Ranting…
I finally found the reason for my aversion for Babson horse pedigrees (not the horses themselves): it’s got to do with the names. These all look the same to me, and I still have trouble recognizing one horse from another on a pedigree.
Try figuring this out: there is a Serrou, a Serr El Rou, an El Serrou, and they are three different horses. There is a a Maarou, a Maar-Ree, a Maar-Rab and they are three different horses. There is a Serrasab, a Serasaab, a Serasabba and they are three different horses.
It’s been almost eighty years since the 1932 Babson importation from Egypt, and we’re still stuck with foal names with every single possible combination of the names of some or all the original imports (*Fadl, *Maaroufa, *Bint Serra, *Bint Bint Sabbah, *Bint Saada, and *Bint Bint Durra) and some of their direct offspring. I would not be surprised if one day a horse by the name of Daal-Serr-Fad-Maar-Abbah popped out of a pedigree. Why the torture?
Oh, Edouard, thank you for the hearty laugh. Can you imagine how much fun it was to proofread the Babson book (to say nothing of doing the indexing)?
On a more serious note, I have no idea why Babson (and/or manager Homer Watson) started this convention, although John Vogel might have some insight into why the Babson Farm continued it. Maybe not enough to do in the deep winters in Illinois.
Most of the examples you cited must be laid at their feet. The “Maar” prefix can pretty much be blamed on one breeder. In all fairness, most of today’s breeders are not persisting in this pattern, although most names still tie somehow to parent(s) names so there are glimmers of the same.
The flip side (benefit) of this problem is that, when one sees a name, one can be pretty certain that the horse is a Babson horse. That helps sometimes.
Anita
My stallion is of the Babson lines. I too wonder about the names in his pedigree. I stumbled across this blog and wondered if anyone could give me some insight into his lines. There many of the horses I can find information on but there are some that I find little about. I appreciate any comments on his pedigree. His name is El Reata Sahanad (SBA Serr Galahad x RB El Chypre)
Well, at least it’s easier than the naming system at Babolna…
EVERYTHING is easier than the naming system at Babolna…. speaking from an American’s limited perspective!
Dear Jeanne: Boy have you got that right! If I undertsand it correctly the Babolna horses are being given regular names nowadays- most of the time. Or is that just by people breeding horses descended from Babolna horses. Then again are the Topolcianky horses different? Or are they still following the Eastern European studfarm system
And of course there was the convention that Asils from Babolna were given numbers from 1 to 20 and over 200 as the Shagya breeders explained it. ( or as R.J. explained it 1 to 30)
And of course there were the exceptions like i think 124 Obajan…Maybe it would be more clear if Eastern European Asils were all given numbers over 1000.
Just a suggestion.
Best wishes
Bruce Peek
I was told years ago that, after a while, the Babson farm management couldn’t keep track of the past names–a name would sound like a good idea and they wouldn’t realize that’s because they’d already used it. An application would be submitted with a name that had already been used, and when the registry requested a new name, they made the minimum change (as it might be, adding a letter or reversing the order of letters) rather than starting over.
This does seem to fit with the kinds of names you’re describing.
..then there is the matter of many Arabians not even being given an Arabic name but rather something far removed from the original culture. I guess the same is true for most equine breeds.
It is interesting to note that in the 1980s in America, some Egyptian horses were given birth names very similar to famous Thoroughbreds. i.e. The Minstril (Minstrel), Alidaar (Alydar) etc.
Even the Tahawi in later years sold some fine desert breds who were given “English sounding” names such as “Milky” and “Rock” and “Maskerade”
And of course this is often the case in Egypt where a horse can be in a pedigree either by its Arabic name or its race name such as Nasrulla (Shahriar), Nasr (Manial). The Nazeer son Talal was also known in Egypt as “Johnny Boy”.
And of course there are many Davenport bred Arabians with names alluding to ancient Greeks.
For the few horses that we bred we tended to follow the Babson approach because the name gave a hint of the breeding such as our Fa Manial who was by (Lothar the son of Fadl and out of Sirbana the granddaughter of Manial imported to the US as Nasr.)
I used to joke that Babson names, which tend to re-use a limited number of syllables, sounded like a foreign languge. Hab bah rou maar? Serr serr, fa sab!
When I first became acquainted with Davenport horses, I had trouble remembering which of the horses with “Dh” names was which: Dharebah, Dhalana, Dharanah, Dhareb, Dharantez, Dhanad, and Dharanad. To a novice, that series is just as confusing as the Babson names.