Horse Tales
by Pasadena Adjacent
Abaco Barb Colonial Horses displaying the ‘Splash White’ pattern
Back when we were doing business with the Vaquero leather carver over at Broken Horn Saddle Shop in Baldwin Park, I came across a ‘Breyer Horse’ modeled after the Abaco Barb. I was familiar with the feral ponies of Assateague Island and the Mustangs of the Southwest, but not other wild herds of North America. Turns out there are a few such as the Banker Horse of Corolla Island and the Sable Island Horse of Canada. Horses who, like the Andalusian, can trace their ancestry back to Spain and the Barbs of North Africa.
Abaco Barbs are the descendants of Spanish horses who survived a shipwreck on the Bahamian Island of Abaco. By contrast, the Mustangs got their start by escaping into the wild where Indians found them and tamed them. Then in 1680 the Southwest Pueblo tribes revolted against the Spaniards. They seized their horses, which they used as trade between other tribes. The Mission strain of the Choctaws and Cherokee ‘Colonial Horse’ made it’s way west once again, via the Trail of Tears. Mustangs of the west have since interbred with domestic horses. Escapees from the boundaries of human ownership; though there remain isolated herds of relative purity such as the Cruce Mustangs. The Abaco Barb bloodline is a different matter. It’s lineage IS pure. Now there is one mare standing. They should rename her Eve.
According to Meghan, for the Wild Horses of Abaco Preservation Society
The “end game” will be the continuation of the very old and unique genetics that Nunki carries. Though she is the last Abaco Spanish Colonial, there are other pockets of very pure Spanish Colonials in the world and those populations will be used to continue Nunki’s line (current interest is in the Cruce herd). Nunki carries a rare Splash White gene—splash white patterns were dominant in our herd, and did not manifest “lethal white” that is sometimes associated with splash white in domestic breeding programs. We have not been able to find Spanish Colonials with these colour patterns yet in our search around the world, and that makes Nunki even more important on the preservation scale.
This breed came back from three animals in the mid 1960s with no apparent negative signs of inbreeding. If we are successful in our recent attempts, new blood from several outside Spanish Colonial-type stallions will be introduced, providing the genetic variety needed for a sustainable herd.
Does it bring back the Abaco Barb?
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Pasadena Adjacent 
Our Editor Responds: Another horse based post from my current series “My Mid-life Crisis – I Want a Pony”
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The video pulled at my heartstrings and the links are all excellent.
Our Editor Responds: “If wishes were horses,
beggars would rideAbaco’s would live”LikeLike
When I was 12, my family went to visit my uncle Joel on his ranch in Montana. For weeks before the trip I fantasized about a gorgeous ranch house, big barns, and handsome cowboys. When we got there I was disappointed. The house was big and rough hewn, handmade by my uncle and his sons. There was only one barn. The ranch hands were too old to be my boyfriends.
The first night, I couldn’t sleep. The window of my upstairs room had no glass or screen. The sill was rough and splintery. I leaned my elbows there and watched the full moon rise over the mountain.
Then I heard thunder. It was distant at first, but it came closer and closer and I realized I was hearing hoof beats.
I leaned out that window as far as I could, but I didn’t have to. A herd of horses ran below, right next to the house. My memory says there were about 40 of them. It was probably more like 20.
The next day Uncle Joel told me they were Mustangs. I’ve never been so close to something so wild and utterly powerful before or since. It’s something I won’t forget.
Our Editor Responds: If we’re lucky, we get to have one or two of those moments in our life. Mine took place in the Sand Hills of Nebraska. Your retelling of the event is pitch perfect. With just the right amount of humor. Thank you for sharing it here.
Was your uncles ranch near here?
http://www.pryormustangs.org/about_range.shtml
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Oh no. So sad. I had no idea. Boy, we have really f**ked things up. More animals on the brink of extinction, that used to be wild and free. All too familiar words. I need to come back and re-read when I’m more awake. Thanks for opening my eyes to this.
Our Editor Responds: Philosophically, I think at best, the Abaco Barb can be the Eve who introduces a gene that eliminates Lethal White. They’re not breeding Eve directly. Her eggs are being harvested for surrogate reproduction (thank god). The old girl looks beat.
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Much hope rests on poor “Eve’s” shoulders. We call wild horses brumbies here. “Brumbies are the descendants of escaped or lost horses, dating back in some cases to those belonging to the early European settlers, including the “Capers” from South Africa, Timor Ponies from Indonesia, British pony and draught horse breeds, and a significant number of Thoroughbreds and Arabians.” {Thank you, Wikipedia.} A touchy subject here as they are considered damaging to ecosystems by many but a sentimental part of our heritage by others. I don’t have an opinion other than not wanting them treated unkindly, no matter what the solution!
{Should I hope you get a pony, PA, or are you hoping posting about them will work the urge out of your system?}
Our Editor Responds: I’m familiar with the Brumbies. Another colonial. Yours are a pest to the fauna and ours are in competition with cattle. And both are suffering drought. A handful of wild horses in South East Colorado were recently found dead from thirst.
My obsession with horses is one best enjoyed at a distance. I earn a living making ‘public art’ through a process that can be daunting. Concept, research, committees and production BUT (and this is the twist) that work often plays itself forward by informing my own studio practice. So now I’m on another project creating panels of wild horses. Horses whose research led me to a newly published book at Art Center thick on photos of heirloom breeds – the Abaco Barb being one of them.
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My first thought at seeing the top photo: Kahlua and cream.
Our Editor Responds: They do look sweet. How do you feel about donkeys?
https://www.facebook.com/wildburro.rescue?fref=nf
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Well, I hope you hit public art pay dirt and get a horse. or a donkey.
Our Editor Responds: I’m betting the farm on it
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Our Editor Responds:
If you have a hard time getting through, make up the info… MF for Margaret with a random email like ilovebooks@gmail.com. Make shit up – I’ll catch them and forward them in for you.
Blogging is kind of boring without the give and take , call and repeat, I’ll scratch your back, you scratch mine
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My uncle lived in northwest Montana, near the Idaho border and Sandpoint. John and I went to visit him a few years ago. He was in a smaller, more modern house, the old hand-built one having been torn down long ago. My cousin lived nearby and was watching over him. You could see the years of ranching on him–the creases around his eyes, the missing fingers. I’m glad we got to see him. He died within the next year.
Thanks for the compliment. There are stories in there. Maybe I’ll write them.
Our Editor Responds: That description of the missing fingers – thats the stuff that rings true. I’m almost afraid to recommend this book but I will on the basis that you don’t tell me you’ve read it and hated it. Deal? It’s one of my favorites. It’s called The Solace of Open Spaces. It was recommended to me by a fellow whose from a Montana rancher family but left for college and the arts (literature). There is a description of cattle dogs and cowboys that I thought was pitch perfect.
I see by the map that your near Flathead Lake. One of Mr V’s close friends moved back to the (Kootnai/Salish) reservation after a political sweep at Otis left him jobless. We have a standing offer to stay in their guest house which maybe (next summer) might happen. I recently discovered this ‘wild horse’ gem.
http://stateparks.mt.gov/wild-horse-island/
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Our Editor Responds: Petrea your mention of Sandpoint Id has led me back onto the slippery slope of “Suicide in a Doublewide”….check this out. Forget the pony. Noooo keep the pony (here)
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/218-Hornby-Creek-Rd-Sandpoint-ID-83864/103902154_zpid/
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Oh yeah, and it is beautiful up there. Plus you can probably have a pony in your yard.
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What a terrible tragedy. I am so pulling for Nunki and her human sponsors. For me, wild horses are right up there in thrill factor with dolphins. Once I was bodysurfing in Big Corona and a dolphin joined in alongside me. I like their smiles and playful nature just as much as I like horses’ soulful eyes, soft noses and warm smell. How irresistible can you get?
Our Editor Responds: So that was your special moment. I’m glad you found your way back to the beach and it’s inhabitants. Had no know idea you were actually living in the desert. You are a woman of soul.
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Our Editor Keeps Digging: The BML allocates 82% of available forage on public lands to cattle. The remaining 18% is for horses and wildlife. This is considered management.
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I’ve never heard the expression “splash white,” but I sure like the looks of that first pair. And what’s more romantic than wild horses, after all? Do you know James Wright’s poem, “A Blessing”? It’s a must companion for your subject here, I’d think.
Our Editor Responds: Splash White
“Current studies point to the theory that both parents must carry a defective gene to create this abnormality. According to the UC Davis study, white patterned “frame” overo Paint horses who carry a certain protein in their genes are most commonly blamed for producing the defect. Paint breeding stocks and Tobianos have also produced “lethal white” foals.” Meaning the Abbco don’t carry the protein
I picked up a book on Heirloom breeds throughout the world (but mostly Europe). The most isolated herds in the US no longer exist in Spain and North Africa. They really are a peek into the past. And those breeds that are considered Heirloom….I have to wonder how they made it through WWI?
the poem
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/175780
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Glad you posted the link to the poem. I think I remember your loving Donald Hall’s “Names of Horses,” or I might not have been so pushy with the James Wright. Then again, maybe I would have. I love both.
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