The Strain of Saqlawi Jedran

The Saqlawi strain belongs to Al Khamsa, decending to the five famous mares of the prophet Mohammed. The name is derived from saqla, meaning kicking.

Among the many Saqlawi families the Saqlawi Jedran (also spelled Gidran) are the most common and famous. For the name Jedran two possible explanations are handed down: Either from Jidran, one of three sons of Ibn Ad Derri of the Gomussa beduins. Or from the clan Al Judran of the Rualas, derived from Jebel Jidran in Asir, there the Ruala had lived in past times before they migrated north (after 1790 with the upcoming of the Wahabbites).

Count Rzewuski records in his book that the Saqlawi Jedran are the most highly regarded and best horses among the bedouins.

As early as the beginning of the 19th century some most influential Arabians of the Saqlawi Jedran line came to Europe. Bairaktar 1813, a white Saqlawi Jedran imported to the royal stud of Weil, Württemberg, Germany established a sire line active until today:

    Bairaktar 1813 and his son Amurath 1829, chief sires at Weil. At the royal stud of Weil the Saqlawi Jedrans were favoured and most sires imported from Arabia belonged to this strain.

   Amurath 1881 (left), chief sire at Weil and later Radautz, was inbred to Bairaktar 14 times and called the sire of the century. Amurath Sahib 1932 (right) was one of the main stallions in post war Poland and the last asil stallion in historic Poland.

Siglavy Or.Ar. 1810, bred by the Bani Sakr in Syria, imported to Austria in 1816, was maternal grandsire of Amurath 1829 and also founded a sire line in the Lippizan breed! In 1819 the Saklawi Jedran stallion Goumousch-Bournou was imported from Syria to Weil through count Rzewuski.

Abbas Pasha

Abbas Pasha was born in Egypt 1813, when his father Tousson Pasha fought against the Wahabbites in Arabia. Abbas was Grandson of Mohammed Ali, Wali or Viceroy of Egypt, a native Albanian. His father Tousson Pasha died early and so his brother, Ibrahim Pasha, continued successfully the campaign against the Wahabbites from 1816 to 1818.

As war booty Mohammed Ali and Ibrahim Pasha came in the possession of the best horses of central Arabia. From both his relatives Abbas Pasha could later obtain horses.

In 1831 in order to gain independence from Constantinople Mohammed Ali sent his son Ibrahim against the Turcs in Palestine and Syria. The campaign lasted until 1833 and ended in the peace treaty of Kütahya. During seven years the beduin tribes had to pay tribute to the Egyptians in form of horses, until in 1840 Mohammed Ali´s governement of the Vilayet Syria ended, after the Turcs had defeated the Egyptians with the help of  British and French forces. 

Abbas Pasha, on the other hand, had actively taken part in the Syrian campaign of his uncle Ibrahim and had established close ties with the beduins, especially with the Ruala tribe, from which he could buy quite a few of the 16 stallions and 136 mares, which belonged to him in 1836, when he was just 24 year old . He also succeeded in importing some of the best breeding stock from the Nedsch. Faisal Ibn Saud, whom Abbas is said to have helped to escape imprisonment in Cairo, assisted him in aquiring the pick of desert mares, among them the famed Jellabiyah known as Wazira. One very old Saqlawiah mare that Abbas bought for an incredible amount of gold was brought to Egypt from Hail on a cart drawn by oxen.

In 1848 Abbas Pasha succeeded his uncle Ibrahim Pasha to the Wali of Egypt, who had been viceroy for just one year and seven months. Abbas Pasha´s collection of Arabians had already become legendary in his own times and is unrivalled until today. Abbas Pasha was murdered in 1854. All remaining of his horses were eventually sold off in auction in December 1860, after his son El Hami Pasha had become bankrupt. Who bought all those horses (Baron von Huegel counted 320)? 20 went to the Italian government, 18 to the French, 2 to the Austrian and 5 to Weil. Among the latter was the stallion Ghadir (Gadir) 1848, a Saqlawi Jedran, who was used as sire at Weil until 1866. Baron von Huegel gave us a description of Ghadir:

"He was the most esteemed chief sire in the stables of Abbassie of the late viceroy Abbas Pasha of Egypt and distinquished himself through fertility and consistently good, namely big and strong offspring. It is rare luck being able to obtain such a noble Arabian stallion... He is marked by the highest refinement of the head, of its outline, hair and mane, as well as by a rare harmony of proportions; the connection between head and neck, which often leaves much to be desired in Arabian stallions, the length of neck, the deep, well laid-back shoulder, the long croup, the cleanness of legs, strength of sinews and especially the correct hocks and hind legs, must be apparent to any knowledgeable horseman." Von Huegel also narrates that Ghadir was a present by Faisal Ibn Saud in gratitute for Abbas` gift of freedom. Besides Ghadir three mares and one more stallion of the auction came to Weil. Some years before Abbas Pasha had already given three horses to the king of Württemberg, among them Koheil Aguse.

Most of Abbas Pasha´s horses were bought by Ali Bey, his father a native Albanian from the same town as Mohammed Ali. Ali Bey is well known to Arabian horse breeders under his later title Ali Pasha Sherif.

But we must not forget that from Abbas Pasha´s stud also horses went back to the beduins of Arabia. At least we have one account by Eduard Löffler in his book "Austrian Horse Buying Mission under R. v. Brudermann in Syria, Palestine and the desert" (1856 and 1857). He reports:

"In the whole at the camp of the Would Ali 23 horses have been bought, three stallions and twenty mares. ... Emir, a twelve year old bay stallion of the Ruala tribe, was a typical representative of Arabian type. He had been bought by Abbas Pasha, and after his death had returned to the tribe, there he was highly esteemed and had given the best offspring. All inquiries and questions regarding the way this stallion had been brought back to his tribe remained fruitless, and for sure some sort of raid or a similar story was behind this case. The fact that the stallion was a highly regarded animal in every aspect was demonstrated by the concourse of the beduins with their mares to be covered by Emir. His master indeed had only come to the camp because of this pupose and did not intend to sell the stallion. As mentioned he belonged to the tribe of the Ruala, but was well known to the Would Ali, and the sheikh El Duchi prized his get." In the end Emir could be bought by the Austrians for a sum they had never before given for a stallion. It is a pity Löffler does not give us Emir´s strain. It is quite likely that he was a Saqlawi Jedran if we consider his story and his reputation in the desert. Löffler also reports that the best horses could be found with the Would Ali, because the stock of the other tribes, especially the Ruala, had in the past years been selected by Abbas Pasha´s emmisaries.

The Saqlawiat are listed as the third preference among all the strains documented in the Abbas Pasha manuscript (Dahman and Koheilan Mimreh beeing first and second, althoug the Saqlawi is stated to be the most preferred among the beduins). The Abbas Pasha manuscript is a collection of information regarding the history of horses and strains from the beduins themselves that Aly Gamal Shamashirgi, also called Al Lallah, a mameluke and horse buying emissary of Abbas Pasha, compiled for his master.

Two Saqlawi - horses of Abbas Pasha bred on in Egyptian breeding until today: the stallion Zobeyni and the mare Ghazieh (El Zarka). Zobeyni is the direct grandgrandsire of Mesaoud that influenced the Arabian breed worldwide as chief sire of Crabbet Park, but Mesaoud´s direct sire line died out in Egyptian breeding. Ghazieh founded a female line through Ghazala El Beida with two branches through Bint Radia and Bint Serra respectively. Both branches gave us two important full brothers each: Shahloul and Hamdan in Egypt (Bint Radia) or Fa-Serr and Fay El Dine (Bint Serra) in the U.S.A..

Zobeyni

Zobeyni was a Saqlawi Jidran of the marbat of Ibn Zubayni of the Fid´an beduins, imported to Egypt prior to 1855 for Abbas Pasha. Zobeyni had his name after his breeder, a common usage at those times.

Raswan gives us Barrak Ibn Zubayni of the Fid´an as breeder and Barq as his sire, a Saqlawi Jidran of Ibn Sudan, belonging to Salih Ibn Zubayni of the Muhayd Fid´an and his dam Sununah, a Saqlawiah Jidraniyah of Ibn Sudan belonging to al-Sunan of the Fid´an. This implies that the Ibn Zubayni marbat directly descended from horses of Ibn Sudan. Lady Anne Blunt describes Zobeyni as a white original horse, a Saqlawi Jedran from Ibn Zubayni of the Mhayd ´Anazeh. Recent information give Ibn Zubayni as a member of a branch of Shumaylat, related to the Mhayd section of the Fid´an tribe (information from Al Khamsa).

However, according to the Abbas Pasha Manuscript the Ibn Zubayni marbat of the Saqlawi Jidran strain descends from a different line of the Jiraniyah than does the Ibn Sudan marbat of the Saqlawi Jidran. Thus Raswan´s information about Zobeyni´s pedigree has to be doubted. Al-Sunan or Abu Sunun, as the Abbas Pasha Manuscript narrates, was the breeder of Saqlawi Jidran horses of the Al Samniyat (named after Abu Sunun). The root mare of Al Samniyat was a grey (safra) mare that passed from Hadhud Ibn Jedran to Saud and then to Ibn Bassam, Ibn Mulheim (Mulhim, Milhem) and in the end to Abu Sunun of the Fid´an. At least the ancestors of Zobeyni have to be changed to Saqlawi Jidran horses of al Samni. The horses of Ibn Zobeyni are from the same origin as the horses of al Samniyat, or as it is written: The horses of Samniyat were blessed at both studs, that is Barrak Ibn Zobeynah and Abu Sunun.

Saklawi I   c.1886

Another stallion of the Saqlawi line became most important in Egypt, Saklawi I, a Saqlawi Jedran Ibn Sudan of the Ruala that was imported for Ali Pasha Sherif. Raswan shows Saklawi I as by a Saqlawi Jedran stallion of the Ruala named Khalil. Prince Mohammed Ali describes the sire of Saklawi II (i.e. Saklawi I) as a "Sacklawi of the Stud of Prince Ahmed. Gift to H.H. the Khedive Abbas II, descendant of horses from Abbas I." This informations are not contradictory if seen in the light of Löffler´s account of Emir, the stallion of the Ruala bought by the Austrians and said to be brought back to the desert from Abbas Pasha´s stud. Therefore Saklawi I could be a desert bred Arabian from the tribe of the Ruala and at the same time descending from Abbas Pasha´s stock.

Lady Anne Blunt gives us information about two old grey Saqlawis from Ali Pasha Sherif, the older and first described one could be Saklawi I, but she does not tell us their origin except that they are from Ali Pasha Sherif. 

Saklawi I had the following known offspring:

Sabbah, a Managieh Hadrujieh bred by Prince Ahmed Kemal (Sabbah is sire of Om Dalal 1899, root mare of Moniet El nefous)

El Halabi, a Saqlawi Jedran of Abu Amin Halabi

Saklawi II, a Dahman Shahwan out of El Dahma, Abbas Pasha Hilmi II, Prince Mohammed Ali

Bint Yamama, a Saqlawiah Jedraniah (Koheilah Jellabiah according to Raswan) out of Yemameh, Abbas Pasha Hilmi II, Prince Mohammed Ali (dam of Negma, see part three of the Saqlawi strain)

Hadba, a Hadbah Enzahiah out of Venus, Abbas Pasha Hilmi II (root mare of Nazeer)

Saklawi I became the origin of the greatest sire line worldwide through his son Saklawi II /Gamil Manial/Mansour/Nazeer. 

Saqlawi Jedran lines in Egyptian breeding and their origin

In part 2 to 4 of the Saqlawiyat we look at the root mares and the lines they could establish:

Part 2: Ghazieh through Serra and Radia/Ghadia

Part 3: Ghazieh through Bint Yamama

             Morafic 1956 (Nazeer X Mabrouka) - the most famous Saqlawi stallion of modern times!

        A stallion of the Lippizan breed showing Arabian and Andalusian influence

       Koheil Aguse, bought from Abbas Pasha by Baron von Hügel for the Weil stud

       Ghadir 1848, Saqlawi Jedran from the Nedsch, chief sire of Abbas Pasha and later Weil

          Salmah, an old Saqlawiah Jedraniyah mare in modern Syria

       Zobeyni c.1840 (painting by Vernet, identification is not sure)

       Mesaoud 1887 SGISud, bred by Ali Pasha Sherif and chief sire at the Blunt´s Crabbet Park stud, a direct grandgrandson of Zobeyni and at the same time going back in tail female line to Ghazieh of Abbas Pasha.

               Gulastra 1914 (Astraled X Gulnare out of Ghazala El Beida), Zobeyni sire line and Ghazieh tail female line and Maloof Hadiya 1987, an asil mare of pure Blunt descend of the Saqlawi Jedran strain, root mare Ghazieh (Doyle breeding, inbred to Gulnare and Gulastra).