North American Horse Encyclopedia

Developed on the Barbary Coast of North Africa over 1,200 years ago, the Barb is a light riding horse. Used on the deserts, it had great hardiness and stamina. Some were imported into Spain where they were crossbred to create the Spanish Barb.

The Spanish Barb has a legacy bequeathed out of the Spanish discovery, exploration and colonization of the New World. Arriving by ship to confront foreign environs, the Spanish Barb horse adapted, endured and survived the epoch of exploration, conquest and colonization, and continued through the age of settlement of the American West. The Spanish Barb was one of America's greatest resources and without the presence of these horses, history would read quite differently. Once the New World was firmly established, the Spanish Barb forged ahead to other tasks. Whether war horse, mission horse or ranch horse, the Spanish Barb fulfilled his destiny with extraordinary success, facilitating the power of movement critical to founding a new nation. This nation was dependent on the Spanish Barb "work" horse, instead of the imported "sport" horse until the time of the Industrial Revolution when a mechanized society became the order of the day.
The Spanish Barb horse has an ancient origin. He is the result of crossing the African Barb, or Berber horse with the resident horse of the Iberian Peninsula after the Moors invaded Spain in 711 AD. The precursors of the Barb/Iberian horse are attributed to having descended from Equus stenonius, one of the six original types of wild horses known to man. The Barb/Iberian horse was developed by those cultures who depended on their horses in every day life. It is these cultures which have always produced the world's best horses.

The Barb (wikipedia)

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.

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.

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.

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.