A Quick Study of Fa Daalim and Fabo

Fa Daalim (Daaldan x Bint Fa Dena)

Fa Daalim was a 1973 black stallion, sired by the straight Babson Egyptian stallion Daaldan (Faddan x Fay Dalla) and out of the *Ansata Ibn Halima daughter, Bint Fa Dena, bred by Robert Cowling, Houston, Texas and purchased by Marilyn Lang, as a herd sire for her Fantasia Arabians in Sealy, Texas. In tail female line, Fa Daalim traces to *Bint Serra I (Bint Fa Dena-Fa Dena-Khedena-Fa Deene-*Bint Serra I). As the years have gone by, the line of Bint Serra I, in tail female form, has gotten smaller and smaller, to where we find ourselves today, with no tail female line to *Bint Serra I in straight Babson Egyptian bloodlines (AK Bint Serra, sired by Waseem Ibn Bahrou and out of the mare Fa Dena was the last tail female line Bint Serra mare and unfortunately she left no progeny). In addition to his tail female line, Fa Daalim has two additional lines to *Bint Serra I, through the stallions Fay-el-Dine (the sire of Fay Dalla, Daaldan's dam) and Fa-Serr (the sire of Fa Dena, Bint Fa Dena's dam). In addition to the  *Bint Serra blood, Fa Daalim carried the blood of two other source Babson Egyptian mares which are as rare to find, as *Bint Serra I is today: *Bint Saada and *Bint Bint Durra. Fa Daalim does not carry any lines to *Maaroufa, one of the two more prolific Egyptian mares in the Babson program. Fa Daalim's genetic fiber includes the stallion *Fadl (Maaroufa's full brother) and only four of the five mares imported by Henry Babson: *Bint Serra I, *Bint Saada, *Bint Bint Durra and *Bint Bint Sabbah.

Fabo (Fabah x Misimma)

What I found fascinating about Fa Daalim is the similarity in his pedigree with another Babson horse, Fabo (Fabah x Misimma). Both horses, in genotype, are more similar to each other, than they are different. Both horses are tail female *Bint Serra I, tracing through the same mare, Khedena (Khedena is the dam of Misimma and Fa Dena). While Fa Daalim's dam, Bint Fa Dena is an *Ansata Ibn Halima daughter (traces to Bint Sabah through Halima); Fabo is a son of Fabah, who also traces to Bint Sabah through his dam and Bint Sabah's daughter, *Bint Bint Sabbah. The difference in the dams of both horses, allows Fabo to bring in the same amount of additional Bint Serra blood, as we find in Fa Daalim: two lines through the same horses, Fay-el-Dine and Fa-Serr.

*Ansata Ibn Halima (Nazeer x Halima)

And yet, physically, both horses are different, Fabo having a more pronounced Saqlawi look (like Fay-el-Dine) while Fa Daalim, as influenced by *Ansata Ibn Halima, is visually, a representation of the type we have learned to accept as Dahman. Although perhaps, that little bit more of leg and little bit more neck we see in Fa Daalim is the influence of *Bint Serra I. No matter how many times, I compare and contrast similarly-bred horses, I am always surprised over the expression of the genetic influence of the ancestral elements.