THe KUHAILAN STRAINS
Kuhaylan Ajuz was the first of Al Kuhayl and the dearest and most valuable of the Arabs of Nejd.
Abbas Pasha Manuscript
The Kuhaylan strain is regarded the oldest of all strains and the term Kuhaylan is also used as a description for all Arabian horses. Kuhaylan Ajuz was “the first of Al Kuhayl and the dearest and most valuable of the Arabs of Nejd” (Abbas Pasha Manuscript). Wentworth has her focus on this when discussing strains and writes: “Sultan El Naseri, the greatest of all Eastern authorities on horses, who got his information direct from the horse-breeding tribes, said: “The Arab horse was wild,” and translates “Kahlan-Ajuz” into “old,” and remarks that there is also a “Kahlan-Jedeed” (new) and that Koheil has gone through many transformations. “Ajuz” also has several meanings, including wild horse, mare, herd, war, antiquity, and the ancient world; the only really quite impossible one is this connection“ to “the old woman”.
Legend tells the story of the first mare Kuhaylah Ajuzah: A Bedouin was urged to flee with a Kuhaylah mare which was heavy in foal. As she gave birth to a filly while he rested at a well, he left the foal with an old woman. He marched on through the desert and spent the night out there. When he woke up the next morning he did not believe his eyes: the filly was drinking from its dam´s udder. So he named it after the old woman: ajuz. When the foal had grown up, it became the progenitor of the Kuhaylah Ajuzah strain. The following strains (next to al-Ajuz) were considered by many authorities the most important from al-Kuhaylah: Kuhaylan Krush, Kuhaylan Rodan, Kuhaylan Kharas, Kuhaylan Mimreh, Kuhaylan Jellabi, Kuhaylan Haifi, and Ras al-Fidawi.
Nasheeta El Bediya (Safeen/Nahzle) belongs to the strain of Kuhaylan Ajuz Ibn Rodan.
According to the Abbas Pasha Manuscript, all Kuhaylan ‘Ajuz horses originate from two wellsprings: the Sharif of Mecca in the Hijaz, and the major tribe of Qahtan, and more specifically the Qahtan sub-tribe of ‘Abidah in Wadi Tathlith (SW Saudi Arabia) (Edouard al-Dahdah). A hypothesis of al-Dahdah is that ajuz is not derived from that saga of the old woman, but refers to one of the ashraf of Mecca.
Lady Blunt reports about the Kuhaylan: “This strain is the most numerous and, taken generally, the most esteemed…. The Kehilans are the fastest, though perhaps not the hardiest horses, and bear a closer resemblance than the rest to English thoroughbreds, to whom indeed they are more nearly related…Its subdivisions are very numerous… (and among them) are the Kehilan Ajuz, the Kehilan Nowag, the Kehilan Abu Argub, and Ras-el-Fedawi.” That observation may have been firmly influenced by the appearance of her riding mare Hagar, a Kuhaylan Ajuz, during her first travels in Northern Arabia.
The Abbas Pasha Manuscript lists at least 35 different strains of al- Kuhayl. Aral makes up a list of 30 lines of the Küheyletül Acuz. Rzewuski gives eight strains: Koheyl Adjouz, Koheyl Dobbeh, Koheyl Kardeh, Koheyl Abu Ghouieh, Koheyl Hamishe, Koheyl Abou Moareff, and Koheyl Sheikh. Raswan and Brown list a full one hundred families. From the Kuhaylan Ajuz strain the famous mare Turfa 1933 from the house of Saud came, as well as Nufoud 1925. In the Turkish studbook the strain is called Küheyletül Acuz and the mares Mesrure 1912 and Hamde 1923 were its most influential representatives.
Kuhaylan Jellabi
The marbat of Kuhaylan Jellabi had been very renowned in the desert, especially in the hands of al Khalifa on the island of Bahrain, who paid a fantastic sum for his first mare of this strain. One mare, Jellabiet Feysul c.1840 was imported by Abbas Pasha to Egypt. The line of Bint Yamamah 1895 of Egyptian breeding was said to belong to this line, but that had to be corrected (see later). Today the Jellabi strain still thrives in Bahrain.
Jellabieh Soroog (Mlolshaan Areen/Jellabieh Al Anoud) and colt by Rabdaan Sary Al Leil at the Royal Stables of Bahrain.
Kuhaylan Mimreh
Kuhaylan Mimreh/Al Mimrah/Mimriyah was one of the favorite strains of Abbas Pasha. A close cousin of Ibn Muwayni, Za´aazin al-Mimrah, owned a famous Kuhaylah Mimriyah from which source the rasan of Kuhaylan Mimrah originates. In Egyptian lines the mare Donia, a bay desert bred Kuhaylah Mimriyah, exported to Egypt c. 1880, bred by Nahar Ibn Muwayni of the Muwayqah clan of the Sba´ah gained influence through her two great-grandsons Mansour 1921 and Ibn Samhan 1919 (both sons of Nafaa El Saghira c.1910). The large Al Muwayni clan was head of the Sba´ ahs at the time of Abbas Pasha. In Egypt this line has died out, but still exists in South Africa through the descendants of Barakka, although not in Straight Egyptian form. Turkey imported the Kuhaylah Mimriyah mare Almimruhiye 1931 from Syria in 1933, starting point of a large family.
Barakka (Ibn Manial/Gamalat) in South Africa (with stallion Tuwaisaan), Mansour (Gamil Manial/Nafaa El Saghira), the father of Nazeer in Egypt.
Almimruyihe, one of the foundation mares of Turkey, was imported from Syria in 1933.
