Barb (horse)
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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 a fiery temperament and has less-desirable conformation, not typical for a sport horse, but has had an incredible impact on today's modern breeds.
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[edit] History of the Breed
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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 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 Algerina, Moroccan, and Tunisian.
When imported to Europe, they were often mistaken for Arabians, 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. [citation needed]
The Barb has also influenced the Spanish Barb, the American Quarter Horse, the Mustang, the Appaloosa, the Andalusian and the Lusitano, as well as others. 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.
[edit] 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 has 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 14-15 hands high. There are different types of the Barb including the Spanish Barb, the Abaco Barb, and others. The Abaco Barb can come in different colors than the usual Barb. It comes in a Splash Overo color which is rare in other horse breeds, pinto, roan, chestnut, black, and the other Barb colors. As of 2006, there were only twelve Abaco Barbs left in the world. The Spanish Barb is the Spanish influence of the Barb. Cortés brought the Spanish Barb over from Spain and the type has pretty much died out. But, there are a few left and they are chestnut, black, brown, and gray.
[edit] Abaco Barb
The Abaco Barb is an endangered breed of the Spanish barb 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.
Very few Abaco Barbs are still alive today. At time of writing only eight exist in the world. One of the stallions remaining, Capella, was made into a Breyer Model Horse in 2005. One of the mares names is Nunki.
