Huenenberger's Fantasia Pages: Barb Horse

Fantasia and Barb Horse

The equestrian tradition of Northern Africa

The Barb Horse Breeding Standard

according to the OMCB

written by the Author of the
"Barb Horse and Fantasia Pages" (Markus Huenenberger)
referring to several sources.

Thanks to Gina Nakagawa from North Carolina/USA for providing material about horse body terminology and for revising the first version of the standard.

Conformation

The head should not be too small, muscular, but well chiselled.

The forehead is long, straight, and not curved.

The nose is straight, sometimes a bit convex, clearly descending until it curves down at the lower end of the nosebone.

The nostrils are generally small in size, not projecting outward, flat, longish.

The chin well-marked, but not dominant.

The cheek muscular, but not protruding over the line of the branches of jaw.

The eye well colored, black, intelligent and calm looking, not protruding, more small than big.

The ears small, not too close together, attentive.

The mouth has firm thick lips, the aperture a bit long, the teeth are correctly positioned.

The coat is dense, always shining, sometimes with a metallic shimmer. Summer hair short and thin, winter hair short dense, and velvet-like.

Long hair (mane, tail) abundant, dense, rampant. Mane frequently two-sided.Tail abundant and frequently curled by nature.

The size is between 1.48 and 1.60 m (14.5 to 15.75 hands, assuming one hand is four inches/10.16 cm).

The only colors accepted for a pure Barb are grey, black, bay, chestnut. Duns are absolutely unwanted.

Most markings are allowed, although the traditional breeders do not accept some of them (especially four white stockings or socks).

The horse's overall shape should fit into a square frame of reference (height equal to length).

The neck is put well onto the shoulders. It is thick and cresty, frequently short, but never dumpy.

The withers is well-marked, strong, going far into the back.

The back is short or very short, wide and strong.

The shoulder sloped or strongly sloped, good in proportions.

The croup very sloped, round or descending. The muscles of the haunches are short.

The chest is long, high, and has a clearly protruding bow. The front view is wide or narrow, sometimes very narrow, but always muscular and in harmony to the Hind Quarters. The brisket is deep.

The tail is set on low with the dock hidden by the buttocks.

In rear view, the muscles surrounding the hock are wider than the muscles of the hip (see drawing above).

The limbs in correct perpendicular position. Hind limbs preferrably standing under strongly.

Pasterns frequently long, but always firm. Feet strong.

Narrow base, even cow-hocked limbs together with marks from healed injuries are in most cases caused by hobbles used in the original countries. They are regarded as a proof of origin and they do not exclude the animal from breeding.

The cannon bones should have at least 18cm (7.1 inches) in circumference.

The hooves are sometimes a little small, always very hard, solid, and correct. The heels not too low.

Back to Huenenberger's Fantasia Main Page

I would like to hear from people who are interested in the topics of this site.
Click on next line to send me eMail:
eMail to Author

All texts, pictures and backgrounds © by Markus Huenenberger