Abaco Barb Horse

The Abaco Barb is one of the purest breeds left in the world. They live on an island in the Bahamas where they ship wrecked around the same time Spanish breeds were being introduced to America. Only eight horses live today from a herd of two-hundred. After a child attempted to ride one of these WILD horses and was injured people started to kill them off. Today the remaining horses live on donated land, but the government doesn't provide feed or medical supplies. The horses are surviving through volunteers and private donations. Please comment.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• abaco
• barb
• horse
• endangered
• part
• of
• project
• spanish
• breeds
• bahamas
• eight
• left
• america
• wild
• horses
• Today
• remaining
• live
• donated
• land
• government
• doesn't
• provide
• feed
• medical
• supplies
• surviving
• through
• volunteers
• and
• private
• donations.

[TheFluffyFan53]

Only 5 Horses Live Today

[SleepyGal64]

they should be like mega-hugely bred .... in like 5-10 years there would be a ton again. and since there r only 8 left, then they r the strongest, and they will be an amazing breed if we can keep the breed going

[TheFluffyFan53]

umm...ok, but that would be inbreeding because the three young males are sons of the females, sorry. all we can do is help them and love them until the end.

[TheFluffyFan53]

yes only eight, one male and four females are in the herd, and three younger males also live on the island

[horsecrazy1248]

At 1:35 the horses looked like toys:-)

[EquineDreams]

ok if they show a hight degree of spanish barb traits andhave spanish barb genes and they werent a PURE breed (but a cross) to start with, then wouldnt it be worth CHANGING the law to bring in new spanish barb or morrocon barb blood (whichever is closer) or what ever combination they were originally a cross of that has the same gentic & conformational traits and save the breed rather then just letting it die out? :(

[wackyrice1]

I just searched Spanish Barb, and there are some in Tuscon, Az,US, that look veeery much like the ones here. Same kind of head, conf, and coloring. It might be possible to save the Abaco...

[wackyrice1]

would it be possible to search for and introduce to the herd a couple of barbs with most, if not all, the same traits as these horses? Somewhere, perhaps in Iberia, there might be a few horses that represent the original breed. This is the only way I can think of to keep the herd from dying out. what are the laws of the island concerning this approach?

[TheCowgirlsLoveHorse]

@TheFluffyFan53 why not just breed the males to the diffrent females not to their dam. unless they all have the same father.

[TheCowgirlsLoveHorse]

i think that only 6 are left now, but idk i could be wrong

[randomblond92]

6 left

[EvilPanda6]

I think they should be allowed to inbreed. I mean aren't all horses, and all animals really, kind of inbred to some extent? I doubt a horse cares if a mate is their cousin or sister or mother, they can't discriminate in that way anyway, and those horses can't afford to.

[jillybean3969]

we need to save them!!!!!