Horse In History - Abbas Pasha Revisited

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AR ABI AN HORSE IN H I S T O R Y

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Arabian Horse Times • September 2007

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AR ABI AN HORSE IN H I S T O R Y

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by Linda White

t should come as no surprise that the first edition of The Abbas Pasha Manuscript and Horses and Horsemen of Arabia and Egypt during the Time of Abbas Pasha, 1800-1860, is priced at $500. The information and art in this 700-page book are found nowhere else. Translated, written and edited by Gulsun Sherif and Judith Forbis in 1993, this remarkable volume is lavishly illustrated with more than 400 unique pictures, paintings and drawings.

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Arabian Horse Times • September 2007

THE HUMAN SIDE OF THE DRAMA,

like the horses’ story, unrolls across the 19th century like a bolt of heavy damask. Several thousand years earlier, the Bedouin tribes of the desert were the first to recognize the extraordinary qualities of the horse that lived in the desert. Muhammad Ali, founder of the reigning dynasty of Egypt in the early 18th century, continued the passion begun centuries earlier among a succession of elite, discriminating breeders. Sending his agents out into the desert to acquire the most magnificent and precious of these treasures, M u h a m m a d Ali eventually assembled one of the largest and finest collections of desert Arabians in the history of the breed.

Abbas Pasha I (July 1, 1812 - July 16, 1854) of Egypt was a son of Tusun Pasha and a grandson of Muhammad Ali. He was raised under the watchful eye of his grandfather and reared in the desert. There, he gained a

Arabian Horse Times • September 2007

thorough foundation in Arabian lore. At the same time he became entranced with the beautiful, thin-skinned, large-eyed Bedouin horses his father had obtained from Abdullah ibn-Saud, as well as those accumulated by his uncle, Ibrahim Pasha.

When his grandson was 23, Muhammad Ali put Abbas in charge of the administration of the horse breeding stations.

Abbas Pasha’s absolute commitment to perpetuating these living masterpieces, according to the breeding practices of the Bedouins, set a new standard.

Abbas Pasha, determined to acquire the very finest of the breed, sent his emissaries to comb the desert, often enduring great hardships and danger, to seek out the most prized stallions and mares.

Aware of the great importance the Bedouin bestowed on the pedigree, Abbas Pasha paid huge sums of money to obtain those horses whose pedigrees were held in the highest esteem. He went to great

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lengths to ensure that these pedigrees were of first-class quality and unquestionably reliable.

The information gathered during this formidable quest was compiled into book form, known as the Abbas Pasha Manuscripts.

The young Abbas carefully studied the pedigrees and the offspring of particular stallions and mares, and was thereby able to get some of the best individuals and their foals. He was meticulous about keeping records of his animals’ origins and breeding histories, and spared neither time, money nor his own security to acquire, by whatever means necessary, the best of his grandfather’s and uncle’s horses.

Abbas I sent delegates all over Arabia to acquire the finest horses, bringing with them Bedouin grooms to care for them. His purebred Arabians were kept at three studs, one of which cost a million pounds to build. At one farm, Abbas I kept 300 camels to provide the foals with milk, a Bedouin custom. His passionate intent was to preserve the bloodlines of his grandfather’s once incomparable Arabian stud. It quickly became evident thathe loved them more than any Egyptian breeder since his 13th and 14th century predecessors.

The last of the great Mameluke Sultan horsemen was Barquq, who reigned from 1382 to 1390. When he died, he left 7,000 mares.

The horse business has never been immune to political intrigues, however. Abbas I formed friendly ties with Arab leaders, and in 1842, he helped engineer the escape from Cairo’s Citadel, where he had been held for ransom, of Prince Faisal ibn-Saud, exalted spiritual leader of the Wahabbi tribe. News of the escape reached

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his grandfather Mohammed Ali, but much to the surprise of all, the often-volatile old ruler remained calm, supposedly commenting, “This is a trick of grandson Abbas, but there must be some good reason for it.”

Indeed there was.

According to Carl Raswan, Faisal and Abbas I had first met while Faisal was being held captive in Cairo.

Their mutual love of horses, shored up with discussions of breeding, pedigrees and strains, led to a fast friendship.

After Faisal escaped and returned to the Nejd, he helped his new friend Abbas I acquire the choicest desert mares.

One of these was the famed Wazira, a Jellabiyah

Arabian Horse Times • September 2007

THE ARABIAN HORSE

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mare of wide renown. Through his stud, and particularly through the offspring of his mare Wazira, the Egyptian Arabian is the horse we know today. According to Al-Khamsa records, Wazira, also known as Jeelabiyet Feysul, was foaled c. 1842, the daughter of a desert-bred stallion and a Kuhaylah Jellabiyah mare.

She came into Abbas Pasha I’s hands c.

1846, acquired from Feysul Ibn Turki As-Sa’ud (grandfather of the first king of Saudi Arabia), who had obtained her from Muhammed Ibn Al Khalifa, who may have bred her, or obtained her, from the Atayban tribe.

When it came to be known that Mohammed Ali was fatally ill, the government of Turkey decided that Abbas I’s uncle, Ibrahim Pasha, should accede to the vice regency. Abbas I supposedly emigrated to Arabia because of a quarrel between him and his uncle, and he settled down among the Arabs of the Roala tribe. The death of Ibrahim in November 1848 made Abbas regent of Egypt. The following August 1849, upon the death of his grandfather, Muhammad Ali, who had been deposed in July 1848 because of his mental infirmity, Abbas succeeded to the pashalik and became the Pasha.

Abbas Pasha I now set out in earnest to gather the choicest Arabians and learned the ancient histories of the horses he had gotten, by means fair and foul, from the studs of Mohammed Ali and Ibrahim Pasha. Emissaries were sent to ask the original owners to recite their pedigrees, which were recorded and bound into the first stud manuscript.

“The best horses of the Nejd and elsewhere in the Arab world now belonged to Abbas I. According to researcher and breeder Judith Forbis, nothing like it had been seen since the days of Solomon,” wrote Jenny Robbins in the 18-24 November, 2004 issue of Al-Ahram.

Arabian Horse Times • September 2007

Abbas I sent delegates all over Arabia to acquire the finest horses, bringing with them Bedouin grooms to care for them.

His purebred Arabians were kept at three studs, one of which cost a million pounds to build.

Naseem (Skowronek x Nasra, by Daoud)

Abu Farwa (Rabiyas x Rissletta, by Naseem)

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His love of Arabians and his determined quest to obtain horses having first-class pedigrees reached such intensity that it is said he purchased, at prohibitive prices, almost all the Saqlawiyah Jidraniyah mares from the Anazeh tribe. It was also said that Abbas Pasha’s favorite strain was the Dahman Shahwan. Lady Anne Blunt mentions

Abbas Pasha’s grandfather Muhammad Ali.

in her private notes of 1882 that Ibn Sudan had reputedly sold their last mare to Abbas Pasha just prior to the pasha’s death—a bay mare, 15 years old, for which he paid 1,000 pounds. The mare was apparently in such poor condition that she had to be transported by wagon. Nevertheless, the pasha got several foals from her.

In addition to his luxurious stables, one of which cost 1 million pounds to construct, he built a library, which contained the efforts to document the pedigrees so faithfully recorded by the mameluke El-Lallah. Abbas Pasha I also engaged a select group of Bedouins from Arabia, from the Nejd, Anazeh, Ateybe and Muteyr tribes, to watch over and direct management of his stud, as well as to check recitations given of the horses’ histories for accuracy.

Prior to 1855, Abbas Pasha obtained Samha and Zobeyni, both of the Saqlawi Jedran strain, from Ibn Subeyni of the Mhayd-Fid’an. About 20 years later, the Blunts acquired Kars, an 1874 Saqlawi Jedran, also from Ibn Subeyni of the Mhayd Fid’an. The 1873 Saqlawi Jedran stallion, *Leopard, was a gift from the Sultan of Turkey to President U.S. Grant. According to Randolph Huntington (who used him in his breeding program) and to Raswan, *Leopard was bred by Jid’an Ibn Mhayd, who gave him to the Sultan. If this is so, *Leopard could have been an older brother of Kars.

The reputation of Abbas Pasha’s Arabians soon spread throughout the Arab and Christian worlds.

Many poems and paintings were inspired by

Abbas Pasha I also engaged a select group of Bedouins from Arabia, from the Nejd, Anazeh, Ateybe and Muteyr tribes, to watch over and direct management of his stud, as well as to check recitations given of the horses’ histories for accuracy.

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Arabian Horse Times • September 2007

THE ARABIAN HORSE

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their beauty. Abbas Pasha was assassinated in 1854, at the age of 41, having reigned as the viceroy of Egypt from Nov. 10, 1848 to July 13, 1854. He was reportedly killed by two of his servants in Benha Palace because of his extreme cruelty to those who worked for him. Lady Anne Blunt relates an earlier story that Abbas Pasha became infuriated with one of his grooms who forgot to have a horse shod and ordered that a red-hot horseshoe be nailed to the sole of the forgetful servant’s foot as punishment.

Time has proven that Abbas Pasha I made an incalculable contribution to Egypt and to the Arabian horse world in general. General historians tend to de-emphasize this aspect of his life, which was in fact his passion in life, and to condemn him on other, crueler economic and personal accounts.

Historian Nubar Pasha spoke of him as a true Turkish gentleman of the “old school.” He also was seen as a reactionary, morose and taciturn, who spent nearly all his time in his palace. As far as it was within his power, he undid the works of his grandfather, both good and bad. Among other things he abolished trade monopolies, closed factories and schools, and reduced the strength of the region’s army to 9,000 men. He was essentially inaccessible to Europeans, but he permitted construction of a railway from Alexandria to Cairo at the insistence of the British government.

When we look at early entries into the Arabian Horse Registry, we clearly see that Abbas Pasha I’s breeding strategies continue today. Records indicate than a little more than 50 years after Abbas Pasha got horses of Ibn Mhayd’s breeding, American breeder Homer Davenport acquired the 1899 mare *Wadduda, a Saqlawi Al-Abd.

Arabian Horse Times • September 2007

Priboj (Piolun x Rissalma, by Shareer)

Gulastra (Astraled x Gulnare, by Rodan)

*Wadduda was said to have been Ibn Mhayd’s favorite war mare. Abbas Pasha also got Ghazia and Sueyd, both Saqlawi Jedrans of Ibn Sudan, and Wadidah, a Shuwayman Sabbah, from the Roala tribe, sometime prior to 1855. In 1881, the Blunts imported to England the Kuhaylan Ajuz mare, Rodania I, whom they had gotten from the Roala tribe. In 1906, Davenport imported *Muson,

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Time has proven that Abbas Pasha I made an incalculable contribution to Egypt and to the Arabian horse world in general. General historians tend to de-emphasize this aspect of his life, which was in fact his passion in life, and to condemn him on other, crueler economic and personal accounts.

Skowronek (Ibrahim x Jaskolka)

Nazeer (Mansour x Bint Samiha, by Kazmeen)

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a Kuhaylan Abu Muhsin stallion, also bred by the Roala.

From the Muntifiq tribe Abbas Pasha got Qumiz, a Samhan-Hafi, while his successor, Ali Pasha Sherif, got Mahrousa, a Wadnan Khursan.

The stallion *Kismet, a MuniqiHadruj stallion who was imported into England in 1884, may have been from the Muntifiq, since he was described as a “Keheilan-Muntifik.” The Blunts’ Abayyan Sharrak stallion, Saadun, was also bred by the Muntifiq. Abbas Pasha I got the mare Shalfa, a Dahman Shawan, from the Banu Hajr tribe.

In 1897, Lady Anne Blunt reorganized her stud to provide a rallying point for the remnant of Abbas Pasha and Ali Pasha Sherif’s breeding programs. Her original intent was to exchange stock between Crabbet Park and the Sheykh Obeyd studs, but when two stallions died at sea on their way to Egypt, enthusiasm for two-way exchanges paled.

In any discussion of horses the Blunts imported from North Africa, Mesaoud is surely the most influential.

A bright chestnut with four white stockings, purchased from Ali Pasha Sherif, he was imported to England in 1891. Mesaoud’s significant sons were Seyal, Daoud, Nejef, Astraled, Nadir and Lal-I-Abdar. Arguably, the most famous was Astraled, one of whose sons was Gulastra, who went on to sire Rahas, the sire of Rabiyas, who sired Abu Farwa. Another Mesaoud son, Seyal, sired Berk, who established a line of Arabians known for their brilliant action.

Judging from photographs, the tall, handsome, charismatic and correct Mesaoud could win in today’s show rings. He apparently epitomized everything the Blunts were looking for. He would become one of the most influential Arabian stallions in the world and shows up in literally thousands of modern pedigrees of

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every strain. Often, breeders may consider in their stud book as root stock. Of these, Mesaoud to be principally a Crabbet, nearly half were bred at Sheykh Obeyd or Kellogg, or Spanish, or Russian, or at Crabbet Park. One was Kazmeen, or Davenport, or Maynesborough, who was sold to the E.A.O. in 1920 Arabian ancestor. Years ago, along with several other Crabbet however, on a handsomely horses. Kazmeen sired Bint Samih, displayed pedigree of noted who went on to produce Nazeer. straight Egyptian sire Shaikh Nazeer, whose influence has been Al Badi, we counted 13 crosses boundless, is only one example to Mesaoud. of Abbas Pasha I’s influence in Nearly every modern breeding modern Egyptian pedigrees. tradition has been enhanced by Skowronek (Ibrahim x Jaskolka) contributions from Crabbet Stud, is perhaps the most important and a robust Crabbet heritage stallion in Crabbet history, although maintains its own identity today. he was bred in Poland. When Lady Large numbers of Crabbet Arabians Wentworth, the Blunts’ daughter, saw were imported to the United States Skowronek at a horse show, she had to Abbas Pasha I

by Spencer Borden, W.R. Brown, Homer have him, rightly guessing that he would Davenport, W.K. Kellogg and Bazy Tankersley. In make an excellent outcross stallion for the Crabbet the 93 years the Stud operated, many of its horses mares. She bought him and began breeding him established other famous programs. Naseem, who to her mares, especially those of the Dajania and was sold to the Russian government with over 20 Rodania lines. The success of those crosses is a other Crabbet Arabians, stood at Russia’s Tersk matter of public record.

Stud for 17 years, where 19 of his daughters bred Just as that familiar, 200-year-old fable about on, as did his influential son Negatiw, the sire of George Washington’s chopping down the cherry *Naborr and Salon. The Crabbet mare Rissalma tree (and his subsequent, “I cannot tell a lie!” also had an enormous impact on the stud through disclaimer) continues to influence each new her son Priboj. generation of impressionable children, Abbas At the Egyptian Agricultural Organization Pasha I’s industry and devotion continue their (E.A.O.) Stud, 16 mares and 41 stallions are listed influence on today’s Arabian horse.

Arabian Horse Times • September 2007

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