| Dam Lines | |
| *Turfa | Safe |
As you may have noticed *Turfa is listed on the strains page twice. Once as Abayyan and once as Kuhaylan Kormah. This would seem like a mistake but there have been two strains/substrains associated with *Turfa.
In Al Khamsa Arabians II (p. 87), it is stated that *Turfa is " A 1933 grey mare bred by the Sa'ud Royal Studs imported in 1937 to England as a gift to the royal family, imported to Canada ca. 1941, and imported in 1941 to the U.S.A. by Henry Babson. Also called Tarfa." In addition, it is noted that "according to England's Arab Horse Society Stud Book Vol. 6 (1944), *Turfa's sire was an Abayyan-al Hurmah and her dam was a Kuhaylat-Khormah." And further, "Her Certificate of Transfer from Anderson to Babson, dated November 10, 1941, which is on file at the AHR, agrees with the sire information, and gives her dam as a Kuhaylat-Ajus Al Khorma"
So far, it seems fairly straightforward, but Al Khamsa Arabians II, adds "According to Raswan's Index entry *10601, *Turfa's dam was an Abayyah-Al Hurmah of Ibn Musamih of the Al Hamra-Ajman as was her sire"
Different sources claiming a different strain/substrain for the same mare. How can this possibly be resolved over 60 years after the birth of the original mare? There are two ways of looking at this.....
Abayyah: To some Raswan's index is 'the final word' and should be accepted as correct. In addition 'Kuhaylat' is not just a word for a strain, it also translates to mean 'purebred' (or the equivalent thereof). 'Kuhaylat-Khormah' could be translated as 'a purebred from Khormah'. Khormah being known to be the location of one of the Sa'ud stables.
Kuhaylan Kormah: There are two records that conflict with this information. Both England's Arab Horse Society stud book and the Arabian Horse Registry have documents that clearly state *Turfa's dam to be Kuhaylan Khormah. The substrain often identifies the family/tribe that bred the horses of a certain strain therefore the strain could be considered Kuhaylan raised by the family/tribe/stable at Khormah.
How to resolve this? I took the cowards way out and listed *Turfa as a dam line for the Abayyah and the Kuhaylan Kormah. If this topic interests you, I suggest that you begin by reading the information on *Turfa in the Al Khamsa Arabians II and continue your research using the books mentioned there. The information on this page is based on the material presented in AK II as well as information that I have read on the internet. Strong arguments can be made for either strain and I have (greatly) simplifed those arguments.
Return to Rare AK strains Homepage