Alwal Bahet

Still too cold to do much riding, so am gathering old photos of Desert Bred Arabians and their ancestors to scan and preserve. Thought this blog would be a good place to share them.

Here is Alwal Bahet (110016 AHR). His bloodlines are from two sources in Saudi Arabia - The Royal Stables of His Majesty Sa'ud Ibn Abd'Al Aziz-Al Sa'ud and His Highness Amir Sa'ud Ibn Abdullah Ibn Jiluwi.

Alwal Bahet passed on tremendous atleticism, stamina and heart (besides his incredible good looks :))to his descendants which are many. At Desert Bred Arabians, we are proud to have numerous progeny from this stud. These Alwal Bahet 'kids' can be found in all disciplines.

In endurance, we've enjoyed seeing DB Marah, DB Dahmah, DB Bolero, DB Khrush and others go on to win a variety of races.

One of our friends, Kay, owns this Alwal Bahet look-alike, DB El Danjah (Runner) and hasn't found anything they can't do yet! Here is Runner in one of his many H/J shows - Kay has also taken him on endurance rides and has recently been tearing up the Polo Crosse fields with him. Go Kay!

Desert Bred Arabians recognizes the value of Alwal Bahet's bloodlines and has preserved his lines thru several stallions. such as Desert Jalam (chestnut at top), DB Khrush who has achieved a lot of recognition in regional sport horse shows. Two young stallions, DB Ibn Jalam (chestnut in halter) and DB Bey Barz (black in halter) carry on those tremendous genes as well.

And speaking of the show ring, here is another Alwal Bahet descendant who is earning her fair shair of ribbons in the H/J arena - DB Caprih! She completed her first show this past fall and is a tremendous pony jumper. She's also been foxhunting recently and is exceling at chasing hounds and jumping hedges as well!

Do you have an Alwal Bahet descendant? Share your pics with us! We'd love to show them off!

Come Back Soon

Just getting the hang of this blogging thing, and unfortunately will be going on a brief hiatus. Will be out of town for a few days, so there won't be any new news for a week or so. So please don't forget to come back and visit again in a couple of weeks for more stories on adventures at The Riding Center, home Desert Bred Arabians in Freeburg, IL!

(left, young fillies on their home on 'the hill')

Snow GLORIOUS Snow!

We FINALLY got snow this winter! Soft, powdery, luxurious snow! And even better - it was the perfect texture to go riding in, not too slippery, not too crunchy. And Saturday was perfect riding weather - the sun was out, barely a breeze and warm weather - one HAD to go riding.




Or that's what I told my horse, the look I got in return made me think she didn't agree :). But after two weeks off braving the cold and not doing much but eating hay, she could use the exercise.









So off we went to the trails. I was excited - no trail markings to follow, it would just be us and the snow, bushwacking through the trees.


The 2 and 3 yr old stud colts at the end of the road came to see us off. If they could talk, I think they would've said:
Where you going? Can we go? What are you going to do? What are the trails? We never get to go anywhere!

DB Kalif, too mature for these young colts, hung out in back, too grown up to be impressed by our little adventure we were going on :).

Our little ditch we normally jump was now a frozen creek.

With all the tracks we saw, it would seem inevitable we'd run across some critters, but no such luck.
















I would love someone to tell me what all the tracks are - are they all deer? Seems some are different then others - raccoon?























It was a perfect, wonderful, magic day, but we couldn't stay out forever. Time to turn back toward home.








Nothing like a good roll in the snow to cool off after a workout on a warm winter day.
















Hmmm, and now lookey here - is that grass under this white stuff?? mmmmmmm







Who says the winters are too cold in the midwest? You're missing out! :)

Bon Voyage

It seems like it was just yesterday, this little girl was born. It was a hot summer day in the afternoon. Her mom, DB Khrushah, a first time mom, hadn't read the rule book that foals are born during the night.

(left, DB Najem Huda, the sire)

(below, Empress and her mom, Khrushah)

So there she was, a spindly black filly - a mini me of her mom. Or is it her dad (DB Najem Huda) that she looks like? She was named DB Empress - a very regal name for a very regal filly. But then she is so sweet, you want to treat her just like a princess :).

That was just a few short years ago. At a young age, she was handled extensivly and imprinted. So much so, that she was always the first to greet someone coming into her pen or pasture. But maybe that's just her personality. Her mom, DB Khrushah, is just like that too. The pictures on the postings below are me trying to get one of Empress - very difficult!

She was taught how to stand nice for the farrier, and that its OK to have a halter on her head. When she got big enough, she had a saddle put on her, and then was taught how to carry a rider. She handled it all with grace and enthusiasm. She was ridden alone and with others, in an arena and on trails, around cows and tractors and dogs.

(left, Empress, 2008)

That time flew by so fast, and now here she is all grown up and making a big journey today. She's graduated from Desert Bred Academy and off to the big scary world beyond our fences. But its a happy and excited farewell, because we know she's going on to achieve great things with her new owner and to be yet another exceptional Desert Bred ambassador in the south - joining Kay's Runner and Sheytana, and Lisa's Genesis and DB Mayyadah and many others.

Take Care Empress and be sure to write! We'll miss you!

Can I Eat Your Camera?

Monday I was out at the farm and decided to take some pics of one of the young mares in her paddock. She lives in a small group with a few other 3 and 4 yr old girls.

But you can't possibly be in their pen without the welcome wagon in your face, begging for head rubs and their own share of attention, lol. Or were they trying to see if my camera was edible? It's anyone's guess :)

You Should've Seen It!

Another day in the low 30's and it felt like spring compared to the single digits last week.

The horses must have thought it was spring too. Went riding up the road that goes by the pasture where this year's foals live. Normally I'm never lucky enough to see them in action. They're usually peacefully grazing off in the distance. But today they were full of themselves.
First they ran down to the corner of their pasture to greet me and my horse. Then they ran off as a group. looping around their pasture, doing figure eights, moving as one group, like a migrating flock of birds. They all looped around their pen, then back out into the pasture again, with one or two showing off with little happy bucks.

And where are my pictures of this? Of course my camera was back at home, sitting on my desk :(.

You should have seen it though - it was SPECTACULAR! :)

A Big Freeze

Not much riding going on today. We got hit by the big freeze that covered the midwest. Fortunately we didn't have the snow that covered some of the states up north.

But two days of single digit weather and below, makes a 40 degree today feel like a carribean breeze :). The ground was rock hard and too hard to ride on, so hopefully in a day or two it will thaw into the winter mud we've come to love, lol.

The horses sure enjoyed the sunshine - at top is a picture of a group of young desertbred mares, butts to the wind, sunbathing in our January heat wave.

But spring isn't too far away - and soon we'll be back on our trails spooking the deer out of their hiding places. From last fall, at top is one who paused long enough for me to take her photo, before scampering off.