WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Demys­ti­fying Blood­lines and Conser­va­tion Groups

By Anita K. Enander

This paper is based on a presen­ta­tion made in June 2009 at the Egyptian Event, Lexington, KY. All rights reserved.

 During the past 50 years, breeders in the West have formed several orga­ni­za­tions with the general goal of conserving the asil (noble, pure) Bedouin Arabian horse. Each orga­ni­za­tion has a different history and focuses on a different sub-​​group of the breed. Some focus on horses tracing to a partic­ular importer or a specific group of “foun­da­tion” horses. Several are devoted to some aspect of the “Egyptian” Arabian horse.

Each has devel­oped its own defi­n­i­tions, acronyms, and terms that are confusing to newcomers. It is often diffi­cult to deter­mine why a partic­ular horse is included in or excluded from a partic­ular group. Adver­tising copy increases one’s conster­na­tion, with the inclu­sion of abbre­vi­a­tions or acronyms for which no expla­na­tion is provided.

This article will explain each orga­ni­za­tion, the blood­lines with which each is concerned, which horses are included/​excluded, and the terms frequently used as a short­hand within each orga­ni­za­tion. Emphasis is placed on the various groups devoted to various Egyptian blood­lines, because these comprise about 85 percent of the asil horses outside the coun­tries of origin. Other conser­va­tion groups and source blood­lines are discussed briefly.

THE ORIGINAL CUSTODIANS

The origin of the Arabian horse in the desert remains a matter of study and contro­versy (see Dr. Sandra Olsen’s excel­lent chapter Horses in the Ancient Near East, Egypt and Arabia, in A Gift from the Desert for a compre­hen­sive discus­sion of what is known and not known regarding the devel­op­ment and intro­duc­tion of the horse into this area). Contem­po­rary Arabian horses descend from stock bred by nomadic Bedouin tribes in Arabia Deserta, an area covering most of what is now Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Yemen, and Oman. These are called the “coun­tries of origin.”

The Arab coun­tries of Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, the Sudan, Mauri­tania, and Lebanon, and Pales­tine and most of the state of Israel, are not home­lands of the asil horse. These coun­tries acquired asil horses through purchase, war, or trade, just as did Europe, the UK, the US, and other Western coun­tries (this subject is treated exten­sively in a two-​​part article by Edouard Al-​​Dahdah; see references).

Not all Bedouin tribes bred horses. Western trav­elers consis­tently reported that the Bedouin tribes with horses were fanat­ical in their commit­ment to breeding from asil horses – those that met the tribal criteria of purity and authen­ticity. What was asil for one tribe was not neces­sarily asil for another, depending partly on what was known about the horse and its breeders (an excel­lent expla­na­tion of “What Is Asil?” is avail­able on-​​line at the blog main­tained by Edouard Al-​​Dahdah at http://daughterofthewind.org).

BREEDING IN EGYPT

Egypt, although not an area of origin, has been a focal point for breeding Arabian horses for the past 200 years. Descen­dents of these horses are the concern of several conser­va­tion orga­ni­za­tions. To under­stand the orga­ni­za­tions and their desig­nated foun­da­tion stock, it is neces­sary to under­stand some­thing of Egyptian history, ranging back to the early-​​1800s.

 Conser­va­tion in Egypt – The Albanian Pashas in Egypt, 1805–1914

The Ottoman Empire influ­enced or ruled most of Egypt for 400 years, begin­ning in the mid-​​1500s.  Mohammed Ali (b. 1769), an Albanian, became Viceroy of Egypt in 1805. His mili­tary actions in the western part of what is now Saudia Arabia and in Syria from the early– to mid-​​1800s yielded precious Arabian horses. Five gener­a­tions of Mohammed Ali’s descen­dants bred Arabian horses in Egypt.

The Abbas Pasha Manu­script and lists published in Breeding of Pure Bred Arab Horses (by Prince Mohammed Ali Tewfik) support the belief that some of Mohammed Ali’s horses bred on in studs oper­ated by his descen­dants, such as Abbas Pasha, Prince Ahmed Pasha Kemal, Khedive Abbas II, Prince Kemal el Dine, and Prince Mohammed Aly (see accom­pa­nying chart). Ali Pasha Sherif, who purchased horses from Abbas Pasha, was not a family member, but played a key role in the conti­nuity of breeding programs in Egypt.

The family continued to rule Egypt into the 20^th century. In 1917, Mohammed Ali’s great-​​grandson Fuad I became Sultan and then King (1922) of Egypt. Fuad’s son King Farouk followed, and Farouk’s infant son King Fuad II ruled until the founding of the Republic in 1953. Together, this family collected and bred horses of Bedouin origin in various studs, comprising the largest contin­uous breeding program of asil horses outside the hands of the Bedouin.  (See The Arabian Horse Fami­lies of Egypt, by Colin Pearson, p. ix-​​xii, for a brief descrip­tion of the family tree.)

Western Notions of Conser­va­tion – Lady Anne and Wilfrid Blunt

Docu­men­ta­tion on horses taken from the desert to the West, from the Middle Ages onward, show that most Arabian horses were used to improve local stock. The notion of retaining a core of “pure” Arabian horses was not a part of most breeding programs. The few Euro­pean studs that main­tained a sepa­rate section of horses descended entirely from desert stock saw their studs deci­mated by wars.

Lady Anne and Wilfrid Blunt made three trips into the desert, 1877–78, 1878–79, and 1881, acquiring stock directly from the Bedouin. They orig­i­nally planned to use horses from the desert to improve their own local stock. Only later did they build a breeding program based exclu­sively of Bedouin stock – one of the first “conser­va­tion” programs in the West – main­taining Crabbet Stud in England and Sheykh Obeyd outside Cairo. They also acquired horses from and sold or gifted horses to various Egyptian studs.

East Meets West – the Founding of the Royal Agri­cul­tural Society, 1914

On December 25, 1913, Lady Anne wrote:

“Mutlak [stud manager at Sheykh Obeyd] came to say Mr Branch was looking at Ghazwa. He had come with a friend (name I did not catch) and Kamel Maher. I don’t know but what his real object was only to see if I would join the 3 Princes in a very much restricted regis­tra­tion of only pure Ali Pasha Sherif (i.e. Abbas) stock and perhaps a sepa­rate class for other authentic stock. This I will do with pleasure.”

This effort later became the Royal Agri­cul­tural Society (RAS), although the stock included was broader than just the Ali Pasha Sherif stock.

The RAS included stock from Prince Ahmed Pasha Kemal (via his son Prince Youssef Kemal), Lady Anne Blunt (including horses from Lady Anne and others of Blunt breeding acquired from her daughter Lady Went­worth), Khedive Abbas Hilmi II, and Prince Mohamed Aly Tewfik.

Inshass, Hamza, Other Private Studs, and the Egyptian Agri­cul­tural Organization

Kings Fouad (1917–1936) and Farouk (1936–52) oper­ated a royal stud at Inshass, inde­pen­dent of the RAS. They used horses from the RAS, supple­mented by stock acquired locally or gifted to them (prin­ci­pally by the Saudi royal family) in the 1930s and 1940s.

Ahmed Hamza Pasha founded a private stud in 1944 (Hamdan Stables), incor­po­rating three mares acquired from the Tahawi tribe (a branch of the Anezeh that has migrated from western Saudi Arabia to northern Africa and ulti­mately relo­cated to Egypt in the mid-​​1850s).

Following the abdi­ca­tion of King Fuad II in 1953, the RAS became the Egyptian Agri­cul­tural Orga­ni­za­tion (EAO), also incor­po­rating horses from Inshass. The EAO continues to breed at Al Zahraa. Other private stud farms became promi­nent, including those of Al Badeia (the Marei family), Shams el Asil (Mrs. W. el Barbary), the Police College, and A. and G. Sherif. All were based on horses avail­able in situ and there­fore expanded the breeding of “Egyptian Arabian” horses.

The over­whelming majority of foun­da­tion horses came into the Egyptian gene pool prior to the founding of the RAS (see time­line). Note that NO horses have been added since the three horses acquired by the Hamdan Stables in the 1950s. This has been a closed herd since 1960.

CONTEMPORARY CONSERVATION ORGANIZATIONS THAT FOCUS ON EGYPTIAN/​BLUNT SOURCES

Three groups concen­trate on blood­lines of Egyptian and Blunt origin. They are presented in order of the antiq­uity of the foun­da­tion horses.

Heir­loom (www.heirloomarabianstud.com)

The Heir­loom Research Group focuses on the oldest Egyptian together with some Blunt bloodlines.

The Heir­loom taproot horses are the Al Khamsa Foun­da­tion Horses and their prede­ces­sors exported from Arabia Deserta before 1914 from which the Root Mares and Root Stal­lions of the RAS descend.

- Heir­loom Egyptian Arabian Horses 1840–2000, p. 19

The name (Heir­loom) honors Lady Anne Blunt’s plan, described in a journal entry for March 9, 1915:

“By the way yesterday I sent the draft of my Will with some new sugges­tions … to put into shape my plan of leaving these [horses] absolutely to Judith urging she should main­tain as a perma­nent stud them or their produce to be called The Heir­loom Arabian Stud. I wish to have a try at making it a perma­nent insti­tu­tion although people always declare that to be impossible.”

The key to Heir­loom horses is that the blood was used to create the RAS (see copy of table from Heir­loom Egyptian Arabian Horses 1840–2000). It does not mean that the blood bred on at the RAS. In some cases, contem­po­rary horses descend from rela­tives of RAS root horses that stayed behind at the Blunt’s Crabbet stud in England.

Some Heir­loom breeders also are concerned with two vari­ants. The first are horses that trace to Heir­loom and have Badouia (a RAS mare). Badouia’s date of export from the desert is not confirmed; if she was exported by 1914, her descen­dants at the RAS would be consid­ered Heirloom.

The second variant adds El Deree, a horse imported for King Fouad that stood at Inshass and then the RAS. This specific sub-​​group was main­tained at the RAS/​EAO for many years, producing Sid Abouhom and imports such as *Khofo++, *Morafic, *Farazdac and *Ibn Moniet El Nefous, *Impe­rial Madheen, *Ramses Fayek, and others (www.heirloomeldereearabians.com).

Sheykh Obeyd Foun­da­tion Inter­na­tional (www.sheykhobeyd.org)

Sheykh Obeyd Foun­da­tion Inter­na­tional is an orga­ni­za­tion of breeders concerned with blood­lines that include all the Heir­loom horses, plus several of Blunt blood­lines that were never incor­po­rated into the RAS and other that were added during the early years of the RAS (until 1932). It is focused on the source breeders, rather than blood­lines, time­frame of desert export, or other factors. The orga­ni­za­tion is often abbre­vi­ated “SOFI,” while the horses are referred to as “SO.”

“The root stock of Sheykh Obeyd breeding is composed of 66 Arabian ances­tors who were bred by, acquired by, or intro­duced into the gene pool by these 7 orig­inal breeders: Abbas Pasha, Ali Pasha Sherif, Ahmed Bey Sennari, Prince Ahmed Pasha Kemal, Khedive Abbas Hilme II, the Blunts and of the RAS (under the auspices of Dr. Branch). Sheykh Obeyd Arabians descend in all lines from any combi­na­tion of those 66 orig­inal ances­tors. In addi­tion to being Al Khamsa, all Sheykh Obeyd Arabians are Asil Club qual­i­fied, as well as Pyramid Society qual­i­fied (with the excep­tion of the descen­dants of Kars).”

The orga­ni­za­tion takes its name from the stud created by the Blunts near Cairo (entry from Lady Anne Blunt’s journal for February 17, 1882):

  “…yesterday Wilfrid signed at the Domain Office what­ever had to be signed and secured the garden of ‘Sheykh Obeyd’ so we moved our camp there….”

The Pyramid Society (www.pyramidsociety.org)

The Pyramid Society includes the broadest group of foun­da­tion horses, begin­ning with the RAS horses, adding the EAO and Inshass horses of the 1930s-​​40s, and including some horses incor­po­rated into private Egyptian breeding programs up to the 1950s. They key words in the Pyramid Society defi­n­i­tion are that the blood was “used to create and main­tain,” a program. The orga­ni­za­tion is abbre­vi­ated “TPS” and the horses are referred to as “Straight Egyptian” or “SE.”

To qualify as a Straight Egyptian, as defined by The Pyramid Society, a horse must trace in every line of its pedi­gree to a horse which falls into the following categories:

A. Regis­tered or eligible by pedi­gree for regis­tra­tion by the Arabian Horse Registry of America; and
B. Traces in every line of its pedi­gree to horses born in Arabia Deserta; and
C. Traces in every line of its pedi­gree to a horse which falls within one or more of the following cate­gories of horses:
1. owned or bred by Abbas Pasha I or Ali Pasha Sherif
2. used to create and main­tain the Royal Agri­cul­tural Society (RAS)/Egyptian Agri­cul­tural Orga­ni­za­tion (EAO) breeding programs, with the exclu­sion of Registan and Sharkasi and their lineal descen­dants
3. a horse which was a lineal ancestor of a horse described in (A) or (B) above; and
4. other than those excluded above, who was conceived and born in a private stud program in Egypt and imported directly to the United States and regis­tered by the Arabian Horse Registry of America prior to the exten­sion of the EAO’s super­vi­sion to private Egyptian stud programs as reflected in Volume IV of the EAO’s Stud book.

OTHER SOURCES OF ASIL HORSES…

Western conser­va­tion orga­ni­za­tions gener­ally refer to the “orig­inal” or “authentic” or “asil” horse, meaning horses that are believed to trace entirely to Bedouin horse-​​breeding tribes. Horses within the para­me­ters defined by Heir­loom, Sheykh Obeyd Foun­da­tion Inter­na­tional, and The Pyramid Society comprise approx­i­mately 85 percent of contem­po­rary asil horses outside the coun­tries of origin. Most are found in North America, Germany, and Egypt.

The other 15 percent of asil horses found outside the coun­tries of origin derive from horses that came directly from the desert to Western breeders, without having been incor­po­rated into Egyptian breeding programs; some have been cross-​​bred with Egyptian lines. These horses are included in the foun­da­tion stock for conser­va­tion orga­ni­za­tions that are concerned with the broader asil popu­la­tion or with specific sub-​​groups.

Horses that are not of Egyptian or Blunt sources but which have asil descen­dants outside of the coun­tries of origin derive from:

• Hamidie Society, which brought horses to the US for the 1893 Worlds Fair. These remained in the US and are among the earliest regis­tered as Arabians.

• Homer Daven­port impor­ta­tion in 1906. Daven­port brought 27 horses from the area now in Syria to the US. He also obtained horses from the Hamidie Society.

• Extended Saudi royal family and others from the same geograph­ical region. The extended family that now rules Saudi Arabia has provided horses that went to other coun­tries of origin (e.g. Bahrain), Egypt, and the UK (prin­ci­pally as gifts), North America, and else­where. Horses that came to North America range from those purchased by Albert Harris or gifted to Charles Crane in the 1930s, to horses acquired by indi­vid­uals, offi­cials, or fami­lies involved with the devel­op­ment of the Arabian Amer­ican Oil Company (ARAMCO) in the 1950s and 60s.

•  Bahrainy royal family. The ruling Al-​​Khalifa family has bred horses on the island of Bahrain for more than 200 years, often exchanging horses with the Ibn Jiluwi and Ibn Saud fami­lies. Rarely, horses are gifted to West­erners. Two have come to North America, one went to South Africa; several are in the UK; all have asil descendents.

•  Horses have gone directly from the desert to other coun­tries (the UK, Germany, Argentina, South Africa); descen­dants of some have then come to the US  or gone elsewhere.

…AND THE ORGANIZATIONS THAT CONSERVE THEM

Blue List and Blue Star (www.bluearabianhorsecatalog.org)

During the 1950s and 60s, Mrs. John (Kath­leen) Ott and her daughter Jane began to research horses that descended entirely from Bedouin sources, using, in part, the prior research of Carl Raswan. Passionate advo­cates for conser­va­tion breeding within the shrinking pool of asil blood­lines then in North America, they published their find­ings in a blue binder in 1961. This became known as the “Blue Catalog.” Further research was provided in supple­ments until 1969. Their research was gener­ally limited to horses in North America and their antecedents. The Otts gave credence to stories that Turcoman blood may have been incor­po­rated into the Muniqi strain, and they observed that horses with Muniqi blood showed a different type than those without. Thus, horses which had no recorded sources of Muniqi were desig­nated with an asterisk in the catalog and became known as “Blue Star.”

“If we preserve the BLUE STAR nucleus and it turns out to have been unnec­es­sary, no harm will have been done. But if we fail to preserve it, and it turns out that it was neces­sary, nothing can ever make up for its loss.”  1961 Supple­ment Q & A’s

The “Blue” move­ment repre­sented the first coor­di­nated effort by breeders in North America to conserve exclu­sively Bedouin-​​source blood­lines. Because no supple­ments were published after 1969, horses that might other­wise have met the Otts’ criteria for inclu­sion in the Blue Catalog and would have brought new blood into the US are not consid­ered “Blue List” if they were not in the US prior to 1969. There is a contem­po­rary orga­ni­za­tion that continues the Otts’ efforts.

Horses that trace entirely to those shown in the Blue Catalog are desig­nated “Blue List-​​eligible” and may be referred to as “BL” while Blue Star-​​eligible horses are referred to as “BS” and their names are shown in Blue Catalog liter­a­ture in all capital letters.

Blue Star imports with extant progeny are: *Aiglon, *Al Hamda­niah, *Al Obayyah, *Amiraa, *Fadl, *Furtha Dhelall, *Hadriya, *Halwaaji, *Jalam Al Ubayan, *Jamalah El Jedrani, *Mahraa, *Muhaira, *Munifan, *Munifeh, *Nasr, *Rudann, *Sawannah, *Sindidah, *Taamri, *Turfa

Al Khamsa, Inc. (www.alkhamsa.org)

A group of breeders, most of whom were supportive of the Blue move­ment, formed Al Khamsa, Inc. in the early 1970s. They estab­lished a list of “Foun­da­tion Horses” based on the Blue Catalog, but also created a process for adding foun­da­tion horses that met the organization’s criteria of authenticity.

“The horses of primary interest to Al Khamsa, which are called ‘Al Khamsa Arabian Horses,’ are those horses in North America that can reason­ably be assumed to descend entirely from Bedouin Arabian horses bred by horse-​​breeding Bedouin tribes of the deserts of the Arabian Penin­sula without admix­ture from sources unac­cept­able to Al Khamsa.” (Bylaws)

The approach is to iden­tify foun­da­tion horses, and then to main­tain a roster of living Al Khamsa breeding stock, descended entirely from Foun­da­tion Horses, and their antecedents. If a line dies out, all the antecedents are removed from the Roster and the rele­vant Foun­da­tion Horse is removed as well. If a horse leaves North America without leaving progeny behind, it is removed from the Roster (but may be placed back on the Roster if the horse returns to North America). Al Khamsa roster horses are often abbre­vi­ated “AK.”

Horses are added to the Al Khamsa foun­da­tion list through a complex 2-​​year process that is initi­ated by a proposal from an advo­cate who must provide the research, including a list of contem­po­rary stock that trace to the proposed new Foun­da­tion horse. Occa­sion­ally, horses are added to the foun­da­tion list “for complete­ness” even if there are no eligible, living descendants.

Horses that have been added since the founding of Al Khamsa, Inc. WITH living descen­dants are:

*Al Mashoor (2002) – imported from Syria to US in 1933

Besheir El Askhar (1996) – gift to Inshass in 1948

Badria (1996) – gift to Inshass in 1948

El Nasser (2003) – presented to RAS in 1947

*Layya (2002) – Hearst import from Syria to US in 1947

*Mlol­shaan Hager Soloman (2002) – gift from Bahrain royal family,                                     imported to US in 1988

Soldateska (2003) – Weil/​German bred, and her Euro­pean antecedents

The addi­tion of El Nasser resulted in many Straight Egyptian horses becoming eligible for the Al Khamsa desig­na­tion through El Nasser’s grandson Nasralla (1956), who was widely used at the EAO.

Daven­port Arabian Horse Conser­vancy (www.davenporthorses.org)

Homer Daven­port acquired horses from the Hamidie Society after the 1893 Worlds Fair. In 1906 he trav­eled to the area now in Syria and obtained 27 horses that he imported to the US.  Breeders main­tain a sub-​​group struc­ture to retain diver­sity within the closed breeding group.

As defined on the Conservancy’s website:

Daven­port Arabian horses are descended entirely from the historic Daven­port Desert Arabian Stud. The group consists of indi­vid­uals descending from horses imported by Homer Daven­port in 1906 to the U.S. from Arabia, and, in some instances, in possible combi­na­tion with pedi­gree elements from the Hamidie Society impor­ta­tion of 1893 to the U.S. from Arabia. 

 Asil Club (www.asilclub.org)

The Asil Club, based in Germany, was founded in 1974 to promote the breeding and conser­va­tion of the asil Arabian horse. It does not main­tain a list of foun­da­tion stock, but accepts horses according to its defi­n­i­tion (excerpt below):

The ASIL ARABIAN is a horse whose pedi­gree is exclu­sively based on Bedouin breeding of the Arabian penin­sula, without any cross­breeding with non-​​Arabian horses at any time. The word “asil” (Arabic, pronounced: asseel) means pure, true, noble and genuine.

The ASIL ARABIAN horse should have the riding qual­i­ties and the char­ac­ter­is­tics of type which distin­guish the desert Arabian….

Horses owned by members of the Asil Club may be recog­nized as Asil Arabians and entered into the stock list of the Asil Arabian Docu­men­ta­tion under the following conditions:

Their parents must be regis­tered in the stock list of the Asil Club.

 

All other horses must 
be regis­tered in a stud book recog­nized by the World Arabian Horse Organ­i­sa­tion (WAHO) or be worthy of such regis­tra­tion, 
trace back directly to the Arabia Deserta or corre­spond in every line of their pedi­grees with the breeding program of the EAO or of private studs controlled by this orga­ni­za­tion (with the excep­tion of the descen­dants of the horses Registan [Skowronek/​Riz], Sharkasi and Ibn Galabawi.), 
display the distinct type of confor­ma­tion and the riding qual­i­ties of the desert­bred Arabian.

 Insti­tute for the Desert Arabian Horse (www. desertarabian.org)

The Insti­tute is a research, educa­tion, and conser­va­tion orga­ni­za­tion devoted to the asil horse. It does not main­tain a list of foun­da­tion horses, but rather facil­i­tates action across the broad spec­trum of conser­va­tion inter­ests internationally.

WHO’S IN – WHO’S NOT?

Even breeders with years of expe­ri­ence are some­times puzzled about why some specific horses are included or excluded by specific conser­va­tion orga­ni­za­tions. Below is a list of the horses that are most often the source of puzzle­ment, together with an expla­na­tion of where they fit into the conser­va­tion scheme.

Nureddin II

Heir­loom: no, because not Al Khamsa (all Heir­loom must be accepted by Al Khamsa, Inc.)

Sheykh Obeyd: yes, by pedigree

Pyramid Society: yes,  by pedigree

Al Khamsa: no; sublisted by the Otts in the Blue Catalog and, although proposed for addi­tion as an Al Khamsa Foun­da­tion horse, this proposal has never passed

Asil Club: yes, by pedigree

Blue Catalog: sublisted as being of a different “type”

 Ferida

Heir­loom: no, because went from the desert directly to England and left no blood in Egypt

Sheykh Obeyd: yes,  because from Lady Anne Blunt

Pyramid Society: no, for same reason as not Heirloom

Al Khamsa: yes

Asil Club: yes

Blue Catalog: yes

 Badouia

Heir­loom: not at this time because birth date is uncer­tain (uncon­firmed if before 1914), although son Kheir is a root RAS stal­lion; research continues
Sheykh Obeyd: yes, because incor­po­rated in early RAS by Dr. Branch
Pyramid Society: yes, because son Kheir used at RAS to breed onward

Al Khamsa: yes, as a foun­da­tion horse

Asil Club: yes

Blue Catalog: yes

 Bint Barakat, Futna, and Fulla

Heir­loom: no, because later than 1914

Sheykh Obeyd: no, not of the 7 breeders

Pyramid Society: yes

Al Khamsa: no, because never added to Roster  (2010 proposal is open)

Asil Club: yes

Blue Catalog: no, because no imports with this blood to the US during research period (by 1969)

Jerboa and Kars

Heir­loom: yes, because descen­dants Razaz and Ras El Mal were RAS root stallions

Sheykh Obeyd: yes, because from Lady Anne Blunt

Pyramid Society: no, because the only Razaz progeny bred in Egypt are not SE and Ras El Mal had no recorded progeny so, although Razazz was use to “create” the RAS, his blood does not “main­tain” the later generations

Al Khamsa: yes, as foun­da­tion horses

Asil Club: yes

Blue Catalog: yes

The Prit­zlaff mare Rabanna, who descends from the Razazz daughter *Battla (born in England and exported to the US) is not Pyramid Society eligible. There­fore her descen­dent Rabanna and her progeny bred by Prit­zlaff from his later (1958) Straight Egyptian imports are not consid­ered Straight Egyptian. Some “Prit­zlaff” horses are Straight Egyptian, if their pedi­grees do not have Rabanna. Also, because the “Doyle” horses descend from Rose of Hind, they are excluded as Straight Egyptian but included as Heir­loom, Sheykh Obeyd, and Al Khamsa.

Another way to under­stand this is by compar­ison with Nefisa. Nafisa’s son, Nawab, was an RAS root stal­lion; he left a filly in England (*Selmnab) who was exported to the US, but Nawab produced nothing in Egypt. Nefisa’s daughter, Narghileh, remained in England and produced *Nureddin II. Nefisa’s grand­daughter Bint Riyala was an RAS root mare who bred on. By virtue of Bint Riyala’s produc­tion at RAS, Nefisa and any other­wise eligible rela­tives (e.g. *Nureddin II, *Selmnab) are consid­ered Straight Egyptian. Al Khamsa, Inc. specif­i­cally excludes horses descended from *Nureddin II because he was excluded by the Otts; a proposal to add him to the Al Khamsa roster was defeated.

El Nasser

Heir­loom: no, because later than 1914

Sheykh Obeyd: no, not of the 7 breeders

Pyramid Society: yes

Al Khamsa: yes, added as a foun­da­tion horse

Blue Catalog: no, because no imports with this blood to the US during research period (by 1969)

Bint Karima

Heir­loom: no, because later than 1914

Sheykh Obeyd: no, not of the 7 breeders

Pyramid Society: yes and Asil Club

Al Khamsa: no, not in Blue Catalog and subse­quent proposal to add as a foun­da­tion horse with­drawn for lack of documentation

Asil Club: yes

Blue Catalog: no, because no imports with this blood to the US during research period (by 1969)

Sharkasi

Purchased by the EAO and incor­po­rated into EAO breeding, Sharkasi and his descen­dents are specif­i­cally excluded by the Pyramid Society. Descen­dents are used by some Egyptian breeders, leading to a differ­ence between horses that may be accepted for Egyptian National shows and those that meet the Pyramid Society defi­n­i­tion of “straight Egyptian.” Sharkasi was not accepted in the Blue Catalog and has never been subse­quently proposed for inclu­sion in the Al Khamsa, Inc. roster. He is not accepted by any of the other orga­ni­za­tions discussed.

Registan

Bred by Lady Went­worth and incor­po­rated into RAS breeding. Registan and his otherwise-​​eligible descen­dents are specif­i­cally excluded by Pyramid Society and Al Khamsa, Inc. because research shows that his sire, Skowronek, is not asil. Descen­dents are used by some Egyptian breeders, leading to a differ­ence between horses that may be accepted for Egyptian National shows and those that meet the Pyramid Society defi­n­i­tion of “straight Egyptian.”

Summary

Heir­loom: “exported from Arabia Deserta before 1914 from which
the Root Mares and Root Stal­lions of the RAS descend”

– must be Al Khamsa-​​eligible
– inter­na­tional in scope

Sheykh Obeyd (SO or SOFI): blood from horses of the 7 orig­inal breeders which, de facto, focuses on a partic­ular span of time

 – extends through the tenure of Dr. Branch at RAS (1932)

– inter­na­tional in scope

Pyramid Society (SE):  blood from stock used to “create and main­tain” RAS, EAO and private studs before EAO v. IV
– inter­na­tional in scope
Blue List (BL): horses cata­logued by the Otts by 1969
Blue Star (BS):  Blue List without recorded Muniqi blood
– North Amer­ican horses
Al Khamsa (AK): horses in North America descending entirely from            
 iden­ti­fied Foun­da­tion stock
– “presumed to descend entirely” from Bedouin source
– tracks breeding stock only; no country of origin require­ment
– foun­da­tion horses may be added by a spec­i­fied process
Daven­port :  descend from 1906 Daven­port impor­ta­tion;
– some with Hamidie (1893) used with Daven­port imports
– all are Al Khamsa, none are Egyptian (not Heir­loom, SOFI, or TPS)
– most in North America, but not required

Asil Club:  of exclu­sively Bedouin origin

- Inter­na­tional in scope; based in Germany

–Addi­tions by appli­ca­tion and exam­i­na­tion of pedigree

- No “foun­da­tion stock” list

A final comment about DataSource

Straight Egyptian is  marked auto­mat­i­cally when
new horse added. All horses that are eligible by pedi­gree are marked, including all ances­tors irre­spec­tive of regis­tering country.
Al Khamsa is added only by Al Khamsa submis­sion of data to AHA. Horses that are not breeding stock in North America (gelded or exported without progeny) may not be marked as Al Khamsa. Ances­tors regis­tered only outside North America are NOT MARKED.

Sheykh Obeyd added peri­od­i­cally (currently out-​​of-​​date)

Al Khamsa:
“The horses marked in Data­Source as “Al Khamsa, Inc.” are not all of the horses in the Al Khamsa, Inc. Roster. Only Roster horses that are regis­tered with the Arabian Horse Registry (AHR) and the Cana­dian Arabian Horse Registry (CAHR) are marked. The Roster also includes horses that are not regis­tered with AHR or CAHR. In addi­tion, many AHR and CAHR horses are marked that are not in the Roster. These horses are “Al Khamsa Arabians” by pedi­gree, but do not meet the criteria of the Roster simply because they have no living and breeding descent in North America.
The list of horses marked “Al Khamsa, Inc.” in Data­Source has been provided to the Arabian Horse Asso­ci­a­tion by Al Khamsa, Inc. The list will be updated quar­terly by Al Khamsa, Inc.”

Major breeders who contributed stock to Egyptian studs, showing active breeding period

 

 

*   Abbas Pasha (Viceroy Abbas Pasha I) (1813–1854)                  1840-​​50s

Ali Pasha Sherif (? — 1897)                                                              1850-​​90s

+  Prince Ahmed Pasha Kemal (1857–1907)                               1870-​​1900s

+  Prince Yussef Kamal (son of Ahmed Pasha Kemal)

+  Lady Anne and Wilfrid Blunt (1837/​40 – 1917/​22)                  1870-​​1910s

+  Lady Went­worth (daughter of Lady Anne Blunt)

Ahmed Bey Sennari (?)                                                                        1880s

*+ Khedive Abbas Hilmi II (1874–1944)                                           1890-​​1910s

+  Prince Mohammed Ali Tewfik (1875–1955)                             1897-​​1930s

RAS Arabian Section (under Dr. Branch)                                    1914–1932

Prince Kemal el Dine Hussein (1874–1932)                                  1920–1932

*   Sultan/​King Fouad (1869–1936) at Inshass                              1930–1936

*   King Farouk (1920–1965) at Inshass                                          1936–1952

Ahmed Hamza Pasha (? – 1977) Hamdan Stud 1944–

* Governed Egypt

+ Contributed horses to the RAS Arabian Horse section 1914–1930

(See The Arabian Horse Fami­lies of Egypt, by Colin Pearson, p. ix-​​xii, for a more complete family tree.