Naseem Al Rashediah is pure-in-the-strain Hadban Enzahi, as both Al Adeed Al Shaqab and Nabaweyah Ezzain trace in their tail female line to Venus, an 1890 chestnut mare who was imported into Egypt for Khedive Abbas II and is considered the source mare of the strain. This is our breed tradition, to assign the strain by matriline or tail female line, in this case, it is the last line in the pedigree, which runs from Nabaweyah Ezzain-to-NK Nakeebya-to-NK Nabeelah-to-Nashua-to-Lotfeia-to-Bint Kamla-to-Kamla-to-Samha-to-Bint Samiha-to-Samiha-to-Bint Hadba el Saghira-to-Hadba-to-Venus. Between the sire and dam, there are approximately 63 lines (give or take) to Nazeer. Not to mention that Madkour, brings in more Venus blood through Kamla, while Nejdy adds more through Lotfeia. If I add all the sources of Venus blood that are present in the pedigree, through Nazeer, Lotfeia and Kamla, there are approximately 66 lines to Venus.
In August of 2017, Dr. William Hudson published the results of a mtDNA study he had personally conducted of the 14 matrilines existing in Egyptian Arabian horses. If you haven't yet read the report, I recommend it. It is available on the Public Library of Science website (PLOS One) or you can click here. While Dr. Hudson's mtDNA study confirmed the reliability of the EAO Stud Book records, it could not confirm that strain by matriline includes characteristics which are unique to the strain:
"these data confirm that modern mtDNA haplotyping does not correspond to the traditional strain designation based on Bedouin breeding traditions that depend on maternal lineage."
Even more astounding, was the revelation that the horses tracing to Venus, as well as the horses tracing to Rodania (Kuhaylan Rodan), the Inshass mare Bint Karima (Abeyyah) and the Inshass mare Hind (Saqlawi), share the same haplotype, pointing to a common ancestress within what we have always considered to be four distinct families. Dr. Hudson's mtDNA study also underscores the power of selective breeding, that is, the selection of specific horses, based upon their ability to produce progeny possessing desired physical characteristics and/or intangible qualities which influence desired behaviors. The mtDNA study points to a lower nucleotide diversity, as compared to other breeds of horses and even, other lines of Arabian horses. Nucleotide diversity is a measurement of the genetic variation that exists within the Egyptian Arabian matrilines that Dr. Hudson studied.
So, if science does not support our breed tradition, how do we go from here and who is the source of the genetic influence which resulted in a magnificent horse like Naseem Al Rashediah? What I found interesting are the sires of Al Adeed Al Shaqab and Nabaweyah Ezzain: Ansata Halim Shah and Ansata AlMurtajiz respectively. Both horses are Dahman by strain, both horses share the same sire line (Saklawi I) and additionally, they also share a close familial relationship, as Ansata Halim Shah is the grandsire of Ansata AlMurtajiz. In addition to a Dahman tail female line, Ansata Halim Shah carries 37.5% Dahman blood, while Ansata AlMurtajiz is 62.5% Dahman. Singlehandedly, Ansata Halim Shah, within this pedigree, represents almost 40% of the genetic influence of Naseem Al Rashediah but if you look at Naseem Al Rashediah carefully, his phenotype is not that of Ansata Halim Shah or even, the characteristics that we, over time, have learned to associate with Dahman Shahwan or Hadban Enzahi horses. For help, I turned to Philippe Paraskevas' wonderful book, The Egyptian Alternative, Volume II. Within the chapter on the Hadban Enzahi strain (Chapter 6), Philippe reminds us that,
"The way Venus was bred is noteworthy, as this line was immediately infused with original Saklawi Gidran blood: her daughter Hadba was by Saklawi I himself. Hadba's daughter Bint Hadba El Saghira was by a Saklawi I son, El Halabi. What we have here is a very high concentration of added-on SGIS blood at a very early stage of Hadban Enzahi development in Egypt."
So, I studied Ansata Halim Shah and Ansata AlMurtajiz again and found that each horse, equally, carries 25% influence of the Saqlawi strain. Ansata Halim Shah, by virtue of the additional lines to him, including Salaa El Dine on the dam side of the pedigree, exerts more of an impact on Naseem Al Rashediah than Ansata AlMurtajiz does. That's when I realized that the familiarity in Naseem Al Rashediah is that of Ansata Shah Zaman (*Morafic x *Ansata Bint Mabrouka), the sire of Ansata Rosetta and maternal grandsire of Ansata Halim Shah. A product of a full brother-to-sister mating, Ansata Shah Zaman appears at least six times in Naseem Al Rashediah's pedigree, representing almost 11% of his genetic influence. Over the years, it has always been my understanding that the Hadban Enzahi strain is complementary to the other bloodlines in the pedigree, even, helping the genetic traits of other lines to shine through. The presence of Ansata Shah Zaman, in multiple lines, on both sides of the pedigree, explains the overall length that I see in Naseem Al Rashediah's body, his legs, his neck and his head. Plus, there is one more point that I want to make about Hadban horses. The reason the strain is called "Hadban" is because of the forelock and mane, which is so profuse, that it covers the forehead or face of the horse. We see this quality to a degree in the video, although Naseem Al Rashediah is groomed for the show ring and the forelock, while long of hair strand, is not as profuse as the original Hadba may have been. However, I don't think this changes the fact that Naseem Al Rashediah, physically, is influenced more by the Saklawi strain, than any other strain, including the Hadban Enzahi strain, even if the current science does not support what I just typed. And because of my preference for circles, maybe that's what this blog has been and we find ourselves where we started, that is, the "Saqlawi" influence that I observe in Naseem Al Rashediah is nothing more than a horse who physically, is true to his strain and phenotypically, is embodying the expected strain characteristics of a pure-in-the-strain Hadban horse. In closing, Judith Forbis did include the following statement regarding the strain in her classic work, Authentic Arabian Bloodstock (the blue book):
The Hadban are a substrain of Kuhaylan but in modern day they tend more to Saklawi in type."
****Naseem Al Rashediah, a 2014 stallion, was bred by and is owned by Mr. Rashid A. Rahman Al Jasmi of Al Rashediah Stud in Bahrain. He is standing at stud with Giacomo Capacci Arabians in Italy.
****Hudson W. Whole-loop mitochondrial DNA D-loop sequence variability in Egyptian Arabian equine matrilines. PLoS One. 2017 Aug 31;12(8):e0184309. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0184309. PMID: 28859174; PMCID: PMC5578668.
****This blog post is lovingly dedicated to the memory of Mr. Usamah Alkazemi, the breeder of the most beautiful Nabaweyah Ezzain. I remain eternally grateful for the gift of his friendship.****
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