The cover story for the June '95 issue of ARABIAN HORSE EXPRESS and articles in the last issue of the KHAMSAT both discussed Preservation breeding. The last preservation article on the Sahanad bloodline was in Vol. 7 No. 1 (Jan/Feb. '90) of the KHAMSAT. We were recently asked to discuss the current state of the Sahanad bloodline preservation breeding. It is remarkably difficult for us to answer what seems like an easy question. We can share some of what we know of other breeders and what we and some others think of the Sahanad bloodline and also what we have been producing lately and our future plans. At the end, hopefully you will be able to answer for yourself what the current and maybe the future, state is of the Sahanad bloodline.

          The famous (some say great) war mare *Wadduda was a present to Homer Davenport from the Bedouin. Mr Davenport tells that never "since she was first saddled was that saddle removed until she passed into foreign hands and that she stood ready day and night for the Sheik to leap to her back and ride into battle... Her peculiar winkled nostrils and delicate muzzle quiver and move like a fawn's. You do not see the straw under her feet nor the boards of the stable behind her, but the hot desert, the flowing robes of the Bedouins and the tents of those who worship Allah..." 'Mr. Davenport also wrote: "So for a long time we waited together - the mare and I, in the gathering dusk, and as we waited I almost wished that we could always be alone. The call of the desert came strong to both of us then." The following description is from IMPORTED FOUNDATION STOCK OF NORTH AMERICAN ARABIAN HORSES by Carol Mulder in regards to *Wadduda "...Some photos make *Wadduda's head seem plain and a little boxy, but in all photos it was a very dry and chiseled head full of pleasing detail; certainly she always had a typy and beautiful face... *Wadduda is small, chestnut in color, bone like flint, slender, high carried tail, wide bulging jibbah (forehead), and full prominent eyes.... *Wadduda was high-caste and in any condition strongly displayed refinement and breedy quality. She had good withers, obvious femininity, and a lovely tail carriage. There was also her wonderful endurance which trait, alone, made her of great value. The apparent lack of substance in her legs was clearly no handicap or detriment to this tough, durable, and very remarkable mare. There was something compelling about *Wadduda which comes through strongly, even today, in her photographs and in her descendants. Her heart and pluck made her phenomenal."

          Most would agree that the genetic information from the horse described above is worth preservation. First as a source of positive influence to other breeds as well as Arabians, both Al Khamsa and non-Al Khamsa and secondly as an end to itself to ensure a future pool from which to draw from for that influence.

          The sources of *Wadduda's (Al Khamsa) blood have died out except through 3 of her daughters, Aared, Moliah and Amran. Of those 3 sources, only one will trace in tail-female to *Wadduda__this is through her daughter Aared. Aared's daughter Sedjur carried on the tail-female *Wadduda line. Sedjur left 5 daughters to carry on the tail-female line. They were: Gloria Davenport, whose line has died out, Wardi, whose line is in danger of dying out (if it hasn't already), Serije, and Mabruk, both of which are still moderately populated, and Jadur which has less surviving then Mabruk and Serije. Jadur left only 1 daughter, named Sahabet, to carry on the *Wadduda tail-female line and that was Sahanad. So Sahanad traced to *Wadduda through her tail-female line. Also, on the dam's side, Sahanad traced to *Wadduda once, through the daughter Amran. On the sire's side Sahanad traced to *Wadduda three times, through the *Wadduda daughter Moliah twice (once through her son Antez and once through her daughter Sankirah) and to Amran once through Fasal. This give Sahanad a total of 5 lines (or crosses) to *Wadduda. And Sahanad was also one of the few horses to carry all three of *Wadduda's surviving bloodlines.

          Years ago while visiting Morris and Diane Buttrum, to take a mare to the Sahanad son Ibn Sahanad, at their farm in Illinois, Trucill Enz, one of Sahanad's owners, was there. We were talking to Trucilla and she commented (with a laugh) that we had every horse that she had ever bred. We don't have all of them, but looking back over the years it seems that the essence of her breeding in the 70s and 80s along with some follow up breeding done by Diane Acox and Carl and Evelyn Sphar (and possible others that we are not aware of) brought about the Sahanad foundation stock that is available today.

          Since discovering a triple Sahanad great-granddaughter and Al Khamsa horses in 1988 all our horses have been from the Sahanad line because we see a lot of what we think is desirable in this line of horses. If breeding the horses that we like helps preserve a rare bloodline of course that pleases us also, but rare or not we would not continue to breed this line of horses if we did not like them ourselves. Right now all of our horses are from the Sahanad line and all of our horses are also tail-female Sahanad and are Al Khamsa.

          At present we have 9 mares, all are tail-female Sahanad. Both of Sahanad's living Al Khamsa daughters are here and our seven other mares are all Sahanad granddaughters. Each foal from them carries Sahanad in the tail-female Sahanad. The highest concentration of Sahanad blood achievable today would be a foal from a Sahanad son and a Sahanad daughter. We had hoped to use Ibn Sahanad, who was owned by Morris and Diane Buttrum, for breeding our mares to. But his unexpected death in 1991 put an abrupt halt to those plans. To try to further the concentration of the Sahanad blood, we have been looking for ways to breed our mares to a Sahanad son. To this end Elroy Prosch has leased us his Sahanad son Black Lightning for the '95 season. We are glad to have him with us for a while (he's so neat). We hope to breed him to both of our Sahanad daughters: Aziza Serr Anadah, and Sahanade, and 5 of our Sahanad granddaughters: Aziza Mona Lisa, Aziza Sahaba, Bint Ibn Sahanad, HPF Malisah and Bint Bint Sahanad, and to one great granddaughter who has 4 crosses to Sahanad that we bred as a foal and have leased her back: OA Bint Jolene. That should give us 6 black fillies as keepers and 2 black colts to choose a stallion from (don't we wish). The foals will have two crosses in the 2 Sahanad daughters on up to 5 crosses with one of the 3 year olds. At present, the foals we produce from our own mares and Black Lightning, will be Sahanad grandsons or granddaughtes on the sire side. On the mares side they will be (up to 3 crosses) grandsons or granddaughters and great grandson or great granddaughters. All foals will trace to Sahanad in their tail-female line as well as being Al Khamsa. Two of the hopefuls will be 2nd generation pure-in-the-strain Saglawi.

           We are looking to get a colt from Black Lightning which would be a higher concentration of Sahanad blood and closer on both sides of the pedigree than our stallion El Ad Bataa who is from the Sahanad daughter Aziza Serr Anadah. At this time each foal from a breeding of an outside mare to El Ad Bataa will be a Sahanad great grandson or daughter.

          Other stallions with a large degree of Sahanad blood and of breeding age are available including the Sahanad sons Kamil Ibn Sahanad and Black Lightning. Also available are the Sahanad grandsons; Aziza Malachi, Diadhem, Adhem El Kadir, Shah Ad Zaman, Ad Durra Halim, and El Ad Bataa and the Sahanad great grandsons; Allah , d Hanad, and Iamit Shakier. There are a few more great grandsons we do not know where they are or if they are accessible.

          Intense line breeding always carries the danger of concentrating faults as well as desireable traits. So far, the major problem we have encountered due to the amount of line breeding we have done is "we can't get 16 hand horses with table top croups." (humor is ours).

          Of course each foal is unique but it is easy to see many similarities between Sahanad's daughters and sons and on down to her great granddaughters and great grandsons so the influence of this mare is passing on to younger generations well. In the case of our own stallion El Ad Bataa, about one half of those using him for breeding do so for imporvements in specific areas including legs, heads, disposition and all have commented that they got the results they were breeding for. We expect the same to be true when using other Sahanad line bred stallions.

          The following are just some of the qualities we see with considerable frequency in the Sahanad line bred horses.

          ATTITUDE: What appears to be the most obvious trait is the attitude of the Sahanad bred horses. This was referred to many times in the previous article on Sahanad in Vol. 7 Number 1 of the Khamsat "One Mare Can Make A Difference - more on Sahanad." Trucilla Enz stated in that issue..."Not only was Sahanad an extremely beautiful mare but she had a magnificent temperament that is almost beyond words." The attitude seems to be a mix as well as evolution. The foals start out with an inquisitive and friendly attitude that evolves to a gentle regal attitude as they mature. This seems to be the same for both stallions and mares. The foals seem inquisitive and easier to make pets of or in some cases pests of. Typically the foals with Sahanad on both the sire and dams side seem to be the "pestiest" and naturally inquisitive from their very first moments after being born. While partial out crosses are almost as easy going from the start. The 3 total out crosses that we have on the farm have the same characteristic attitude if you take a few minutes a day to bring it out (We suggest that you start working on that the day they are born). So it appears, as you might expect, that the higher percentage of Sahanad blood in the pedigree the more you can expect to see the attitude described above. This fact by itself would argue for maintaining a pool of linebred horses to draw influence from. We have bred our stallion to Al Khamsa and non-Al Khamsa Arabs, Quarter horses, foxtrotters, ponies and others, all have commented positively on the attitude of the foals as much as any of the phyusical characteristics they like.

            CONSISTENCY: A friend of ours recently asked how we tell the blacks apart? At a distance it is difficult but up close it is easy for us. What our friend was really commenting on was the consistency she saw in the horses. We can see that consistency in all of the Sahanad bred horses we know of. Deborah Rush says that when she sees Sahanade she sees a lot of *Wadduda in her.

           Patty Conklin shares:

         "I knew there was something extra special about my Storrmy Suprise the moment I first held her in my arms (6 hours old). Ten days later, I met Aziza Serr Anadah, her Grandma, and I knew what it was--she's her double grandmother through and through. Dreams do come true...Storrmy is the proof!"

          INTELLIGENCE: years ago an Arabian trainer had the stallion El Ad Bataa for halter training and one of our mares, Vaneta, to be broke to ride. After a week she commented that they where the quickest learning horses she had seen. In the first few days, Vaneta learned to open the latch on her stall and let herself out and then proceeded to work her way down the hallway letting the other horses out. Allah , 5 year old El Ad Bataa son with 4 crosses to Sahanad is placing in 3rd level dressage with 1 year of training. His trainer, Steve Watkins, is amazed at his ability to learn so quickly.

           SOCIABILITY: El Ad Bataa was a yearling at the time and the trainer had put him out into a paddock for exercise. After she left, he jumped over the 4 1/2 foot fence and ran back to the barn and stood in the hallway outside of the mare Vaneta's stall. We have many pictures of horse's noses because with no one there to shoo them off they migrate closer and closer until they are touching you. They think that people are here for their feeding and petting pleasure! Many times when people visit, the horses line up by the gate in petting (pecking) order. Cheri Sasso relates about the Triple Sahanad great granddaughter, Ansota Jolene, she owns jointly with Jenny Fields:

          "When the Bedouin tribes bred horses to live in their tents with them, they weren't kidding. If you want an Arab that will live with you and for you, the Sahanad line is it. They are like a big dog, they are so 'pesty' and loveable."

          A friend of ours who has Arab mares, but no stallion, "because they are so dangerous and high strung," liked Bataa and brought several mares over to breed to him because of his attitude and looks. This friend later helped Robin chase Bataa around in an arena during a libery class (to help keep his laid back body moving) and walked up to retrieve him afterwards. Her husband said "You've never done that before, you're scared of stallions" She replied "Not this one."

           CALM/GENTLENESS: To demonstrate the stallion Aziza Malachi's disposition to would be breeders and visitors Carl Sphar, his owner, would bend down and pass undeneath his legs while Malachi stood by with no one holding him. When ridden, El Ad Bataa, looks like a coiled spring that is sure that he will break this fragile thing (Robin Howard) on his back if he unwinds.

          LOOKS: Pretty heads. They seem to come in 2 varieties. The 4-5 year version that starts out on the plain side and improves steadily over several years, ending up looking really nice. And the instant version that is really nice when foaled. Either way the heads end up very similar and pretty. The croup, hip and shoulder angles provide a pleasing and ballanced look.

          Gloria Davis relates her impressions of their newly acquired stallion, Diadhem who is a grandson of Sahanad:

          "This wonderful blue-black stallion came into our lives December 10, 1994 and has dominated our lives ever since. He is tall, elegant, correct, typy and beautiful with a wonderful sense of humor and personality. His disposition is unequalled in any horse we have known and he captures everyone's heart that he meets. He has a strong and loyal fan club. Our friend and artist Shelly Firsick, has drawn our logo after him and taken his photos for the 'Diadhem collection.' Our good friend, Jackie Gatewood has left home and hearth to travel with us out of state to Diadhem's shows and she usually is doing the driving and taking videos of him. Our goal with this beautiful black stallion is to pass on all his wonderful traits that seem to dominate the Sahanad bloodline. When I look at him, his beauty is so great it can make me cry and my heart feels like it could burst with pride and love for him. Thank you Aziza Serr Anadah!"

          Claire Schemel who owns Allah Exotic with 4 lines to Sahanad gives the following testimonial:

         "I love his small head with great dish and his nice croup and athletic build. He is very smart and learns tricks rapidly. He can relate to past experiences to learn new and different tricks beyond what the normal horse learns. Nothing scares or excites him and all his foals are like that. For that reason he is showing again in dressage this year as a 5 year old, up to 3rd level and doing very well. His trainer is amazed at his ability to learn so quickly."

          These testimonies from others tell us that the Sahanad bred horses are passsing on the fine qualities passed to Sahanad, from *Wadduda so many generations ago.
 
 
 
 

SAHANAD