Fa Daalim

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. Fa Daalim was a tail female *Bint Serra I and Saklawi by strain. As the years have gone by, the line of Bint Serra, in tail female, has become less and less, to where we find ourselves today, with no tail female line *Bint Serra in straight Babson Egyptian form (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) and if this news was not distressing enough, *Bint Serra is becoming rarer in the male line too. In addition to his tail female line, Fa Daalim has two additional lines to *Bint Serra I through the stallions Fay-el-Dine and Fa-Serr. In addition to the rare *Bint Serra blood, Fa Daalim carried the blood of two Babson mares which are also exceedingly rare: *Bint Saada and *Bint Bint Durra. With the exception of *Maaroufa, you can find the blood of the other Babson imports in Fa Daalim's pedigree.

I didn't know Fa Daalim personally, so I can't tell you what he was like. However, I did know his daughter, G Mafaada (out of the *Ansata Ibn Halima daughter, Masada Fay Halima, who was exported). She is a beautiful black mare, compact, close-coupled, on the smaller side but elegant, with a nice strong back which was balanced by a nice full hind-quarter. She walked with cat-like grace, without much effort. She was very strong for the look of her sire, Fa Daalim. As a student of the breed, what I find fascinating about Fa Daalim is the similarity in his pedigree with another Babson horse: Fabo. Both horses, in genotype, are more similar to each other, than they are different. Both horses are tail female Bint Serra I, tracing through Khedena to Fa Deene to Bint Serra. While Fa Daalim's dam, Bint Fa Dena is an *Ansata Ibn Halima daughter (traces to Bint Sabah through Halima, which is the same source as the mare *Bint Bint Sabbah), Fabo is a Fabah son (*Fadl x *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: 2 lines through the same horses, Fay-el-Dine and Fa-Serr.

And yet, physically, both horses are different, Fabo having a more pronounced Saqlawi look and Fa Daalim, while a Saklawi horse, to me, he looks Dahman. A more refined Dahman horse, if you will, with perhaps a little more leg, a little more neck, than we are used to seeing in heavily-bred Dahman horses. I wish that he were still alive and I wish that I could breed my mare, Princeton Maarena to him. He has everything I would want to bring into this cross.

"There seems to be a relationship between the depth felt for something and the feeling associated with its absence."-Mike Terry

Brothers

If you visit the Rancho Bulakenyo website (the link is in the Breeders and Horses column, to the right) you will find a tribute article, dedicated to RDM Maar Hala, written by Honi Roberts which appeared in Arabian Horse World. Do you know Halim El Mansour? Bred also by Rancho Bulakenyo, Halim El Mansour, up until April 12, 2007, was one of the last living sons of the legendary *Ansata Ibn Halima and a full brother to El Halimaar. Honi Roberts, in her tribute article to RDM Maar Hala, included the following quotation from Jody Cruz, regarding the sons that RDM Maar Hala had produced:

"What many don't realize is that her first five foals were all colts-not what new breeders would normally hope for," says Jody with a smile, "but what colts they were!"

Halim El Mansour will forever remind me of the lesson I learned in measuring the greatness of a horse. In Halim El Mansour's case, he was an *Ansata Ibn Halima son but as great as being a son of *Ansata Ibn Halima is, that is not what made Halim El Mansour great. The greatness of this particular horse, was measured by the quality of the offspring which he consistently sired. Meeting Halim El Mansour's son, the bay WK Halim El Shahkir (Halim El Mansour x Akira Zarif) was an A-HA! moment and made me immediately realize what a great sire Halim El Mansour truly was. It is a testament to Shahkir's athletic ability, that many of the people who visited him, some who had no knowledge of Arabian Horses and were looking for performance horses to train and show; were taken by the potential in this young, bay stallion. He is just brilliant. His movement is so thrilling to watch (actually unbelievable). He has the ability to go far, whether it is in reining or dressage. If Halim El Mansour or any stallion for that matter, sired only this one horse, then his name would be forever remembered for siring good horses. However, Halim El Mansour’s daughter, WK Eroticaah (Halim El Mansour x G Mafaada) is equally fantastic as Shahkir. As her name suggests, she is super-exotic, a real live fairy-tale horse come to life. She takes my breath away. She is really lovely and Caryn Rogosky's best bred female horse at Windkist Manor. Her pedigree is a rich repository of *Ansata Ibn Halima blood, not only through Halim El Mansour but also through the crosses in G Mafaada's pedigree. She is a Fa Daalim daughter out of Masada Fay Halima. With these two horses as my compass, I started to notice the consistency of the other horses that Halim sired and I started to "connect the dots". It almost became a game, as every horse that attracted my attention, upon further inquiry, shared Halim El Mansour as a sire. They are outstanding horses.

It will be interesting to see how Shahkir and Eroticaah carry on the legacy of their sire and further the influence of the aristocrat mare, Maar-Ree. Will their influence be felt through their daughters or will it be felt through their sons? Only time will tell.