1) Practical data to show that one breeder, one line, one horse can make a difference. 

2) A feeling that you, as an individual, can make a difference or that if you work with breeding particular strains, bloodlines, ancestral elements or look to breed to other Al Khamsa horses that you too are making a difference.

Sahanad, who was she? Where did she come from? 

Strain: Saglawi
Sub Strain: Al Abd 
Tail Female Line: Wadduda 

Sahanad was a Black Hamidi/Davenport Al Khamsa mare born in 1959. On her sire side, desert bred horses appear in the 4th 5th 6th and 7th generations. On her dam side all lines trace to desert bred horses in the 5th generation. That places Sahanad about 50 years out of the desert, 5 generations from the legendary breeding of the Bedouins with her tail female line (and 4 other lines) tracing to," the great war mare," *Wadduda. No matter what our breeding ideas are today Sahanad's lineage quickly goes to another time, to a people well known for their zeal in pursuing breeding of the highest quality. Qualities strong enough to be passed on through the generations. Desert size, beauty, stamina, intelligence and loyalty can all be found in Sahanad's descendants today. 

First impressions! Preservation breeding? Carrying on tail female lines?
I have asked friends, clients, etc. to help me with this because it is easy for us, as owners and breeders, to say nice things about the horses we are personally involved with, without it really being anything more than pride of ownership, true? Robin and I being satisfied with our horses is fine and meets our needs, but to make a contribution to the Arabian breed and more specifically to Al Khamsa we need to pursue the breeding of horses that have positive attributes. Characteristics that others would like to see in their horses. Our breeding program focuses on preserving the blood line of the black Davenport-Hamide mare Sahanad because we believe it produces some of the finest, most typical desert Arabians, with beauty, intelligence, disposition and athletic ability. Again, desert size, beauty, stamina, intelligence and loyalty can all be found in the Sahanad descendents of today. 

Carol and Steve Billington of Linn Creek Mo. are fellow breeders of this line of horses. When preparing for this article I asked Carol if she remembered her first impressions, some years ago now, and her current impressions and experiences. 

Carol relates….. My first impression of the Sahanad group was of a unique, intelligent, very people oriented horse. Now as an owner of eight of these beautiful horses, they have proven to be way beyond my expectations. As the views of some people are of Arab horses being high strung, these are far from that. They learn with only one exposure to a new experience, and are capable of learning even in old age. Steve was out cutting firewood with a chain saw one day and the horses were right there picking on him. High strung? Quite to the contrary, very calm and collect. These horses can be left in the pasture for a year, brought in, saddled, and ridden just like they were ridden just yesterday, requiring no attitude adjustment. My three year old mare, Basantaa, had about one hour in the saddle, was loaded up and taken on a three hour trail ride, and then a month later with just six hours total of riding, we took her on a three day trail ride on the Big Piney river. She was unshod and exposed to a lot of people, vehicles, trailers, difficult trails and even a band playing. She handled with ease and took each new experience in stride. Malachi, the first stallion I have owned (for three years now), is not at all what I have been told about stallions. I almost forget that he is a stallion. Malachi and the gelding I have pick on each other. One day they were in the opposite sides of a one-strand electric fence that was not energized. They started to pick back and forth, I spoke to Malachi to leave him alone and get in the barn. He did so. This is not an isolated incident, this is how he is and how I usually handle him. It constantly amazes me that even though my friends and I live in an area that has been predominantly Quarter Horse country, when my friends are around my horses they choose Al Khamsa Arabians over Quarter Horses every time. My friend Kathy Sherrill was so impressed with my Sahanad horses that she is now a proud owner of a full sister to Basantaa and a young stallion of this bloodline. She is now breeding her own group. Gale Kessler and I are joint owners of, Caraga, another full sister to Basantaa. Another friend, Lynda Wesley has purchased and is breeding Al Khamsa horses. There are many more amazing examples of the Sahanad horses and I think they are well worth preserving in what ever color they may come in. 

Dr. Leslie k. (Kitty) & Dr. Robert Barnett DVM'S are our regular horse, cow and cat veterinarians. They have the largest, large animal practice in our county. They work with the gamut from worst to best in animal patients.

Dr. Kitty Barnett.... My husband Bob and I have been working with Nathan and Robin Howard's' horses for several years. They have exceptional dispositions. We rarely have to sedate them to palpate them or do procedures such as dental floating. Nathan and Robin's horses are exceptionally people oriented and are a pleasure to work with. 

Patty Conklin of Storrmy's Stable in Cedar Hill Mo. has become a fellow breeder of Sahanad tail female line horses. Patty relates her experiences.

I remember the date well: April 4, 1994. What really stands out in my memory of that day is the cluster of loving horses gathered around me and one very pregnant mare standing off to the side, out of the bustle. Little did I know just how much she would change my life!!! That mare was Aziza Mona Lisa, a Sahanad granddaughter through the Sahanad daughter Aziza Serr Anadah. And one of the Al Khamsa tail-female *Wadduda line. Within a month's time, Mona's filly was born…. Storrmy Surprise, Mona's last daughter. Her movement is captivating and so full of sprit that it is hard to take ones eyes off of her. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. It is because of Storrmy that I have invested so much into the preservation of this line. A year later, Mona came to live with us and has become my foundation mare. Not only is she a classic beauty, but her sweetness is superb. We have developed a very special bond indeed! I also bought Storrmy's half sister, Bataas Ebony. Ebony has become a gorgeous black mare and is a natural at motherhood. Storrmy and Ebony each gave me beautiful black fillies in 1998 by Black Lightning. I also have Mona's last two sons, Fyrekrakur (97 gray gelding) and MonaLisas Majesty (98 black colt). Krakur gets sweeter as the days go by and will nuzzle my shoulder with tenderness. Majesty, Mona's very last foal is a black stallion and the only one of Mona's foals to be named after her. As I sit in his stall at night watching him eat, his gentle kisses between mouthfuls is a blessing to be experienced! He will remain here to be available for line breeding. Five of my six horses are of the Sahanad line. I think that pretty much says it all. I love every thing about them…. their dispositions, their intelligence, their sprit, their classic beauty. They have such willingness to learn and please that they can be successful at any endeavor. Incidents, that would spook most horses, are causes to peak their curiosity. They actually understand what is spoken to them (and they can reply in their own special way). People driving by will stop to meet them. Everyone marvels at how easy they are to handle, even for young children, and how much they desire to be loved by people. My 7-year-old nephew disappears whenever he is at my house, only to be found lying down in the hay with everyone munching and stepping around him. What is not to love!?!? I could never have found such wonderful horses if I had gone searching!!! While I had never considered a preservation program before, now I am very involved in preserving this family line for future generations through careful line-breeding and specially selected out-cross breeding. Mona's Al Khamsa lineage could die out without careful preservation breeding plans. This is a long-term quest; knights in shining armor (or other devoted horse lovers) are needed to help in preserving this unique heritage from the Great War Mare *Wadduda. 

Why breed to stallions from the tail female Sahanad line? Stallions…. Line breeding? 
We believe that the following comments will apply to most stallions that are the result of Sahanad line breeding As we pursue a preservation breeding program it is easy sometimes to become very "mare" oriented especially if the preservation program is based on a tail female line, as it is the mares that keep the line alive. But as crucial as the mares are we cannot disregard the importance of the stallions of a line as well. If it were not for the stallions of a given program we would not have the ability to line-breed and intensify the line. If all we had were the ability to out-cross we would eventually dilute the prized bloodline away. We recently received a picture of Morris & Diana Buttrum's new stallion. He is not tail female Sahanad but he is Al Khamsa and is a Sahanad great-grandson through Ibn Sahanad. As I look at the picture I see a young Ibn Sahanad. It is easy to see that Sahanad's beauty passed through to this young stallion and he could be a good choice for future line breeding with just a bit of out-cross. 

Morris &Diana relate….. When we lost our Sahanad son, Ibn Sahanad, we lost what we thought was a horse as close to perfect as you can get. He was the kind of horse that many people can only dream of having. He was sweet, intelligent and very beautiful. Even though he was a stallion he would lovingly take small children for a ride. The smaller the child, the slower he walked. He did leave us two wonderful mares to enjoy, BB La Dream and Tazaray. This year BB La Dream had a foal, our first in eight years, born within the same hour as our new granddaughter, Felicyti, "Lyci." We now have a very sweet, intelligent, beautiful black stud colt. Lyci's Dreamie Dee. He has the same star as his grandfather, Ibn Sahanad. This baby colt has rejuvenated our enthusiasm. The lord blessed us with another Sahanad specialty. We've had many horses. They're all special, but these Sahanad line horses have definitely put a new meaning to "special."

Jan Trimble of Double J Arabians relates (An interesting note here is that one of the mares Double J brings to Bataa is a general list tail female Sahanad.)..... Double J Arabians breeds to Bataa for three very important reasons. Since these three reasons are equal, there can be no first, second or third, just three reasons. Bataa foals are beautiful. They are correct in every way. We could not ask for better conformation. In the past we had shown horses for many years. Our Bataa foals would beat them hands down and we did well when we were showing. But, these foals are superior to what we had then. Next is their disposition. They are very quick learners and easily handled. We get compliments about this from our farrier, veterinarian, and the people that buy them. Comments we have received from our buyers have been, "Boy", they are more beautiful and easy to handle in person than we ever guessed from the video you sent." That is the kind of compliments a breeder wants to hear. Finally, we are partial to the black color and all of our foals except one by Bataa have been blacks regardless of fact that we have bred bays to him… 

Kelly Stone of Stone Arabians relates…… We at Stone Arabians thus far have not stuck to any one particular bloodline-and have a mixture of Polish, Egyptian and domestic Arabs. However, we have been leaning more and more toward the Egyptian Arabians. When Robin and Nathan Howard acquired their Blue List eligible Al Khamsa stallion El Ad Bataa, my daughter Peggy and I went to their farm to look at him. We weren't knowledgeable about the Al Khamsa line-all we knew was that he, "knocked our socks off!" We had bought a foal from the Howard's some years before and we decided to breed her to Bataa. She delivered a black bay colt that we named Alibii. At age 3 months, we took him to our Springfield Missouri show and under Judge Bob Batagglia, "Al" won Junior Champion-not bad for a little tyke. Last spring we looked at a number of black stallions in order to choose a mate for our black mare. Peggy and I both chose Bataa over the others without a moments hesitation. We look forward to a black foal in April. In our minds, Bataa has it all. He is correct, extremely beautiful and has lots of size. His wonderful disposition is just icing on the cake. I have already told the Howard's, that if my expected foal is half as good as I think it will be, I plan to breed to Bataa once more before I move to Texas. He is simply an incredible individual! 

One of the questions we started the article with was, are they winning?. You can tell from some of the clients' experiences that showing is one of their considerations when buying or breeding. Sahanad granddaughter Sahanadah is a show champion from a time before we owned her and Bint Bint Sahanad was also a first place winner in halter before we bought her at 3 yrs of age. We have not shown horses for 10 years now but the last show we attended, as an exhibitor, was a yearling halter class in a class A show with El Ad Bataa, he won the class. That was our last show appearance and we have never looked back. Since then we have concentrated solely on building a concentrated herd of Sahanad line bred horses. Now maybe all these sound like pride of ownership, but there comes a point where that is transcended by the consistency of the many testimonies from people in many various stages of their, "horsing around," and many walks of life. We hope these testimonies give you an idea of how others view Sahanad line bred horses, both mares and stallions, and thus lend credibility to our and other's programs of preserving the Sahanad tail female line and influence within Al Khamsa. 

At present there is 27 Al Khamsa stallions that carry the Sahanad tail female line which in the coming years should make a considerable contribution to Al Khamsa and to any wishing to bring some of Sahanad's influence into their horses. We continue to use our stallions for line-breeding. 

Recently we were asked about a horse whose back legs were not as straight as the owner would like. The individual asked how the legs ran in the Sahanad line. The answer is that the legs generally are straight but the question is excellent and timely. No matter what group you identify with, there will be exceptions to the expected breeding consistency. Characteristics that seem to have skipped a generation in some area or other. This group of horses as a whole has very few wild hairs. Additionally no one group will please every one. Many diverse groups within the Arabian breed will always be necessary. Robin and I do occasionally get off the farm (haha), and have seen many breeding groups from different ancestral elements, bloodlines, other organizations, and general list etal. We have seen other horses with many of the same characteristics that we find desirable in the Sahanad line. Does that mean that to expend effort to preserve a line whose desirable characteristics can be found among such benign groups as the general list is a waste of time or resources? Certainly not! Consider this analogy. How many friends does each of us have and what exact combination of things makes each person our friend and how many of our other friends share some of those same things that drew us together. Would we say to a friend, I have other friends enough like you that I no longer need you as a friend and loosing you would not have an adverse effect on the whole of my friendships? Of course not! None of us has so many friends that we can loose even one and not feel the loss. When that person's uniqueness is lost to our lives the loss is real and our lives are the less for it. The loss to the Arabian breed and Al Khamsa would be just as real If any or all of the many different bloodlines and preservation programs disappeared. 

How can a line die out? Flourish? 
Selective breeding…The following 2 examples illustrate how selective breeding can make a difference in whether a line dies out or continues. Sahanad had seven Al Khamsa offspring. Two of these were full brothers with the sire line to Khemahr Moniet. They were Ibn Sahanad and Black Lightning. Both wonderful black stallions. Ibn Sahanad died in his prime at age 12 due to a freak accident. At the time of his death he had 11 get and all of them were Al Khamsa. To contrast this his full brother Black Lightning at age 12 also had 11 get but only one of them was Al Khamsa. By selective breeding Ibn Sahanad had made a respectable contribution to Al Khamsa before his untimely death while Black Lightning's contribution was minimal at the same age. 

Another example, three other of Sahanad's Al Khamsa offspring, Aziza Serr Anadah, Sahanade and Suad-Eliah are all full brother and sisters. Suad-Eliah had 15 progeny with only one of them Al Khamsa. That one Al Khamsa get has had no progeny listed for twenty years now. Thus Saud-Eliah's opportunity to contribute or influence the future of Al Khamsa has been lost. To contrast this his two full sisters fared much better. Aziza Serr Anadah, now deceased, had 14 foals with all of them Al Khamsa and her younger sister Sahanade has had 7 foals with all of them being Al Khamsa. 

Unforeseen accidents…The following illustrations show how opportunities can be lost at any time. As mentioned earlier Ibn Sahanad died in his prime at age 12. If Morris & Diana Buttrum had bred him to general list Arabs or other breeds only, then his influence to Al Khamsa would have been lost. Thanks to the course they followed all his progeny were Al Khamsa and though struck down in his prime he still made a considerable contribution. Not so with the Sahanad daughter Sadie Thompson. Sadie died at age 2 prior to leaving any offspring thus ending the only source of the Sahanad tail female line to the Davenport-Hamidi group. A loss that plain and simply cannot be replaced, the horses no longer exist to do so. The link of *Wadduda tail female to the Davenport-Hamidi is no longer alive. Another example is Bint Ibn Sahanad, who died at age 5 in 1996 due to complications during foaling and Sahanade's 1997 foal, a black filly, died at 2 weeks of age from an internal umbilical abcess. How much potential contribution to Al Khamsa was lost with these 2 fillies? I know the loss to the Sahanad line is irreplaceable with the loss of the 4 year old because her sire, Ibn Sahanad, was the one mentioned earlier that died at age 12 and her dam is no longer in production. In the case of the filly that died at 2 weeks, her dam and sire are both in production and although the loss was heartbreaking a replacement was bred for and is now here. 

Opportunities can help lines flourish…. By taking advantage of opportunities as they present themselves and as breeders creating opportunities ourselves. For instance occasionally we and others will provide a free breeding to one of our stallions with the purchase of a filly. What may seem on the surface as a sales gimmick potentially insures the continuance of a higher concentration of Sahanad influence at least one time in that fillies foaling career. This influence is important because that filly will pass on the Sahanad tail female line and the more crosses to Sahanad the truer the line will continue. Additionally the filly will have at least one Al Khamsa foal if they avail themselves of the offered breeding. In the past we have leased both mare and stallion to introduce sources of the bloodline not normally available to us and to keep that part of the bloodline alive. When renting (leasing for you horse folks) a stallion was too expensive a task to take on alone we arranged to spread the costs between 5 breeders. When we leased Black Lightning in 1995 he had 11 progeny with one being Al Khamsa, today he has 25 progeny with 15 being Al Khamsa. We hope for many more years with him but if not, his contribution to Al Khamsa and the Sahanad bloodline is assured now. Talk to your client about your bloodline, point out why they are special, why they are worthwhile. Your horses may be just what they have been looking for for years. You may be talking to a future breeder of your bloodline. You may be mentoring your replacement when it is time to sit back and enjoy watching others pursue the goal. 

With help, the Sahanad bloodline has been active since the Sahanad article of 1995, by foaling fillies to continue the Sahanad tail female line and the stallions have been active providing Sahanad influence to both out crosses and mares carrying the Sahanad tail female line. The following table is based on data from AKA ll, AKA ll update, and Arabian horse bookshelf 1998 and a few phone calls. Time and incomplete registration did not allow for some lines to be updated for new additions since 1996. We have removed 4 mares due to their deaths but time did not allow us a thorough search in that regard. Also time did not permit us to research and update the number of Sahanad's Al Khamsa descendents from the tail male line.

	Mares	Stallions
COLORS:	G.... K....B....C	G....K....B....C
AS OF 1994:	14...10....7.....6 = 37	3 ...11....3.....3 = 20
ADDITIONS SINCE 1994:	4.....12....0.....1 = 17	1 ....4.....0.....1 = 6
TOTAL as of 1998:	18...22....7.....7 = 54	4....15....3.... 4 = 26
Yes we do breed by the moon for fillies.

c= chestnut, k= black, g= grey, b=bay, m= mare, s=stallion

Tail Female Sahanad additions 1995 through 1998.

1995
cs.....Hadiyit Assahra (Sahanade x El Ad Bataa)
km...HPF Basantaa (bint bint Sahanad x El Ad Bataa)

1996 
ks....HPF Shadow Dancer (bint bint Sadanad x Black Lighting)
km...Sasfire (Baqin Amal x Loguns Legacy) 
gm...GDA Egypts Star (Egypts Alima x Akid El Sareei)
km...HPF Sahanads Gem (OA bint Jolene x Black Lighting)
km...HPF Tifawraw (Aziza Sahaba xBlack Lightning)

1997 
gs.....Jarad(pending) (Aziza Sahaba x El Ad Bataa)
km...Sahanadah Rose (Sahanadah x El Ad Bataa)
cm...Caraga(pending) (bint bint Sahanad x El Ad Bataa)
km...HPF Elisah (HPF Malisah x El Ad Bataa)
ks... HPF Taos Bataa (HPF Adhana x El Ad Bataa) 

1998 To save time here, the stallion for all additions in 1998 was Black Lightning.
ks....out of (HPF Night of Kismit) 
km...out of (HPF Malisah)
gm...out of (OA bint Jolene)
km...HPF Sahanads Hope (Sahanade)
km...HPF Savaanah (HPF Adhana)
km...Lightnings Angel (Sahanadah)
km...Anada (Aziza Sahaba)
km...Lightning Storrm (Storrmy Surprise)
km...Mydnyte Wysper (Bataas Ebony)
ks....Mona Lisas Majesty (Aziza Mona lisa)

I have included a few that are not registered but we are reasonably sure they will be. We know of several foals that are not registered and not counted because we are not sure the owners will register them. I am referring here to Al Khamsa Sahanad tail female foals only. If you need more information let me know.