Mesaoud, an

Arabian The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...

stallion, foaled 1887, was one of the foundation sires of the Crabbet Arabian Stud in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Bred in Egypt by

Ali Pasha Sherif Ali Pasha Mohamed Sherif (1834 – February 26, 1897) (alt spelling, from French Ali Pacha Chérif) was an Albanian-Egyptian government official and a renowned breeder of Arabian horses during the late 19th century. Family background Born ...

, he was imported to England by

Wilfred Wilfred may refer to: * Wilfred (given name), a given name and list of people (and fictional characters) with the name * Wilfred, Indiana, an unincorporated community in the United States * ''Wilfred'' (Australian TV series), a comedy series * ' ...

and

Lady Anne Blunt Anne Isabella Noel Blunt, 15th Baroness Wentworth (née King-Noel; 22 September 1837 – 15 December 1917), known for most of her life as Lady Anne Blunt, was co-founder, with her husband the poet Wilfrid Blunt, of the Crabbet Arabian Stud in E ...

in 1891. He is recognized as an

Al Khamsa "Al Khamsa" is a designation applied to specific desert-bred bloodlines of the Arabian horse considered particularly "pure" by Arabian horse breeding, horse breeders, who sometimes also describe such lines with by use of the Arabic word ''asil'', ...

Arabian, with verifiable lineage tracing to the

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and A ...

of the desert. He was a

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelat ...

stallion A stallion is a male horse that has not been gelded (castrated). Stallions follow the conformation and phenotype of their breed, but within that standard, the presence of hormones such as testosterone may give stallions a thicker, "cresty" nec ...

with brilliant white markings, noted for his correct conformation, good Arabian type and powerful build.Edwards, Gladys Brown. ''The Arabian: War Horse to Show Horse.'' Arabian Horse Association of Southern California, Rich Publishing, Revised Collector's edition (1973). His markings included a blaze, three full stockings with a right front partial stocking, and slight roaning to the body with scattered white spots on the body and on the head under the chin and jowl.Mulder, Carol June Woodbridge. ''Imported Foundation Stock of North American Arabian Horses: Volume 1 Registration Numbers 1–82.'' Revised Edition No publication place 1990 The body white suggests that he had sabino genetics, and he is thought to be a primary source for that coloration when it appears in Arabians today.

Background

The Blunts purchased Mesaoud in protracted negotiations with the aging

during 1888–1889.Wentworth, Judith Anne Dorothea Blunt-Lytton. ''The Authentic Arabian Horse,'' 3rd ed. George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1979. They finally completed the purchase of him as a two-year-old, along with the stallion Merzuk and the mare Khatila. In the two-year period before being shipped to England, he ran in the Cairo Eclipse Stakes at Ghezireh, which covered a distance of over a mile and a half. Victim of a bad start, he finished seventh out of ten horses. In England, Mesaoud was used both as a riding horse and as a sire, with over 100 known purebred Arabian offspring recorded. He was also shown in 1896, 1897, and 1898 at the Crystal Palace Horse Show, taking first place each time. He was exhibited at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900, alongside Arabians from around Europe.

Legacy

Over time, his bloodline became a part of nearly every breedable mare at Crabbet, and thus he could not be used at the stud without the risk of

inbreeding Inbreeding is the production of offspring from the mating or breeding of individuals or organisms that are closely related genetically. By analogy, the term is used in human reproduction, but more commonly refers to the genetic disorders an ...

. Therefore, Mesaoud was eventually sold to Wladislas Kliniewski for 240 guineas in July 1903, and shortly thereafter was exported to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

by Count Sergei Aleksandrovich Stroganov,Lewis, Barbara S., "Egyptian Arabians – The Mystique Unfolded", Arabians International
"Arabian Horse – Bloodlines, Russian Horses", Arabian Horse Association
where he lived for the remainder of his life at the site of the present day

Tersk Stud The Tersk Stud is a horse breeding farm, and it was used to restore the Russian horse population, which suffered heavy losses during the 1917-1923 Revolution. It was officially established on 11 February 1921, on the orders of Marshal Semyon Budy ...

. Mesaoud's exact fate is unknown, but it is believed that none of the Stroganov horses survived the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...

. One of his most famous sons was Astraled, who sired a number of foals in England before being imported to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

by Lothrop Ames of Massachusetts in 1909. Astraled was used in Oregon as a Remount sire for

crossbred A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. ''Crossbreeding'', sometimes called "designer crossbreeding", is the process of breeding such an organism, While crossbreeding is used to main ...

working horses. Astraled then went to live with W.R. Brown in 1923, where he sired his last foal crop, which included his best-known son, Gulastra. One of Mesaoud's descendants, the

mare A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than f ...

Rissalma, was imported by the

of the former

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

in 1936 and produced the famous Russian-bred stallion

Priboj Priboj ( sr-Cyrl, Прибој, ) is a town and municipality located in the Zlatibor District of southwestern Serbia. The population of the town is 14,920, while the population of the municipality is 27,133. Geography The municipality of Priboj ...

. His grandson, the Astraled son Sotamm, was sold to Egypt, thus returning the Mesaoud bloodline to its nation of origin. Sotamm's great-grandson

Nazeer Nazir or Nazeer may refer to: * Nazir (title) * Nazir (name) * Nazirite, in the Hebrew Bible, one who took the ascetic vow described in Numbers 6:1-21 * Nazir (Talmud), a tractate of the Talmud dealing with Nazirites * Nazeer (horse), an Arabian s ...

is one of the most famous horses in the "Egyptian" line of pedigrees. Nazeer's son

Aswan Aswan (, also ; ar, أسوان, ʾAswān ; cop, Ⲥⲟⲩⲁⲛ ) is a city in Southern Egypt, and is the capital of the Aswan Governorate. Aswan is a busy market and tourist centre located just north of the Aswan Dam on the east bank of ...

was exported from Egypt to Tersk in 1963, thus reintroducing the bloodlines of Mesaoud to Russia from yet another source. Mesaoud's descendants are found worldwide and he appears in the pedigree of over 90% of all Arabian horses in the world today.

Pedigree

References

Sources

*Archer, Rosemary, Colin Pearson and Cecil Covey. ''The Crabbet Arabian Stud: Its History and Influence.'' Crabbet Organisation, 1978. *Edwards, Gladys Brown. ''The Arabian: War Horse to Show Horse.'' Arabian Horse Association of Southern California, Rich Publishing, Revised Collector's edition, 1973. *Wentworth, Judith Anne Dorothea Blunt-Lytton. ''The Authentic Arabian Horse,'' 3rd ed. George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1979. {{short description, 19th and 20th-century Arabian stallion Individual Arabian and part-Arabian horses

Background

Legacy

Pedigree

See also

References

Sources