A Personal Narrative on My Journey
through the Middle East

My first sunrise in the Middle East. At dawn from my balcony in Amman, Jordan, timeless stone buildings greet the peerless sun in a perpetual ritual. Nearby minarets of the mosques broadcast a most melodic singular man's voice giving the call to prayer.

Three weeks in the Middle East would hardly qualify me as an experienced traveler compared to the many travelers who have preceded me in the last several hundred years. However, when one reads about their journeys over time it gives some perspective when actually making such a journey and experiencing it personally. Now, I was there, and somehow all that I had read about was jumping out of those old books into my reality. As you shall see in this overview some things have changed but discovering what hasn't changed was a most regenerating experience for me as a lover of the traditional Arabian horse.

So much was packed into this 22 day journey that many articles will continue to flow from the experience from both myself and others who made this pilgrimage with me. However, this overview is from my personal perspectivemore about how it FEELS to experience this trip through my eyes, than the details of each presentation which will need to be covered later.

My choosing to go on this adventure was inspired by two events which happened to occur independent of each other but in succession to each other. The first event was the annual Arabian Horse Historians Association (A.H.H.A) meeting, and subsequent trip, hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform in Damascus, Syria. The second event was the biannual World Arabian Horse Organization (W.A.H.O.) Conference held in Abu Dhabi and hosted by the Emirates Arabian Horse Society under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan. I left the U.S. on October 28 filled with anticipation and curiosity and returned on November 18, 1996 feeling as though I had traveled through a millennium and back again deeply touched by the experience. The relevance of this trip as an Al Khamsa enthusiast unfolds throughout the reflections which follow. Because of the scope of this journey I will only be able to report on the Jordanian and Syrian trips in this issue. My coverage of travels in the Gulf region and W.A.H.O. will have to come in the following issue of Khamsat in order to give it the space it deserves.

The first two weeks of the trip were devoted to travel in Jordan and Syria as a part of the American delegation of A.H.H.A. which consisted of the following people: Dr. Jerald Dirks, Debra Dirks, Stephanie Parlove, Tim Parlove, Randall Harris, Mary Harris, Carol Wilkinson, William Viderman, Constance Viderman and myself. Convening in New York we boarded Royal Jordanian for a flight to Amsterdam and then on to Amman, Jordan. To our amusement and also frustration we were only supposed to be in Amsterdam long enough to pick up more passengers, fuel and food. However a relatively minor repair in the pilots' cockpit delayed the plane for a good many hours which enabled us to consume two airport meals and exchange some humor and conversation with both Dutch and Arab travelers. All of this added to my anticipation of what I would see on first landing in the ancient lands of Jordan. Arriving late at night, we were warmly greeted at the airport by Dr. Hani Hijazi along with family members and friends who made our transit to the hotel a comfortable one.

After the long journey I had no trouble going to sleep but the next morning I was awoken just before dawn by the most melodic yet strange high pitched singing of a solitary man's voice seeping through the seams of my hotel window to the balcony. I went out on to the balcony to discover that it was the morning call to prayer emanating from loudspeakers in the minarets of a nearby mosque. As I heard this penetrating and entrancing voice I watched from my balcony the sun rise ever so slowly over a landscape of timeless white and sand colored buildings and realized I was no longer in Quincy, Michigan. This was the gateway to the ancient land I had read about for years. This was the view and these were the sounds that were heard by travelers of the past and now it was as if I had walked right into one of the 19th century books I had read.

Preparing the day's feed at the Al-Maraai Livestock operation on the edge of the desert near Zarqa, Jordan. The Al-Maraai Establishment, owned by our Jordanian host, Dr. Hani Hejazi, is one of two large facilities which feeds and raises sheep and beef cattle for meat consumption throughout the Middle East and the Persian Gulf area. Pictured here is barley. The straw from barley is also chopped fine and used as a feed.

Dr. Hani Hijazi, his family, friends and associates were truly generous hosts. After coming in from the balcony and having breakfast I discovered that a travel bus along with Jowad and his assistants were at our disposal for visiting sites in Jordan beginning with a visit to the Royal Stable arranged by invitation from Amira Alia Al-Hussein.

Enroute to the stable we stopped briefly at a service station for fueling and some soft drinks and I noticed the most beautiful red and white metal sign in Arabic calligraphy attached to a stucco wall separating rough terrain from the service station and had to photograph it thinking it must have some special meaning. I then inquired of our guide Jowad what it meant to which he replied "diesel available here." I realized that I had much to learn.

The visit to the Royal Stable was very enjoyable. We were seated in the shade of much greenery at the end of an extremely long pure white stucco-walled paddock filled with deep brown sandy loama colorful and relaxing setting to view horses. Prior to the presentation, attendants brought out tea for us to enjoy served in small clear glasses on a bright, metal traytea that was both fragrant and rich in flavor.
 

All 4 feet off the ground, the Al Khamsa stallion DDA Sakhar (Letarnad x CL Kelligirl) romps in the paddock of the Royal Stables to show off for his visitors.	Stable window at the Royal Jordanian Stud. Clearly the horse reigns here.

A Kuhaylan Ajuz mare with her foal in the magnificent setting of the Royal Jordanian Stables.	Safa, an impressive moving 9 year old Kubaysha mare.

One by one the horses were brought out and brought up, first in hand, close to us for viewing. Surprisingly they were stood and posed in a very disciplined way, hardly moving, as though we were judging them in a major horse show. Perhaps some have competed in shows at halter but the presentation of the horses in hand was more like what I am used to seeing in the states. Each horse was presented by its name and strain. Then each horse was petted and turned free so that we could enjoy them at liberty. It was a fine collection of horses and included some interesting female lines we don’t have in the U.S. such as Kubayshan, and Kuhaylan Abu Arkub. I did not know the full ancestry of these horses but one of the horses in the presentation, the final horse, was a familiar face to some of us as he was exported from the U.S. to the Royal Stables. He is the chestnut Al Khamsa stallion DDA Sakhar (Letarnad x CL Kelligirl), a Kuhaylan Krush of the Davenport ancestral element.

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