. The pedigree spans several pages, so I’ll take it apart and post it when I can.

The wifi going off was serendipitous after all!!

There is a full article about him and his dam, as well as awesome pictures of both, in the “Pearls of Great Price” series of articles that Judith Forbis wrote for Arabian Horse World in 1971. There are also other nice pictures in Danah Al Khalifah’s Pearls of Great Price photo book (like the photo of Krushan prancing, top), and Volume I of the Amiri Arabian Studbook of Bahrain (like the photo of Krush Al Araibi, next up). In addition, below is some of what Volume I has to say about Krushan and his dam: 

“The Stud Stallion, Krushan Speckled, was out of the dam Krush El Araibi which was bred by the then Shaikh of Amara, Mohammed El Araibi. He had brought her as a tribute to Shaikh Sulman in the late 1940’s.”

I looked up El Araibi (alt. spellings Al Araibi, Al Araiby) online and found many traces of him. He was a prominent Iraqi tribal leader, the leader of the al-Bu Muhammad tribe, following the death of his father Araibi Pasha (photo below). 

His tribe, the al-Bu Muhammad, are located in the Amarah district of Southern Iraq, on the Tigris river, just across the border from Iran. They form a part of the larger tribe of al-‘Azzah who are themselves part of the Zubaid confederation. 

According to his online biography, Muhammad Al Araibi was born around 1895 and died in 1971. He was a powerful man in his day, with close ties to the Iraqi Hashemite dynasty and Prime Minister Nuri al-Said. His ties to various Gulf monarchs are also emphasized. 

Now the story of Krush Al Araibi starts to make sense. She was the mare of the leader of a large and important southern Iraqi tribe, straddling the border of Khuzistan in Iran. This leader had ties to Gulf country rulers, among which the Amir of Bahrain. He brought the mare as a gift to the Amir of Bahrain. 

Her strain of Kuhaylan Krush is still present in  Iranian Khuzistan just across the border from Amarah. Horses from that strain in the extreme west of Khuzistan are likely to be related to Krush Al Araibi and her son Krushan Al Aswad.

I love the intelligent look on the Bahraini stallion Jellaby Kher M45. He is Darak’s great-grandsire. The photo was taken during the WAHO conference of 1998.

Jasminah, by Abu Hamza x Jalidah by Abu Khamseh, 2017 Wadnat Khursan mare. Photo by Christelle Seranne. Bred to Darak for 2027.

Photo from Jens Sannek at his owner’s Johann Helm in Austria. Jellaby Bint Anbara has no progeny unfortunately.

While the strain sounds very similar to the strain of Saadan (as in Saadan Tuqan, the strain of, among others, the mare Francolin imported by the Blunts) they are not the same, and are not written in the same way in Arabic.

It seems that the Bahraini “Saidan” strain gots its name after a Sultan of Oman, Sultan Said bin Sultan. Saidan is reference to Said. Here is a quote from the Bahraini studbook volume 1:

 “The Kuheilah Sai’da strain is a family of horse peculiar to Bahrain. The oft told story of how the name came about is still repeated in gatherings when men discuss horses of old and their merits. In the early 19th century the Al-Khalifas had to repel many invaders to ascertain their supremacy in Bahrain. In the year 1816, in one of the attempts to overtake the islands by the forces of the Sultan of Muscat, Said bin Sultan, a big battle was fought on the shores of Bahrain. When the Muscati fleet was sighted approaching on the Eastern coast, horsemen were gathered and positioned awaiting their landing. Although the Muscat forces were greatly superior in numbers and fought fiercely, the shallow water on the shore was to the advantage of the Al-Khalifa horsemen, who were victorious. The remaining of the routed enemy took to their ships and left the shores of Bahrain. When the victorious horsemen returned to their home camp, a Kuheilah mare gave birth to a filly foal. To commemorate the glorious battle and defeat of Said bin Sultan, the filly was named Sa’ida. The Sa’ida at Shaikh Mohammed’s stud are descendants of this mare.”

This events referenced in this account refer to the multiple campaigns that Omani Sultan Said bin Sultan Al Busaidi launched against Bahrain. Four campaigns took place between 1816 and 1828. The one associated with the creation of the Saidan strain is that of 1816. It is mentioned in Sani Ali Bashir’s A Study of Al-Khalifah’s Rule in Bahrain: 1783-1820. Here is the relevant excerpt:

The Su1tan of Masqat was as well contemplating the possibility of embarking on an expedition to capture Bahrain. […] The Sultan of Masqat sailed with his fleet towards Bahrain in 1816. In this expedition the Umanis were given every assistance from the Governor of Fars, in return for a promise of ten thousand Tomans as a tribute to be paid after their conquest of the island. Thus the joint forces under the command of the Sultan of Masqat arrived at the island and were able to land near Muharraq. But the invaders were routed by the forces of the Al-Khalifah and were forced ta abandon their undertaking of capturing Bahrain.
The Umanis lost many men of note in this expedition, especially Hamid the brother of the Sultan.

This is an interesting case of a strain being named after a foe to commemorate a victory over him. It would be nice to know which Kuhaylan line the Saidan strain branched off. Obviously a pre-1815 line.

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Below is the account of the event where the mention occurs in Arabic, then in an English (with the help of AI), then my comments on the text:

ذكر [حوادث] سنة عشرين وسبع ماية

ومماّ يحكى من جملة سعادة مولانا السلطان أن بلغ المسامع الشريفة فى هذه السنة أنّ ببلاد البحرين حصانا أشقر قليل المثل فى وقته، فأرسل مولانا السلطان فى طلبه، وعاد الخاطر الشريف متعلقّا به، لكثرة ما وصف له من صفات ذلك الحصان المذكور. ثم اّتصّل بالمسامع الشريفة أنّ الفرس المذكور وصل إلى الشأم المحروس. فأرسل البريد فى طلبه ورسم ألا يّشتريه أحدمن العربان ولا من غيرهم. وعاد مولانا السلطان كثير التطلعّ إلى أخباره والحثّ على حضوره فلماّ وصل البريد المتوجّه فى طلب الفرس إلى سبخة السوادة وجد الفرس المطلوب بها، وهو مع جماعة من العرب قادمين به إلى مولانا السلطان، ومعه حجرة أخرى تقاربه فى صفاته وقربّ الله البعيد على طلب هذا الملك السعيد، ووصل إلى مولانا السلطان بعد مدّة ستةّ أيّام من سماع خبره  وكان اسم صاحبه برجس بن سلطان العامرىّ من عرب البحرين وكان وصول الفرس المذكور يوم الخميس سادس ربيع الآخر. وقد قال فى ذلك جلال الدين الصفدىّ البريدىّ أبياتا فالمستحسن منها

يا مليك الأرض التى أصبحت … نعمته بين الورى جاريه

إنّ الحصان الأشقر الصيحمى … أتى يمشى فى خدمته جاريه

يجرى إلى الخدمة مستبشرا … والحجرة أيضا معه جاريه

وفى غد قد أقبلت حجرة … تدعى الكحيلية لا الجاريه

وستةّ هن خوات لها … الكلّ ستات بلا جاريه

Accounts of the events of the year 720 Hijri [correspondig to 1320-21 CE]

Among the accounts of the auspicious fortune of Our Master the Sultan, it is told that it reached His Sublime Hearing this year that there was, in the lands of Bahrain, a chestnut horse unparalleled in his time. Our Master the Sultan therefore sent for him, the Royal Mind having become preoccupied with the matter, owing to the many exceptional qualities described to him regarding the aforementioned horse. Subsequently, it reached His Sublime Hearing that the aforementioned horse had arrived in the protected land of the Levant. Thereupon, he dispatched the postal courier to fetch him, decreeing that no one, whether from the Bedouins or anyone else, should purchase him. Our Master the Sultan remained in eager anticipation of news regarding him, constantly urging for his arrival. Thus, when the courier tasked with bringing the horse reached the salt flats of al-Suwada [on the way from Sinai to Gaza], he found the sought-after horse there. He was in the company of a group of Bedouins who were bringing him to Our Master the Sultan, accompanied by another mare that closely matched his qualities. And God brought near that which was distant in fulfillment of the quest of this fortunate Sovereign, so that the horse reached Our Master the Sultan within a mere six days from the time he first heard news of him. The name of his owner was Barjis ibn Sultan al-‘Amiri, from the Bedouins of Bahrain. The arrival of the aforementioned horse took place on Thursday, the sixth of Rabi’ al-Akhar. Regarding this event, Jalal al-Din al-Safadi al-Baridi composed several verses of poetry, the most commendable of which are:

“O Sovereign of the Earth, whose boundless grace… remains ever flowing among mankind,

Lo, the radiant chestnut, a steed of noble race… has arrived, hastening to enter your service.

Joyfully he runs to serve your royal place… and the mare alongside him comes running too.

And tomorrow, another mare shall show her face… called al-Kuhayliyyah, no ordinary handmaid.

Six more are her sisters, matching her pace… all noble mistresses, none born to serve.”

My notes:

1. The “lands of Bahrain” correspond to East Arabia today, between historicals Iraq and Oman, a much larger area than the current Kindgom of Bahrain.
2. There is no mention of the strain of the stallion, only his color (chestnut) and the breeder (a Bedouin from East Arabia, from bani ‘Amer tribe)
3. We know nothing about the mare that came with him, except that she was nearly equal to him, and brought to the Sultan by Bedouins from the “land of the Levant” (al-Shaam in Arabic), which correspond to today’s Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel/Palestine.
4. The mare called al-Kuhayliyah is not the same mare that came with the stallion, but appears to be a mare that was already in Sultan’s stables in Cairo.
5. This is the same Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad that bought horses from Isa ibn Muhanna Aal Fadl and paid tremedous sums for a single mare, al-Karshah. It’s also the Sultan the famous hippology book Kamil al-Sina’atayn was named for — the “Naceri”.
6. Al-Kuhayliyyah is not quite the same as al-Kuhaylah, but is extremely close. It could even be a chancery typo for al-Kuhaylah. We unfortunately don’t know anything about this mare other than her name.
7. The poet al-Safadi used a classical poetic device called جناس (Jinas – Wordplay/Puns), where he masterfully repeated variations of the words “جارية” and “ست” with different meanings in almost every line. It is not easy to translate the poem literally.

I don’t know the photographer.

Photo by proud owner Moira Walker

My built-in web AI defines quiet luxury as “an understated fashion movement that prioritizes high-quality materials, timeless design, and discreet elegance.” It tells me that it’s also called the “old money aesthetic” and that it’s the opposite of loud, ostentatious, in your face, brand and logo-heavy fashion. (It’s also how I have always dressed without knowing, but that’s not my point here).

This evening it hit me that I had been advocating for a similar movement as applied to Arabian horses for close to two decades now. I am going to name it “Quiet Nobility”, and trademark it.

It’s also about high quality “materials” (i.e., bloodlines, genotype), timeless “design” (i.e., conformation, phenotype), and discreet “elegance” (i.e., style), but in the breeding of Arabian horses.

No extreme, flashy looks and movements. Nothing “too much”. Rather, a quiet, soothing, pleasing look in mares, and a confident, virile, debonnaire, slightly disdainful look in stallions.

I think this is where the breed will be going in the future. It also happens to be the breed’s ancient past (think “old money” equine esthetics here). Some people, very few, always knew about it and remained true to it in spite of fleeting fashion trends. But with organizations like al-العتاق Al-Itaq and others, I believe it’s going to be become mainstream. So, goodbye freaks and seahorses. Goodbye “extreme” stallions and “flashy” colts.

You can tell me below about the horses you feel embody that notion of “quiet nobility”. Like they say in the fashion world of quiet luxury, IYKYK (“if you know, you know”). And the trademark was a joke.