Mother of Ownership, Mother of the Bridle

A feisty camel at the Al Dhafra festival, Al Gharbia, jumps back as a young man attempts to tie it up to a gate. (Lee Hoagland/ The National / Dec 16 2010)

Shaheen Al Awani became famous across the Gulf for the camel Shaheen that bore his name and fathered a pedigree. But this was not his only prize camel.

Amongst his she-camels, Shaheen Al Awani loved and adored Umm Al Huchum, Mother of Ownership, who was also known as Mother of the Bridle.

Mother of the Bridle was strong in body and personality.

The number of bridles required dependent on her temperament. On bad days, she wore three. On the worst days, her handlers used one made of iron. “It depends on her mood,” Shaheen’s son Mohammed told me a few years ago.

She was as fast as she was obstinate. When she moved, none could catch her.

It is said that Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the Ruler of Dubai, bought her for Dh7,000 in 1975 or 1976. She was mated with the bull Khaw’war, a name that means “beautiful camel” in literary Arabic.

(Not to be confused with khowar, which simply means “moo” and is in no way an acceptable, or poetic, name for a camel.)

Their male calf was called Beautiful Camel – Mother of the Ownership and was later given back to Shaheen Al Awani so that he could keep its bloodline in his herd.