Strain Breeding - Part 2

This page builds on the information presented in the introduction to strain breeding. For those who already have a complete understanding of strain breeding, many of these concepts may seem simple so feel free to review this page for accuracy. If anyone still has questions after reading this page, feel free to contact me at . As I have said before: the fault is MINE for not explaining clearly enough, NOT yours because you didn't understand.

So let's start with a review of the pedigree that was presented at the end of the introduction to strain breeding:

Daaldan
Fa Daalim
Bint Fa Dena
Fa Mist Hallim
An Montoro
Moss Hill Montana
Bint Mist Aana
Mist Hallim Amir
*Morafic
Theegyptianprince
*Bint Mona
AK Tianica
Naddouma
SF Rafica
Taverna
BRW Marid Shamal
Ansata Imperial
Imperial Imdal
Dalia
Shaikh Al Shamal
Shaikh Al Badi
Ruminaja Afifa
Negmaa
Bint Marhaba
*Ansata Ibn Halima
Ansata Omar Halim
Ansata Rosetta
AK Marhaba
Seef
*El Shaymaa
Rowaida
Dahmah Shahwan
Kuhaylan Ajuz
Kuhaylan Krush
Saqlawi Jidran
    Answers
  • Mist Hallim Amir is Sham's sire
  • Bint Marhaba is Sham's dam
  • The 'tail dam/mare line' is Rowaida
  • Sham's strain is kuhaylan kurush
  • Sham is by Mist Hallim Amir and out of Bint Marhaba (An alternative way of presenting this is Mist Hallim Amir x Bint Marhaba - sire x dam)
If you had trouble getting the correct answers to these questions (other than a 'DOAH! I knew THAT!), please read Introduction to Strain Breeding Concepts and Terminology before proceeding. This page will continue to build on the concepts/terminology presented on that page.

Now it is time to use the concepts that we've already learned and move on to a more detailed look at identifying strains.

We've gotten this far and I really haven't discussed how to determine the particular strain of any one horse. How did I know that Seef is Dahmah Shahwan for example? There are a variety of sources for this type of information. The internet has various groups and mailing lists where this question can be asked if you are having trouble with the strain/substrain of a few horses. This website and pages are devoted to Al Khamsa horses so the references that I use are: Al Khamsa I, Al Khamsa II, and the 2003 AK directory (see the Al Khamsa website for information on ordering/buying these references). Another source (which I used before obtaining reference books) is various websites with strain/substrain information about their horses. Be very careful using websites - anyone can make a mistake transcribing information or in presenting it. I always ask that anyone notify me instantly if they find an error in my pedigrees, but that doesn't guarantee 100% accuracy. In the 'typical' 5 generation pedigree there are only 16 horses whose strain/substrain you will need to determine; all of the rest can be done by understanding how to determine the strain of a horse based on his/her sire and dam. (I'm not going to ask you any questions after this paragraph - those of you who read the Introduction to Strain Breeding Concepts and Terminology are probably wiping the sweat from your brow in relief!)

So let's do an example pedigree (I'll pause at this point for the heartrending groan). OK, are you ready now? Sham's pedigree is getting quite the workout so let's use it. I listed the 16 horses in the 5th generation:

  • Daaldan
  • Fa Deena
  • An Montoro
  • Bint Mist Aana
  • *Morafic
  • Bint Mona
  • Naddouma
  • Taverna
  • Ansata Imperial
  • Dalia
  • Shaikh Al Badi
  • Negmaa
  • *Ansata Ibn Halima
  • Ansata Rosetta
  • Seef
  • Rowaida

Then I looked up each of these horses in AK II and obtained their 'tail female'.

  • Daaldan - Bb
  • Fa Deena - Gh
  • An Montoro - Jl
  • Bint Mist Aana - Ed
  • *Morafic - Gh
  • *Bint Mona - ??
  • Naddouma - Ro
  • Taverna - Ro
  • Ansata Imperial - Ed
  • Dalia - Ro
  • Shaikh Al Badi - Bb
  • Negmaa - Ed
  • *Ansata Ibn Halima - Ed
  • Ansata Rosetta - Ed
  • Seef - Bb
  • Rowaida - Ek

But what about *Bint Mona? I couldn't find her in AK II. But I COULD find her son TheEgyptianPrince and he is tail female Gh which means that his dam has to have the same tail female..... But this just looks like a bunch of alphabet soup. What the heck should I do with this mess? Go back to the to list of tail female abbreviations, of course! (*Bint Mona was later pointed out to me in AK II so I was just having a mental block when I couldn't find her)

  • Daaldan - Bb - Bint El Bahreyn (KDV)
  • Fa Deena - Gh - Ghazieh (AP)
  • An Montoro - Jl - Jellabiet Feysul (AP)
  • Bint Mist Aana - Ed - El Dahmah (APS)
  • *Morafic - Gh - Ghazieh (AP)
  • *Bint Mona - Gh - Ghazieh (AP)
  • Naddouma - Ro - Rodania (BLT)
  • Taverna - Ro - Rodania (BLT)
  • Ansata Imperial - Ed - El Dahmah (APS)
  • Dalia - Ro - Rodania (BLT)
  • Shaikh Al Badi - Bb - Bint El Bahreyn (KDV)
  • Negmaa - Ed - El Dahmah (APS)
  • *Ansata Ibn Halima - Ed - El Dahmah (APS)
  • Ansata Rosetta - Ed - El Dahmah (APS)
  • Seef - Bb - Bint El Bahreyn (KDV)
  • Rowaida - Ek - El Kahila(INS)

Now the horses have names with them. So (you are asking yourself) how do I know what the STRAIN is? This is supposed to give me the strains and it HASN'T. For strains, you can read the page(s) of this website that associate the tail dam line with the strain or you can read AK II (among other references) and get the strains from there - either one works. So let's add the strains:

  • Daaldan - Bb - Bint El Bahreyn (KDV) - Dahmah Shahwan
  • Fa Deena - Gh - Ghazieh (AP) - Saglawi Jidran
  • An Montoro - Jl - Jellabiet Feysul (AP)
  • Bint Mist Aana - Ed - El Dahmah (APS) - Dahmah Shahwan
  • *Morafic - Gh - Ghazieh (AP) - Saglawi Jidran
  • *Bint Mona - Gh - Ghazieh (AP) - Saglawi Jidran
  • Naddouma - Ro - Rodania (BLT) - Kuhaylan Ajuz
  • Taverna - Ro - Rodania (BLT) - Kuhaylan Ajuz
  • Ansata Imperial - Ed - El Dahmah (APS) - Dahmah Shahwan
  • Dalia - Ro - Rodania (BLT) - Kuhaylan Ajuz
  • Shaikh Al Badi - Bb - Bint El Bahreyn (KDV) - Dahmah Shahwan
  • Negmaa - Ed - El Dahmah (APS) - Dahmah Shahwan
  • *Ansata Ibn Halima - Ed - El Dahmah (APS) - Dahmah Shahwan
  • Ansata Rosetta - Ed - El Dahmah (APS) - Dahmah Shahwan
  • Seef - Bb - Bint El Bahreyn (KDV) - Dahmah Shahwan
  • Rowaida - Ek - El Kahila(INS) - Kuhaylan Krush

What a MESS! Now you know why I (and many others) use colors to indicate strain rather than writing it all out. I'm going to make one more change before starting to display these on a pedigree An Montoro has *Maaroufa in his tail dam line. Research (which I won't go into here) has convinced some breeders that this dam line is really Saglawi Jidran. I am one who agrees with these findings so I display horses which trace their tail dam line through Maaroufa as Saglawi Jidran. So let's add these strains to a 'plain' base pedigree:

Daaldan
Fa Daalim
Bint Fa Dena
Fa Mist Hallim
An Montoro
Moss Hill Montana
Bint Mist Aana
Mist Hallim Amir
*Morafic
Theegyptianprince
*Bint Mona
AK Tianica
Naddouma
SF Rafica
Taverna
BRW Marid Shamal
Ansata Imperial
Imperial Imdal
Dalia
Shaikh Al Shamal
Shaikh Al Badi
Ruminaja Afifa
Negmaa
Bint Marhaba
*Ansata Ibn Halima
Ansata Omar Halim
Ansata Rosetta
AK Marhaba
Seef
*El Shaymaa
Rowaida
Dahmah Shahwan
Kuhaylan Ajuz
Kuhaylan Krush
Saqlawi Jidran

Clearly not a finished pedigree, but how do we finish it with only those 16 horses identified? Easy - just remember what we learned about the strain following the dam line. So let's start with Rowaida (tail dam line) and identify all of the horses in the pedigree that can be identified as kuhaylan kurush because they trace back to Rowaida on the dam line. Now the pedigree looks like this:
Daaldan
Fa Daalim
Bint Fa Dena
Fa Mist Hallim
An Montoro
Moss Hill Montana
Bint Mist Aana
Mist Hallim Amir
*Morafic
Theegyptianprince
*Bint Mona
AK Tianica
Naddouma
SF Rafica
Taverna
BRW Marid Shamal
Ansata Imperial
Imperial Imdal
Dalia
Shaikh Al Shamal
Shaikh Al Badi
Ruminaja Afifa
Negmaa
Bint Marhaba
*Ansata Ibn Halima
Ansata Omar Halim
Ansata Rosetta
AK Marhaba
Seef
*El Shaymaa
Rowaida
Dahmah Shahwan
Kuhaylan Ajuz
Kuhaylan Krush
Saqlawi Jidran

That was down right EASY. Just remember the strain always follows the dam line. There are only 7 more mares in the dam line to trace so let's look at the Dahmah Shahwan mares: Bint Mist Aana, Negmaa, and Ansata Rosetta
Daaldan
Fa Daalim
Bint Fa Dena
Fa Mist Hallim
An Montoro
Moss Hill Montana
Bint Mist Aana
Mist Hallim Amir
*Morafic
Theegyptianprince
*Bint Mona
AK Tianica
Naddouma
SF Rafica
Taverna
BRW Marid Shamal
Ansata Imperial
Imperial Imdal
Dalia
Shaikh Al Shamal
Shaikh Al Badi
Ruminaja Afifa
Negmaa
Bint Marhaba
*Ansata Ibn Halima
Ansata Omar Halim
Ansata Rosetta
AK Marhaba
Seef
*El Shaymaa
Rowaida
Dahmah Shahwan
Kuhaylan Ajuz
Kuhaylan Krush
Saqlawi Jidran

Wasn't that easy? Notice how each strain 'stops' when it reaches a stallion - stallions can't pass on their strain to their foals. So let's do another strain; the saglawi jidran mares: Bint Fa Dena and *Bint Mona
Daaldan
Fa Daalim
Bint Fa Dena
Fa Mist Hallim
An Montoro
Moss Hill Montana
Bint Mist Aana
Mist Hallim Amir
*Morafic
Theegyptianprince
*Bint Mona
AK Tianica
Naddouma
SF Rafica
Taverna
BRW Marid Shamal
Ansata Imperial
Imperial Imdal
Dalia
Shaikh Al Shamal
Shaikh Al Badi
Ruminaja Afifa
Negmaa
Bint Marhaba
*Ansata Ibn Halima
Ansata Omar Halim
Ansata Rosetta
AK Marhaba
Seef
*El Shaymaa
Rowaida
Dahmah Shahwan
Kuhaylan Ajuz
Kuhaylan Krush
Saqlawi Jidran

And last, but not least, the Kuhaylan Ajuz mares: Taverna and Dalia
Daaldan
Fa Daalim
Bint Fa Dena
Fa Mist Hallim
An Montoro
Moss Hill Montana
Bint Mist Aana
Mist Hallim Amir
*Morafic
Theegyptianprince
*Bint Mona
AK Tianica
Naddouma
SF Rafica
Taverna
BRW Marid Shamal
Ansata Imperial
Imperial Imdal
Dalia
Shaikh Al Shamal
Shaikh Al Badi
Ruminaja Afifa
Negmaa
Bint Marhaba
*Ansata Ibn Halima
Ansata Omar Halim
Ansata Rosetta
AK Marhaba
Seef
*El Shaymaa
Rowaida
Dahmah Shahwan
Kuhaylan Ajuz
Kuhaylan Krush
Saqlawi Jidran

Although we haven't learned many 'new' concepts on this page, we have successfully stepped through the creation of a strain pedigree. Since this page has become quite lengthy at this point, I'm going to stop here. Thank you for your time and effort in reading this entire page. I want to congratulate you on making it all the way through. I hope that you find this page helpful in learning more about breeding Arabian horses!
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