names; she
began to call people on her cellular phone to see who was home and who
still had Saluqis. Her son came in and shortly thereafter her husband. We
drank coffee and ate cakes and Gideon chatted away with the family.
It turns out that one of the sons lives in Sacramento, California, and
both he and the younger son have e-mail addresses. The younger son is
studying computer programming. I showed the people Sighthound Review to
give them some idea of the “sport of purebred dogs” in the USA, because
they were amazed that I would come so far particularly to see Saluqis. At
this point a young man who owned a Saluqi walked in and joined us. He told
us that he had had two Saluqis but one died. He now has a five-year-old
dog from Abu Juma. After more chat we went out for Gideon to take a good
look at the Arabian colt in the courtyard and then both young men got into
the truck and directed us to the home of Mohammed Omary, owner of the
Saluqi.
We arrived at Mohammed’s home and he ran up the drive to the sheep pens
and came back leading a wonderful cream smooth dog named Nijim, star,
after a famous Bedouin warrior. The owner was delighted to have the dog
photographed and measured and told me that every year he gets his shots
and his license. Nijim is an excellent coursing dog, according to
Mohammed, catches rabbits and partridge with no trouble and is a tough
dog, beating a local rottweiler in his latest exploit. Despite his
toughness, he had the same even temperament that all the Salukis I’d seen
so far displayed, he didn’t object in any way to having his tail measured
or to showing his bite, which was perfectly level with tarter free teeth.
When turned loose he took off like a bullet to run to the street and mark
everything standing, but was back in a few minutes, following his owner
who was carrying a big plate of chicken bones and fat, which he fed to
Nijim one piece at a time. Nijim stood on his hind legs to receive the
food, which amused the men very much. Mohammed didn’t know Nijim’s
pedigree other than the year of his birth and that he was bred by Abu Juma.
He was very interested in the idea of having Nijim registered and
receiving “papers” for him.
The son of the family with the colt knew a man on the West Bank with
Salukis, so we said good-bye and thank you to Mohammed and headed to the
border…..the Palestinian Authority on one side, Israel on the other. The
border was about a mile from Sandalay, but it was a “real” border crossing
with soldiers and armored vehicles parked on both sides. Palestinians and
Israelis were dutifully searching cars and questioning passengers. Rather
tattered Palestinian and Israeli flags fluttered above the concrete
barricades which funneled traffic. What appeared to be years of blown
paper and debris plastered the border fences, very much as it does the
fences in the orthodox Jewish neighborhood where my niece lives in
Jerusalem. Both areas look filthy. We were waved through and drove towards
the shops where the man who had the Saluqis worked.
The man and his friend came out and were very excited that someone wanted
to talk dogs, but their dogs were in a village some distance from the
shop, could we come back tomorrow? Unfortunately I could not. They wanted
to see photos of my dogs and told me they had bought a borzoi once, from
an Israeli girl, but it was useless as a coursing hound. They hunted in
the day and by lamping. They had photos of their dogs, too, and were
anxious to share them, and I’m sure they had tons of stories, but Gideon
was very tired and it was a long way back to Rosh Pina, where he had more
work to do with his sheep and goats.
We dropped our guide off and headed back to Rosh Pina through the Galil,
passing the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) and magnificent vistas of plowed,
fallow, and planted fields as we drove through rocky gorges lined with
pine and eucalyptus. It is such a beautiful region of Israel, hardly
showing any signs of the overcrowding that every Israeli mentions. Bedouin
were seen in several fields with
flocks of sheep and herds of cattle. The
animals were grazing stubble in areas that had been harvested of their
main crops. Some of the cattle looked well fleshed, others looked thin.
Some of the Bedouin were sitting in their pick-up trucks, watching their
herds. The sheep were almost invisible they blended so well with the
stubble.
We stopped at an Arab restaurant by a gasoline station owned by “fellahim”,
farm Arabs. Gideon liked this restaurant particularly for its specialty of
meat and rice, but the salads were also excellent as was the stuffed
squash. We had Macabi beer and, altogether, it was a delicious meal,
looking out onto a valley that seemed to roll on forever under an open
sky. It was gorgeous.
We arrived back in Rosh Pina at almost sunset and had to get hay for
Gideon’s horses. We drove up the road to the sheep and goat pen. The farm
is 1000 dunams sitting on a rocky promontory. Gideon has 100 head of goats
and sheep, all clean and beautifully fleshed; they are used for milk and
meat. No one uses the wool anymore, so, it is burned, which seems bizarre,
but there is no commercial demand for natural wool; everyone uses
synthetic thread. Gideon spoke with the Bedouin farm workers who were
readying the goats for milking while I took a last few photos before dark.
There was an old, long-coated chocolate dog, which barked at us from among
the herd, and two parti-colored, long-coated youngsters chained in the
corner of the pen. The youngsters were a marana-ridgeback accidental
cross, which no one could possibly guess. They looked like typical
Anatolian shepherds. Gideon did not trust them with the kids so he planned
on finding them homes. They were handsome dogs.
We returned to Gideon’s house then went next door and sat on the patio of
his daughter’s new house, a large, prefabricated building on a concrete
foundation. The house was constructed in the USA and shipped in sections
to Israel, where an American company does the actual on-site assembly and
other necessary construction. The night was clear with a strong, cool
breeze and the continual rustle of leaves from the thick vegetation of
Rosh Pina. The stars were bright and there were no sounds of urban living
to impinge upon the peace except for the large troop-carrying helicopters
with flashing lights, flying into Israel from the border area of Lebanon,
only 20 kilometers to the north. Oblivious to the sounds of war, Gideon’s
mares munched their hay, just feet from the patio, where they could hear
the conversation and we could hear their hooves stamp and their tails
swoosh as the last helicopter passed and the silent night closed around
the house.
Talking with Gideon Raski, August 2-4, 1999
Gideon began to share his experiences while we were waiting for Rashid
Darawshe to return home. My tape begins with the question:
Which tribe?
Ezayhel, they used the dogs for hunting….they were between Beershevah and
Arad, to the north….today it’s a very big tribe….now they are in the town,
Rahat…I knew the big sheikh, he passed away a few years ago. He used the
Saluqi, not the Saluqi from Sinai, the Saluki with the long hair on the
ears and tail.
I, in 1956 or 57, went to hunt with them together and it was very nice….
What did you hunt?
Gazelle….with Salukis…..they had two dogs and a bitch and we used horses,
too. They surrounded the gazelle, when they know where they are, then the
dogs run after them and make them tired. So, then the gazelles stand, they
don’t move because they lost their strength….
About how long did they run, do you remember?
I can’t say it because in the beginning we were about ten riders and we
surrounded them from far away, and they start to come from one side to the
other until they see that they are surrounded and then the dogs run after
them and they stand.
One of the dogs tried to bite the gazelle and the owner told him not to
bite and he stood there and barked, the others they just lay down and held
the gazelle there.
And I saw them… then we went one night to hunt rabbits….in the night they
go, they say it’s very nice in the night to see also, it was
March or
April….the temperature? Look… it’s hot in the daytime but very cold at
nighttime….like Sinai.
It wasn’t cold…it was hot!
When…in the night? So, you have no luck….Anyway….the dogs run very fast,
it take maybe a minute, they catch the rabbit and they wait, they don’t
bring it….like the other one we use it for hunting birds….pointers….they
bring it back which the Saluqi never. I had a Saluqi a long time but he
never did it….he ran after them, but when I shoot, I use the pointer, not
the Saluqi.
My Saluqi I like to watch run….he was a very nice dog. He was thirteen
years old when he died, I think. Also, I get him from the Bedouin in the
Negev. Salman Hezayhel, he was the one I know. Sometimes people were
coming from Saudia through Jordan, they come, sometimes they bring hashish
and bring drugs and he ordered they bring him Saluqis, and all day they
bring him Saluqis from Jordan and from Saudi. He was a very interesting
man and when he get the two dogs, I was there, and he told me that they
have some puppies from them. The other Saluqis I know were from Sde Boker
and I’m not sure if they keep them pure. Hezayhel was keeping them pure.
How do you know that?
Because I was there. I saw the dogs there….in the Zayhel place, all the
dogs that I saw were purebred and they keep them that way.
What did they look like?
They weren’t the same as the Sinai Saluqi. They were yellow color like
Sinai….the tail was with hair, curled, and the ears hair and on the breast
and they never had a mark on the nose like the Sinai dogs. The ones in Sde
Boker and also the ones in Salman Hezahel’s place….yes, they’re purebred
from this kind of Saluqis.
Look, you can see also the conformation of the body, the front legs very,
very strong, and you see the muscles on them and the breast very wide and
strong, which you don’t see it in other dogs…and they were very skinny [he
means racy] when you see….like the English dogs, what you call them, the
English dogs….the greyhounds….also you can see very, very deep breast and
very narrow body. This kind of Saluqi they are the same, which means they
can run fast and run far.
Yep, that’s what I know about them….which I saw them. To see Bedouin dogs,
you have to be a good friend of them to see what they have. I never took
pictures, nobody ever took pictures. I have no patience for it, just
memories.
I know less about dogs than I know about horses more. Dogs, I don’t really
love them, I use them but I don’t really like them. I use the hunt dogs,
the pointers…we went to hunt wild boar with dogs.
Wild boar…in Israel?
Oh, we have a lot in Israel, you never heard? The wild boar I think is the
wildest animal that I know.
That’s what everybody says…even the Greeks said this…
I don’t know the Greeks but I know we met them and we hunt them. The dogs?
The boar takes them off in the bush…the dogs never catch them. Pointers,
the real hunters mix the dogs, they bring them from Hungary, the vizsla,
many kinds of pointer, the French pointer….the point is, the dog has to be
very small.
Why? Because if not the pig catch him with the teeth, sharp like a
razor…many, many dogs, they cut them and they make from the tail a cut
until they’re dead. So, the small dog, he run away and he never will be
hurt…I think I lost maybe ten or twenty dogs like this, at the time when
we bring them to go after the smell and then when they fight. They want to
fight and the pig just makes with his head like this [shakes his head]…
so… we use the dogs.
I use the dogs as shepherds…we use the marana and the German shepherd.
They [German shepherds] are not good, you can never trust them. They, the
marana is an Italian dog which I had, they never did anything [bad] with
the sheep. As a guard dog…one thing…if you have a very strong and sharp
dog, he will bite everybody. You don’t want a dog that will bite
everybody, you only want a dog that will
bite somebody that comes to touch
the herds. We have Turkish dogs, Akbash and Karabash dogs, that’s what I
look for…for my work.
You said that Lobo lived with you…what was he like?
Lobo was one of the best dogs that I had. He lived about twelve years. He
had excellent endurance and he was very sensitive and good…he didn’t bite
anybody, never, just scared people.
And what do you remember that he looked like?
He looked like a good Saluqi dog…he looked like Abu Juma’s male but he was
a little taller…he had a little wider head, a long neck, good shoulder and
good muscles on the shoulder and behind, and he was skinny…always…skinny.
The people thought we don’t feed him but my daughter used to ride him; she
would sit on his back. He had a good temperament.
But, sometimes when we went to feed the horses, he said, you’re crazy, I
don’t go, and he went back…it happened quite a lot…but he could work, he
could catch rabbits by himself in three minutes.
What else you want to know?
About the horses?
You know, the horses here in Israel and Palestine…I was born here, my
father was born here, my grandmother was born here, all in Rosh Pina. My
grandfather came from Russia when he was eighteen years old, in 1871; he
came to Sfat, then Rosh Pina and we live here.
My grandfather liked horses. In the beginning he was very, very poor. All
the people were very poor but he went to South Africa and he worked there
a few years and he made good money. He came back and bought a lot of land
and one of the first things he bought was a horse from Damascus.
In this time a dunam of land you could buy for one Turkish gold pound.
This horse…he paid for….he told me….500 gold pounds Turkish. You can buy
1000 dunams of land. I don’t remember this mare but I remember her
granddaughter.
Why did the mare cost so much?
When you lived in this time, the people who had good horses, they didn’t
sell them and if you go to buy a horse, if you want to buy all of a horse,
the whole horse, in this time you have to pay a lot of money and that’s
what he did. He didn’t want to buy a horse with a partner [“shares” in the
horse], he wanted to buy it alone.
Where did he get the horse?
Damascus. To buy a horse in the old time, it was very difficult…here in
the area because there weren’t too many horses…good horses, everybody keep
them and never sold them. So he went to Damascus and he waited there many
months….he looked and asked and that’s what he get. And he get the lineage
he liked and he bought her. And I remember her granddaughter.
Who did he breed the mare to?
It was a very difficult thing because most of the good horses were with
the gypsies.
Who?
The gypsies. There was a special tribe of gypsies who keep the stallions.
Sleb? Saluba? Lady Anne writes about them…
No, no…look, they were a special tribe…they spoke Arabic. They were a
special tribe in all the Middle East which they keep the stallions. They
herd stallions and they make a circle during all the year, going from one
place to the other, and they breed the mares.
Now they have to bring papers, at least five generations of paper…and the
papers are good, and they get signs of five sheikhim or five mayors of
towns that they know this mare and five generations before. And that was
the proof it was asil, five generations…
That’s what it should be today…
Yeah, OK, but the point is more that the people in this time needed each
other more…today, I don’t think so. Today everybody look first of all
about the money.
Anyway, that was about the stallions. And, the Turkish government also had
stallions, then, the English government, after 1917.
So they stood the stud horses until 1948?
They stood the stud horses; this was the process…yes. Do you know, I was a
boy…I knew most of them…the kids wait when they put up the tent…I knew the
people and I knew the horses. There were the donkeys there and mules and
two or three studs. And, they use the stallions if they are good, and they
make races. They don’t race like a race track…I remember every year, we
went to see which horses would come…but, sometimes horses die and they
bring another…normally they bring them from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Nejd. I
think these were the places mostly they bring them from…mostly they were
gray, and the head was white.
And what were the horses like?
They decided, what I remember, they don’t care what the distance was, you
can say 10 kilometer, 1 kilometer, 2 kilometer, they don’t care…so, OK,
and most of the time they win…
Against your horse? Their stallions would race against anybody’s horse?
Usually they won. First of all they were very good riders and they made
money from them. They knew if it was a very good horse, people come to
breed their mares and in this time a good breeding was 10 or 12
Palestinian pounds. At this time you could buy a part of a horse for this
amount; it was a good price.
Most of the horses what I knew were partners…24 shares…you could buy one
share, two shares because you had no more money. It was a very complicated
thing to know how you do it. There were special people who know it. It
could take 20 years before you get a filly. Only the fillies were
counted…the colts belong to the one who owns the mare.
If you sit with the Bedouin you can hear stories about how they fight…and
he gave his sister for the filly and he give…you know…things which…
True?
True. Yeah….yeah.
Well, they don’t think much of women.
Don’t be narrow…narrow. You can find it; not in this time…the people, they
love horses but they used to be slaughtered [in raids]…but then the
Bedouin thought that a real man, he needed a horse tied near the tent,
with the saddle on, ready for anything. Now you can’t find it…
You can still find a camel, though…I saw it in Sinai, tied with the saddle
on…
Yeah, in Sinai you can see it, not one, you can see a lot…yeah, ready to
ride…that’s the best, I remember…yeah…when I was a child, horses were
transportation.
At this point, Gideon told me the history of the
asil Arabian bloodstock
in the region under the British mandate and how, when the British left in
1948 the horses which were not taken by the Arab soldiers from Nablous and
east Jordan were shot by the British and the tack was blown up with TNT
because they did not believe the Arabs would take proper care of the
horses and they didn’t want anything to go to the Jewish military because
they would use it.
Who killed these horses? The British? So the Arabs wouldn’t have them and
the Jews wouldn’t have them?
That’s exactly what they think…some people think that…
Who thinks that?
The English government! That’s why they did it…they killed the horses and
they exploded all the equipment….not the stables, the equipment, the
saddles and all that…destroyed it and that’s it. Some of the saddles we
find during the war, and some of the [stolen] horses we find…
I don’t understand…why did they do this? They just didn’t want to leave
it? That’s true or it’s just a story?
Look, I never will tell you stories that are not true. That’s what
happened.
The best horses in the Middle East that they could find and then they
killed them?
Yes…so that’s what happened to that bloodstock. You asked me about it and
that’s what happened.
The writing of Lady Anne Blunt came up and Gideon commented:
Yes, I read it…she tells stories which they tell her…they tell her stories
which she want to hear…but she did do good for horses…she did the best
thing. She bought many horses, good horses, and she made good breeding
from them…so that was the start of the typey Arabian horse that everybody
followed.
The Arabian horse is very strong and very big…my mare is 15.2 hands which
is very big and her grandfather almost 16 hands. If you want to ride you
need good conformation…strong legs, strong things. And usually if the
horse has good conformation, he will be good….if you want to ride you need
good conformation. We know it for sure.
Why? Because every movement of a horse is from nature…so every movement
which you want from a horse, he did in the nature. And if he did it good
it means it was true and good horse…now you have just to know to ask it to
do things which he knows how to do it and he will do everything that you
want. He lie down, he stand, he change legs, everything he did it alone in
the nature but he has to do it when you want it. And that’s all the
thing…and if it is a good conformation horse it will be a good ride horse
and a good work horse, and everything.
It’s a good idea…they say the same about dogs…
It’s not only a good idea, it’s my experience. You find a horse with not
good legs, and the neck is not right, and the back not right, and it will
be crazy…because it cannot do what you want it to.
I’ll end this section with the story of the Bedouin and his mare. Gideon
told me this story twice, once in the restaurant and then again, as we
were driving, so that I could tape it, and just hear him tell it again.
In 1967, after the Six Day War, in Gaza, in that area…they knew I was
interested in horses…somebody told me that they knew somebody who has a
very, very, very special horse…mare…
When you say somebody told you, you mean a Bedouin?
Sure, all the Bedouin because I worked with Bedouins there…and then
somebody else and somebody else and everybody told me about the same
mare…and I said, OK, I want to see her. They said it’s very difficult.
They promised me to arrange a meeting between me and the owner of the
mare.
So, one day they told me, OK, he will be someplace and we have to go
there. I took my jeep and I drive there and I wait. Sinai is desert, no
shade, no nothing, just sun, very strong sun…we wait, maybe three, four
hours. All the time they say, “He will come, he will come, don’t worry”.
Then, I saw a piece of dust very far away…slowly, slowly it came near…and
I saw the shape of the horse and the rider and I remember I looked through
the binoculars and I saw the rider which rides very, very, very slowly and
the reins on the horse are loose. Usually the Bedouin, when the rider
holds the reins loose, it means he looks for peace, he is not coming to
fight. Otherwise, you can see it, when the horses are not ready, they seem
easy, it means he doesn’t want to make troubles and he doesn’t want to
have troubles. That’s the signal in the desert, when they see somebody
riding with loose reins, it means peace.
So, he rides slowly, slowly, easy, easy and after half an hour he saw
us…maybe he saw us before, but he saw the jeep and he was sure that’s the
people he was coming to meet and he just put the reins a little bit,
collect them a little bit, you know, and this horse became like
electric…everything in the horse moved inside…it changed the picture maybe
a hundred and eighty degrees….it looked something else at all. So nice
movement which we know is the true Arabian.
So, he came near…and when he came near, I saw the mare and she was very,
very, very old and the rider as well…old, old things. And the man he got
down from the mare and her color was black but she lost a lot of hair so
you could see the skin, but she looked in good shape, he fed her good, and
she was the nicest horse that I see in my life…Arabian…nice,
nice…everything was perfect but old, old, old. Usually the teeth are
straight in a horse, but in the time, they become bent away from the mouth
like a dog’s mouth…that means you can know the horse’s age when you see
it. She had her teeth completely bent, she was so old.
And I asked him if he wanted to cover her with my stallion.
She never had any foals?
No…he say he don’t believe anybody….he don’t believe that they are enough
good for this mare so he never bred her. And I know that she will never be
in foal, but I say, OK, maybe, so nice horse, so I say look, if she will
be a filly, it’s yours, if it’s a male colt, I will take it and I will pay
you money, how much you want. I will bring the horse here, everything. He
said, no way, no way, no way…he was afraid I would take the horse but I
promised him nobody would take the horse and I gave him a paper that it is
his horse and nobody will touch her…so, he rode away. And that’s the
story.
That’s a beautiful story. Is that one of your sweetest memories?
Look, it was a nice time there. But, I was really surprised to see
somebody who keeps the mare so well, even the skin, because they don’t
believe in cleaning the horse, they believe…they wash them but never clean
with the brush…and sometimes it makes damage to the skin. They wash them
some, but, when they wash them they don’t have enough water, so the horse
has to be very healthy to keep his skin good.
Our talk concluded with the final exchange:
Today, the first reason people have the horses and the Saluqis is money.
People think they can make money off them. The second reason is to show
themselves…
The people?
Yeah, and that’s it.