Developed on the Barbary Coast of North Africa, the Barb is a desert horse, with great hardiness and stamina. Due to the amount of cross-breeding, it is difficult to find a pure-bred Barb today. The horses generally possess a fiery temperament and an atypical sport-horse conformation, but nevertheless has had an incredible impact on today's modern breeds.

History of the Breed

It is not exactly known where the Barb developed, but the breed originated in Northern Africa during the 8th century, about the time that Islamic invaders reached the region. There is considerable controversy over whether the Barb and Arabian horses share a common ancestor or if the Arabian was a predecessor of the Barb. It is possible that a native horse of the region was influenced by the crossing of multiple "oriental" breeds, including the Arabian horse, Turkmenian or Akhal-Teke, Caspian horse, with Iberian horses brought back from Europe by the Moorish invaders after they conquered southern Spain. Today there are several varieties of Barb, including the Algerian, Moroccan, and Tunisian.

When imported to Europe, they were sometimes mistaken for Arabians, even though they have distinctly different characteristics, in part because their handlers were northern African Muslims who spoke Arabic. The Godolphin Arabian, which was one of the foundation sires for the thoroughbred breed, may have been a Barb stallion, and is sometimes called the Godolphin Barb.[1]

It is now bred primarily in Morocco, Algeria, Spain, and southern France, although, due to difficult economic times in its homeland, the number of pure-bred Barbs is decreasing. The World Organization of the Barb Horse, founded in Algeria in 1987, was formed to promote and preserve the breed. However, due to political situations, it is difficult to say how much of an increase in numbers or purity the breed will have.

Influence on other Breeds

Conformation

Although it is unlikely that the breed's true origins will ever be revealed, what is certain is that the Barb has had more influence on the development of equine breeds throughout the world than any other horse except the Arab. As with the Arabian Horse, it was the spread of Islam which led to the forerunners of today's Barbs reaching Europe from the early eighth century onwards (the first Muslim army, seven thousand strong, landed in Spain in spring of 711. Once established on the Iberian peninsula the Barb horse played a major role in the development of the the Andalusian (as well as the Lusitano), which subsequently became one of the major influences in horse breeding all over the world. Among the many historical references to "Barbary" horses perhaps the most famous in Roan Barbary, belonging to King Richard II of England. During the sixteenth century Henry VIII imported a number of Barbary horses into England and a century later the Barb played an important part in the evolution of the Thoroughbred. Elsewhere the influence of the Barb is still evident in the Argentinian Criollo and many American breeds including the American Quarter Horse, the Mustang, and the Appaloosa.

Despite its importance as a progenitor of other breeds, the Barb has achieved less widespead renown than the Arab, no doubt because it lacks the Arabian Horse's unique visual appeal, being much less refined and generally less impressive in appearance. Nevertheless it has the same boundless stamina and endurance, the same ability to thrive on meagre rations, the same sure-footedness- and an impressive turn of speed over short distances.

Breed Characteristics

The Barb is a light riding horse with great stamina. It has a powerful front end, high withers, short back, a sloping, narrow croup, and carries its tail low. It is hardy, with clean legs, and small, round, sound hooves. It does not have particularly good gaits, but gallops like a sprinter, which has influenced the racing breeds such as the Thoroughbred, American Quarter Horse, and Standardbred. It usually is gray, but bay, black, chestnut, and brown horses are also found. The Barb stands 13.3-14.1 hands high.

The Abaco Barb can come in different colors than the usual Barb, including splash overo (a color which is rare in other horse breeds), pinto, roan, chestnut, black, and other colors.

Abaco Barb

The Abaco Barb is an endangered strain of the Spanish Barb horse breed that resides on the Island of Abaco in the Bahamas. The Abaco Barb is supposed to have descended from horses which had been ship wrecked on the Island during the Spanish colonization of the Americas and the Caribbean.

The entire population of wild Abaco Barbs that run free on the island of Abaco once numbered over 200 horses. However, beginning in the 1960's, several events took place that led to the breed's severe decline from over 200 horses to just 3 individuals, including the paving of new roads through or near their territory, wild dog attacks on foals, and in some instances, people killed some of the horses.

Several Abaconians intervened against the slaughter and brought the three horses to a farm near Treasure Cay. A herd of 35 built up again, yet since 1992 over half the horses have died. There have been no foals since 1998, though there was one abortion and one fetus aborted for unknown reasons. By mid-2004, only 12 horses remained.

Recently, however, there has been a push to help preserve the breed. One of the remainign stallions, Capella, was made into a Breyer Model Horse in 2005.

As the breed is critically endangered, it has been confirmed that no Abaco Barb horses will be sold on the commercial market. Instead, the remaining herd will run free on the preserve on Abaco.

References

• "The Barb Horse". http://horsecare.stablemade.com/_articles/barb.htm.
• "Preserving the Rare Beauty of the Abaco Barb". http://www.infohorse.com/wildhorses.asp

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Barb (horse)

• Arkwild.org - The Abaco Wild Horse Fund
• The Book of Horses and Horse Care by Judith Draper
• Aramco World Article - The Barb

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