Horse Care & Breeds

This weeks horse is from Austria & they are so rare that you may not know of them. The Abtenauer is the smallest variation of the Noriker horse & like many of the European draft animals, their population numbers are very low in the 21st century.

Isolated & Pure

These animals come from & are named for the isolated valley of Abtenau in Austria. It is believed they may have originally come from Greek war mounts that were left in the region when no longer needed. Smaller in stature for a draft breed, the Abtenauer is beautifully built with excellent balance & a consistently sweet disposition. Read more →

The Abaco Barb has long been shrouded in mystery & until the late 1990’s not much notice was taken of them. The ancestors of these animals were believed to have come from the ships of Spanish explorers in the late 15th/ early 16th centuries & have inhabited the island since.

Preserving the Past

Due to their extreme geographical isolation, herd bloodlines have remained incredibly pure. This simple fact makes them an important link to the past as well as the history of horses in the Americas. In 2002, the herd was accepted by the Horse of America’s Registry as horses of Spanish Barb ancestry proven through DNA testing. Read more →

There has been tons of discussion on our site about rare horse breeds & we want to be sure the world knows which breeds are just rare & which ones are rare enough to be in danger.
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