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Ralph Conner, a fellow enthusiast, whose knowledge and experience I respect, recently posted in the Gleannloch Facebook Fan group, a full page stallion ad which appeared in The Pyramid Report, published within the pages of the Arabian Horse Times magazine, circa February 1988.

 A 1975 grey stallion, Habib Al Kol was bred by Gleannloch Farms. A  *Sakr son, out of *Habeeba, he was purchased by Rex & Nancy White, of War-Dal Arabians, Temecula, California, as listed in the ad.  

In The Egyptian Alternative, Volume 2, Philippe Paraskevas wrote of *Sakr,

"If the E.A.O. had kept him and bred him to combine what Sameh faithfully passes on with some of the more concave heads they have there, (either him, or at least, *Ibn Hafiza or El Mareekh), they would have made sense of it all." 

As significant as what Philippe has said; I was inspired to think about Habib Al Kol, within the context of his dam and his maternal grandsire, as both horses had too short of a lifespan, leaving behind a small number of progeny. This fact, in my mind, makes Habib Al Kol all the more desirable as a breeding stallion. It was a chance to capture and build upon the time that was lost for both *Habeeba and El Araby. If Habib Al Kol's beauty or that of his dam and grandsire, were not enough to convince a breeder of their value, their ancestry, as uniquely combined as it was, should have raised awareness, that here, within the blood coursing through their veins was a genetic component that remained excruciatingly special. There were not many horses influenced in the same manner as Habib Al Kol was.

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

Habib Al Kol's dam,  *Habeebaa, was a 1969 mare, sired by El Araby (*Morafic x Hafiza) and out of *Bint Hanaa (El Sareei x Hanaa).  *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 Egyptian Hadban strain horses. Hind, like the mare, El Kahila, was gifted by King Ibn Sa'ud to King Farouk of Egypt. 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. What is really interesting is the low percentage of the Blunt desert horses, less than 4%, through horses like Azrek, Hadban, Queen of Sheba and Dajania. When combined with El Araby, who also carried a low percentage of the Blunt desert horses (El Araby's dam, Hafiza, carried no Blunt desert blood), *Habeeba's pedigree offered breeders a very unique combination of source blood, different from many of the horses who were also influenced by Crabbet (Blunt) breeding at that time. It is hard to believe that this opportunity once existed, easily found and now, is no more. How quickly doors open and slam shut in the world of Egyptian breeding!

Like her dam, granddams (Hanaa & Hafiza) and great-granddams (Zareefa & Mahfouza) *Habeeba was bay in colour. *Habeeba was one of only five foals sired by El Araby, also bay in color, whose beauty offered no additional protection and he died tragically in Egypt. *Habeebaa, like her bay sire, did not live a very long life, she died at age nine. She produced a limited number of foals, starting with Gemaal in 1973 and finishing up in 1978 with AK Jaliya. 

El Araby, a 1962 *Morafic son out of Hafiza, inspired all who saw him with his incredible scope and outrageous beauty. Judith Forbis said of him, 

"Tall, elegant, long-necked, and very extreme of head, he had naturally brilliant park-horse action and carried himself as a mount of kings.

El Araby was so admired, that many breeders, using the blood of *Ibn Hafiza, in combination with *Morafic's influence, confidently set out to recreate him, without success. A lot of beautiful horses resulted but none quite like El Araby.

I was exchanging emails with a friend, also a fan of Habib Al Kol, who pointed me to the Gleannloch Farms video on YouTube, posted by Jaliisah. Within the video, somewhere past 31 minutes, I found footage of Habib Al Kol at liberty and using the clipping tool available on You Tube, I was able to isolate his footage, approximately 45 seconds long--> Habib Al Kol

Habib Al Kol (*Sakr x * Habeeba) as photographed by Rhita McNair

Tall, elegant and long necked are the words that Judith Forbis chose to describe El Araby. As I watched the video footage of Habib Al Kol, the words Judi used to describe his maternal grandsire, also spoke the truth of him! Now that he is long gone, as are many of the people who were part of these bloodlines, I'm not sure I understand why there are so few horses, in straight Egyptian form, tracing back to Habib Al Kol. If it is a matter of personal preference, so be it but it would have been great to have a choice, for my preference, here in what is now, their future.