The Iberian horse is a designation given to a number of
horse breeds
This article is a list of horse and pony breeds with articles on Wikipedia, and also includes terms for types of horse that are not necessarily standardized breeds but are often labeled as breeds. While there is no scientifically accepted defin ...
native to the
Iberian peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...
. At present, some breeds are officially recognized by the
FAO
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...
,
['FAO breed list']
accessed March 15, 2012, cites 3 Portuguese and 20 spanish breeds while other horses believed to be native to the peninsula are not. Likewise, some modern breeds are understood from
mitochondrial DNA to be descended from historic
landrace
A landrace is a domesticated, locally adapted, often traditional variety of a species of animal or plant that has developed over time, through adaptation to its natural and cultural environment of agriculture and pastoralism, and due to isolatio ...
s, while others have origins outside the Iberian peninsula.
The remaining FAO-recognized breeds are of well-known foreign blood, or are recently developed breeds.
History
Cave paintings show that horses have been present on the
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...
as far back as 20,000 to 25,000 BCE.
Iberian horses are thought to be among the oldest types of
domesticated horses. DNA studies indicate certain breeds have ancestry that can be traced to wild horses that lived about 6200BCE, in the
Early Iberian Neolithic period.
There is a past hypothesis that the
Sorraia
The Sorraia is a rare breed of horse indigenous to the portion of the Iberian peninsula, in the Sorraia River basin, in Portugal. The Sorraia is known for its primitive features, including a convex profile and dun coloring with primitive mark ...
may have been an ancestor of several modern breeds, and it is possible as their
haplotype is found throughout the Iberian horse population, though it is not as frequently found as other mDNA lineages. Thus current evidence suggests they are not as closely related as once thought. However, the problem is that the Sorraia has endured a major
genetic bottleneck
A population bottleneck or genetic bottleneck is a sharp reduction in the size of a population due to environmental events such as famines, earthquakes, floods, fires, disease, and droughts; or human activities such as specicide, widespread violen ...
since ancient times,
[ and only two DNA founder lineages remain, so it is not possible to determine if certain haplotypes in various breeds descend from other lines now extinct in the Sorraia.][
Roman writers mention in Hispania war horses, wild horses, "tieldones" and small "asturcones'" in the north.
Two distinct ]phenotype
In genetics, the phenotype () is the set of observable characteristics or traits of an organism. The term covers the organism's morphology or physical form and structure, its developmental processes, its biochemical and physiological pr ...
s of Iberian horse were identified in early research: so-called "Celtic" ponies, centered in the Cantabrian Range
, etymology=Named after the Cantabri
, photo=Cordillera Cantábrica vista desde el Castro Valnera.jpg
, photo_caption=Cantabrian Mountains parallel to the Cantabrian Sea seen from Castro Valnera in an east-west direction. In the background, th ...
in the north, and the horses of the south, represented today by the Andalusian and Carthusian, Lusitano
The Lusitano, also known as the Pure Blood Lusitano or PSL (''Puro Sangue Lusitano''), is a Portuguese horse breed. Horses were known to be present on the Iberian Peninsula as far back as 20,000 BC, and by 800 BC the region was renowned fo ...
, Marismeño and related breeds, many of which have a Baroque horse
The term baroque horse describes a group of horse breeds, usually descended from and retaining the distinctive characteristics of a particular type of horse that rose to prominence in Europe during the Baroque era, after significant development th ...
phenotype. The northern breeds include the Garrano
The Garrano is an endangered breed of pony from northern Portugal, part of the Iberian horse family, mainly used as a pack horse, for riding, and for light farm work. An ancient breed, the Garrano has remained largely unchanged for thousands ...
, Pottok
The Pottok or Pottoka ( or , eu, pottoka ), is an endangered, semi-feral breed of pony native to the Pyrenees of the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country in France and Spain.
It is considered an ancient breed of horse, particularly ...
, and Asturcon, all of which are considered endangered breeds.[
Throughout history, Iberian horses have been influenced by many different peoples and cultures who occupied Spain, including the ]Celts
The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...
, the Carthaginians
The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of the ...
, the Romans
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
, various Germanic tribes
The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and e ...
and the Arabs
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
. The Iberian horse was identified as a talented war horse
The first evidence of horses in warfare dates from Eurasia between 4000 and 3000 BC. A Sumerian illustration of warfare from 2500 BC depicts some type of equine pulling wagons. By 1600 BC, improved harness and chariot designs ...
as early as 450 BCE. Mitochondrial DNA studies of the modern horses of the Iberian peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...
and Barb
Barb or the BARBs or ''variation'' may refer to:
People
* Barb (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname
* Barb, a term used by fans of Nicki Minaj to refer to themselves
* The Barbs, a band
Places
* Barb, ...
horse of North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
present convincing evidence that horses crossed the Strait of Gibraltar in both directions and crossbred. It is not possible to determine which of these strains is the older one, and both trace to the Roman era, far earlier than the Muslim conquest of Spain
The Umayyad conquest of Hispania, also known as the Umayyad conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom, was the initial expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate over Hispania (in the Iberian Peninsula) from 711 to 718. The conquest resulted in the decline of t ...
that is commonly assumed to mark the beginning of such crossbreeding.[
At one time, the northern Celtic horses were though to have ancestry related to the ]Exmoor pony
The Exmoor pony is one of the mountain and moorland pony breeds native to the British Isles. Some still roam as semi-feral livestock on Exmoor, a large area of moorland in Devon and Somerset in southwest England. The Exmoor has been given "P ...
of the British Isles, but subsequent Mitochondrial DNA studies revealed that the populations are not closely related until there was some documented admixture between Exmoors and Celtic horses in the early-to-mid 20th century. If anything, the Iberian breeds are characterized by a "consistent absence of geographical structure".[
When the Spanish reached the Americas in the late 15th century, they brought various horses of Iberian ancestry with them. Their descendants have been designated as the Colonial Spanish Horse and have contributed significantly to a number of horse breeds in both North and South America.
In modern times, stallions from outside breeds were crossed on local breeds, such as the Exmoor pony stallions brought to the area,][ or for example, the heavy Burguete and ]Jaca Navarra
The Jaca Navarra ( eu, ), or Navarrese Horse, is a Spanish breed of small horse from the autonomous community of Navarre in the north-eastern part of the country. In 2013 it was listed in the Catálogo Oficial de Razas de Ganado de España in ...
breeds crossed on foreign stallions to create a bigger animal more useful for the horsemeat
Horse meat forms a significant part of the culinary traditions of many countries, particularly in Eurasia. The eight countries that consume the most horse meat consume about 4.3 million horses a year. For the majority of humanity's early existen ...
industry.
In Spain and Portugal, the 1980s marked the start of efforts to bring back several of the Northern Iberian breeds from extinction, some of which were down to a few dozen individuals. The Cartusian strain of Pure Spanish (Andalusian) horse was also endangered, with a breeding population of about 150 animals.[ In 2005, a distinctive primitive, feral breed was identified inside ]Doñana National Park
Doñana National Park or Parque Nacional y Natural de Doñana is a natural reserve in Andalucía, southern Spain, in the provinces of Huelva (most of its territory), Cádiz and Seville. It covers , of which are a protected area. The park is an ...
, the Retuerta horse (Caballo de las retuertas).[The Retuertas horse; the "missing link" in the iberoamerican horse breed origin?, Vega-Plà et al 2005, available a]
eeap.org
[(A. Rodero et al, 2008) needs full cite]
See also
* List of Iberian horse breeds
* Sable Island horse
The Sable Island horse is a small feral horse found on Sable Island, off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. It has a horse phenotype and horse ancestors, and usually dark in colour. The first horses were released on the island in the late 1700s, ...
References
External links
Report on DNA of Spanish horses
Info on Jaca Navarra
(Spanish)
Google translation
{{Iberian horses
Types of horse
Iberian Peninsula