OFIR PASB/RASB
(Kuhailan-Haifi DB/PASB x Dziwa)
1933 bay stallion

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KUHAILAN HAIFI

In 1930 Prince Roman Sanguszko organized an expedition to Arabia in order to add new blood to his Stud. Four desertbred Arabian stallions were among the horses brought back to Poland in 1931. One of those stallions was Kuhailan Haifi. A blood bay with a bright star in his forehead, Kuhailan Haifi was bred by Khalef el Aouad in Arabia, and foaled in 1924.

 

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KUHAILAN HAIFI DB
Prince Sanguszko's agent was Mr. Zientarski and he told of the first time he saw Kuhailan Haifi. "During a three day stay at Abu Draatha I noticed some bay Kuhailat fillies, very equal in type and beautiful indeed. They were sired by a bay stallion, belonging to the Ruala Bedouins in the neighborhood of Jauf...finally they lead in the bay Kuhailan Haifi. It is just the horse I am seeking. Not large, dry, on splendid legs, no trace of cow-hocks. A long neck, a noble head not very small, with distended thin, movable nostrils, a splendid high-carried tail...late in the night the stallion was bought and delivery arranged."

Kuhailan Haifi was the best stallion obtained by Prince Sanguszko. Purchased at Jauf, he was truly in the desert, not in outlying regions. Kuhailan Haifi lived but two years after arriving in Poland. He died after siring only 14 foals, the last born in 1935, and only one that year. Of these foals, only five were colts.

OFIR

Ofir was Kuhailan Haifi's most noted son and is given most of the credit for carrying on the Kuhailan Haifi sire line. Ofir was bred at Janow Podlaski State Stud in Poland, and foaled in 1933, in Kuhailan Haifi's first crop. Ofir's dam was Dziwa by Abu Mlech and traces in tail female to the desertbred Sahara, imported in 1845. Hailed as the "Regenerator of the Breed", Ofir proved to be just that.

Ofir was the chief stallion at Janow Podlaski until he was captured by the Russians in 1939, and sent to Tersk in Russia. While he was in Poland, Ofir sired only twenty-one foals, plus one exported in utero to the United States. The Ofir sons which were most important in establishing the Ofir Dynasty were all born in 1938. These stallions are known as the 3-W's; Wielki Szlem, *Witez II and Witraz.

Another "W" son was Wyrwidab, also born in 1938, was renamed "Wind" in Germany where he has had great influence upon the German Arabian breeding programs.

In 1939, Ofir was one of the "war booty" group taken from Poland to Russia. In the Russian Stud Book, Ofir is listed as the sire of 64 foals. Ofir's sons did not do well in Russia but his daughters did. Of the 33 Russian bred Ofir daughters, 21 became broodmares. The most important Ofir daughter was Mammona, foaled at Janow Podlaski, in 1939.

As a suckling foal, Mammona walked 1,000 miles from Janow Podlaski to Tersk with her dam. Several months after arriving at Tersk, all the horses had to be moved to the East into Asia to avoid the Nazi Army. Many of the Thoroughbred and half-blood horses evacuated in this 2,000 mile march were not equal to the journey. NONE of the Arabians died. The tiny purebred Arabian filly, Mammona, survived this trip.

Mammona represents the common tail female line in the first group of Russian stallions imported to America; *Muscat, *Nariadni, *Napitok, *Nanam, *Ptersk and Marsianin.

Mammona is not the only Ofir daughter to have importance in American bloodlines. The Ofir daughter *Wierna and two of her daughters, *Werra and *Wierka were among the horses imported as "Spoils of War" by the United States Army in 1945 and all three have established family lines of their own.

The real impact of the bloodline of Ofir, took on a life of it's own with the importation to the United States of his grandson, *Bask (Witraz x Balalajka). When *Bask was bred to domestic mares, many with *Witez II as a sire or grandsire, the results were phenomenal.

With the importation of sons and daughters of Wielki Szlem and Witraz from Poland and the acceptance of the Russian bred Ofir sons, daughters and grandget, the spotlight was again on this amazing "Son of Poland". Ofir has had, and will continue to have, more importance in worldwide Arabian breeding than even Skowronek, the other famous "Polish Son". Poland has indeed proven to be the Fountainhead of the Arabian Horse.