Al Khamsa History
Ancestral Elements Series: Huntington
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. 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.
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HUNTINGTON
Randolph Huntington established his Arabian stud farm in New York in 1888. It was the first Arabian farm in the United States with modern-day descendants. Although he did not personally import horses directly from the desert, certain horses are included under his name as a matter of long-standing tradition in American breeding. Huntington had a great enthusiasm for horses of the Mu’niqi strain and acquired horses primarily of that strain. Huntington imported horses just one or two generations from the desert from breeders in England. Haidee and Yataghan had been selected by Mr. Skene, H.M. Consul of Aleppo, the agent and one-time partner of the Blunts. The term HUNTINGTON applies to the following Foundation Horses. • Haidee (GSB) 1869 chestnut mare • *Kismet 1877 chestnut stallion • *Leopard 1873 grey stallion • Maidan (GSB) 1869 chestnut stallion
• Yataghan (GSB) 1867 chestnut stallion
HAIDEE (GSB) An 1869 chestnut Ma’naqiyah Hudrujiyah mare of the marbat of Ibn Sbayyil (or Ma’naqiyah Sbailiyah) purchased by Mr. James Henry Skene, H.M. Consul at Aleppo, for Mr. Arthur Sandeman and imported in 1874 to England by Sandeman. By a Ma’naqi Hudruji out of a Ma’naqiyah Hudrujiyah (of Ibn Sbayyil). NOTES: The above information (except for the Sbaili family) is from the entry for Haidee in Weatherby’s General Stud Book, Vol. XIII, p571. Entry #3262 in the Raswan Index describes Haidee as purchased by Maj. Roger Upton for Mr. Skene. This entry also shows Haidee as bred by Shaykh Sulayman Ibn Murshid of the Qumusah section of the Saba’ah tribe. Upton made two trips to the desert: in late 1874 and again in early summer 1875, both times with Mr. Skene. The GSB shows the 1874 Skene/Sandeman horses as a different importation from the 1875 Upton/Chaplin horses, including Kesia I, among others. It appears that the two importations should not have been completely separated. A letter from Upton quoted by Rev. Francis Furse Vidal to Randolph Huntington [Chard, 1942] corroborates Upton’s connection to Haidee, of the 1874 Sandeman group. This letter from Upton also indicates that Haidee was of the Ibn Sbayyil marbat of the Ma’naqi Hudruji. [See the entry for Kesia I (GSB), p181, and the extended note under Yataghan (GSB), p223.] Dam of 1 registered foal:
AN EXISTING AL KHAMSA DAM LINE
*Naomi 1877 cm by Yataghan (GSB) (1877 is the birthdate shown in the GSB for *Naomi. Huntington claimed the mare to have been imported to England in-utero from the desert. The extended note under Yataghan (GSB) indicates that this might have been possible. However, if *Naomi was imported inutero and if the 1874–5 importation date shown in the GSB is correct, *Naomi would have been foaled in 1875–6 and the 1877 foaling date shown for her in the GSB would have been incorrect.) 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.
Unreferenced page numbers refer to Al Khamsa Arabians III.
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