By Edouard Al Dahdah

This is Part II of Edouard Al Dahdah’s article about the Desert Arabian in its area of origin. Copy­right Edouard Al Dahdah and the Insti­tute for the Desert Arabian horse; all rights reserved.

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As we discussed in the initial part of this presen­ta­tion, the Bedouins, and no other group, are the orig­inal custo­dians of the Desert Arabian horse. Arabia Deserta, the home­land of Desert Arabian horses, is by defi­n­i­tion the area of maximum extent of Bedouin nomadic migra­tions. Wher­ever these Bedouins sought pastures for their camels and sheep, the horses went with them; where the Bedouin didn’t go, orig­inal Desert Arabian horses did not exist. I previ­ously discussed the history and current level of knowl­edge regarding remaining indige­nous Desert Arabian horses in the cradle coun­tries of Arabia Deserta, now defined by polit­ical bound­aries as Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Iraq, Syria, and Jordan.

In this second part I will describe the histor­ical context and move­ment of indige­nous Bedouin horses into surrounding Arabic lands — specif­i­cally Egypt, Lebanon, Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. I don’t know much about the state of Desert Arabian breeding in Israel, Pales­tine, and Libya, three areas I have not visited, and so have excluded them from this overview. Taken together, the few remaining indige­nous horses in the cradle and surrounding coun­tries present a condi­tion that compels us to act with urgency to preserve the Desert Arabian horse in its area of origin before it is too late. I will conclude with my recom­men­da­tions on actions needed to save this precious genetic and cultural resource.

Lebanon

 

The combi­na­tion of a wealthy landed aris­toc­racy, an opulent west­ern­ized bour­geoisie, and a prox­imity to the breeding areas of Arabia Deserta helped turn Lebanon into a main center of Desert Arabian horse breeding and racing in the first half of the 20^th century. The current Beirut race­track, the Hippo­drome des Pins, dates back to 1915. In addi­tion to absorbing the national horse produc­tion, it attracted horses from all over the Middle East, mostly from Syria and Jordan. The Beirut race­track enjoyed its heyday in the 1930s and ‘40s. It was a focal point of the Beirut social scene and the mirror of its pros­perity and assim­i­la­tion of Western values. The race­horses that epit­o­mized this period best were the Desert Arabians Ghazwan, a Kuhaylan al-​​Kharas from Hims in Syria, and Mach’al, an Ubayyan Sharrak bred by the Dandashi clans of Tall Kalakh.

The Dandashi landowners of Tall Kalakh, an area in western Syria close to the Lebanon border, were famous horse breeders during the 19^th and first half of the 20^th centuries. They gath­ered some of the best lines of Desert Arabians from the Sb’aah tribes, and bred some of the most famous horses of their era. Their strains of Kuhaylan Nowak, Saglawi Ibn Zubayni, Jilfan Sattam al-​​Bulad, and Ubayyan Sharrak were espe­cially renowned. The black stal­lion O’bajan, imported to Babolna, Hungary, by Michael Fadlallah al-​​Haddad in 1902, was one their horses. Many other smaller breeders flour­ished, espe­cially in the fertile plains of Akkar in northern Lebanon, and the Biqaa valley in the east.

By the mid-​​1950s the Beirut race­track also began to attract Iraqi horses from Bagdad and its vicinity. These horses were taller, stronger, and certainly faster than the small, sturdy Lebanese Desert Arabians who had so far consti­tuted the bulk of race­horses. They also had a size­able amount of English Thor­ough­bred blood (at least 25 percent), tracing to the English Thor­ough­bred Tabib. Tabib himself had raced in Beirut in the 1930s, and was later sent to Iraq where his progeny filled the Bagdad and Basra race­tracks. Whether the gentlemen who had imported Tabib’s grand­sons to Beirut were aware of this fact remains an open ques­tion. Some evidence indi­cates they were. It is known that the same folks who had kicked Tabib out of Beirut 20 years earlier went back and imported his grand­sons, and — much worse — used these stal­lions on their Lebanese Desert Arabian mares.

By the 1960s, a strong market for Iraqi horses had devel­oped, and the cross-​​breeding of Iraqi imports with Desert Arabians had become the norm in Lebanon and some areas of Syria, mainly Hims, Damascus, and, to a lesser extent, Hama. In 1974, a rescue effort was attempted and a Lebanese Stud­book submitted a draft stud­book to WAHO (World Arabian Horse Orga­ni­za­tion) — which had just been launched two years earlier — with 130 Desert Arabian mares and stal­lions from Lebanon. The civil war (1975–1991) then nipped this effort in the bud, and many of these horses were lost, sold without papers, or exported to the Gulf coun­tries as riding horses.

In 1992, at the close of the civil war, only 27 old Desert Arabian mares — mostly daugh­ters of Mash’al  or his sons Wazzal, Acchal, Mihrass, and Malak al-​​Ahmar — and two stal­lions could be found and regis­tered in the WAHO-​​approved Lebanese Stud­book. Their average age was 22. A last preser­va­tion effort was attempted, but too little was done too late. Today, nothing remains of Lebanese Desert Arabian breeding, a once vast and ambi­tious national venture that could have served as outcross to many inbred Desert Arabian lines.

Egypt

 

Egypt has been the focal point of economic, polit­ical, mili­tary, and cultural power of the Arab world for more than a thou­sand years. Although not a country of origin for the Desert Arabian horse — Egypt imported its Arabians from the desert, just like Poland, England, or the USA — it has been a center of Arabian horse breeding, with contin­uous flow of imports from Bedouin tribes of Arabia Deserta, at least since the Mamluk era in the 14^th century AD. Egyptian kings, noblemen, pashas and beys, and a few West­erners imported horses from the desert for breeding and racing purposes. Today, Egypt remains one of the main centers of asil breeding in the world. The history and contri­bu­tion of Egypt to Arabian breeding is well docu­mented, and there is not much that can be added within the para­me­ters of this overview.

Algeria

 

Algeria was a French colony for more than two centuries. The French imported hundreds of Desert Arabian stal­lions into Algeria from cradle areas, mainly from the desert of Syria, a region that fell under French influ­ence after WWI. Arabian stal­lions were chiefly used for crossing with Barb mares to produce Arab-​​Barbs, the French army’s stan­dard cavalry horse of Algeria and its North African auxil­iaries. A long war of occu­pa­tion in Algeria and contin­uous rebel­lions justi­fied the French produc­tion of large numbers of cavalry horses, fed by a contin­uous flow of imports from Arabia Deserta. Pure Arabians were also bred sepa­rately, albeit on a smaller scale, and were used for cavalry remounts as well as racing. The city of Tiaret in western Algeria was for a long time the chief stud of the Etab­lisse­ments Hippiques de l’Afrique du Nord and remains the country’s main breeding center.

Some Desert Arabian mares were also imported, and the Desert Arabians of Algerian origin trace to two of them: Cherifa, a Shuwayma Sabbah from the Sb’aah Anazah tribe, and Wadha, a Jilfa Dhawi bred by the Fad’aan Anazah, imported by the French in 1869 and 1875 respec­tively. Other female lines such as that of Yamouna and Zenab were as valu­able, but less prepo­tent. Of the hundreds of desert­bred stal­lions the French imported to Algeria, a few stood out, of which the most signif­i­cant were Venture, a Hamdani Simri brought from Lebanon in 1896; Bango, a gray Managhi Sbaili bred by the Shammar but imported from a race­track in Alexan­dria in the late 1920s; Safita, a bay Kuhaylan Khdili imported in 1934; Ghal­bane, a Hamdani Simri, and Masbout, a Saglawi Jadran, both bought from the Beirut race­track in the mid-​​1940s.

The Algerian war of liber­a­tion broke out in 1954, claiming one million victims. Upon the country’s inde­pen­dence in 1962, the Etab­lisse­ments Hippiques de l’Afrique du Nord, like every insti­tu­tion asso­ci­ated with the French colo­nizers, were disman­tled. When Arabian breeding was formally rein­stated in the 1980s, it included the admix­ture of non-​​Desert Arabian horses from WAHO-​​accepted Euro­pean studbooks.

Fortu­nately, because of historic move­ment of desert imports and their offspring between Algeria and Tunisia (see below), most of the Desert Arabian horses now bred in Tunisia trace in part to horses bred in Algeria or horses imported there from Arabia Deserta. Three or four of those very precious Tiaret lines were brought back by French settlers returning home from the former colony: the lines of Bassala (by Masbout out of Sapon­naire by El Managhi), tracing to Wadha, and that of Iaquouta (by Safita out of Aroua by Sidi Gaber), tracing to Cherifa, are the most well-​​known. No more than 10 to 15 Desert Arabian horses of Algerian descent survive in France today, most of them aged mares.

Tunisia

 

A French protec­torate since 1881, Tunisia followed a pattern similar to Algeria during the late 19^th and mid-​​20^th centuries. Many horses, mostly stal­lions, were imported from Arabia Deserta straight to the main center of the Etab­lisse­ments Hippiques d’Afrique du Nord in Tunisia, the Stud of Sidi Thabet near Tunis. The most signif­i­cant imports were the stal­lions Nasr, Ibech (from the Sb’aah tribe), and Tamerlan (a Dahman) in the 1910s and ‘20s; Ibn and Hellal in the ‘30s; and Cheykh El Ourbane in the ‘40s. There was also one signif­i­cant import from Egypt in the 1920s: the chestnut Ibn Fayda I (by Ibn Rabdan out of Lady Anne Blunt’s Fayda), a gift from Prince Kemal Eddin Hussein to Sidi Thabet. (Editor’s note: This Ibn Fayda was full brother to the bay Ibn Fayda present in living Egyptian lines as the sire of El Moez, Zaher, and Adham.)

Most dam lines trace back to the 19^th century: that of Samaria, a Kuhaylah Ajuz, and that of Dolma Batche, a Jilfa Sattam al-​​Bulad, are the most predom­i­nant today, with the addi­tion of the line of Emtayra, imported in the 1940s. Many Desert Arabians bred in Algeria (see above) even­tu­ally found their way to Tunisia and were incor­po­rated into the breeding there. In conse­quence, Tunisia became the second French-​​influenced center of Desert Arabian horse breeding in North Africa, with the Sidi Thabet as its hub.

Some private studs (e.g., the stud of Sidi Bou Hadid of French Admiral Anatole Cordon­nier) also bred excel­lent horses, many from Algerian Desert Arabian blood­lines. Mr. Cordon­nier bred the most influ­en­tial Tunisian sire of all times, Esmet Ali (by Hazil out of Arabelle by Beyrouth), a gray stal­lion tracing to Cherifa, a desert­bred imported to Algeria. Esmet Ali is the sire of the prepo­tent race winner and sire Dyna­mite III. Mr. Cordon­nier also bred several of the Tunisian horses that found their way to France in the 1950s: the stal­lions Iricho (by David out of Chanaan by Souci) and Irmak (by Aissaoui out of Leila by Duc II), and the mares Izarra (by David out of Arabelle by Beyrouth) and Hallouma (by Aissaoui out of Cilicie by Titan) are but a few. Conversely, some horses bred in France had been imported to Tunisia in the 1930s and ‘40s. Some were authentic Arabians, like Duc II (by Djebel Mousa out of Djerba), or Mossoul; others were not, like Kriss II. Fortu­nately, upon the inde­pen­dence of the country in 1956, the manage­ment of Sidi Thabet decided to cull all the French horses from its breeding program, and only kept the Tunisian and Algerian lines. Until very recently the only imports were from Egypt, the stal­lions Ragheb (by Tuhotmos out of Rakia) and Ibn Ikhna­toon being the most influ­en­tial. The result of this wise policy is that today as much as 70 percent of the Tunisian national herd is composed of Desert Arabian horses.

I have had the good fortune to make a recent trip to Sidi Thabet in Tunisia and conclude that it may be home to the largest pool of Desert Arabian horses in a state stud after the stud of El Zahraa in Egypt. Today Sidi Thabet is the center of a dynamic horse breeding industry that caters mostly to the local race­tracks, and is home to some 60 mares and 10 stal­lions (not counting colts and fillies). The most influ­en­tial are the grand Akermi (a legend, 40 wins in 46 races) and Halim (38 wins), both sons of Dyna­mite III, and Samir, a son of Daoues II. Over the past few years, unfor­tu­nate impor­ta­tions of stal­lions from France cater to the expanding racing market. Their get have not been used for breeding as of yet. Still, this puts a ques­tion over the future of the Desert Arabian breeding in Tunisia.

Morocco

 

Yet another French protec­torate as of 1912, the Kingdom of Morocco obtained all its Desert Arabians from three sources: France, Tunisia, and Algeria. The majority of imports came from France or from Tunisia via France: while some were authentic Arabians of desert lines, like the beau­tiful Minos (by Dahman out of Melisse by Benikaled), most traced to doubtful horses, and influ­ence of the latter greatly surpassed that of the former. The impact of Agres, a son of Abel (by Denoute out of Alicante), and of Ras, a son of Kriss II (by Denouste out of Kenia), on Moroccan breeding was espe­cially perni­cious. Egyptian Desert Arabian horses were added later on: Burhan (by Morafic out of Mona by Sid Abouhom) and El Sud El Aaly (by Nazeer out of Lateefa by Gamil III) were most prepo­tent, but were lost forever, and today there is not one Desert Arabian horse of Moroccan stock.

A Sorry Situation

 

To summa­rize my brief survey: Four nations — Bahrain, Egypt, Syria, and Tunisia — concen­trate what is left of Desert Arabian horses in Arab coun­tries, and are the remaining outcrossing hope for heavily inbred Desert Arabian lines in the rest of the world. There is absolutely nothing left in Lebanon, Algeria, and Morocco. Jordan and the Gulf coun­tries (other than Bahrain) each harbor no more than two dozen.

The situ­a­tion in Iraq and Saudi Arabia is extremely complex to sort out, and it is diffi­cult to know how to iden­tify the remaining Desert Arabian horses there, most of which are not regis­tered in the WAHO-​​accepted stud­books. Yemen and Libya are great unknowns to me. They may turn out to be trea­sure troves, or there may be nothing left there.

All this leads, finally, to the crucial ques­tion: What should we do with this sorry situ­a­tion? How do we keep the situ­a­tion from dete­ri­o­rating further? Of 20 Arabic coun­tries that are either the cradle origins of the horse or coun­tries that received large numbers of Desert Arabians over historic periods, only four have any signif­i­cant number of such horses. Where few remain in other coun­tries, the Desert Arabian horses will be lost without urgent action.

Next steps

 

The Insti­tute may be best posi­tioned to create and dissem­i­nate new knowl­edge about this situ­a­tion and to provide inter­na­tional lead­er­ship to save this precious genetic and cultural resource from extinc­tion. If I may allow myself to make a number of sugges­tions to its Board, these would be the top priorities:

• Commis­sion country-​​by-​​country scoping studies about the status and prospects of Desert Arabian horse breeding in all the coun­tries of the Middle East and North Africa.

A crit­ical prereq­ui­site for the success of this effort is the iden­ti­fi­ca­tion of the right person or persons to draft these projects: indi­vid­uals with inside knowl­edge of the country and the Desert Arabian horses remaining there. The studies can be written initially in Arabic or French and trans­lated later. The results should be reviewed by a peer committee and put online to increase inter­na­tional awareness.

• Under­take a compre­hen­sive effort to iden­tify indi­vid­uals and asso­ci­a­tions likely to contribute to the preser­va­tion of Desert Arabian horse breeding in the region.

Not everyone in the Middle East and North Africa is an expert on the orig­inal Desert Arabian horse and its asil descen­dents. Just as not every rancher wearing a cowboy hat is a mustang or an Appaloosa expert, Desert Arabian horse experts cannot be iden­ti­fied by the clothes they wear, the language they speak, or the posi­tions they hold as regis­tering stud­book authorities.

Often the real expert is not Western educated and does not speak English; still one should go through the extra effort to iden­tify these resource persons at any cost. The few knowl­edge­able people remaining may be spread out over large terri­to­ries; they may not be on good terms with each other. They certainly don’t hold symposia and semi­nars, and don’t commu­ni­cate by email. The implicit knowl­edge these people hold is not written — after all, this is a region where oral tradi­tion is predom­i­nant, making the codi­fi­ca­tion of this knowl­edge all the more urgent.

• Share existing knowledge.

 

We should provide incen­tives to indi­vid­uals to share infor­ma­tion with each other instead of holding on to it. The United States has a tradi­tion of exchange that can serve as a global model. Publishing existing and new infor­ma­tion as it is acquired on Web sites and in hard­copy is one option. Encour­aging experts in the Middle East to contribute knowl­edge and opening the flow of infor­ma­tion between East and West is vital to this effort. In the Middle East today, preser­va­tion is not a system­atic effort. It is done infor­mally, with two people meeting by chance and deciding to exchange horses, some of which happen to be Desert Arabian horses.

• Rethink old notions in light of new findings.

 

We are all on a quest for learning. No one holds the absolute truth. When new infor­ma­tion shows up, we need to acknowl­edge both the infor­ma­tion and its impact on the existing state of knowl­edge. We also need to release our hold on myths and tradi­tions that have grown up in the West but that will not with­stand exam­i­na­tion in the Middle East and will be coun­ter­pro­duc­tive to discuss with experts there.

Why Western Leadership?

 

It may seem odd that I, an Arab man of the Middle East, advo­cate that such a compre­hen­sive preser­va­tion action orig­i­nate from the United States. We Arabs do recog­nize that Amer­ican breeders of Desert Arabian horses have acquired over the last century the cred­i­bility to reach out to Arab breeders and engage them in a global preser­va­tion effort. Why? Simply because Amer­i­cans have bred the best and biggest numbers of Desert Arabian horses over the past century. Amer­i­cans got horses from Arabia Deserta — this year we cele­brate the 100^th anniver­sary of the Daven­port impor­ta­tion — bred them, and kept them pure. Hunt­ington, Daven­port, Bradley, Harris, Borden, Babson, Brown, and Hearst started it and many others followed. Amer­ican breeders imported a little and did a lot.

This is why, as a home to the largest pool of Desert Arabian horses in the world, the United States has a respon­si­bility to take the lead in this effort. It not only can, it SHOULD. Other­wise, there will be nothing left in the next century except the heavily inbred Desert Arabian horses produced in North America. There will always be Desert Arabians here in the States. True, the large breeders and great vision­aries of past years are gone. Today there are smaller and smaller scale breeders, but the breeding continues and commit­ment to the Desert Arabian horse continues.

Cautionary Notes

 

To succeed, you will need to approach Arab breeders in a different way. If you happen to go to the Middle East and North Africa, you’d need to do so with an open mind, a will­ing­ness to chal­lenge existing beliefs, and a readi­ness to accept diffi­cult truths. Looking for confir­ma­tion of some theo­ries now prevailing in the United States is a point­less exer­cise. Rather, ask the Arab breeders what THEY think — and ask as many of them as possible. Don’t hold on to old infor­ma­tion from Western trav­elers such as Carl Raswan.

Finally, if you are to succeed, you must remember that, in the desert there is no “straight” anything. “Straight so and so” is no more then a brand name to cluster bunches of horses brought out from the same desert areas, from the same pool of Desert Arabian horses into arti­fi­cial silos just because they happened to be bred by different breeders over here. Terms such as “straight” Daven­port, “straight” Babson, and “straight” Blunt are Western creations. Accept that strain names and historic blood­line names are created names. When you trace the historic horses back 200 years they have the same roots. They were imported at different times, bred as closed groups, and they might not look alike anymore. So what? All are “straight” Desert Arabian horses, and their very few rela­tives remaining in the Middle East and parts of North Africa and will soon be lost if nothing is done.

 

A respon­si­bility falls on your shoul­ders to act now.

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