Abaco Barb

The Abaco Barb or Abaco Spanish Colonial Horse was a breed or population of feral horses on the island of Great Abaco, in the Bahamas. It became extinct in 2015;[1]: 2  it was the only horse breed of the Bahamas.[2]: 481 

Abaco Barb
Conservation statusextinct[1]: 2 
Other names
  • Abaco Horse
  • Abaco Spanish Colonial Horse[2]: 480 
Country of originBahamas
DistributionGreat Abaco
Usenone
Traits
Height
  • 130 cm[3]: 430 
Colour
Notes
feral population

History

The origin of the Abaco horses is not known. It is possible that horses came ashore on Great Abaco from Spanish ships wrecked on its coasts, and also possible that horses were brought to the island by Loyalists who came there following the American Revolution. The most probable explanation is that they derived from horses used by Cuban forestry workers in the early nineteenth century.[3]: 431 [4]: 42  There were at one time more than two hundred of them, but the population declined rapidly in the later twentieth century as a result of human intervention and destruction of their habitat.[4] Various conservation attempts were made,[4] but the last horse, a mare, died in 2015.[1]: 2  Some tissue has been preserved, which could be used for cloning.[5]

References
  1. Judith Dutson (2012). Horse Breeds of North America: The Pocket Guide to 96 Essential Breeds. Pownal: Storey Publishing. ISBN 9781580176507.
  2. Élise Rousseau, Yann Le Bris, Teresa Lavender Fagan (2017). Horses of the World. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691167206.
  3. Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, Stephen J.G. Hall, D. Phillip Sponenberg (2016). Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding (sixth edition). Wallingford: CABI. ISBN 9781780647944.
  4. Judith Dutson (2012). Storey's Illustrated Guide to 96 Horse Breeds of North America. Pownal: Storey Publishing. ISBN 9781603429184.
  5. The Current Status of the Abaco Spanish Colonial Horse. ArkWild. Accessed April 2019.
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