Ancestral Elements Series: *Mirage & *Nejdran

Al Khamsa History Ancestral Elements Series: MIRAGE & *NEJDRAN

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; V31.2: HEARST; V31.3: HUNTINGTON; V31.4: INSHASS; V32.1: JALAWI.

Terminology: a hujjah (hujaj, plural) is a signed and sealed document of evidence/testimony about a thing. In Al Khamsa terms, this means an Arabic testimony about the provenance of an Arabian horse. When such a document survives, it is the most important information about an Arabian horse.

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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.

This issue we are looking into two stallions that occupy their own self-named Ancestral Elements, as neither fit into a standard group, such as BLUNT or SA’UD.

MIRAGE • *Mirage 1919 grey stallion NEJDRAN • *Nejdran 1896 chestnut stallion

*MIRAGE 790 c1919 grey Saqlawi Jidran Dali’ stallion bred by the Saba’ah tribe and acquired by al-Dahamishah section of the ‘Amarat tribe, which sold him to King Faysal of Iraq. *Mirage was imported to France by King Faysal where he was presented to the Italian Ambassador Signor de Martino. De Martino then exported *Mirage to England where he was purchased by Lady Wentworth at Tattersall’s auction house in 1923. Imported in 1930 to the USA by Roger Selby. By a Kuhaylan ‘Ajuz of the ‘Anazah out of a Saqlawiyah Jidraniyah of the Saba’ah

NOTES: The above information (except for transfers of ownership after receipt by King Feisul) is from a translation of the hujjah for *Mirage on file at the Arabian Horse Trust. *Mirage’s date of birth is given as 1909 in Vol. IV of the AHC stud books, but this is corrected in Vol. V. Records of ownership are from Archer, et al. [1978, p108]. Sire of 26 foals, including: Peraga 1932 gm out of Slipper Pera 1933 gm out of Slipper Batu 1935 bg out of Slipper Agwe 1936 gs out of *Hilwe Geyama 1937 cm out of *Kiyama [Rafeef (BLT) x Julnar by *Abu Zeyd out of Kabila, by Feysul (APS) out of Kibla, by Mesaoud (APS) out of Makbula* (APS)] Yamage 1938 gs out of *Kiyama [above] Rasmir 1938 gs out of Rasasah [*Saoud x Aatika] Adonis 1939 gs out of Curfa Kae 1939 gm out of Keturah Kymir 1939 gm out of Charmain Idol 1939 gs out of *Selmnab [Nawab, by *Astraled out of Nefisa (BLT) x Simrieh, by Seyal (BLT) out of Selma (BLT)]

*Kibla’s dam was erroneously shown in Al Khamsa Arabians III as Mabruka (BLT).

Both head portraits, and opposite, by George Ford Morris. Below left, with Lady Wentworth at Crabbet in the UK. Below right at Roger Selby’s stud in Ohio. *Mirage hujjah We the undersigned testify that the ash-colored horse and his age is seven years is a Saqlawi Jidran Dali’ bred by the Arabs of Saba’ah of the tribe of ‘Anazah and it is a famous origin; the tribe of al-Dahamishah bought him and sold him to the General Haddad Pacha in the name of His Eminence the King of Iraq Faysal I. His dam is Saqlawiyah Jidran, his sire is Kuhaylan ‘Ajuz from ‘Anazah. Edited on 17 June 1927 The Director [illegible signature]

Notes: al-Dahamishah is one of the main sections of the Amarat ‘Anazah (now settled in Northern Saudi Arabia). Saqlawi al-Dali’ is a famous substrain of the Saqlawi Jidran. Many old Lebanese horses from the 1920s and 30s trace to a Saqlawi al-Dali’ horse. Who knows — it might have been *Mirage’s brother or nephew or uncle. This was a very small marbat. ~ Edouard Al-Dahdah, 2005

*NEJDRAN 48 1896 chestnut Saqlawi Ubayri stallion imported in 1902 to England by Captain W.I. Gaisford, and imported in 1904 to the USA, where owned by Homer Davenport.

NOTES: The above information is from the 1909 Arabian Horse Club stud book, although the birth date is according to Davenport’s Worlds Fair Catalog 1906–07. The 1904 importation date was given correctly in the 1909 stud book, incorrectly as 1906 in Vols. II, III and IV, and corrected to 1904 in Vol. V. All volumes of the AHC stud books show Homer Davenport as the importer of *Nejdran except for Vol. I (1913), which omits importation data for almost all entries.

However, according to a 1910 letter from Captain Gaisford to H.K. Bush-Brown, then AHC Secretary, *Nejdran was sold in 1904 to an unidentified Harvard student who imported him to the USA. The letter also indicates that *Nejdran was purchased in Beirut from “Raschild.” This letter was reprinted [Dirks & Dirks, 1992]. A letter (no date) from Davenport to Lady Anne Blunt, quoted in Journals and Correspondence, p486, says “5 years ago I bought on landing here [New York] a very pretty sorrel Arab horse that was supposed to be brought out of the desert by a Captain Gainsford.” [sic] The parenthetical insert is by the editors of Journals and Correspondence, who date the letter June, 1908. Sire of 3 foals: Nejdran Jr 1906 cs out of Sheba Nejdrez 1912 bs out of Nejdme III Seriha 1913 km out of Nejdme III

Three more images of *Nejdran. The middle image was taken at “Davenport’s Farm”, a large exhibit that Homer Davenport created at the 1905 Lewis & Clark Exposition in Oregon. This image was at a log cabin at one end of his “farm”, and shows Homer and his wife Daisy, their three children, Homer’s father (holding the youngest child). At left, Homer holding *Nejdran, presumably fairly soon after he purchased him. *Nejdran was later sold to Mrs. Eleanor Gates Tully in California, where there are a number of newspaper photographs of him at fairs and events, often under saddle. There he also sired his last two foals.