*Habeebaa

 

When I visited Kuwait in 2013, I was impressed with the kindness and respect that Kuwaitis extended freely to one another. There was a particular word that I soon started to recognize in conversation...Habibi. It seemed to be a very special word, used affectionately, like a term of endearment. It sounded sweet, in a most touching way and I soon learned that Habibi was used in the same manner that we use the words "beloved", "darling" or even, "sweetheart". The name, Habeebaa, is a variant of Habibi. One look at *Habeebaa, with her big, black eyes and kind, soulful expression and I understand why she was named with so sweet a name. *Habeebaa, a 1969 mare, was sired by El Araby (*Morafic x Hafiza) and was out of *Bint Hanaa (El Sareei x Hanaa). Like her sire,  dam, granddams (Hanaa & Hafiza) and great granddams (Zareefa & Mahfouza) she was bay in colour. *Habeeba was one of only five foals sired by El Araby.

In 1968, Gleannloch Farms imported *Bint Hanaa, in foal with *Habeeba and *Gamilaa, *Bint Hanaa's daughter by *Morafic.

 *Habeeba's maternal great granddam is a mare named Hind. This is not the same Hind (Ibn Rabdan x Bint Rustem) that we find in the pedigree of the Sheikh el Arab daughter, Yosreia. Like the mare, El Kahila, this mare, Hind, was a gift made in 1945 by King Ibn Sa'ud to King Farouk. Hind was sired by Obeyan El Safi but we know absolutely nothing about her dam. In a later edition of the Inshass Herdbook, published in the early 70's, Hind is listed as a Saqlawiyah. When Hind was given to King Farouk, Hind was three years old at the time.  Three years later, she produced Hanaa by El Belbesi, a son of the Dahman Shahwan stallion, El Zafir (Awad x Bint Dalal) who traces in his tail female line to the mare, Bint el Bahreyn, imported to Egypt in 1903 from the stud of Rais Issa Ibn Khalifah as a gift for Khedive Abbas II.

*Habeebaa did not live a very long life, she died at age nine. She produced the dark bay mare Gemaal in 1973, a prolific mare for Bentwood Farm and a grey stallion, Habib Al Kol in 1975, both sired by *Sakr. 

Habib Al Kol (*Sakr x * Habeeba) as photographed by Rob Hess

In 1978, she gave birth to her last foal, the grey mare, AK Jaliya by *Zaghloul. How is *Habeebaa represented in our Egyptian gene pool today, you ask?  Her granddaughters like Asafra (NaIbn Moniet x Gemaal), whose progeny, many of which are sired by The Minstril and Thee Desperado, are cherished as part of the vibrant Arabians LTD breeding program and also, AK Maliya (TheEgyptianPrince x AK Jaliya) whose progeny represent some of the finest horses bred at Kehilan Arabians. Overseas, her great granddaughter, Konouz (Imperial Mahzeer x Imperial Kaliya), when bred to Ashhal Al Rayyan, produced the beloved stallion, Suhal Al Nasser, in demand all over the world.

So, the next time you turn to your special person and call him or her, "darling", stop for a moment and remember that once, a sweet mare named Habeebaa lived.