Sahanad: Who was she? Why is she important? Is she at risk of losing her legacy?

Sahanad was born in 1959 and was bred by a Stephen Bonovich. She was sired by the Davenport stallion AbuHanad and out of the mare Sahabet. Sahanad was of Davenport descent but also contained the Hamidie import stallion Obeyran. Unique among the Davenport lines Sahanad was tail-female *Wadduda. Although *Wadduda's line is still very prominent in Davenport horses and other Arabian lines she is nearly extinct in the tail-female line and is extinct in tail-female lines of pure Davenport Arabians. Why is this important? The Bedouins often bred horses based on tail-female lines. Mares were highly prized and often bred for "Pure in Strain" based on the tail-female line. Breeding this way ensured to preserve type in the horse and certain traits would shine through. 

*Wadduda herself was one of the most famous mares of her time. A true gift from the desert from the Bedouins to Homer Davenport she was a prized war mare. She came over with battle scars and the story was she carried her rider many miles with a bullet in her fetlock. She was a true desert treasure and proved herself through her descendants. These bloodlines are known for their athletic capabilities, loyalty, and true desert type. It is sad she is not preserved in the pure Davenports in the tail-female sense but through Sahanad and very few others her tail-female line still has a chance to survive. 

At first Sahanad wasn't bred to any Al Khamsa stallions. However, she was lucky enough to be acquired by Golden Future Arabians where she was given the opportunity to preserve her lines in AK breeding. Sahanad ended up have 7 foals that were AK and out of those 7, 2 were pure Davenport. They were sired by the Egyptian import *Adhem, the Babson/Egyptian stallion Khemahr Moniet and the Davenport stallion Kamil Ibn Salan. Unfortunately the filly, Sadie Thompson, by Kamil Ibn Salan died at the tender age of 2 leaving few descendants. Her full brother Kamil Ibn Sahanad sired 8 foals. In total looking at 4 generations there are 36 descendants from Kamil. However, many have been lost. Several died in Texas, one son was gelded overseas, a few mares: Mi Bayou Lily, Mi April Trifle, MI Sahanada, and Mi Cathaya whereabouts are unknown but registered to Elizabeth Ford-Pade. I tried contacting her with no luck as to whether they still exist or not. There is a handful of pure Davenport with Kamil still out of his granddaughter Jen BeautyASaha. My stallion Siggi Saha, his full brother Lyre Saha and then his half siblings Poppy A Saha and Kamil Sahanad Saha. There are also a few mares of the rare *Crane element that also carry lines to Kamil Ibn Sahanad and I am lucky to co-own one with Karin Floyd of AZ and she is expecting her first foal Feb. 2024. Kamil has no tail-female Sahanad descendants but I am proud to say his great grandson had his first filly 2023 that is tail-female Sahanad so hope lives on that his line will continue.

Black Lightning, Sahanade, and Aziza Serr Anadah were all well preserved by the Howards of Hi Power Farm when they started the mission to save Sahanads line. Ibn Sahanad was preserved as well but his lines like Kamil's are slowly becoming less and less. But why did the Howard's want to preserve this line? Was it the connection to *Wadduda? The answer is no. That was not really a thought to them at first. The biggest reason was they acquired a mare named Vanetta Sphar and her disposition, build and personality touched the Howard's in a way no other horse did. It came from Sahanad. That unwavering sweetness that makes them the perfect family horse. So began their journey in searching for Sahanad descendants. It is thanks to them and their careful breeding program the Sahanad tail-female line has been saved. Others joined in to help save this line like Patty Conklin in Missouri, Anita Enander in California, and Carl Sphar in Illinois. There were other breeders, small and few in between the line continued on. But now these breeders are gone or no longer breeding and we have to look at what the future may hold for the Sahanad bloodline. 

  Today there are few breeding Sahanad horses. According to the AK Roster her descendants by decade is falling greatly. In the 70's their were 10, the 80's 57, the 90's spiked with 124, and from 2000-2009 their were still 107. The next decade it dropped over 50% to 42. Now in the past 3 years only 10 have been born. Right now I believe I am the only active breeder of these lines and I fear they will eventually fade along with myself. Other breeders have aged out and passed while others have moved on into different parts of their lives. I am determined collect the various lines still available to continue the lines in the purist and most diverse way "Purity through Diversity". I have almost succeeded with bringing Kamil lines and Ibn Sahanad lines into my program. I have plans to utilize Sheila Tuckers stallion who is by Aziza Malachi son Jalam Sphar (who is out of the blue star mare DB Roxy Ann) and the Khehanad Adhem son Khehanad Azeem who is out of the Aziza Malachi daughter HPF Malisah. Both lines have a lot of diversity to offer while still incorporating more Ibn Sahanad to my program. Jalam's son offers Saud lines as well as Egyptian lines of Moniet El Sharaf and The Minstril from his dam. Azeem adds Khe Adhm to the mixture the less famous full sibling of Saud El Ameer but the better of the two in my opinion. But why keep these lines going with so many stopping? To me these horses are just amazing. They are athletic, brave, trainable, well built, of desert type and beyond sweet family horses. The Howards did a fantastic job getting them linebred to preserve the tail-female line and now I feel they work best with some other combined source lines and that is how I set up my program. I have quite a few with only one line to Sahanad but others with multiple and by interbreeding these combined sources are creating something really special. For the future there may not be any more breeders specifically to Sahanad but I challenge other breeders to consider adding this something special to their programs to see how it can help improve and diversify their programs. More information on Sahanad and the people behind her legacy can be found in a few past issues of the Khamsat. They are all wonderful articles and I highly recommend them.