by Jeanne Craver

*NEJDME: First in Our Hearts and Our Studbook

by Jeanne Craver

“Scene at the Arabian Village”, featuring *Nejdme.

When the founding fathers of the Arabian Horse Club gave the honor of being the first entry in their studbook to *Nejdme, they chose well. *Nejdme was considered first class by A.G. Asdikian, Rev. F.F. Vidal, Homer Davenport, Randolph Huntington, J.A.P. Ramsdell, J.R. Dolbony, Khalil A. Bistany, and just about everyone who ever saw her. Photos of her adorn photo albums of the Chicago World’s Fair. Thousands of dollars were asked and offered for her during one of the deepest depressions this country has seen.

*Nejdme was not just an authentic beauty from the Anazeh. She performed well under saddle, learned to drive as a mature mare, and produced many fine foals. Her genes are still available in the Arabian breed, and she even has a tail-female line functioning 100 years after her birth. Unfortunately, within Al Khamsa itself, her bloodlines are scarce (with less than 200 descendants since 2000) and are gone in tail female.

This article attempts to put as many comments about *Nejdme by people who knew her together in one place as possible, as well as to point out *Nejdme’s production record and breed influence.

Some of the most interesting items of historical material to turn up in years are the letters by J.R. Dolbony, published by Jerald and Debra Dirks in “221b Baker Street” in Arabian Visions this summer of 1989. Dolbony was one of the Syrian performers in the Hamidie Society. He seems to have elected to stay in the U.S., whether in 1893 or later. Somehow Davenport located him in Butte, Montana in 1909, when the Department of Agriculture was studying the proposed Arabian Horse Club studbook and asking questions about the Hamidie horses.

Dolbony indicated that he had special knowledge of *Nejdme: “I will now give you the facts in brief narrative form of the manner in which Nadjma’s dam was obtained from its original owner and separated from the tribe of Teyiar:

“On the 20th day of March in the year of 1883, Asad El Kherfan, an unscrupulous Bedouin, ambushed and shot to death, Jedran Ibn Zebaina, who was a brother of El Emir Sultan, the ruler of the tribe of Teyiar.

“The murderer immediately mounted his victim’s mare Sada El Togan (which be it remembered was a pure full-blooded Seglawieh Jedranieh) the dam of Nedjma. The fame and reputation of the

*Nejdme in a frequently used photograph at the time, along with the man presumed to be “Hadji Hassan”, or “Hadji Mehmed”. According to Edouard Al-Dahdah, Hadj, Haji and Hedje would not be personal names, but variants on the honorific for one who had completed the pilgrimage to Mecca, which in lower economic circles might also be applied as a term of respect for an elder who may not literally have fulfilled that obligation. Our subject’s name could be something like Hassan Mohammed, and the variation would reflect the use of his first or last name in different sources, along with the usual shaky spelling. *Nejdme According to Dolbony (excerpted)

By Edouard Al-Dahdah, Daughter of the Wind blog, 7/12/18

The same letter by J.R. Dolbony I discussed in a previous blog post about the stallion *Mannaky is also relevant to the mare *Nejdme. *Nejdme is registered as a Kuhaylah ‘Ajuz, by a Saqlawi Jadran. An article from that time, has the reverse, by a Kuhaylan ‘Ajuz, out of a Saqlawiyah Jadraniyah. I personally see the attribution of these two strains to *Nejdme as suspicious, for two reasons:

These are the run-of-the-mill Arabian horse strains or “brands”. Just like tissue paper is generally associated with “Kleenex”, and photocopy machines with “Xerox”, Arabian horse strains in the late nineteenth century were readily associated with “Saqlawi Jadran” and “Kuhaylan Ajuz”.

The 1909 letters of Dolbony to Davenport add fodder to my speculation. In the letters, Dolbony (again, “apparently a performer with the Hamidie Society”, and I want to know more about that) mentions that *Nejdme’s dam was a Saqlawiyah Jidraniyah mare named “Sada el Toga”, which he claims to have leased, and bred to a Kuhaylan ‘Ajuz stallion named “Nakashy,” resulting in *Nejdme.

This is extremely interesting in many ways. First of all, “Sada el Toga”, which is ‘Sa’dah al-Tuqan’ is a strain, not a name. So is “Nakashy”, which is ‘Nakhayshi’, a strain now extinct. We can speculate endlessly about why *Nedjme’s strain as given by Dolbony is different from her registration strain, but my take is this: *Nedjme’s actual strain was not recognizable enough to an American audience, and Dolbony who knew his strains, and was certainly aware that “Sada el Toga” and “Nakashy” were not names, was encouraged to stick to the official Hamidie story about the strain of *Nejdme.

Second, the association of these rare strains (so rare one really cannot have made them up, or has to be really wicked to have done it) with the particular area of the Middle East Dolbony hailed from. Fifteen miles south of the city of Baalbeck which Dolbony came from, there lied the largest, longeststanding, and most famous stud of Sa’dan Tuqan in the Middle East, that of the Hindi family in Rayak. That stud started in the late nineteenth century. It is not unreasonable to speculate that Dolbony could have leased a mare from this stud, or from someone who had that mare from this stud, or had a mare on shares. In 1949, two mares and a stallion from the Hindi stud of the Sa’adan Tuqan strain, came to the USA. Doing an mtDNA comparison between the *Nejdme line and the *Bint Attebe and *Dalal Hindi lines would be interesting.

Even more so, back in the very early days of the Beirut racetrack in the late 1800s, when only a few horses were racing every week, there was a racehorse of the Nakhayshi strain. I forget who he belonged to, and who bred him other than the horse did hail from the Biqaa valley where Baalbeck the city of Dolbony lies, and that he did figure in Ali Barazi’s book under the entry on the Nakhayshi strain. This is the only time in thirty years I heard of this strain, and I never saw a representative of it.

Dolbony is Delbani; this family still exists in the Bekaa valley mainly around the city of Baalbek [Lebanon]. At those times, they were linked to the powerful Harfuche family as their peasants or horsemen.

Nejdme (Star): Delbani states that her dam, Saadat alTuqan (a pure Saklawi Jidran) of Sultan el Tayar of the Wuld Ali, was stolen from the Wuld Ali in an ambush which killed the Sultan’s brother, and was sold to the Farah family in Baalbek. This family is well known in the region between Baalbek and the city of Zahle and they still breed horses. About Nejdme’s Sire, he says that it was Al Nakashi (a Kuhaylan Ajuz) of the Al Hessene tribe. This is very possible because the summer location of the tribe used to be in Al Bayada, only a day and a half ride from Baalbek. So J.R Dolbony or Delbany could have easily ridden “Nejme’s” dam to be covered by “Al Nakashi”.

The Farah family, a Christian one in a Moslem neighborhood, were approached by an emissary of Sultan el Tayar to claim the filly. To avoid the issue, they sold Nejdme to Shamdin Agha. He, though a powerful person, did not want to have an enemy of the importance of Sultan el Tayar (who was feared by his fellow Bedouins for his courage and his fierceness) and sold Nejdme to the Hamidie Society to avoid problems.

The Shamdin family is a paramount family of the Kurdish community in Damascus, there is a square in their name in Damascus.

In my opinion, Delbani, like Khalil Bistany, exaggerated his own role. He was either a Harfuche’s rider or a Farah’s employee. He could never afford to own Nejdme’s sister as stated in Carol Mulder’s Imported Foundation Stock of North American Arabian Horses. However, I believe that what he had stated about the horse’s origin is true. ~ Paraphrased from posts and emails by the late Joe Achcar, whose maternal grandfather was Khalil Sarkis, General Manager of The Hamidie Society.

mare, together with its owner’s popularity, were well known throughout the Country, which made it practically impossible for the criminal to dispose of the animal. Although strenous efforts were made and harsh measures adopted by the various tribes for the arrest of the felon, he succeeded in eluding his pursuers, and in the city of Baalbek, about a thousand miles 1 southwest of the scene of the homicide, disposed of the valuable mare to a noted family by name Farah. A friendship existing between myself and the family, I was requested to breed the mare to a sire of my own selection viz: Nakhashy Kehilan Ejus, owned by Sheyk Faris El Miziad, the ruler of El Hessenneh, one of the prominent tribes of Anezeh.

“The sire here mentioned descended from El Mewaly, which was also a tribe of Anezeh, captured during the war of 1875 between El Mewaly and El Hessenneh. The rider was unhorsed and killed by a slave who belonged to the Miziad family. The owner of the horse was Ahmed Bey Emir El Mewaly; the slave was know[n] by the name of Asas El Khafore.

1 – This is surely an error, perhaps on the part of the stenographer who typed the copy for the government files. A hundred miles is more likely to be correct.

Mohamed Delbani: He was listed on the passenger manifest of the Cynthiana. Likely the J.R. Dolbony who corresponded with H.K. Bush-Brown and Homer Davenport.

“From this distinguished sire, Nakhasky (sic) Kehilan Ejus and the famous Sada El Togan Sr. the dam, was foaled Nedjma. Two years later the breeding of the same sire and dam as above described, resulting in a promising foal Sada El Togan Jr. Unfortunately the dam died six months later, leaving the offspring as above described, which were both reared and trained by me personally.

“Nedjma was sold to Khalid Agga Shamdeen, in the city of Damascus; thence exported to Chicago and exhibited at the World’s Fair in the year 1893. Its sister Sada El Togan Jr. remained in my possession. She died five years ago leaving two fillies and a colt sired by different stallions.”

This outpouring of information leaves one feeling a bit suspicious of Mr. Dolbony. For instance, “Sada El Togan” is a strain name, and would seem odd for a Saqlawi mare. However, some items can be confirmed. A Mohammed Delbani of Baalbek was photographed in full middle-eastern attire at the Fair in 1893. A search of the passenger list of the chartered ship which brought the Hamidie Society to the U.S. turns up an M. Dilbani, a young man from Baalbek.

Checking the names of the people, places and tribes of the narrative in Die Beduinen (“The Bedouin”) confirms some of Dolbony’s

*Nejdme as an older mare at Ramsdell’s, with Arabian and AngloArabian descendants as well.

information. Die Beduinen, by Max Freiherr von Oppenheim and published in Leipzig in 1939, is a massive work on the Bedouin trives of the middle east researched from 1893 until well into the twentieth century. Sultan el Taijar is shown as sheik of the Taijar (“Teyiar”) division of the Wuld ‘Ali, a family within the Anazeh confederation. The El Hesene group is also part of the Anazeh confederation, belonging to the same branch as the Wuld ‘Ali. The “Obershech”, or ruling sheik of the El Hesene (“El Hesseneh”) group is show as Trad ibn Melhem el Mazjad, evidently a relative of “Faris El Miziad”. The Mawali (“Mewaly”) tribe is based in the Aleppo region.

So we are not entirely unable to interpret this material, and as time goes on, perhaps more threads will be woven together, enabling us to better understand how to assess this information from Dolbony.

Khalil A. Bistany was a merchant from Damascus who invested heavily in the horses of the Hamidi Society. He opened a sales outlet in Buffalo, New York, where the founders of the Arabian Horse Club found him when they were looking for information about the Hamidie horses in 1909. In his letters of April 16, 1909 and April 19, 1909 to H.K. Bush-Brown, first secretary of the club, he said: “Price was no object to us when we were able to secure of every tribe the purest blood horse they had from Anazeh, and the surround… but Nejdma was a star of the 40 horses and not only that, I do not think that any better horse ever been imported to this country as good as this mare and it is hard to find at present time in the desert of Arabia as pretty as Nejdma.” And: “P.S. I knew later that Mr. Homer Davenport secured Nejdma the best of them all.”

In November, 1929, in connection with the importation and registration of *Saada 721, Bistany wrote to H.S. Gregory, then secretary of the Arabian Horse Club: “In the year of 1893 the Hamadie Society Company of which I was a stockholder imported forty-two 2 Arabian Horses for the Chicago World’s Fair. Nejme, one of the best of this importation was my particular Mare… In 1906 while I was crossing from Constantinople to Syria, I met the late Mr. Homer Davenport who informed me that he owned two colts from the mare Nejme. Later in Syria I helped him secure the Arabian Horses he imported that year to this country.”

Randolph Huntington attended the Chicago World’s Fair, no doubt especially to see the Arabian horses exhibited there. Huntington’s writing is always hard to interpret, as he was a difficult person, finding fault with every horses he did not own and unable to get along with most other Arabian horse fanciers. Despite these drawbacks, he could be a most intelligent observer of the Arabian horse scene.

Huntington wrote to Spencer Borden, June 20, 1899: “In 1893 at the Chicago Worlds Fair, he (Ramsdell) grew wild for a mare or two from the so called Bedouin collection… I was there in April (1893)… Again I was there in July and still again in August, taking Vidal with me. It was then (the last time) that Ramsdell got red hot for one of the mares, and Vidal selected one of the chestnuts for him… I was amazed, and… took them both to the grey mare Nedjma… I had handled the mare many times with the old ExShaikh, and new all that ever will be known. The old man called her a Kehilan Ajuz which has no definite meaning other than purebred, but of an unknown family… We concluded she was a stolen mare. She was at that time a dangerous mare to stranger. Without provocation, she would dive her teeth into one furiously, so that the old man always stood at her shoulder when I was examining her head, ears, eyes, glands, and mouth. She could break a mans arm or ribs as quick as a flash 3 ; but was the best mare there, so I figured to get her for Ramsdell. They wanted $10,000 for her… Asdikian got refusal of Nedjma for Ramsdell, at $2500…” Ramsdell did not conclude the deal at that time, *Nejdme went through the auction and was purchased by C. Kindorf. Huntington refers to Kindorf as a saloon keeper, and says: “The saloon keeper bustered her off hock (an enormous blood spavin), then sold here to Ramsdell for $650… Then Ramsdell bargained with me to send Nimr to his place to serve her in 1895, after she should have produced a foal in her by a thoroughbred horse to which the saloon keeper had bred her.”

Avedis G. Asdikian was a young man from Armenia, in the Turkish Empire, who attended Cornell University as a special student in agriculture. Following his course work there, he was employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and at the time of the Fair, was excused to serve on the Commission for exhibits at the Fair from the Turkish Empire. As part of his duties, he spent time with the Hamidie Society people and horses, and wrote of them later. He is also said to have prepared the sale bill by which the horses were sold by Tattersall’s of Chicago.

In The Horseman in 1897, Asdikian wrote: "Among the mares the grey Nedjma took the palm. For a long time her pedigree was kept by Hadji Hassan and after the old man left Chicago it passed into the hands of one of the clerks, who refused to return it until

2 – Before The Hamidie Society left for Chicago, Sultan Abdul Hamid II added two black horses to go to the World’s Fair. They did not go on the same ship with the rest of the horses, and news of them in Chicago is scarce. The Hamidie Society itself had 40 horses only. 3 – This comment may have indicated that *Nejdme had been trained as a guard mare, something which the Bedouins did from time to time.

However, it is important to note, from the Ramsdell brochure, how well *Nejdme fitted into American life. Also, note the contrast with the

Asdikian description.

his wages were paid. This document is still in existence, but not in the possesion of the owner of horse. Hundreds of times I saw this document and read it. She was ‘a pure Kehilan of the purest’ and belonged to the Ajuz substrain, yet she has been written up as a Seglawi, by what authority I do not know. For many months it was a puzzle to me why this magnificent purebred mare was ever sold to go out of the desert. Was she stolen? Hadji Hassan said No! because he got her from her owner at 900 Turkish Liras ($4,200). Whenever I asked this question Hassan was as mute as a clam and repeated refused to give me a direct answer. [These two statements are contradictory, of course.] ‘If you people know anything about horses, watch and find out’ was all he would say. I did watch day and evening, for over six months, but could see nothing wrong with her. She was as sound as a ‘new-milled doallar’ and had no blemish. When ridden by Hassan she was full of life and like a purebred Arab, she was as docile and gentle as a lamb in her stall. About three weeks after the fair, while the men were still lingering at the grounds, I noticed that Nedjma was in use [in season]. I called my old friend and asked if I was correct. He said: ‘Yes — that mare has been in use for five years.’ It was plain now. When three years old she had one colt, but she would never breed again. At the time of which I write she was eight years old (foaling date 1885). This is the reason why Nedjma was sold to be taken to this country. The first offer made for this mare was $3,500 by a wealthy lady. The directors refused to sell her, contrary to the commissioner’s advice. In fact, the mare had attracted so much attention that the price put on her was $10,000… At the auction sale she was purchased for $1,200 by the receiver, who sold her afterwards for $800 to J.A.P. Ramsdell.” *Nejdme’s breeding problems, if any, must have been easily straightened out, as we can see from the list of foals she produced.

The sales list describes *Nejdme as follows: “Nedjma. No. 1. Gray mare; 14 3/4 hands; foaled 1887; breed, Kehilan-Ajuz.” “Descriptive List of Imported Arabian Horses to be sold at public auction… by Tattersall’s of Chicago, Limited… Friday, January 4, 1894.” Copy with “Marked by Asdikian” on cover, x’s by horses marked “Good.” xx’s by horses marked “Choicest of the lot,” with an xx by *Nejdme.

“News of the Arab Horses in America” column in The Rider and Driver, December 16, 1893, page 21. “Mr Ramsdell, of Newburgh, has bought the gray Seglawi-Jedran Arab mare from the Sheik in charge of the Arab encampment in the Middway Plaisance. Mr. Vidal investigated her antecedents, and assures us that she is the genuine article, well worth the price asked for her.” (Note: the sale did not go through at the time of this item, and *Nejdme went through the Tattersall’s auction on January 4, 1894.)

“Sale of Arabian Horses”, reported in The Breeder’s Gazette, January 10, 1894, page 28. “Nedjma, gray mare, 14 3/4 hands, foaled 1887 — C. Kindorf, Chicago $1,200.” The $1,200 price was below what had been asked for the mare privately, but topped the sale and was well above the sale average of $300. This was at a time when a gentleman’s hack might be purchased for $175–$200.

J.A.P. Ramsdell published a small brochure about 1897, giving a detailed description of *Nejdme as he saw her: “The Arabian Mare Nedjme. Imported 1893. Arab Stud Farm, Newburgh, New York.”

“Few horses come to America under more picturesque conditions than the grey Arab mare Nedjme. When at the World’s Fair

Believed to be *Nejdme. Photo pasted on the front cover of The Arab Horse, by Spencer Borden. This same view is used in the R.H. Davis article, “Davenport and His Farm,” Woman’s Home Companion, November, 1906, along with a similar photo of *Obeyran.

in 1893, Mr. Ramsdell heard through the Turkish Commissioner that among the Arab horses brought over by the ‘Hamidie Society’ one was as pure in blood as could be found in the desert, the mare Nedjme, a Keheilet Ajuz. Hadje Memmed, the Sheik who raised her, consented to bring her to this country in the hope that he might realize enough money by her sale to keep him and his family in affluence for the rest of their lives. He had intended taking her to England, where a mare of this cast[e] would be eagerly sought after by the English Arab enthusiasts. Lady Ann[e] and Mr. Blunt, of Sussex, England, paid 1,000 pounds ($5,000) to the Anazah tribes of the desert for a mare of this breed. Nedjme’s pedigree was investigated and declared faultless by Mr. Randolph Huntinton, of Oyster Bay, Long Island, the well known breeder of Arabs and Americo-Arabs, and by Mr. F.F. Vidal, of Suffolk, England, who is considered authority on Arabian horses. Mr. Vidal visited this country in the Summer of ’93 by invitation of the Columbian Committee, to act as judge of Arabs in the livestock exhibit at the World’s Fair. Had Mr. Vidal not been a personal friend of Mr. and Mrs. Ramsdell, Nedjme would have been taken by him to England at the close of the Fair.

“Nedjme’s price in August, 1893, was $10,000, a sum our trotting horsemen would consider extortion for a grey-white mare with not a drop of Hambeltonian [sic] blood in her veins, and whose

The most commonly seen photo of *Nejdme, above left. The other horses appear to be: foreground right, suspected to be Kibaby; bay with faint star and snip behind *Nejdme, *Koubishan 113; bay with star, Haddad; chestnut far left, *Mannaky 294.

ancestors never trotted a race. However this may be, the old sheik stood firm for his price, and not till he had been tricked, shamefully treated and his mare seized for debt, did he abandon his hopes and turn his face homeward, like many others, who came to this country in 1893, thinking to take a fortune back. It was often a saddening spectacle to note the disappointment and pathos on the faces of the foreign exhibitors, no doubt augmented by their inability to speak or understand our language. The old Sheik had been lured here… to lend picturesqueness to their camp and show, called the “Wild East”, in contrast to Buffalo Bill’s “Wild West”. This show was situated at the extreme end of the Midway Plaisance, and was well worth a visit, as the game Jareed played on horseback by the Arabs, is a wonderful exhibition of skill and agility, to which even ordinary Arab horses can be trained.

“It was only on rare occasions that Nedjme and her master took part in this game, as the old Sheik feared to subject his favorite to the risk of quick runs, sharp turns and sudden halts, the space allotted to the game being far too small. Hedje Memmed had a tent entirely to hims and in sight of Nedjme’s stall, and I was told the pair often spent the nights together. I have many times read of the devotion of the Arab to his horse, but this was the first occasion I had seen it demonstrated. Nedjme would follow the old man like a dog, and rub her soft nose against his face and neck, while he would talk to her and whisper his queer Arab gibberish into her velvet ear, and pass his hands over her lovely dark eyes. It is almost impossible to imagine such a perfect understanding between a man and horse. He would bring her out with simply a cord around her neck, and if he felt in a pleasant humor, leap on her back, going through the most astounding feats of horsemanship without bit, whip or spur. Then, as we pleased him by our evident admiration and respect, he would make us sit down and have coffee with him, this being a mark of special friendship among the Arabs. His manner and bearing were very courteous and quite superior to the rest of the company. Even their roughness softened when they spoke to him, and they always included Nedjme in their respect. Months went by and Nedjme finally passed into the hands of a receiver who bid her in and held her. After many negotiations she came into the possession of Mr. Ramsdell, who knows her value as a brood mare.

“Nedjme is 14.02 hands high, and twelve years old. She is almost white, with the thinnest blue-black skin; her head is a typical Arab’s, not too small, deep though the jowl, large in the brain space, with the forehead (called by the Arabs the jibbah) well developed; her eyes are very large and set in Arab fashion, rather lower in her face than in that of our horses; around them the hair is thin and shows very perceptibly the black skin; this mark of breeding is very much valued by the Arabs. The skin of the eyelids, lips and nostrils is extraordinarily fine and the opening of the latter small when she is quiet, but expands splendidly when she moves.

“The ‘mitbah’, where the head joins the neck, is very gracefully cut, and she has plenty of room for the wind-pipe, there being rarely a wind-broken horse among the ‘Air drinkers of the Desert.’ Her ears are long and thin, with a quick but not nervous movement and when forward point inward. Her neck is long and well set on, shoulders running very far back; she is well ribbed up and has to perfection the far famed carriage of the tail, having the effect of being ‘thrown on’, so perfect is the arch, and carried at such height. Her hocks are strong and large. The legs are perfect, the feet blue and rather cup-shaped. Until she came to Newburgh she had never been driven, but is now broken double and single, which considering her age speaks well for her disposition. She shows good speed and action in harness. Mr. Ramsdell’s idea is that the Arab is ‘par excellence’ the animal for combined saddle and road use, and crossed with our native mares will produce a perfect horse for gentlemen’s work having gracefulness of makeup and carriage, and the best of dispositions, with sufficient speed and a hardy constitution, enabling him to do the work of two orderinary horses.”

The next three quotes are from Homer Davenport, who saw the mare in Chicago, admired her for years, and finally was able to acquire her and breed a foal from her. The frist two quotes are from his Catalog of Worlds Fair Arabians, 1906-7, privately printed.

“A gray mare, Nedjma, supposed to be the best of the lot, was the property of Mrs. J.A.P. Ramsdell, of Newburgh, New York. Few Arabian horses could show finer type than this mare, though her pedigree had been stolen by a young Syrian, who took it to California, hoping that he would receive a big reward for returning it. It had been seen by many before the theft, stating that she was a Kehilet Ajuz and that she had come from the great Anazeh tribe.”

“On the ship from Constantinople to Beiruit[sic], en route to the desert, I was fortunate to meet Mr. Bistani, a Syrian merchant, of Buffalo, New York, who informed us that he had lost upwards of $80,000 in financing the company known as ‘The Hamid Hippodrome Company’, that came to the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, he having paid the money for the purchase of the horses and mares, and he remarked that in our entire travels over the desert we would not find the equal of the gray mare Nedjma that was included in that importation, and he said that she was a Kehilet Ajuz, one of the finest specimens of that family… He talked for an hour on the rarity of blood of the gray mare which is still owned by Mrs. Ramsdell, of Newburgh, and told of the trouble they had in getting her from the Anazeh.”

The third quote is from Davenport’s postumously published article, “The Arabian Horse” in The Rasp, Ft. Riley, Kansas, 1912: “In 1893 there came to the Chicago World’s Fair nearly forty head of very high-class Arab horses, brought under special permission of the Sultan of Turkey. They were collected on the plains near Damascus and were culled from the tribes of northern Syria by a competent board of picked men… Many of them died the first winter, mainly from the hard use they had had during the previous summer in the unaccustomed heat of Chicago; yet several are still alive today. Nedjma, the very finest of the entire outfit, a white mare, now in her thirty-second year, is alive and well and has foaled many splendid specimens of pure Arabs in America.”

The Jockey Club’s The American Stud Book was the first place *Nejdme was registered, in Volume VII, 1898, page 1128.

“NEDJME, gr. m., foaled 1881 [she’s getting older — perhaps the 7 in 1887 was mistaken for a 1]; bred by Hadje Memmed Damascus, Syria. Imported 1893 to Chicago, by the Hamidie Society, owned by J.A.P. Ramsdell, Hamlock Glen, Newburg, N.Y. By a Seglawi Jedran sire, dam a Kehilet Ajuz mare. Produce — 1895, b.c. Alhama by imp. Henry. 1896, dk. gr. c. Nogailah by Nimr. 1897, r.f. Alruna by Shahwan.”

Volume VIII in 1902 adds the information that Alruna died in June, 1899, and that additional foals were born: “1898, gr. f. Nonliker by Shahwan 1898, gr. f. Najine by Garaveen.”

Volume IX in 1906 adds to *Nejdme’s impressive credentials as a broodmare: “1900, gr.c. Yaquis by Garaveen. 1901, gr.f. Natick by Garaveen. 1903, gr.c. Negus by Garaveen. 1905, b.f. Nanda by Garaveen.”

It is of interest that Najine, one of *Nejdme’s daughters by Garaveen, entered production in 1905 with a chestnut filly named Regan by Bekboolat, an Orloff-Arabian stallion imported in 1893 for exhibition at the Chicago World’s Fair by the Russian Government. Bekboolat had been highly admired and was registered by the Jockey Club as a purebred Arab, despite the fact that an OrloffArabian was similar to an Anglo-Arabian or Arabian-Trotter cross in breeding.

Volume X in 1910 adds another foal to *Nedjme’s list, Joklan, a 1906 gr.c. by *Garaveen. *Nejdme’s entries in the Arabian Horse Club studbooks are very similar to those in the Jockey Club, although the Jockey Club spelled her name “Nedjme.” The birthday “1881”, breeder “Hedje Mehmed, Damascus, Syria”, and strain of Kuhaylat-Ajuz by a Saqlawi-Jidran agree in essentials with the Jockey Club. *Nejdme had yet another foal in her, however, and an interesting one at that. Homer Davenport had long yearned to own *Nejdme, and he finally succeeded in 1909. No doubt Mr. Ramsdell felt that she was out of production, as no foal had appeared since 1906. Davenport bred *Nejdme to *Euphrates, a Saqlawi al Abd stallion he had imported as a colt from the Anazeh in 1906. This breeding produced Jerrede, a bay stallion of exceptional beauty. After Davenport’s death, W.R. Brown acquired Jerrede, but he did not use him at stud because Davenport had not registered his horses with the Jockey Club. Spencer Borden, an outspoken and crusty character, had not gone along with Davenport and friends when they began the Arabian Horse Club, and he had also served as a mentor to W.R. Brown.

One June 14, 1917, Spencer Borden wrote Brown about Jerrede: “As I already wrote you, I like my stock better than yours. I especially do not care for your stallions. You are accustomed to plain talk from me, and I believe it has always been for your good.

“The best mature horse you have is the Euphrates colt. When I was last in the Jockey Club… I told Mr. Rowe I believed the horse

so true to type and so good, that… he should be registered by the Jockey Club.”

Brown decided to go to work, and before Lady Anne Blunt died in 1918, he had *Euphrates and his dam, *Urfah, registered with the Jockey Club, at least partly through Lady Anne’s certification. Jerrede was duly registered with the Jockey Club and used as a stallion by Brown.

Several more foals are listed under *Nejdme’s entry in some of the early studbooks, but these were evidently foals of her granddaughter, Nejdme III, as they were also entered under the name of Nejdme III, were sired by *Nejdran, and were bred by the Tullys in California. The Tullys did own *Nejdran and Nejdme III, but we have seen no record that they had ever owned *Nejdme herself.

Looking over this material, it is easy to see that it is not all in perfect agreement. This is why research into early records is so frustrating. If you are fortunate enough to find several items of information, the odds are that the items will not agree with each other. It is a mistake to be disheartened, however, as this is far more likely to be the norm than the exception. Almost the only time there are no discrepancies are when you have virtually no information on a subject at all!

One thing all of these people agreed on, however, was the exceptional quality of *Nejdme. How lucky we were that she became our “first lady”!

Representative Produce of *Nejdme

Left, top to bottom: Nonliker, by *Shahwan; Najine, by *Garaveen; and Jerrede, by *Euphrates. Right, top to bottom: Yaquis, by *Garaveen; and Onrust, by *Garaveen out of *Nonliker.

POPINJAY 1992-2020 Poppy came to us in 2006 and made us fans of the Davenport Arabians with his amazing personality, correct conformation and athleticism. Such a blessing to have owned such a fine horse. He will be sorely missed.

Photo: Christine Cooper

Photo: Christine Cooper

Left: Aristotle Gold (Popinjay x Golden Sun Fairy by Atticus) Right: Qusaye Gold (Shiraz CF x Golden Poppet by Popinjay)

My Golden Farm Web site: goldencmk.com goldencmk@aol.com 8792 CR 135, Kaufman, TX 75142