Al Khamsa History
Ancestral Elements Series: Hearst
Al Khamsa’s ‘language’ about pedigrees can seem complicated at first, but it is actually meant to be a simplification of the process of understanding the total pedigree of an Arabian horse. You need to learn two terms: Foundation Horses and Ancestral Elements. These terms are explained briefly here, but for detailed information, please see the research work, Al Khamsa Arabians III (2008). A Foundation Horse is what it sounds like: when you go back as far as you can in a pedigree, you stop with either a Bedouin tribe or with a recognized source that is believed to have stock only from the Bedouin tribes. Ancestral Elements are the Building Blocks of Al Khamsa Pedigrees An Ancestral Element refers to the country, stud farm, person or group who imported or was primarily associated with the Foundation Horses concerned. Four Foundation Horses were acquired individually and are designated by their own names. Simple parenthetical codes follow the names of Foundation horses, which help identify the Ancestral Element blocks to which they belong. Khamsat V29N1 began this series, AYERZA; V29N2: BISTANY; V29N3: BORDEN; V29N4: COBB; V30N1: BLUNT; V30N2: CRANE; V30.3: DWARKA, V30.4: DAVENPORT, V31.1: HAMIDIE. Terminology: a hujjah (hujaj, plural) is a signed and sealed document of evidence/testimony about a thing. In Al Khamsa terms, this means a testimony about the provenance of an Arabian horse. When such a document survives, it is the most important information about an Arabian horse.
HEARST
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William Randolph Hearst, head of a media empire, also had Arabian horses. The interest probably was begun by association with his employee, Homer Davenport. In 1945, Hearst’s Sunical Land & Livestock Department of the Hearst Magazines, Inc., imported 14 horses from Syria to add to his stud. Of these imports one mare, *Layya, has living, eligible Al Khamsa descendants. Another, *Lebnaniah, shown below, has recently been lost to Al Khamsa. • *Layya 1943 grey mare • *Lebnaniah 1943 grey mare
Above, William Randolph Hearst. Left, *Lebnaniah, from the Preston Dyer Collection at the International Museum of the Horse, Lexington, Kentucky.
Unreferenced page numbers refer to Al Khamsa Arabians III.
In progeny lists, italics are used for horses not in Al Khamsa pedigrees. Only eligible-to-be Al Khamsa horses are shown in the progeny lists.
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