Ali Pasha Sherif - Breeder of Arabian Horses

Breeder of Arabian Horses

Ali Bey first obtained a few Arabian horses while his father was governor of Syria, and he obtained others directly from the breeding program of Abbas I Pasha. When Abbas I was murdered in 1854, his Arabian horses were inherited by his eighteen-year-old son Ibrahim Ilhami Pasha (aka El Hami Pasha) who had little interest in them, giving away several. Upon Ibrahim's death, his estate was bankrupt, and the executors of his estate sold his remaining horses at auction in December 1860. Ali Pasha Sherif purchased approximately 30 horses of the original Abbas I Pasha stock, ultimately owning four hundred horses by 1873.

Ali Pasha Sherif was reputed to have kept extensive records and manuscripts about his stud, which were passed on to his son, Huseyn Bey Sherif, who lent them to King Fouad. These were never returned, and they are now considered lost.

In the late 1870s, a devastating epidemic of African horse sickness hit Egypt, killing thousands of horses, including many horses of prized bloodlines. Only the horses Ali Pasha Sherif had moved to upper Egypt were saved. As he aged, Ali Pasha Sherif's health failed and he encountered financial and political problems, leading to many problems for his stud farm, including a decline in the quality of his stock due to managers who bred to pedigree with no assessment of the ensuing livestock and often engaging in inbreeding.

In 1880 Ali Pasha Sherif made the acquaintance of Wilfred and Lady Anne Blunt. Though he was generally reluctant to sell horses to foreigners, he eventually sold them the stallion Mesaoud in 1889 as well as other horses. Ali Pasha Sherif died in 1897, and a month after his death his remaining horses went up for auction. At that time, Lady Anne Blunt was able to purchase many of the best for her Sheykh Obeyd stud, later exporting some to their Crabbet Arabian Stud in England.