Henry Babson - Babson Farm

Babson Farm

Babson obtained Arabian horses from England, Poland, and most notably, Egypt. He began to travel in search of the finest quality Arabian horses in 1930, traveling to England, France, and Spain, but was unable to purchase horses of the quality he sought. In 1932, when he was 57 years old, he made his first major importation from Egypt of two stallions and five mares, and built a farm near Grand Detour, Illinois, for his horse breeding operation. In 1938 and 1939, he imported four Arabians from Poland to cross on his Egyptian-bred stock. In 1940 and 1941, and again in 1958 he imported a small number of English-bred Arabians via farms in Canada and England. Over the years, Babson-bred horses excelled in the horse show ring in both halter (horse conformation) classes and various performance disciplines under saddle and in harness. Respected for his contributions to the Arabian horse breed in America, Babson served as President of the Arabian Horse Registry, now part of the Arabian Horse Association from 1949 until 1957.

The most notable of Babson's imports was the stallion *Fadl, who went on to sire the champion Fa-Serr, who is a major genetic source of the color black in modern Arabians. Fadl's most famous son, however, was the half-Egyptian, half-Polish stallion Fadheilan, sire of the legendary champion of the 1960s, Fadjur, grandsire of Khemosabi, a national champion in both halter and performance, who was one of the most significant Arabian sires of the 1970s and 1980s. Today, *Fadl is found in at all "straight Babson" (or "Babson Egyptian") pedigrees. The best-known horses of his Polish imports were the stallion *Sulejman, who sired many champions, and the mare *Azja IV, who became the dam of the major American-bred sire Azraff.

By the early 1960s, Babson decided to concentrate his breeding program solely on the subgroup of Arabian bloodstock now known as "Babson Egyptian" bloodlines. He kept his breeding stock that was descended from his original Egyptian imports and sold his non-Egyptian bred horses. He then began to cross some of his stock on the "new" Egyptian imports that began to arrive in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s, primarily the descendants of the stallion Nazeer. After almost 40 years of horse breeding, Babson died in 1970, and his breeding operation continued until 1999.