Where have all the Hadbans Gone?

A History - Kimberli Nelson, 2001

Very little has been written of this mare and there are no known photographs of her. We do not know how tall she was; what her conformation was like or why she only had one daughter. It is not known where she went or what she did or who may have owned her after the Khedive. It is surprising that so little was written of her, as she was known by many other names Yunis, Hadba and Shekra Zefra.

Shortly after her importation she was bred to the Khedive's stallion Saklawi I. In 1894 Venus produced a daughter simply called Hadba. Hadba is the only recorded produce of Venus. From the one surviving photograph of her, she appears to be a very dark chestnut. She is very similar to her descendants in type and structure. From this photograph we cannot see the shape of her head but it seems to be set on a long poll with a fine neck with a very powerful and laid back shoulder. Hadba produced only two daughters, Gamila and Bint Hadba El Saghira.

Gamila was a chestnut sired by El Sennari, her foaling date was not recorded. She was born at the Khedive's stable in Kobbah. Like her dam, she too, only produced one daughter, Bint Gamila. Nothing more is recorded of Gamila. From this one mare, bred and born in Egypt, the strain of the Hadba Enzahi continues today.

In 1914, the Royal Agricultural Society decided to concentrate upon preserving the Asil Arab horse and expanding the country's stock of pure Arabian blood. They were at first frustrated by the fact that many of the best Arabians were in the hands of private breeders. But later that year, as a gift from the Khedive Abbas Pasha Hilmi II, both mares, Hadba El Saghira and Bint Gamila, were sent to the Royal Agricultural Society. These gifts were received on June 6th 1914, just six months before Abbas Pasha Hilmi II was deposed.

Residing at the Society's farm at Bahteem, they began a family that would go down in history producing some of the finest breeding horses Egypt and the world has ever known. They would be the progenitors of two out of the three sire lines in existence today. To say these two little mares made an impact on Arabian breeding would be an understatement. The dynasty is theirs, the heritage continued and the promise fulfilled. This is their tale, the tale of horses that won't be extinguished, that deify the law of averages and will continue to survive the odds .

Bint Gamila, sired by Ibn Nadra, was a flea-bitten grey with a star and snip with a white spot inside near her hock, foaled November 4, 1911 at Kobba stables of Khedive Abbas Pasha Hilmi II. While Bint Gamila was a prolific producer with five sons, she too, only had one daughter, sired by Rabdan, Bint Rabdan. Bint Rabdan produced three sons and 2 daughters. Her sons were not used at the stud and both daughters were sold off the farm. No further record of Bint Rabdan exists. A very sad loss to breeders today, these two mares were the only female connection to Bint Gamila and could have given us another female line to Venus.

Bint Gamila's sons, however, are a different story. Two sons, Ibn Rabdan and Baiyad, were retained and used for breeding by the R.A.S.

Ibn Rabdan, sired by Rabdan and foaled in 1917, was retained by the R. A. S. as a breeding stallion. He was used in the programs of Prince Mohammed Ali, Inshass, Prince Kamal El Din as well as the R.A.S. He was a very dark chestnut about 15.1 hands high. Although, he had somewhat of a plain head, his conformation was almost perfect. He is one of only two sire lines left in Sheykh Obeyd breeding, the other being the Hadban Enzahi stallion Nazeer. His daughter's read like a who's who of Arabian breeding, Fayza, Samiha, Bint Bint Dalal,, Kahila, Samira, and *Maaroufa. His sons are also an illustrious group, Shahloul, Hamdan,Ibn Fayda, *Fadl, imported by Babson and *Silver Yew imported by W.R.Brown.

Baiyad, sired by Mabrouk Manial foaled in 1918, is the sire of the well-known Babson import *Bint Bint Sabbah as well as the pure in strain mare Samha, sister to Nazeer, both out of Bint Samiha combining both Bint Gamila and Bint Hadba El Saghira for the first time.

RAS Photo Ibn Rabdan 1917 (Rabdan x Bint Gamila)		RAS Photo Baiyad 1918 (Mabrouk Manial x Bint Gamila)

The Gamila branch is represented today only by these two stallions, Ibn Rabdan in both sire line and as sire of mares and Baiyad as a sire line in mares only. There are no living stallions descending in tail-male to Baiyad.

Two Baiyad Daughters

RAS Photo Samha 1931 (Baiyad x Bint Samiha)		RAS Photo *Bint Bint Sabbah 1930 (Baiyad x Bint Sabah)

Hadba's other daughter, Bint Hadba El Saghira, a chestnut with a star, strip and a snip in both nostrils, was born on February 22, 1912 at Kobba stables of Khedive Abbas Pasha Hilmi II. She was sired by the Saklawi I son El Halabi. Bint Hadba El Saghira was the dam of two sons and five daughters. Her sons were not used at stud and only two daughters left any foals to carry on the line. Samiha by Samhan and Bint Rustem by Rustem,( who will be reviewed later in this article.) A third daughter, Bint Bint Hadba by Hamran, was bred but nothing is left of her line today.

The Three Daughters of Bint Hadba El Saghira

RAS Photo	RAS Photo	RAS Photo
Samiha 1918 (Samhan x Bint Hadba El Saghira)	Bint Rustem 1922 (Rustem x Bint Hadba El Saghira	Bint Bint Hadba 1923 (Hamran x Bint Hadba El Saghira)

Samiha, a chestnut mare foaled October 4, 1918, produced the Sheykh Obeyd mares Fayza by Ibn Rabdan, combining the blood of both Bint Gamila and Bint Hadba El Saghira, and Bint Samiha by Kazmeen. Fayza produced three Sheykh Obeyd mares, two sired by Mansour, Bint Fayza 1932 and Fawzeia 1934 and the third, Morsheda 1937 by Nabras (another Hadban Enzahi imported from the desert). She also produced three Sheykh Obeyd sons.

Unfortunately, all the foals Fayza produced were sold off the farm and nothing is left of this line today.

RAS Photo Bint Samiha 1925 (Kazmeen x Samiha)

This leaves the daughter Bint Samiha.
Bint Samiha a bay mare sired by Kazmeen, was the dam of the now famous Nazeer by Mansour, Samha by Baiyad (of the Gamila line) and Shams by Mashaan. While her photograph does not give us a clue of her breeding ability, she nonetheless produced an outstanding family that is still in existence today. She was a breeding mare, consistently passing on extreme classic beauty to her foals that would continue to be passed to her grand children and beyond. She is responsible for producing the now famous Nazeer, who has created the largest line in Egyptian breeding and her granddaughter *Mamdouha, imported to the United States, went on to create one of the most prolific and beautiful lines ever to come out of Egypt.

We are very fortunate to have this line available today through many fine Egyptian horses.

RAS Photo Samha 1931 (Baiyad x Bint Samiha)

Samha was a flea-bitten grey mare of outstanding quality due to the combining of the Hadban Enzahi lines. She was born in 1931 and died in 1942. Samha would not live to a ripe old age but she would give birth to two Sheykh Obeyd daughters that would influence breeding programs all over the world. A mare of extreme quality and rare beauty and you will see this was passed to her foals. Samha produced seven foals in her short life and two of the most important mare in Straight Egyptian and Sheykh Obeyd breeding. *Mamdouha 1940 and Kamla 1942. These two mares would leave dynasties in their own right. Producing fabulous horses that would impact the breeding programs around the world.

		Kamla was one of the most beautiful grey mares ever sired by Sheikh El Arab. Kamla was born in 1942 and died in 1958. She only had three recorded foals during her life. She was retained by the R.A.S. and was one of mares General Von Pettko-Szandtner chose for breeding when he made his selections for his broodmare band at the RAS. Kamla produced two Sheykh Obeyd sons both sired by Nazeer, inbreeding or line breeding to Bint Samiha, depending on your prospective. Kamel 1952, was sold to Marbach and went to Germany where his name was changed to Hadban Enzahi and, Kamal II 1954, who was sold and has no registered foals. Kamla was bred to the elegant El Sareei in 1955 and had one Sheykh Obeyd daughter, Bint Kamla!
RAS Photo Kamla 1942 (Sheikh El Arab x Samha)

RASB Photo Hadban Enzahi 1952 (Nazeer x Kamla)		RAS Photo Bint Kamla 1956 (El Sareei x Kamla)

Hadban Enzahi left his mark on German breeding and was an outstanding stallion. Hadban Enzahi was a very correct horse with splendid type. Hadban Enzahi is given credit for regenerating the breeding program after it post World War II deterioration. In an in-breeding experiment, Hadban Enzahi was used on his own daughters, producing some of Marbach's most prized broodmares. Again, Proving that inbreeding and linebreeding the Hadban Enzahi horses gives excellent results. His offspring became noted for a great persistence of type that is generally the result of breeding a Hadban stallion to a Hadba mare, but most especially for their hardiness spirit and the high energy, which is very typical of the Hadban Enzahi, strain. He had an imperious look and an unapproachable character as do so many of the Hadbans. They remain loving, trusting but somewhat aloof. While he had many sons of note he would become known for his many splendid daughters.

Bint Kamla by El Sareei was an outstanding mare. She was very much an Arab, ultra refined and elegant and like her mother, inherited the extreme beauty of the Samiha line. Her daughter also inherited wonderful type and conformation. Bint Kamla produced Lutfia exported to Babolna, Hungary and Nazeema both sired by Alaa El Din

EAO Photo Nazeema		EAO Photo Lutfia 1967 (aka 7 Lutfia)
(Alaa El Din x Bint Kamla)		(Alaa El Din x Bint Kamla)

Nazeema was a beautiful mare displaying the refined type of her dam. She stayed in Egypt and was the dam of two Sheykh Obeyd sons by Wahag, Ozak who was exported to Qatar and Misk who would stay in Egypt with Madame Wedgan El Barbary.

Lutfia(aka 7 Lutfia) was chosen for The Babolna Stud of Hungry. She was an exquisite mare and very typical of her family. She is very much like her dam and granddam. Her head was very refined, breedy, dry and chiseled with a very pretty dished face.

Shams El Asil Photo Misk (Wahag x Nazeema)

Misk was considered to be one of the most exciting stallions in Egypt of his time. He was fiery red with exquisite type. Some years ago, Misk was loaned to King Hussain of Jordan for a three month breeding period by special permission from the Egyptian government, where he left some excellent offspring at the Royal Jordanian stud. Misk was the sire of some very nice foals and crossed well with many different lines.

Both mares, Nazeema and Lutfia were extremely beautiful and excellent producers; passing on the dry, typey look of the true Bedouin mare. They were superior broodmares consistently passing the quality the Hadbah Enzahi is known for. Both mares left fine offspring currently used in Egyptian breeding the world over, however, neither mare left a Sheykh Obeyd daughter. Today, there are no Sheykh Obeyd Hadban Enzahi horses descending from Kamla or Bint Kamla.

The mare tail female line to Bint Gamila no longer exists.

The first-born daughter of Samha would leave a very large family. In 1947, Arabian horse breeder Daniel Gainey, made a trip to Egypt, where he purchased from the Royal Agricultural Society a bred mare and imported her to the United States.  The mare was *Mamdouha, a grey, sired by Kheir. She was in foal at the time of her importation to the stallion Enzahi, her foal, *Gamila produced several foals and went on to produce a empire of her own within Sheykh Obeyd lines. *Mamdouha also produced a son by Fay El Dine, Gayour , chestnut in 1950, who was not used at stud. She was exported to South Africa in 1954, *Mamdouha was not bred to a Sheykh Obeyd stallion in South Africa.

Gainey Photo	Anchor Hill Photo
*Mamdouha 1940	*Gamila 1947
(Kheir x Samha)	(Enzahi x *Mamdouha)

*Gamila was acquired at the age of twelve by Anchor Hill Arabians where she was bred to a Sheykh Obeyd stallion for the first time. She would produce 4 daughters by the Babson stallion Hadbah but only one would breed on within Sheykh Obeyd. That daughter was Anchor Hill Hamla. I have included a photo of one of her daughters that did produce a Sheykh Obeyd foal and a photo of the foal. As you can see, *Gamila was a wonderful producing mare, her foals were correct and had the quality one would expect from her royal ancestors.

Anchor Hill Photo	Anchor Hill Photo
Anchor Hill Hadga 1962	Anchor Hill Sheba 1968
(Hadbah x *Gamila)	(Char Echo x Anchor Hill Hadga)

Anchor Hill Sheba was a very beautiful mare and produced beautiful babies, however, she was never bred to a Sheykh Obeyd stallion so she has no Sheykh Obeyd foals.

Luckily for breeders today, *Gamila had a full sister to Anchor Hill Hagda, Anchor Hill Hamla!

		Anchor Hill Hamla was an extraordinary mare and would produce an extraordinary dynasty. The Hamla family is the largest Straight Egyptian, Sheykh Obeyd, Hadban Enzahi family in existence today. This pretty little grey mare was a spectacular producer. She was bred to some very fine Straight Egyptian Sheykh Obeyd stallions, Ansata Abu Nazeer, Char Echo and *Talal. For most of her breeding career she was bred to Ansata Abu Nazeer with whom she gave birth to five daughters: Glorieta Dalima, Glorieta Rabdania, Glorieta Zaarina, Glorieta Zaafira and Glorieta Bint Abu. Of these five mares only two would continue within the Sheykh Obeyd gene pool. Glorieta Dalima and Glorieta Rabdania! She was bred to *Talal once and produced a daughter, Glorieta Tala, who would produce one replacement filly, AK Rabiya. She was also bred once to Char Echo and produced a daughter,Glorieta Gambolia, who would produce the only Sheykh Obeyd, Hadban Enzahi stallion the world would have available for almost 15 years. That makes her the dam of seven Sheykh Obeyd foals, quite a number even by current standards where replacement breeding is sought after.
Anchor Hill Hamla (Hadbah x *Gamila)

		Both Glorieta Zaafira and Glorieta Zaarina graced the Egyptian world with fantastic foals, Show winners and great beauties in their own right. It is important to breed Sheykh Obeyd horses to all lines, but it is a shame that these extraordinary mares have not left at least one Sheykh Obeyd female descendant.  As we see with other horses of the Hadban Enzahi strain, it is easy to lose the blood by out crossing them to other Egyptian bloodlines without a Sheykh Obeyd replacement.
Glorieta Zaafira				Glorieta Zaarina

Glorieta Dalima (Ansata Abu Nazeer x Anchor Hill Hamla)

Glorieta Dalima is a fine producing mare. Each of her foals is as exotic as you would ever want. Their heads are very beautiful with great width between the eyes and jowls. They are truly a headhunters dream with a large jibbah and big black soulful eyes. Dalima was bred to Apple Hillel Nisr for two foals, a son , Mahrdalim El Nisr is her oldest Sheykh Obeyd foal and Apple Hill Alnisa,  deceased,  was the epitome of beauty and elegance. The loss of this mare is indeed a sad one. She would have made a tremendous impact on the future of Hadban breeding.  But Dalima did not quit with these two magnificent foals, she went on being bred to   SAR Fadl Halim  and produced another exquisite son, Mijan Fadazz and a daughter by REA Maar Halim, Mijan Bint Dalima and a daughter by Masada Shahwan, Zurhara Dalima. Dalima's last foal is perhaps the most look-alike of all her foals, Hadba El Mansoura, sired by Hallanny Mistanny.

Apple Hill Alnisa	Mahrdalim El Nisr

(Apple Hillel Nisr x Glorieta Dalima)

Mijan Bint Dalima	Hadba El Mansoura	Zurhara Dalima
(Sired by REA Maar Halim)	(Sired by Hallanny Mistanny)	(Sired by Masada El Shahwan)

Mahrdalim El Nisr, Mijan Bint Dalima, Hadba El Mansoura and Zurhara Dalima are all in a Sheykh Obeyd Hadban Enzahi breeding program.