THE COLOR OF PERFECTION

Fa Ali Bey (Justynn x Bint Fasherifaa), as photographed by Lisa Moffat

"Alec could not turn his eyes away; he could not believe such a perfect creature existed.”  - Walter Farley, The Black Stallion

Within a horse lover's mind, there exists a visual image of the perfect horse. How we arrive at this visual definition of perfection is uniquely personal and reflects a variety of experiences that inspire and encourage the love for the horse. For some people, this ideal was formed by a horse they saw in a movie. For others, this is the horse that ran across the pages of a book they once read. And then, there are the students whose visual ideal was found within the history of the breed, an ancient breed of horse bred to survive within a challenging desert environment. And still, for others, this ideal image is influenced by a respected horseperson, whose knowledge and experience, we hope one day to emulate. 

I don't really remember when I first met Marilyn Lang. I have known her for so long now, that it seems like I have known her forever. I was attracted to her breeding program, as she combined beloved ancestral elements, namely, the Babson horses tracing to *Bint Bint Sabbah, the *Nasr son, Sirecho, *Ansata Ibn Halima and Bukra, through the use of Ansata El Sherif. Over the course of 30 years, Marilyn used these bloodlines carefully and judiciously, to establish a breeding group of mares, unparelled anywhere else in the world. Close-coupled and comprised of flowing, rounded lines; Marilyn's mares are substantial with broad chests, excellent neck set, deep shoulders and heart girths, strong, smooth and wide backs, deep hips, powerfully muscled hind ends and deeply pigmented skin, with large, fully black, lustrous eyes as the proverbial "cherry-on-the-top-of-the-sundae". I felt Marilyn's mares, as individuals, were distinctive, strong-bodied and structurally correct horses but as broodmares, they were in that elite class of mares recognized for consistently producing foals who embodied a higher level of quality than their own.

Fa Angelita Rose (Fa Fajeer Halim x Bint Fasherifaa)

The dam of Fa Ali Bey is Fa Angelita Rose, a 2004 black mare, sired by Fa Fajeer Halim (Halim el Mansour x Fa Bint Anniq) and out of Bint Fasherifaa (AK Sirhalima x Fa Sherifaa). She is Dahmah in tail female line tracing to *Bint Bint Sabbah and she is also overwhelmingly Dahmah in the rest of her pedigree, approximately 62.5%!  I can't think of an individual who is more representative of Marilyn's extraordinary breeding program than Fa Angelita Rose. Not only does she represent 4 generations of Marilyn's breeding, her phenotype shows all of the attributes that have been critically important to Marilyn, for all these years. To me, Fa Angelita Rose inspires the deep respect and admiration I feel for Marilyn as a straight Egyptian breeder, because Rose is exactly the type of mare that I dream about. She is perfect.

 A long time fan of Justynn's dam, Bint Bint Justina (Thee Desperado x Alijamila), Marilyn wanted to incorporate her influence within her program but had not found a way to do so, until she learned of her black son by Alixir, Justynn. For 2 or 3 years, she studied Justynn's foal crop carefully, especially, the foals born from mares similarly bred to her own. Continually evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of her program, Marilyn felt that she had gone as far as she could go with her current program and needed to incorporate outside lines, in order to take her breeding program in the direction of where she wanted to be in the next 5-to-10 years. Satisfied with the quality and the consistency of Justynn's get, Marilyn decided to add the influence of Justynn, and that of Bint Bint Justina, to her breeding program.

 "My mares needed stretch.....black stretch was icing on the cake."-Marilyn Lang 

I was familiar with Alixir as he is the sire of the stunning Bellagio RCA, who at the time was considered to be Arabians Ltd.'s up-and-coming sire. More of an outcross for Marilyn's program, as compared to the lines that she had been working with; Justynn was Dahman by strain, as are the majority of Marilyn's horses. However, when you study all of Justynn's pedigree, you get an entirely different story, than what the dam line says about the strain of influence. Justynn is influenced more by the Abeyyan and Hadban strains, than by the tail female Dahman strain, which by the way, is less than 10%! His Abeyyan percentage is 31.25%, while his Hadban percentage is 12.5%. What's really interesting is that half of the Abeyyan influence (15.625%) comes by way of the stallion, Ruminaja Ali (Shaikh Al Badi x Bint Magidaa).  Justynn's heritage combines several note-worthy breeding programs like the Marei's in Egypt, Dr. Nagel's in Germany and in America, that of the Jameson's, the Marshall's, Jarrell Mc Cracken & Lisa Lacy, the St Clair’s, Judith Forbis and the Sirbasku’s.  Marilyn bred Fa  Angelita Rose to Justynn three times, resulting in a beautiful black filly, Fa Negmah Halima in 2012, Fa Ali Bey in 2013 and Fa Ibn Jameel in 2015.

When I visited Ezzain Arabians in Kuwait seven years ago, there were two mares that I adored: Ekramilbari Ezzain (NK Qaswarah x NK Yasmin) and Alttafilbari Ezzain (NK Qaswarah x Ajmal Ibtihaj). Usamah teased me about it, that of all the mares to choose from, I had picked the only black mares on the farm.  Was I a color breeder in disguise? However, now in hindsight, what I found interesting about my choices is the mare Alttafilbari, as she traces to Ansata Justina in her tail female line: Alttafilbari-> Ajmal Ibtihaj-> Alijamila->Ansata Justina. This is the same tail female line of Justynn!  Three years post-Kuwait, I had an opportunity that allowed me to personally engage with horses who are related to Justynn. For example, the get of the stallion, Alixir. Collectively, as a group, I not only found these horses to be beautiful; they were also kind, willing, loving and a pleasure to be around.  Also, at this point, having now met the descendants of Ansata Justina in two different countries, I think that I better understood Marilyn's decision in selecting Justynn for breeding. And even though I didn't have the opportunity to know Justynn personally, through personal interaction with  horses who were related to him, I learned how much I appreciate the bloodline in producing the kind of horse I prefer over others.

Fa Ali Bey (Justynn x Bint Fasherifaa), as photographed by Lisa Moffat

I never really thought much about the body color of horses, as I love horses of all coat colors. However, in my childhood, I discovered The Black Stallion series of books, written by Walter Farley. As the oldest of 6 children, my parents could not afford to indulge my love of horses in any form and a library book, like The Black Stallion was the only way I knew, to bring horses into my life. The story of a black Arabian stallion, that no one but a child could control and the adventures that both enjoyed together made a powerful impact on my childhood. When Marilyn shared the photos that Lisa Moffat had taken of Fa Ali Bey, I couldn't believe my eyes. Here he was, that mythical horse of literary fiction, in the flesh! 

Marilyn told me that as Fa Ali Bey gets older, he reminds her more and more of AK Sirhalima, although she admits that Ali is taller than AK Sirhalima and possibly, a little prettier in the head. Marilyn also says of Ali,

"His personality is about as close to human as any Arab I have ever been around. He is a touchy feely kind of stallion. He wants to touch you. He loves having people put their hands on his mouth for extended periods of time, just rubbing his muzzle. He has a great sense of humor too. He will talk to you. He is an amazing Arab, so full of himself  and yet, so kind and loving."   

A proven stallion, Fa Ali Bey has sired well for Marilyn and also, for other breeders. Glenn Stevenson bred his beautiful Thee Desperado daughter (out of a Mishaal HP x Pimlico RCA crossed mare) which resulted in a beautiful, charismatic filly he named GS Selena. While Marilyn on the other hand, has bred some of her top mares to Ali, resulting in a spectacular crop of young fillies, so consistently beautiful that it is difficult to pick one as a favorite over another: Fa Adorah Mia (out of Fa Bint Aanisah) , Fa Bint Carolina Moon (out of Fa Carolina Moon), Fa Maariana Moon (out of Fa Bint Maar Mara), Fa Serras Joy (out of SES Bint Khelira) and Fa Lila Moon (out of Fa Camelia Moon).  Ali bred nine mares last year (6 of those mares are owned by other SE breeders and 3 of those mares are carrying EBC foals) and 2021 is shaping to be an exciting year at Fantasia Arabians as Marilyn's exquisite Shaheen Al Waab daughter, Fa Tiaa Nasreen and the stunning broodmare, A Ali Ryah, an SES Halimaslegacy grand-daughter who traces in her tail female line to *Bint Serra I, are both in foal to Fa Ali Bey. Marilyn hopes to be freezing Ali's semen this winter, hopefully for export. 

As I said in the blog I wrote for *Hadban Al Shaqab a couple of weeks ago, there are many living stallions in this community who make my heart race with excitement. However, after learning a little more about them, that rush of adrenaline soon fades, as does my interest for them. Fewer in number are those really special stallions, who come so very close to being that perfect horse you see in your mind. Ali's beauty, his success as a sire, the stories of his charming and playful personality make me wish that I owned a mare, just so I could breed to him, yet another chapter in the continuing saga of a long-ago child's black dream horse.  While Ali is a vibrant, modern-day stallion, he has an old world look, as if he stepped out of Walter Farley's famous book or even, a museum painting.  So dear breeder, what are you waiting for? Justynn's life is a perfect example of thinking that everything lasts forever, including a horse's life. A healthy, vibrant, very-much-alive stallion one day and then, gone, just like that. NOW IS THE TIME. Take action before it is too late and you run out of time, because regret, well, that's not so easy to live with. I personally know that.