Everyone who has studied Arabian horses' pedigrees knows them. Strange-sounding Arabic names such as are found under the names of stallions and mares in the old Studbook of the Netherlands Arabian Horse Club, 1952: HamdaniehunderA35; Managhueh Ibn Sbeyal (A65); Koheilet Ajuz of Ibn Rodan (A28), Kohaileh Foershal (A137), etc.

Like many registries the Dutch studbook commission decided that strain names would not be included in the new Register A, of H et Arabische Paardestamboek Nederland. Yet I believe they are of interest, and I will devote a few pages to them, especially since they still do appear in pedigrees.

In the original lineage documents for purebred Arabians imported from Arabia, there is no explicit designation of the horses being purebred Arabian. As a rule, the pedigrees are translated into English. The sire's and dam's strain names are given, as explained in the previous chapter.

In the 8th century, one spoke of ARABI when referring to purebred desert horses, but the term KUHAYLAN was later substituted. 'Kuhaylan' is the diminutive form of 'kuhl,' the black coloring used by Arabic women to make up their eyes. It refers to the black color of the very thinly-haired skin around a highly-bred Arabian horse's eyes. It is especially noticeable in greys. It looks as if the eyes had indeed been made up.

The written rendition of Arabic words is by no means uniform. Whereas the Dutch may render a certain sound with 'oe,' the Germans use 'u,' and the English '00.' The Arabs pronounce 'h' much like a soft 'ch,' but this may be rendered in Western languages as 'h,' 'ch,' or 'g.' The Arabic also has masculine and feminine forms for words, so it is understandable that the written forms of the same word could vary sharply; One may therefore see the forms Koheilan, Kohaylan, Kuhailan, Kochlan, Koheilah, Koheilet, etc.

Although 'Kuhaylan' has been used to denote all pure-blooded Arabian horses, it is more truly the name of one of the five most famous strains or families among Arabians, which are collectively known as AL KHAMSA or 'the five:' Kuhaylan, Saqlawi, Abayyan, Hamdani, and Hadban.

Aside from these five famous families, the Bedouins recognize about a dozen others, though these are less valued. In the literature we often find that some other strains are counted among AL KHAMSA, and Mu'niqi often replaces the Hamdani or the Hadban.

The other strains are (according to Raswan):
Dahman, fem. Dahmah
Mu'niqi, fem. Muniqivah
Shuwayman, fem. Shuwaynah
Milwah, fem. Miluwiyah
Mu'wajj, fem. Mu'wajjiyah
Rishan, fem. Rishah
Tuwaysan, fem. Tuwaysihah
Abu 'U rkub, fem. Umm U rkub
Jilfan, fem. Jilfah
Kubayshan, fem. Kubayshah
Rabdan, fem. Rabdah
Sa'dan, fem. Sa'dah
Samhan, fem. Samhah

These strains are to a great extent related to each other however. One could ask why the Bedouins separated their purebred horses into strains or families. Many a romantic explanation can be found.

The best-known myth is probably that of the Prophet and his thirsty mares. According to this legend, the Prophet corralled a hundred mares for a few days. A fresh mountain stream splashed quietly nearby, but the horses were not given a single drop of water. Finally, Mohammed opened the gates, and the thirsty horses galloped towards the stream, greedy for water. But before they could reach it Mohammed had his trumpeter sound the call to gather. Five mares left the herd without having drunk a sip, and galloped to the gathering place whinnying gladly.

Despite their burning thirst they had obeyed their master's call immediately; With a blessing he laid a hand on their manes one after the other and named them ABAYAH, KUHAYLAH, SAQLAWIYAH, HAMDANIYAH, and HADBAH. These five mares, AL KHAMSA, are supposed to be the foundation mares of all genuinely purebred Arabians.

Less well-known is the legend reported by the Emir Abd el Kader el Gazairi in his book, Al Safinat El Guiad (Beirut, 1948) : Long ago, when Yemen was afflicted with a drought, the horses fled with the wild animals to safer places. Their descendants appeared many years later in the Nedj, and were discovered by five Bedouins. The Bedouins could hardly believe their eyes. Overjoyed, they decided to capture some of these splendid horses. Day and night they watched them, to discover the well at which they slaked their thirst. Then, cautiousl~ they began to build a fence. At first, it was very wide in front, to allow the horses free access. When the horses first saw the fence, they were frightened, turned, and fled back to the desert. But that did not last very long. Driven by thirst, they returned, slipped through the wide opening, and drank their fill at the familiar well. In the course of the next few days, the men gradually narrowed the opening. The horses returned every day; After many days, the entrance was finally narrow enough for the men to close it quickly behind the horses. The trap was shut. There was no escape. With some difficulty, each Bedouin managed to catch a horse from the herd. Bareback, they started on their way back to camp. They had a long ride in front of them, and trapping the horses had taken so many days that their provisions were giving out. Starving, they rode on for a few days. They had just decided that they had no choice but to slaughter a mare, if they were to survive the adventure. Just then, a herd of gazelles came into view. In a flash they were after them, After a long chase, they hunted down one gazelle. As is customary at Arabian races, each mare now received a name. First in line was the lucky hunter's mare. This horse had exceptionally deep flanks, so she was named SAQLAWI, which means "the one with the well-formed flanks." The second, the one that had happened upon the prey, was named UMM URQUB, because of her deformed hock (Urqub = hock). The third one had a noticeable birthmark, and known thenceforth as EL-SHOUIMA or SHUWAYMAH. The fourth was named KOHEILAN. The last rider had lost his cloak (aba or abayyah) during the wild ride. But it hung from the mare's highcarried tail, so his mare received the name ABAYYAH.

So, Saqlawi, Umm Urqub, Shuwaymah, and Obeyah (Abayyah) were the five founding dams of the five families known as Al Khamsa according to this legend.

Of course, these are just legends, but they do show that horses' family names mean a lot to Bedouins. How old are these names ? According to Schiele they must have arisen after the 14th century; They have certainly been in existence for over 200 years. Niebuhr, 1772, names Saqlawi, Hamdani, and Mu'niqi, among others. However, Dr. Abdel Alim Ashoub (1948) reports that these strains were mentioned in books by Al Asmai Abdel Malek ibn Koreib and by Abu Abeida Moammar el Mothn~ born in 732 AD in Ragab.

Aside from these romantic legends about the origins of the various strains within the Arabian breed, there is little we know for sure. We know now that there originally were fewer

Are there still differences between all these strains and sub-strains ? Opinions on this vary widely; According to Dr. Abdel Alim Ashoub, Director of Cattle Breeding for the Royal Agricultural Society of Egypt in 1948, there should be absolutely no difference. H. R. H. Sharif Nasser ben Jamil is of the same opinion. During a conversation about this at his huge stud, Ruseifa, in Jordan, this excellent breeder demonstrated with his own breeding stock that it is in fact impossible to differentiate between a Saqlawi, Abayyan, or Kuhaylan on the basis of appearance. True, two definite types could be seen, but that was unrelated to strain name. Sharif Nasser called them the 'mountain type' and the 'sand-desert type.' The mountain type was smaller, their nostrils were much larger, and their coat coarser. The sand-desert type had longer legs and much larger, wider hooves, and a much finer, shorter, and shinier coat, and nostrils resembling those of camels. Apparently they were better adapted to desert dust and sandstorms. Of course, many horses showing traits of both types were to be seen, but that again had nothing to do with their strain. Quite in opposition to these explanations is the opinion of our famous expert, Carl Raswan, a German who went to the Middle East before World War I. He lived for many years as a Bedouin among the Bedouins, and indeed was blood brother to the prince of the powerful Rualla Bedouins. The purpose of his travels was to thoroughly study the Arabian horse. He left to us the whole of his knowledge in his 7-volume standard work, The Raswan Index. The seventh volume was published posthumously; He finished the book on September 24, 1966, exactly three weeks before his death. On p. IV of Vol. ~ he writes that "...each strain name was chosen to express a distinguished type. " What were the relevant characteristics ?

1. Differences in conformation (of the body) as width, narrowness, length, shortness, shape of barrel, croup. Differences in length or shortness of legs, width size, circumference of cannon bones.

2. Differences in shape of heads and certain characteristics (or lack of them).

3. Colour of hair (coat).

According to Raswan: KUHAYLAN -Strength. Deep and wide chest and hindquarters ( as opposed to the feminine beauty of the Saqlawi). Rounded lines (as opposed to the angular Mu'niqi). Ideal saddle horse with tremendous endurance. Height14 to 15 hh.

SAQLAWI -Beauty. Femine elegance. Ideal show horse. The most beautiful of Arabians, yet very wiry; Head and tail carried very high. Head a bit longer than the Kuhaylan, and a bit less broad between the eyes. Ears somewhat longer. Neck and back a bit longer than the Kuhaylan, too.

ABAYYAN Similar to Saqlawi but carries the tail still higher and the back is a little longer. The legs recall those of a racehorse. Splendid shoulder and enormous ribcage (barrel chested). Often swaybacked. Very fast and exceptionally agile. Sufficient endurance. Ideal polo pony;

HAMDANI -Hunter-type. Large head with straight profile, broad between the eyes and less dry; Croup not straight. Height 14.2 to 15.2 hh.

DAHMAN -Very classic type, strongly resembles the Saqlawi. Head very wedge-shaped, short and broad, with a strongly concave profile. Eye exceptionally large. Color grey or chestnut, height 14.2 to 15 hh.

MU'NIQI -Speed. Long, narrow racehorse, strongly resembles the English Thoroughbred. Often coarse and common. Not at all classic type. Sloping croup, tail low set. Splendid legs.

So, in response to the question, whether or not the strain is indicated by external traits, opinions do vary widely; Did Raswan pull the descriptions of the various strains from thin air? To judge on the basis of the horses themselves, as I personally have seen in Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon, it must be out of the question to tell a Kuhaylan from a Saqlawi by their appearance. But that was in 1972 - 1973. We must remember that Raswan was writing mostly during the pre and post-World War I period, that is, about half a century ago. Raswan during these years saw the Arabian peninsula as practically no other European had seen it, saw and heard more than any tourist, because he lived as a Bedouin. They trusted him; he spoke their language, which was decisive. He sought out the old, orthodox breeders in the farthest reaches of the desert. He sat at the campfire with them, drank coffee in their black tents, conversed with his hosts about horses for hours. At least in part, his descriptions are of the old traditions and the experiences of the past century; But he also saw many a pure-in-strain horse, including the Rualla Bedouin Amir Sha'lan's Kuhaylan-Ajuz.

Judith Forbis, too, saw pure-in-strain Mu'niqis with the Bedouins on the Turkish -Syrian border in 1959. But these are exceptions. Today there are hardly any breeding programs which breed pure-in-strain. What we see today is not a measure of that which originally was. Raswan knew this in the bottom of his heart, and wrote on p. III of Vol. 7 of the Raswan Index: "It is of no use to go to the 'Wailing wall' in Jerusalem and cry with Israel about the lost glory of something that we cannot recover today anymore, because only some old paintings and other objects of art are left to us which testify that there was once a special breed of horses, created in the inner desert of the Arabian Peninsula -a supreme type animated with the breath-of-Allah in every fibre of their glorious bodies and 'divine' heads. " Yet, today we still see here and there pure Kuhaylan, Saqlawi, and Mu'niqi types as described by Raswan, apart from mixed types or even very untypical Arabians. I am thinking of the Egyptian stallion, KAISOON, for example, who is presently at the Duisburg Zoological Gardens. This stallion embodies the pure Saqlawi type, but is a Kuhaylan. Another NAZEER son, HADBAN ENZAHI in Marbach, is a Kuhaylan type. The stallion's name is actually KAMEL, and he is a Hadban-Inzahi, Kuhaylan though he may look. The Egyptian mare, FOZE (NAZEER x FATHIA) is also a Hadban-Inzahi, but by appearance would be taken for pure Saqlawi. So, the strain types still exist today; but they are no longer bound to the strain name. The explanation for this is quite simple: we no longer breed with consideration for strain. Take, for example, the stallion SAWLAGAN, foaled 1968 at the Egyptian stud, El Zahraa. Sire: ALAA EL DIN; dam: MAHBOUBA. By tradition he is a Hadban. But a study of his pedigree shows that of his thirty-two Sth generation ancestors :
13 were Kuhaylan 7 were Saqlawi S were Hadban 4 were Dahman 1 was Mu'niqi 1 was Hamdani

Another example is the stallion, MADAH.
MADAH was foaled in 1966 at El Zahraa in Egypt, by MORAFIC out of MAYSA, and was considered all Abayyan. Of his 32 ancestors :
11 were Saqlawi
7 were Kuhaylan
6 were Dahman
5 were Hadban
1 was Mu'niqi
1 was Abayyah

With such a background, can it be expected that the Abayyan stallion would exhibit Abayyan characteristics as described by Raswan ?

So we see that today no conclusion can be drawn regarding an Arabian's type on the basis of its strain name. But the strain name on a desert Arabian's pedigree and document is of great importance to breeders, since it is a guarantee that the horse is out of a "thoroughbred " desert mare, i.e., an asil Arabian. The greatest value of the strain names in analyzing pedigrees lies only in a negative sense: there is no guarantee of a desert-bred horse's purity of blood if its strain is unknown. Such a horse could be asil, but Bedouins would consider it to be "Kadish" if there were any doubt at all.

Examples of horses considered "Kadish " by the Bedouins are even found in The Arab B orse Stud Book. We see in Vol. 7 (1957) on p. 39: SAHIL, chestnut stallion, foaled 1942, desert bred, of unknown strain and unknown pedigree, breeder unknown. SABAH on p. 87; desert bred, of unknown strain and unknown pedigree, from Baghdad; KHIZIL, on p. 88, of unknown strain from Pakistan.

In older sections of the studbook we find many more examples. The stallion, ZOOWAR, in Vol. I, p. 79, probably carries the crown in this respect. The only thing we know about this horse is that he was a successful racehorse in India; strain unknown, pedigree unknown, age unknown, breeder unknown. No expert could consider such a horse a purebred. Dr. Houtappel also wrote: "The data for some "purebred" Arabians was largely unknown to me. This was why I cleared them out rather radically a few years ago, since ZOOWAR and CROSBIE were recorded in their pedigrees."

Not recording the known strains in the new edition of Bet Arabische Paardenstamboek Nederland, Register A does not simplify analysis of Dutch purebred Arabians. It also breaks an old tradition, which is very much to be regretted.