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THE SORRAIA HORSE,
GENERAL INFORMATION
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| Sorraia Horses are a remnant population of an indigenous,
South Iberian wild horse, which survived almost pure in the inaccessible
lowlands of the Portuguese river Sorraia until the early 1900s. The Iberian
scientist and horse expert Dr. Ruy dAndrade discovered these horses
in 1920 and is responsible for their preservation. His studies convinced
him that the Sorraia is a primitive, direct descendant of a wild indigenous
Iberian horse, an ancestor of the Andalusian and Lusitano.
The Sorraia is portrayed wrongly in most literature: Contrary to what
one reads in many books, it is not a pony, but a horse, and it must not
be confused with the Garrano, a native North Iberian pony. The Sorraia
is not a relative of the Garrano, but a completely different type of horse.
The few Sorraias alive today approx. 200 are mostly in
private hands. Therefore, their destiny is uncertain. Nowadays, Sorraias
are not allowed to live wild anymore, although some herds have to fend
for themselves all year round, with little or no help from Man.
All Sorraias descend from only 11 or 12 animals that dAndrade secured
in the 1930s, and inbreeding is therefore extremely high. Unfortunately,
inbreeding is often unnecessarily intensified even further.
The Sorraia horse has no history as a man-made breed. DNA-analyses seem
to indicate a close relationship to the Tarpan, but more research is necessary
to prove or disprove that. Sorraias can be tamed and turned into good
riding and work horses - sometimes they even make outstanding riding horses
, but they can maintain their primitiveness, instincts, specific
traits and qualities only if a nucleus herd is allowed to live wild in
some sort of a preserve. So far, only one such preserve has been established.
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This group of Sorraias was allowed to run wild
until 1998 and is now managed extensively
Photo © Oelke |
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THE SORRAIA JUST ANOTHER
BREED?
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Ive read an article in which the author claimed the
Sorraia to be not a primitive Iberian horse, but just a breed, and that
the dun and grulla color of the Sorraia was selected for by Man. Allegedly,
a grandson of Ruy dAndrade has said that the foundation stock for
the Sorraias were selected from multicolored herds
Whoever is challenging the work of Dr. Ruy dAndrade, a well-respected
scientist and outstanding authority on Iberian horses, should back his claim
with hard evidence. I have been in direct contact with Ruy dAndrades
three grandsons for quite a number of years, and have repeatedly discussed
Sorraias with them. They all have Sorraias, as does a granddaughter. They
all support their grandfather's work unconditionally.
What is relevant is Ruy dAndrades scientific work, and the
horses he left to us. Again, who claims dAndrade to have been wrong
needs to provide evidence, not hearsay. The thing to do is to go directly
to the source, and that means reading what Ruy dAndrade had to say
about the Sorraias and his research and compare with horses and modern
research. DAndrade was perhaps the most respected expert on Iberian
horses of his time, and one of the most prominent breeders of Lusitano/Andalusian
horses. He would have known it if the horses which he named Sorraias were
a man-made breed. If he was convinced to have found a remnant population
of an indigenous, wild, Iberian horse, he was a lot more qualified to
draw that conclusion than anyone nowadays, 80 years later. He has often
lectured on the Sorraia horse, in 1935 he did so at the XII. International
Zoological Congress in Lisbon, which would have been absurd if he had
been dealing with a man-made breed. In all his publications he described
the Sorraia horse consistently as a direct descendant of a primeval horse,
ancestral to the Andalusian and Lusitano. To simply ignore his work and
rely rather on an alleged remark of one of his grandsons to "prove"
him wrong is hardly convincing, and definetely not scientific.
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Some of Hardy Oelke's Sorraias
Photo © Oelke
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Ruy dAndrades account*) of his first
encounter with the Sorraia horse reads correctly translated
like this:
"Later, in 1920, on a hunting trip in the region
of Coruche, on the lower Sorraia (river), on the Sesmaria estate,
I saw a herd of ca. 30 individuals, more than half of them were light duns,
some were grullas, many with superabundant stripes, and generally in all
aspects absolutely wild, or primitive, as if they were a species of zebra,
or a hemionus (halfass) species."
Note: There is no mentioning of "grey" by dAndrade as
found in some translations. The Portuguese term for a grey horse is "ruço",
the term for grulla is "rato"; dAndrade used the term
"rato".
DAndrade did not imply at all here that this herd was multi-colored.
He said more than half of them were light-colored duns; he didnt mention
how many were darker duns, how many were grullas, or how many were duns
or grullas with less pronounced striping. Granted, this account leaves the
possibility that a few of the horses were of a different color, but he didnt
mention any, and even if he had, it would still not prove him wrong in recognizing
these horses as a primitive remnant population. All it would prove is that
the horses he found werent pure anymore (something that stands to
reason anyway).
Ruy dAndrade explained that, after this, he paid more attention
to the characteristics he observed in this wild herd and explains that
he found more than 300 (more or less domestic) animals with these characteristics
in the valley of the Tejo, in the Alentejo region, and in the valley of
the Guadalquivir.
The presence of atypically colored horses in those last Sorraias dAndrade
found can hardly come as a surprise with a population that obviously was
on the brink of extinction, and which must have included some crossbreds.
In no way does it mean, let alone prove, that dun or grulla wasnt
the original color of the Sorraia horse. On the contrary, his research
convinced dAndrade that dun/grulla was indeed the original color
of the Sorraia horse, and the Iberian wild horse has always been a dun-factor,
convex-headed horse according to historic data spanning over 2000 years
if the prehistoric cave paintings are taken into account, even
much, much longer.
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Saloio, Hardy Oelke's current herd sire, trying to impress
a mare
Photo © Oelke
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"Later, in 1920, on
a hunting trip in the region of Coruche, on the lower Sorraia (river), on
the 'Sesmaria' estate, I saw a herd of ca. 30 individuals, more than half
of them were light duns, some were grullas, many with superabundant stripes,
and generally in all aspects absolutely wild, or primitive, as if they were
a species of zebra, or a hemionus (halfass) species."
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| The color situation can be explained by way of an example:
The mallard is the most common wild duck in Europe, and the ancestor of
our domestic duck breeds. The mallard has well adjusted to people and cities,
and in many areas it crossbreeds with domestic ducks. On many rivers, lakes,
and ponds, particularly in parks and near villages, one can see wild ducks
whose colors betray some domestic parent or grandparent. You can see some
odd colors, some mallards with some white on them, and even some that are
predominantly white. These odd-colored hybrids make up nearly half of the
wild duck population in some areas. However, there is still no question
about what the original color of the wild mallard is!
Lets assume for the sake of argument that for some reason the mallard
became almost extinct and all that was left were a few dozen or so
chances are for some of the remaining ones to be off-colored hybrids.
Now, if you were to step in at the last minute and preserve the mallard
for future generations, would you pick the odd-colored ones, or would
you rather pick the ones that you know are of the true color of the wild
mallard? And if later in your conservation project group some odd-colored
ones would crop out, would you not cull them in order to preserve the
mallard as you originally knew it?
Well, that is exactly what dAndrade did in regard to the Sorraia
horse.
Its irrelevant whether there were some other horses in that first
herd he encountered that showed a mixed ancestry by way of a different
color, or in the herds he picked his foundation stock from. What is relevant
is that he a scientist and horse expert of the highest reputation
selected the horses which, according to his knowledge, represented
the indigenous wild horse of that region. This he maintained in all his
books and articles and tried to document through the evidence he found
in his research. Whoever claims he was wrong needs to provide hard evidence
for that.
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Sorraia weanling stallion
Photo © Oelke |
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Photo © Oelke |
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That the Iberian wild horse was a dun/grulla is also born
out by the fact that in Portugal, the term for wild horse was zebro or zebra,
because of the stripes. Field names like Vale de Zebra (wild horse valley)
still exist. Because the Portuguese were used to wild horses having stripes,
they as a matter of course called the wild horse they encountered in Africa
"zebra", thus lending that name to another species.
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Finally, state-of-the-art technology proved the singular status of the
Sorraia horse. While mitochondrial DNA sequencing so far did not back
up the theory of the Sorraia being THE ancestor of the Lusitano and Andalusian,
it did prove the Sorraia to be a genetic treasure! Jansen et al. in their
work "Mitochondrial DNA and the origins of the domestic horse"
**) found three genotypes in Iberian horses, one of which, D1, dominates
the Iberian breeds (Andalusian and Lusitano, and also the Barb from Northwest
Africa), and one, the Sorraia's, is completely different! While one may
be able to find the Sorraia's genotype in a Lusitano or Andalusian if
one searches long enough, the Jansen study found no Andalusian of the
Sorraia genotype!
If all d'Andrade had done was picking randomly some duns and grullas
from his or other breeders' herds, then the Sorraia would have the same
genotype that the other Iberian horses have! However, the Sorraia's genotype
is clearly different.
It is almost incredible that Ruy d'Andrade, armed with nothing but his
expert eye, going by primitive phenotypic characteristics, picked the
foundation horses for his preservation project unerringly, thus saving
horses which we now find to have a rare and unique genotype!
It should be mentioned that a large percentage of Lusitanos have a genotype
(A3) that is rather closely related to the Sorraia's. Both genotypes developed
from the same branch. However, there is no evidence that the Lusitano's
(A3) developed from the Sorraia's (JSO41, resp. A1). This means there
is evidence for a relatedness of Sorraias and Lusitanos, but more research
is necessary (and is currently being done).
With the Sorraia having a different and very old genotype, and with its
absolutely primitive phenotype and wild behavior, and considering the
fact that the Sorraia has no history as a domestic breed, it seems rather
likely that the remaining Sorraias are a remnant population of a true
wild horse form, or subspecies.
Mitochondrial DNA sequencing
In researching relatednesses and phylogenetics, mitochondrial DNA sequencing
is the state-of-the-art technology. The mitochondrial DNA is located outside
the nuclear DNA. In contrast to nuclear DNA, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)
cannot be altered through selective breeding.
What can mitochondrial DNA do?
1. It is the only reliable method to determine relatednesses between
breeds and/or populations, and relatednesses of individuals to populations.
In the latter case, bloodtyping, for instance, would fail completely.
2. It is the instrument to determine phylogenetic facts, i. e. ancestral
relationships. For instance: Japanese geneticists had established through
mtDNA sequencing that the Mongolian wild horse (a.k.a. Przewalskis
horse) is not an ancestor of our domestic breeds. This was later confirmed
by the work of Jansen et al.**).
Again through mtDNA sequencing, it was determined that the Neanderthaler
was not an ancestor of the human race.
While mtDNA is passed on only through the maternal line, the presence
of a certain mtDNA pattern in an animal proves beyond doubt that, at least
through the maternal line, this animal is indeed related to the population
which this pattern is typical for. Through mtDNA sequencing, Jansen et
al. proved that our domestic horses stem from several different post-glacial
wild horse forms, or subspecies, and also established that domestication
of the horse took place in several geographically distant areas.
As far as geographically-linked genotypes are concerned, the study established
those for North/Northwest European ponies, for the Mongolian wild horse,
and for South Iberia/North Africa. Basically, three South Iberian genotypes
were established: one found in most Andalusians and Lusitanos, as well
as Barbs (D1); another one found in many Lusitanos (A3), the third one
being that for the Sorraia (JSO41 resp. A1), the two latter ones possibly
being variations of one and the same genotype.
Andalusians and Lusitanos for a long time represented one and the same
breed, and only rather recently were they divided into separate studbooks/registries.
The fact that a different genotype is found in a rather large percentage
of Lusitanos (possibly up to 40%) indicates that originally, a different
wild ancestor may have been responsible for the Lusitanos, or has had
a significant influence on that breed.
Two mtDNA patterns were found in the Sorraia horse (A1 and JSO41), which
are closely related and represent two different boughs on the same branch
of the phylogenetic tree. The A3 genotype in the Lusitanos in turn is
related to the JSO41 genotype of the Sorraia, and the two are again separate
boughs on the same branch.
It is significant that A1 and JSO41 have not been found in Iberian horses
other than Sorraias! This rules out an origin of the Sorraia as an offshoot
of the Andalusian breed - if Sorraias were nothing but "ordinary
Iberian horses" simply selected for the dun factor, they would have
the same mtDNA type as found in Andalusians and other Iberian horses.
The mtDNA patterns found in Sorraias are also sometimes found in a variety
of horse breeds. This is only natural, as our domestic horse breeds are
usually a mix of populations, types, and breeds; therefore, a mixture
of genotypes is usually found in horse breeds.
*) d'Andrade, "O Cavalo do Sorraia", 1945, Boletim Pecuario,
XIII
**) Jansen, Forster, Levine, Oelke, Hurles, Weber, Olek, "Mitochondrial
DNA and the origins of the domestic horse", 2002, Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences
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THE SORRAIA BREED OR SUBSPECIES?
The Zoologist's Definition |
What is a breed, what is a species, and what is a subspecies?
According to the Oklahoma's State University's department of animal science,
the term "breed" is usually defined more or less like this:
"Animals that, through selection and breeding, have come to resemble
one another and pass those traits uniformly to their offspring".
Jay L. Lush in "The Genetics of Populations" offers this definition:
"A breed is a group of domestic animals, termed such by common consent
of the breeders,
a term which arose among breeders of livestock,
created, one might say, for their own use, and no one is warranted in
assigning to this word a scientific definition and in calling the breeders
wrong when they deviate from the formulated definition. It is their word,
and the breeders common usage is what we must accept as the correct definition".
Lush is making a significant point here by linking the term "breed"
to domestic animals. Besides the fact that a breed has an accepted standard
of perfection, the term "breed" can be applied only for domestic
animals (and plants), it means that this population of animals share common
characteristics because Man has selected and bred for them.
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| The term "species" refers to wild and domestic animals, i. e.
wild animals and their domestic derivatives, as far as such exist. In the
horse, we do have domestic derivatives of the ancestral wild horse(s). It
is important to note that they all belong to one and the same species.
So, what constitutes a species?
According to Herre*), animals that constitute a reproductive unit (i.e.
mate voluntarily and, in doing so, reproduce with unlimited fertility)
belong to one and the same species. Even if they differ considerably in
phenotype and behavior, as long as they belong to one reproductive unity
they do belong to one and the same species. This definition of a species
has been established a long time ago.
The Biological Species Concept (BSC) of MAYR (1942), which is widely
accepted in the scientific community, defines species as follows:
"Individuals of different species do not interbreed under natural
conditions".
Zoologist and geneticist Thomas Jansen explains:
"This means that fertility or sterility of the offsprings can be
an indicator whether the parents belong to one species or not, but this
is no necessary prerequisite. 'Natural conditions' means more: pre-mating
factors such as different ethological mechanisms, for example different
courtship displays, will prevent mating of two individuals of different
species in the wild. One example are donkeys and horses: Mules and hinnies
(as a product of crossbreeding in captivity) are well known, they are
not always sterile. But a horse and a donkey will never mate in the wild
because of their very different courtship displays. They belong to different
species, no one can seriously cast doubt on this."
Within a species, one can often find populations which differ considerably
in phenotype, behavior, etc., and which pass on their characteristics
reliably to their offspring. Such a population is considered a "subspecies",
or "race", or "variety".
All existing horses today will interbreed freely, voluntarily, and with
unlimited fertility. That means, they all belong to one and the same species.
They may be wild, or they may stem from a domestic breed - they all belong
to the same species.
The various wild ancestors of today's horses, as different as they were
in phenotype, size, and behavior, still were subspecies within the one
species.
Other equids, e. g. Equus asinus, the ass or donkey, are related to the
horse closely enough to even make bastardization possible, but such crosses
only occur through human intervention. Horses and asses don't mate voluntarily
if they have a choice. Therefore, horses and asses represent different
species, as do hemiones ("half asses"), and zebras.
Thomas Jansen, regarding the question of Mongolian wild horse and domestic
horse belonging to separate species, explains:
"If some people claim that the Mongolian wild (Przewalskis)
horse is another species than the domestic horse, then this is in fact
not true. Future research may indicate that the Mongolian wild horse is
possibly in the process of forming its own species (in some ten thousand
years). However, today, the Mongolian wild horse and the domestic horse
belong to the same species, as they interbreed under natural conditions,
and with unrestricted fertility.
The only conclusion is: One may define the Mongolian wild horse as a
subspecies. It is a horse and nothing else.
Another example is the relationship between wolf and dog. The argumentation
would be the same: Wolves and dogs interbreed under natural conditions
and produce fertile offspring. Therefore, they belong to one species."
Zoologist Rainer Willmann points out**) that species are separated as
such due to the absence of an interchange of genes:
"Reproductive isolation means absence of gene flow from one population
into another due to biological mechanisms. This means, strictly speaking,
that all members of such unit species cannot, under natural
conditions, have fertile descendants with members of another species.
They are 'genetically separated" from one another."
In contrast to other definitions of the term "species", which
lack objectivity, Willmann goes on to say:
"Because reproductive isolation is a real, naturally developed phenomenon
dividing the organic diversity, the classification based on this order
is also real. Biospecies are therefore real units of nature."
Within a species, subspecies may be found. They belong to the same biological,
reproductive unit, but can be recognized and classified due to different
phenotypical and behavioral characteristics, and with modern moleculargenetic
methods by genotype.
"A subspecies can be defined as 'something like a natural race',
or variety, which is in most cases founded by geographical separation",
says Jansen. "The Mongolian wild horse is not the forefather of our
domestic horses, but it is also not another species. As it is easily recognized
due to specific phenotypical traits (and, by the way, also by its unique
genetic patterns), it can only be named a subspecies."
Back to the Sorraias: Ruy dAndrade, to whom we are indebted for saving
these horses, didnt refer to them as "feral"***), which
would have meant they were domestic horses that at some point reverted to
a wild state. He considered the Sorraias to be direct descendants of truly
wild horses, of a primeval subspecies, or race. He never claimed them to
be pure anymore, but he hoped to breed them back to near purity by keeping
them isolated on his estate.
Again, there is the very old genetic type found in the Sorraia, different
from other Iberian horses, its absolutely primitive phenotype and wild
behavior - and there is the fact that the Sorraia has no history as a
domestic breed. All this suggests that the remaining Sorraias are a remnant
population of a true wild horse form, or subspecies.
If Sorraias don't exist in the wild anymore, if they have been bred in
captivity for decades now, if their data is recorded in a studbook in
Portugal, if they are bred by some like a domestic breed, then all that
doesn't take away from the fact that their origin is not that of a domestic
breed, that they in all probability do represent a subspecies. After all,
the very same happened to the Mongolian wild horse: It survived only in
captivity, has been bred in zoos for decades, has a world-wide studbook
- yet still nobody claims it to be a breed, although their breeding history
in captivity is longer than the Sorraia's. The few that roam wild in the
desert of Central Asia now have been re-introduced, they were bred in
domestication, or stem from animals bred in domestication.
It is difficult, if not impossible, to actually prove the status of any
horse as a wild subspecies, and therefore, it is difficult to do so for
the Sorraia. However, it is equally difficult to prove the opposite! What
kind of evidence would we consider proof one way or another? Beside the
Mongolian wild horse, the Tarpan is recognized by many as a wild subspecies.
The mtDNA research so far indicates that Sorraia and Tarpan are of the
same genotype (the scientific evidence is not yet substantial enough to
really make that claim). If further research confirms what first tests
have shown, then the Sorraia is an Iberian regional variant of the Tarpan,
a remnant of an Iberian Tarpan population.
In summary, what we have in the way of evidence points clearly one way:
for the Sorraia to be a primitive horse, a subspecies.
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Sorraias have been doing well even in colder climates,
like this
mare in Germany, which has been living outsides year-round for
many years
Photo © Oelke
The Sorraia (left) has a long, narrow head and
longer ears. The typical pony head (right) has a wider
forehead, shorter face, and protruding eyes
Photo © Oelke
Grulla Sorraia colt, just a few weeks old the
convex profile is
already evident
Photo © Oelke
A group of Sorraias were placed in the zoological park
"Wisentgehege" in
the northern German town of Springe and have multiplied there
Photo © Oelke
Three young Sorraias two colts and a filly
in Portugal
Photo © Oelke
This diagram shows that in all relevant aspects, the
Sorraia horse
and Przewalski's horse meet the same criteria, with the one
exception that the Sorraia wasn't scientifically described as a wild
horse, with a specimen deposited at some scientific institution, a
fate it shares with the Tarpan |
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| *) Herre, "Grundsätzliches zur Systematik
des Pferdes", 1961, Zeitschrift für Tierzüchtung und Züchtungsbiologie
**) Willmann, "Die Art als Taxon und als Einheit
der Natur", 1992, Entomol. Blätter, Bd.88
***) d'Andrade, "O Cavalo do Sorraia", 1945,
Boletim Pecuario, XIII; "Apontamentos para um estudo sobre a origem
e domesticaçã0 do cavallo na Peninsula Hiberica, Aproximações",
1926, Lisboa; "Alrededor del Caballo Español"; "Les
Chevaux du Sorraia", 1935, Extrait des comptes rendus du XIIe Congrès
International de Zoologie, Lisboa, "Elements pour une classification
des Équidés actuels, d'après leurs caractères
craniologiques et dentaires", 1937, Bulletin de la Société
Portugaise des Sciences Naturelles
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ISN'T THE SORRAIA A BREED BY NOW?
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| It may well be that what d'Andrade discovered and preserved
was a subspecies, or a zoological race, but after having been bred for generations
in captivity by now, isn't it fair to say now that the Sorraia has been
turned into a (domestic) breed?
That is a valid point. Not enough effort has been made to preserve the
Sorraia as a wild horse, instead, it has been treated and kept and bred
recently much like any other breed, even in Portugal. As a result, the
behavior in many has changed. However, much of the original wild behavior
can still be observed in some herds, although most mares have been exposed
to humans so much now and for so long, and some have been raised along
with Lusitanos, so they don't shy away anymore if one approaches them.
However, when I recently entered a huge pasture that contained about a
dozen stallions - young ones and mature ones -, they fled as soon as they
saw us, just like so many deer -, so their wildness hasn't been lost yet
completely.
However, that's not the point. The way they have been kept and bred in
recent decades did have an effect on them, no doubt. But when we discuss
the status of the Sorraia, we ought to compare the Sorraia with Przewalski's
horse. Przewalski's horses have been bred in captivity even longer, and
were generally kept in zoos in little enclosures, while most Sorraias
lived in pastures large enough to allow them to remain semi-wild. However,
nobody denies the Przewalskis their status. Everything else has been the
same with Przewalskis and Sorraias - registration in a studbook, Man making
the mating decisions (thus breeding selectively), etc. So if one wants
to call the Sorraia a breed due to these circumstances, one needs to do
the same with Przewalski's horse (see diagram).
Regardless of how long Przewalski's horse is bred in zoos, the fact remains
that its origin is that of a wild subspecies. And the same holds true
with the Sorraia, at least we have reason to believe that.
DR. RUY D'ANDRADE ON THE SORRAIA
The following is an excerpt of an article by Ruy d'Andrade in Boletim
Pecuário, XIII, 3. Lx., 1945 (some explanations added in parenthesis,
bold Italics added by editor)
The horse
is to be found in the south of the (Iberian) peninsula,
and I suppose it is the remaining specimen of a fauna dating from the
beginning of the Pleistocene era, which persisted throughout the antiglacial
period, when there was a horse related to the Pleistocene horses of the
Sivalik Hills, and therefore one of the oldest geological periods of Asiatic
origin. In the interglacial period (i. e. the last) it was to be found
in Africa, where it may have survived throughout the preceeding glacial
period, and also in the Hispanic southwest (Andalucia and Algarve), or
it may have retreated from Africa through the isthmus which existed before
the Straits of Gibraltar opened, which some believe to have occured in
the Tertiary era.
How this group of horses was discovered
Many years ago I had already noticed that many foals out of mares of
pure Andalusian breeding which I was raising in the Alto Alentejo (Elvas
region), and others I had seen in Andalucia and in the region of the Tejo
delta, were born with striped, straw-colored coats, especially those of
yellow dun or grulla (mouse dun) color; many of whose stripes later disappeared
completely as they became grey.
Later, in 1920, on a hunting trip in the region of Coruche, on the lower
Sorraia (river), on the Sesmaria estate, I saw a herd of ca.
30 individuals, more than half of them were light duns, some were grullas,
many with superabundant stripes, and generally in all aspects absolutely
wild, or primitive, as if they were a species of zebra, or a hemionus
species.
When I later focused my attention on these characteristics, which I referred
to in my various studies, I was able to find animals with these particular
coat characteristics in all areas of the Tagus valley, the Alto Alentejo,
as well as in the Guadalquivir valley, in total more than 300 individuals.
I then decided to reconstitute this primitive kind of horse, in order
to find out if it was indeed the origin of our Andalusian horses, which
are nowadays of larger frame und greater variety due to the crossbreeding
they have been subjected to. So I set out to duplicate in an exclusive
herd on my estate what had happened in the Americas, where through life
in an authentic wild state the actual cimarron - or crioulo - (wild type)
emerged.
However, the herd I had come across on the hunting trip had disappeared,
and it was not possible, as had been my wish, to acquire it. Nevertheless,
I tried to obtain some mares in that area with the same characteristics;
I was able to get seven as founding stock of my herd from various herds
at Coruche and vicinity. I bred them to horses of the same origin and
bearing the same coat characteristics. After ten years, nearly all the
original mares have perished, for they were already old when I had obtained
them...
(Dr. Andrade then describes his herd as very homogeneous and goes on
to describe the foundation mares in detail), and giving the measurements
of the horses in his herd), giving the average measurements as follows:
Height at withers: 143 cm to 145 cm (14 + hh to 14,1 + hh)
Perimeter of thorax: 160 cm to 165 cm
Perimeter of cannon bone: 17,5 cm to 18 cm)
... I am convinced that, if they were moved to a more fertile environment,
they would develop more fully. However, since what I was interested in
was to promote their primitive characteristics, I deliberately kept them
in their habitat, where, struggling against the neglect of the breeders
there, and in spite of the dislike those had for their coat characteristics,
they had somehow managed to keep their original characteristics, thus
revealing that this environment favored their preservation and recovery...
... These reasons lead me to the conclusion that the equine group
which I am dealing with here represents a primitive type of the Iberian
Peninsula, from which the modern Andalusian and Lusitano stem,
a group that interests the Argentinians because it is known that the animals
of the Tagus (Tejo) delta and those of the Guadalquivir delta are of the
same origin. In fact, our wild bovines (fighting bulls), so common here,
and the horses of the Ribatejo are the same as the ones of the salt marshes
of the Guadalquivir.
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THE ORIGINS OF TODAY'S HORSES:
PHYLOGENETIC NETWORK BASED ON mtDNA ANALYSES PROVIDES ANSWERS
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| A phylogenetic network, constructed by a German/British Team
of researchers (JANSEN ET AL., 2002), and based on the largest currently
available data bank, provides answers to questions such as:
Are domestic horses descendants of one or more postglacial primeval horses?
Has there been one or more domestication events?
Are genotypes geographically linked?
Is the Sorraia horse the ancestor to modern Andalusians and Lusitanos?
Do the pony breeds of northern and western Europe have common ancestors?
Are Arabian and Barb horses related?
Is the Mongolian wild horse ancestral to domestic breeds?
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| Mitochondrial D-loop sequencing is a reliable state-of-the-art method
to determine relatedness between populations and breeds, and to establish
phylogenetic facts. 318 horses from 25 oriental and European breeds, American
mustangs, and Mongolian wild horses were included in this research. Together
with previously published data, including such from prehistoric permafrost
horses, this amounted to 652 horses, the largest data base available. The
phylogenetic network constructed on the basis of these sequences showed
93 different mtDNA types, which grouped into 17 distict phylogenetic clusters
(genotypes). The network revealed also that several genotypes correspond
to geographic areas, and/or breeds, indicating geographically distant domestication
events.
The sheer number of different mtDNA types found indicates the existance
of different postglacial primeval horses, which, according to zoological
systematics, should be referred to as subspecies, and which evidently
were sources for the domestication process. Considering the horses
mtDNA mutation rate and the archeological timeframe, the results of this
study would require a minimum estimate of 77 mares to have been recruited
from the wild for the domestication process, and which must have successfully
reproduced in captivity/domestication. This alone is unrealistic as an
achievement of a single prehistoric community, but there is the geographical
linkeage, which makes it simply impossible: Each of these 77 mares would
also have been of different genotype, which means, according to the results
of this study, that at least part of them stemmed from geographically
distant areas! This presents a feat which to accomplish would have been
absolutely unrealistic for any prehistoric community.
The conclusion can only be that the extensive genetic diversity of this
(minimum) of 77 ancestral mares means that a number of distinct horse
populations were involved in the domestication of the horse.
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Computer-generated phylogenetic network based on mtDNA
analyses
© Thomas Jansen |
A legitimate question would be whether it wouldn't be normal for wild
horse populations to include different genotypes, in order to explain the
number of genotypes found in today's horses. However, the Mongolian wild
horse, for instance, comes only in one genotype. One could argue, of course,
that certain subspecies, like the Mongolian wild horse (Przewalski's horse),
might be of diminished genetic diversity today due to bottleneck effects,
but comparisons with other horse populations indicate rather uniform genotypes
for populations of subspecies:
The answer to the question if prehistoric wild horse populations really
had such great genetic diversity that different genotypes found today may
derive from the domestication of horses from just one population is clearly
a no - analyses of Alaskan permafrost horses spanning a time period of 16,000
years show six of the eight ancient mtDNA samples to cluster monophyletically
(i. e. represent one genotype)!
That the single genotype found in the Mongolian, or Asiatic, wild horse
is a relevant, and significant, piece of evidence is born out by the fact
that the foundation horses of todays population of Mongolian wild
horses were captured in at least two different expeditions, which took place
several decades apart, and in at least three different geographic regions
and yet, only one genotype is present! This, together with the findings
in prehistoric permafrost horses, indicates that wild populations are/were
relatively uniform in genotype.
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This simplified diagram is based on the network established
by Jansen et al. and shows only the
genotypes which are of interest in this context, and which are geographically
linked
© Hardy Oelke |
| Of the genotypes which correspond with geographic areas, cluster
C1 is the most striking one: It is geographically restricted to central
Europe, the British Isles, and Scandinavia, including Iceland. 17 of 19
documented horses of the C1 type are North European ponies: Exmoor, Norwegian
Fjord, Icelandic pony, and Scottish Highland. Furthermore, 14 of 27 horses
with
insufficiently documented pedigrees of C1 type were ponies, including
Connemaras. Two ancient Viking horses were also found to have the C1 type.
Another mtDNA type, cluster E, consisted entirely of Icelandic, Shetland,
and Fjord ponies.
Another geographically striking cluster is D1. Its widespread distribution
is no surprise, given the strong influence Iberian horses have had on
most domestic breeds, but there is a clear frequency maximum in Iberian
breeds, as well as in North African horses (Barbs). Due to the historical
Spanish presence in the Americas, a high percentage of American mustangs
could be expected to be also of this genotype, which mtDNA sequencing
did indeed confirm (31 %). The results show clearly that Andalusians,
Lusitanos, and Barbs stem from the same primeval population, but the almost
complete absence of this genotype in Arabian horses (only 5 %) proves
that Arab and Barb horses are not related and of different genetic origins.
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| Sorraia horses originated from a small group of horses preserved
by the late Ruy d'Andrade, after he had seen phenotypically identical wild
horses in 1920 near Coruche, Portugal. Although d'Andrade considered this
horse to be the ancestor of today's Andalusians and Lusitanos, the mtDNA
research shows the Sorraia to have a quite different origin. All 18 Sorraias
sampled for this study had either of two mtDNA patterns, both on the same
branch of the phylogenetic network. As there are only two direct maternal
lines that survived in the Sorraia, there could be no more than two mtDNA
patterns still in existence. The genotype found in Sorraias is totally unrelated
to the D1 type predominant in other Iberian horses. This underlines the
singular status of the Sorraia horse. Some American mustangs were found
to also have the Sorraia genotype.
A genotype found in Lusitanos (A3) is rather closely related to the one
found in Sorraias, but it has yet to be established if these are all variants
within one and the same genotype.
The Mongolian wild horse provides another geographically linked genotype
(central Asia). Two mtDNA patterns were found for the Mongolian wild horse
in this study. ISHIDA ET AL. had published a third mtDNA type for the
Mongolian wild horse, but all three are closely related. It was found
by Jansen et al. that the Mongolian wild horse had no ancestral role in
regard to domestic horse breeds - the mtDNA patterns of the Mongolian
wild horse were not found in any other breed or race. This is in agreement
with ISHIDA ET AL., who had sampled only a few horses, while the new results
were based on a much greater number of individuals.
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| Reference: T. Jansen, P. Forster, M. A. Levine,
H. Oelke, M. Hurles, C: Renfrew, J. Weber, K. Olek:
MITOCHONDRIAL DNA AND THE ORIGINS OF THE DOMESTIC HORSE
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99 (16), pp. 10905-10910 (2002)
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THE SORRAIA'S INFLUENCE ON IBERIAN
BREEDS
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The Sorraias significant influence on the Andalusian and Lusitano,
especially the latter, cant be denied - too obvious are the Sorraia
characteristics of many Lusitanos and not just a few Andalusians. This
author has seen Lusitanos which were more or less indistinguishable from
Sorraias. If such a Sorraia influence has not been proven through mtDNA
analyses, it could be because mtDNA is passed on through the maternal
line only. It is possible though that such an influence took place through
male lines - and any influence through the paternal line will go unnoticed
in mtDNA analyses.
In a scenario with a remnant population of wild horses and extensively-kept
domestic horses, it has always been the same story the world over: wild
stallions stealing domestic mares, or, if not stealing them, at least
breeding them out in the fields. Such a stolen mare may later be reclaimed,
but she might have conceived a foal by the wild stallion. Trouble with
wild stallions was one of the main reasons for the extermination of
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The Sorraia characteristics of this registered
Lusitano mare are so strong that she appears to be
a Sorraia at least at a first glance
Photo © Oelke |
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| wild horse populations all over the world. Such reports exist
about wild Tarpan stallions, stallions of the Mongolian wild horse, and
also of feral stallions (mustangs) in the American West. Wild stallions
were always notorious for stealing and breeding domestic mares. Knowing
how the Iberians kept their domestic horse herds out in the fields, it is
quite logical to assume that many a foal was sired by a wild Sorraia stallion.
These mares would have had the mtDNA pattern common for Lusitanos and Andalusians,
so any of their foals sired by a wild Sorraia stallion would have inherited
many of the Sorraias characteristics, but also its dams mtDNA pattern
In such a way, the Sorraia may have had an influence on our modern Lusitanos
and Andalusians. |
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DUN COLOR AND WHITE MARKINGS
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Ive seen a picture of a Sorraia
that had some white markings. How do you explain that? I thought if they
were wild, primitive horses, they couldnt have white markings. And
Ive seen a picture of another one that looked like a brown to me...
It was never claimed that the Sorraias is entirely pure anymore. White markings
in a Sorraia may reflect some outside blood that cropped out, as would an
off-color (any color other than regular dun or grulla). 95 percent of the
Sorraias (maybe even more) don't have white. A Sorraia with a white marking
is an exception, not a typical example. It simply shows the ignorance of
an author to use a Sorraia with white socks as illustration, or an off-colored
one, like a brown.
White markings occasionally occur even in wild species, as well as albinism
and melanism. For instance, there have been spotted, and/or white, deer,
elks, buffaloe, elephants; black foxes, wolves, squirrels, etc. If you
were to preserve such species, would you pick the odd-colored ones to
do that? Or would you rather try to preserve what's typical?
White markings also occur as a by-product of domestication and inbreeding,
the latter often being linked to domestication. The extreme inbreeding
in today's Sorraias alone would explain the occurence of an occasional
white marking.
Also, the Portuguese National Stud don't seem to really appreciate their
Sorraias for what they are, and have been treating them like so many domestic
horses. They could easily get rid of what few they have that have some
white, but they don't seem to care. The grandchildren of Ruy d'Andrade,
who own most of today's Sorraia population, certainly do discriminate
against white should it crop out.
The typical Sorraia is a dun or grulla of a lighter shade, without white,
with a dark, "sooty face resp. muzzle area, bi-colored mane
and tail, leg stripes in addition to the dorsal stripe, and sometimes
stripes on the neck, over the back, and on the forehead (cobwebbing).
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Photo © Oelke

Photo © Oelke |
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SORRAIAS WHAT CAN THEY DO?
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Its all good and well to preserve
the Sorraia as a genetic resource, or an endangered subspecies, but I would
like to know: If they are not a domestic breed, but basically a primitive
horse, can one still ride them, or do anything else with them?
Sorraias have been used as mounts by the Portuguese vaqueiros (cowboys),
and some have even been trained to perform at the highest level of dressage.
Madalena Abecassis, a Portuguese horsewoman, has competed in driving contests
with a team of four Sorraia stallions. On the old dAndrade estate
(FontAlva), the vaqueiros still ride Sorraia geldings for general
ranch work. The Sorraia is held to be the best mount for this type of work,
and for general cross-country riding.
Recently, two mature Sorraia stallions were broke to ride which had been
nothing but herd sires before. Within a matter of weeks they were tamed
and broke to ride, and within a few months they became reliable youth horses,
even though they were not gelded!
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A fairly green 4-year-old grullo Sorraia stallion in
Portugal;
Hardy Oelke in the saddle.
Photo de Oliveira e Sousa, © Oelke
Photos © Claus |
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Above and right: This Sorraia is an intensively used cross-country
horse and has been exposed to, and has mastered, all kinds of terrain. Here
it's a steep bank that is to be slid down. |
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Portuguese vaqueiro (herdsman) mounted on a dun Sorraia gelding
Photo © Oelke
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Sorraia stallion
in a dressage demonstration at the
Lusitano Festival in Lisbon,
Portugal
Photo
© Danner
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In the course of a long-distance ride, this Sorraia is
quietly crossing a river by ferry boat along with other
horses
Photo © Claus |
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WHAT IS THE TOTAL NUMBER OF THE
SORRAIA POPULATION TODAY?
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How many Sorraias are still existing?
Has the situation improved some?
The situation has not really improved much. Altogether, there should be
between 150 and 200 head, but it is difficult to keep count of them. Over
the last years quite a number of foals were born in Portugal and outside
of Portugal, but there are always some that are sold and cannot kept track
of.
The different management in Alter do Chão (Portuguese National
Stud) has resulted in a better production rate there (in 1998 they started
to put a stallion out in the fields with the mares, while before that,
they tried to handbreed these primitive horses). Also, some of the mares
imported into Germany have had foals. The total number of maybe 180 head
(including the foals) is of course nowhere near a viable population that
would ensure the survival of the Sorraia, the most primitive Iberian horse
we have today!
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Vaqueiro working a herd of wild cattle (bull-fighting
cattle) on a Sorraia gelding
Photo © Oelke |
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SORRAIA PHENOTYPE
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| The Sorraia horse is typically around 14 to 14,3
hands at the withers. It is a rather narrow, fairly long-legged horse. The
neck is of sufficient length and thin, sometimes ewe-necked, and clean at
the throatlatch. Fat Sorraias will develop a cresty neck.
The Sorraia's head is rather long and has a convex, or subconvex, profile.
This convexity is not just referring to a dropping nose, often called
Roman nose, but a continuous convex line from poll to nostrils. The strongest
curve in this line is below the eye, while towards the muzzle it becomes
almost straight. The eye is set fairly high, the forehead is narrow, the
ears medium long to long and not particularly curved. The whole head gives
a clear, "dry", bony, refined appearance, as opposed to a meaty,
coarse look.
A prominent set of withers is typical for the Sorraia, as is a long shoulder,
a medium-long back, a sloping (but not dropping) hip. Protruding hip bones
occur, especially in mares; the hips being on the narrow side and tapering
towards the tail, in contrast to the "square" rear end of, for
instance, the Quarter Horse.
The horse may be narrow, but has great depth of chest. Cannon bones are
fairly long, so are the pasterns. The hooves are small to medium size.
There is no excessive hair around the fetlock joints.
Sorraias show amazing flexibility vertically and laterally. They have
great ability to collect themselves and are extremely agile. A certain
amount of knee action is typical, as is a free, ground-covering trot.
Some Sorraias are naturally gaited.
In color, all Sorraias are either grulla or regular dun (no red dun).
In contrast to certain other duns, which may have a mealy mouth, Sorraias
have a dark, "sooty" face mask and a dark muzzle area. A broad,
dark, indistinct belly "stripe" runs under the middle of the
belly. Mane and tail are bi-colored, i. e. the black middle part (extension
of the dorsal stripe) is fringed by light-colored, often almost white,
hair.
"Zebra" stripes on legs occur, sometimes also across the withers,
on the neck, or over the back, as does "cobwebbing" on the forehead.
Sorraias typically don't have any white markings.
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Above: These are drawings by Ruy d'Andrade
of early Sorraias, horses that he has known
Right: Young Sorraia mare, showing the typical rafter hip and more narrow,
longer face
Below: Dun Sorraia mare in fat condition

Photos © Oelke
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ZEBRO WILD HORSE
No one knows for sure nowadays the meaning of the term "zebro"
in Portuguese, and there is some difference of opinions. Fact is, though,
that up until the Middle Ages, official documents differentiate between
the zebro and other wild animals. The Portuguese author Arsénio
Raposo Cordeiro ("The Lusitano Horse - Son of the Wind") wrote
regarding this matter:
"The Sorraia horse is probably a surviver of the equine type
which existed until recently in a wild state and which in the Middle Ages
was called 'zebro'
"
Although some authors assume that the word 'zebro' refers to 'bull,
cow, calf, or bullock', the Lisbon Charter of 1179 is clear on this matter.
It distinguishes clearly between the hide of the bull, of the zebro, and
of the deer, each costing half a maradevi (ancient Gothic coin used in
Spain and Portugal). In the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries, one still
finds similar references to the zebro, then considered a distinct equine.
Curiously enough, even today one still can find various places between
the rivers Tagus and Guadiana named 'Vale de Zebro' (zebro valley), always
referring to areas which had been wilder, or less inhabited. In the same
region one can also find places called 'Vale de Eguas' (valley of mares),
and 'Vale de Cavalos' (valley of horses), thus distinguishing between
the wild, or zebro, horse, and the domesticated horse, the Lusitano horse,
its probable descendent.
As Ruy d'Andrade pointed out as early as 1926, it were the Portuguese
who first used the term 'zebra' in Africa. to define an (wild) animal
of the horse family
"
In my opinion, the fact that the Portuguese named the African wild horse
species "zebra" is a really strong indication for "zebro"
(or "zebra", both spellings did occur) to have been the Portuguese
term for a wild horse. That the area that became a Sorraia Refuge now
is one known as Vale de Zebro since medieval times, is actually the icing
on the cake!
S. Lûcio de Azevedo's mentioned in "Épocas de Portugal
Económico, Es boços de Histórica official prices
for wild animals according to the hunting laws in the year1253. It says
there regarding their hides: Of the hides of wild animals, the zevro's
(yet another spelling of the same term) is the most precious; they cost
30 soldos, more than those of wild bulls, which cost 27 soldos."
The hides of elk and deer were even cheaper. In a different paragraph
the worth of a dead zevro is given as 50 soldos, 30 for the hide and 20
for the meat.
Ruy dAndrade wrote that a man from Benavente in Portugal first
named the African wild horse "zebras" during a trip through
the Congo in 1578, and that in 1450, in the Portuguese town of Evora the
price for a zevro was ruled to be 2 dineros, from which he drew the conclusion
that wild horses lived in that region at least until 1450.
NEW INFORMATION REGARDING THE ZEBRO
In search for the original meaning of the term zebro, whether it applies
to a wild horse or some other wild animal, there has been a valuable contribution
made by Jesús Alonso from Spain. It stood to reason that the "zebro's"
habitat was not confined to Portugal, but spread over much of the Iberian
Peninsula, but Jesús Alonso found evidence to that effect! Not
only that, but what he found clearly shows that the term did indeed apply
to a wild equid - obviously the animal that Ruy d'Andrade tried to rescue,
which he named "Sorraia horse"!
Jesús Alonso found in Spain the Spanish counterparts to the Portuguese
field names "Vale de Zebro", etc. The Spanish term for the zebro
was "cebro", "encebro", or "encebra", and
was in use in Spain up to the XVI century.
"They were wild equids, 'rat'-colored, and had stripes on the back
and legs," says Alonso. "So they were probably nothing but Sorraias.
Some Spanish town and field names still bear the word Encebro, Cebro,
or Encebra, such as Encebras (villages in Cuenca, Alicante and Granada),
Cebreros (a village in Avila), or the Cebreiro (a mountain pass in Galicia)."

Encebras, in southern Spain, near
Elda, near the Sierra del Carche, is
just one of many town and field
names in Spain that refer to the
wild equid "encebro", or "zebro",
that once roamed here
Evidently, the equid zebro, encebro, or encebra has been mentioned by
different Spanish sources from the XIV to the XVI century in an area covering
at least South, Central and Eastern Spain (that is where encebro-related
field names are found). Jesús Alonso could also find historical
sources where the encebro is mentioned, such as the book "El Libro
de La Montería" (meaning "The Book of Hunting"),
written in the first half of the XIV century under the auspices of king
Alfonso XI of Castile. This book describes, often tediously, the best
places for hunting within the domains of this king. It concentrates mainly
on bear and boar, but says in one of the chapters about the medieval wildlife
of Cartagena (in Murcia, southeastern Spain) that "encebras"
lived there.
Besides in the El Libro de la Montería, encebras are mentioned
in other sources: The "Relación de Chinchilla", written
in 1576, describes the animals living around Chinchilla in southeastern
Spain and describes the encebras as "ash-colored mares", resp.
colored like rats, a bit short, whinnying as mares, and running faster
than the best (riding) horse".
"Colored like rats" is indicating clearly that they were grullas,
as the Portuguese term for grullas is "rato", which means "rat".
This also strongly indicates that the original color of the Sorraia (or
zebra, or encebra) was grulla/mouse-dun/rato, and not dun (baio). The
"Arte Cisoria", written by a Valencian called E. de Villena,
mentions encebra meat and says that it was eaten as a remedy against idleness/lazyness
(back then, people often thought that by eating the flesh of an animal,
that animal's energy, vitality, strength and abilities would become their
own).
In the medieval tale "Romance del Rey Marsin" one of the verses
says, "There goes King Marsin, a knight riding on a zebra, for lack
of a (riding) horse".
The Libro de la Montería mentions encebras in the mountain areas
of Murcia in book III, page 192, saying:
"The Villa Franca river is a good range for boar and enzebras in
winter." "Cabezas de Copares is a good place for boar and enzebras
in winter." "The Sierra de Zelchite is a good place for boar
in winter and there are plenty of enzebras."
Here is a text found and translated by Jesús Alonso:
"Zebro is the name given in the middle ages, in Portugal, León
and Castile, to a certain species of wild equine that lived in some parts
of the Iberian peninsula until it became extinct towards the end of the
XV century. In the kingdom of Aragon it was better known as Zebra or Encebra.
Medieval chronicles describe the zebro as a domestic ass-like animal,
but taller, stronger and sturdier, besides being very fast and ill-tempered.
The coat was greyish ("rat coat" is the term commonly used in
medieval descriptions), interrupted by a black stripe along the back.
It seems the nose was also black, and it had stripes on the legs. They
lived in herds that preferred to wander on the plains, but withdrew to
the mountain regions due to hunting and pressure from domestic stock.
Around the end of the XV century and beginning of the XVI century, the
zebro disappears from the hunting chronicles, probably due to its extinction.
However, there are isolated mentionings in later writings.
The zebro´s identity has been debated for a long time. At first
it was thought they were simply feral asses of the North African species
Equus asinus atlanticus, introduced a bit before the Roman conquest. But
several aspects did not fit: their wild and unruly behaviour, their greater
size and the fact that they were whinnying like horses. The possibility
that it was an endemic species of the Iberian Peninsula grew stronger
and stronger.
There are two curiosities left to tell about the zebro. First, that the
last area where it was abundant, the southeast of Spain, kept some field
names regarding this animal, such as Valdencebro (Teruel), Encebras (Alicante),
or Las Encebras (Murcia) in Spain, and Ribeira de Zebro in the municipality
of Moura, Portugal. Secondly, that when Portuguese started exploring the
African coast and arrived at Cape Good Hope at the end of the XV century,
they found striped equines that seemed to them very similar in shape and
size to the zebros, so they called them zebras."
Fernando Prado from Brazil mentioned that a book titled "800 Years
of Hunting in Portugal" describes the zebro as a hemionus (halfass).
However, there are several reasons why that is unlikely:
1) Perhaps the strongest indication for the zebro to have been a horse,
not a hemionus, is that the zebro is reported to have been whinnying like
horses - no hemionus species does that.
2) Zebros are described as having had dark, or black, noses - which would
be consistent with rato color, but not with the mealy mouth found in wild
asses and halfasses.
3) None of the hemionus species have prominent leg stripes. Although
they usually do have a dorsal stripe, and the Onager has a really broad
one, their legs are light in color, mostly nearly white, as are their
bellies and flanks. The Somali wild ass does have leg stripes, but even
it doesn't have an appearance like the striped horses Ruy d'Andrade knew
and portrayed, likely to remind the Portuguese explorer around Africa
of their native wild equines when seeing zebras there... Especially the
Quagga must have come pretty close in appearance to dun-factor horses
as Ruy d'Andrade portrayed and desrcibed them. None of the wild asses
and halfasses really resemble even remotely the zebra in color.
4) All hemionus species, and subspecies, are of a yellowish or reddish
color, set off with whitish areas - Onager, Kiang, Khur, Kulan, Dschiggetai,
and Syrian hemionus. None of them are what one could call rato (grulla).
Of course one couldn't rule out the existence of a rato-colored hemionus
subspecies in southwestern Europe, namely, Iberia, but that is really
a far stretch, when all existing hemionus are more baio in color than
rato (even though they differ from what we know as baios).
5) While archeologists and paleozoologists are agreed on the existence
of a hemionus population in Europe (and a wild asinus population as well)
in prehistoric times (to have become extinct 7,000 years ago at the latest),
all hemionus species and subspecies are and were found in Asia and Arabia
- far from Iberia. Again, it is some stretch to believe, and cries for
substantiation, that they should have become extict everywhere else in
northern Africa and the Mediterranean, but survived in Iberia - the farthest
from their original stronghold.
Maybe something that one should also consider here is that Ruy d'Andrade,
in his report of his first encounter with the wild bunch of horses that
inspired him to pursue his Sorraia project, was reminded by them of a
herd of hemionuses. It can't be ruled out that people less educated in
equines than he was would simply have considered them to be - if not halfasses,
because for that they would have had to be properly educated again - but
a different kind of animal (species), which they called zebro/encebro.
Today, Sorraias are becoming more and more small editions of the modern
Lusitano, but there used to be those that were quite different in phenotype
- leaner, with less muscling, rafter-hipped, often ewe-necked, and with
ears that tend to be longish. Such horses, especially when in poor condition,
definitely resemble a hemionus to a degree.
Jesús Alonso said:
"I do not think zebros were wild asses, not only because of the
whinnying or the color, but also because there are no wild donkies in
cave paintings or other paintings, or any artistic evidence of wild donkies
living in the Iberian peninsula, and they are not mentioned by Greeks
or Romans, who, on the other hand, mentioned the existence of wild horses."
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SORRAIA STALLIONS IN AMERICA
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| Sovina, a grullo Sorraia stallion born in 1999,
was sold as a yearling to Erin Gray in Oregon. Sovina is out of one of Hardy
Oelkes mares which he had still in Portugal when she foaled Sovina.
The mare and her colt were hauled to Germany in May 1999. Sovina was sold
as a yearling, and shipped from Amsterdam to Los Angeles, in the Spring
of 2000. He was the first Sorraia to hit North American soil since the days
of the Conquistadores. Since his arrival he has attracted a lot of attention
by lovers of Iberian horses and Spanish mustangs. Not only breeders of Spanish
mustangs and Sorraia Mustangs have expressed interest in breeding to him,
but also Lusitano and Andalusian breeders wanting to infuse some old Iberian
blood back into their horses.
A full brother to Sovina, born at Hardy Oelke's place in 2000, was shipped
to Wisconsin in early 2001. His name is Tejo II, named after the majestic
Portuguese river which dominates the region north of Lisbon, and into
which the river Sorraia empties. Owner Karen Dalke has been doing research
regarding the mustang's importance and role in the life of today's Americans.
She also owns "Elle Est Féliciteé", a grulla Nevada
mustang mare registered Tentative in the Sorraia Mustang Studbook.
Tejo II, a grullo of excellent Sorraia type and very sweet disposition,
will hopefully establish himself as a sire of Sorraia Mustangs and later,
of pure Sorraias. His dam is from the old d'Andrade herd, and his sire
is still a herd sire there resp. at the National Stud in Alter do Chão.
Tejo's sire and dam are both grullas.
Karen also expressed her hopes to be able to acquire some Sorraia mares
in the future, to breed them to Tejo. Her plans for Tejo include not only
to break him to the saddle, but also to drive him hitched to her 1903
doctor's buggy.
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Tejo II, the 2000 grullo Sorraia stallion at his new home
in Wisconsin
Photo © Dalke
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Tejo II as a mature horse in his pasture in Wisconsin, USA
Photos © Dalke |
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Sovina as a yearling while still in Germany. He has shed his winter coat
since
and has raised eyebrows wherever he was exhibited.
Photo © Oelke
Tejo II A Great-looking Specimen
Karen Dalke sent in this current shot of her Sorraia stallion Tejo II,
which as everyone can see is a very typical specimen, and
is in
great shape.
Photo © Dalke
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NEW SORRAIA STALLION IN NORTH AMERICA
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| Altamiro, a yearling Sorraia stud colt, born at
the Wisentgehege (Bison Preserve, a zoological park in Springe, Germany),
will serve as the foundation sire for a newly established Sorraia Mustang
preserve on Manitoulin Island in Northern Ontario. Altamiro is the third
Sorraia to land in North America and is the first ever to put hooves on
Canadian soil.
Gore Bay residents Kevin Droski and his wife, Lynne Gerard, have imported
this Sorraia colt to breed to specific North American mustang mares that
are similar in their appearance to the Iberian Sorraia horse, and to any
Sorraia mares that may be brought to North America. Known as "Sorraia
Mustangs", Sorraia-like mustangs are cropping out among mustang herds
all over North America. By creating a Sorraia Mustang preserve at Ravenseyrie,
their remote, 243 acre farm, Droski and Gerard hope to make a significant
contribution to the consolidation of the Sorraia characteristics in select
North American mustangs, perhaps eventually even strengthening the gene
pool of the Iberian Sorraias.
"We feel our preserve will benefit the efforts to save the Sorraia
as well as bring attention to the special qualities of Sorraia Mustangs,"
says Gerard. "Ravenseyrie is an excellent natural environment for
breeding and raising these rare horses in a semi-wild setting. Kevin and
I look forward to recording and sharing data on this project across the
ocean and out west."
It has been a pleasure to be of service to Lynne and Kevin. I deeply
appreciate their interest and aspiration for the reestablishment and preservation
of that rare animal, the Sorraia-type mustang, and the effort and sacrifice
they made to make a meaningful contribution to the cause. I'm impressed
by their enthusiasm and diligence and sincerely hope that Altamiro will
become the foundation sire of excellent strains of Sorraia Mustangs.
Adds Kevin Droski: "Our present mustang fillies, Bella and Belina,
are a marvelous expression of many of the most desirable attributes of
the horse. They are tough, smart, sensible and well suited to these rugged
island conditions. A stunning addition to this landscape, their mere presence
justifies the effort. The introduction of Altamiro promises to be both
fascinating and productive."
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Altamiro,
the yearling Sorraia stallion
that went to Manitoulin Island in Ontario
this summer
Photo © Ravenseyrie |
On
the island, Altamiro
and his mares have a
wonderful territory to roam in
Photo © Ravenseyrie |

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This is Altamiro and one of his mustang brides saying hello over the fence
Photo © Ravenseyrie
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SORRAIAS IN BRAZIL
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| Fernando J. Prado Ferreira, a lawyer in São Paulo,
Brazil, is breeding grulla Lusitano horses and has been selecting the best
he could find in his country. Brazil's Lusitano breeders have bought prime
breeding stock in Portugal many years ago, and the Brazilian Lusitanos are
among the best in the world by now.
It is of particular interest that Fernando Prado Ferreira has a grullo
Lusitano stallion that in every way resembles a Sorraia in phenotype.
This horse is one of the best Sorraia types alive anywhere, and the only
difference is his size.
This summer, Fernando bought a Sorraia mare in Portugal, to import her
to his home country, a mare that is in foal to a Sorraia stallion.
On November 4th, 2006, Vaiada, the Sorraia mare from Portugal, arrived
in good condition in Brazil.
"This marks the first time since Brazil was a Portuguese colony
that a Sorraia was brought back again to this country", Fernando
commented proudly.
Fernando also found a Brazilian native horse, a crioulo, that looked
exactly like a Sorraia. Unfortunately, that stallion died recently. He
then located a son of this stallion that looked much like him. The horse
wasn't for sale, though. It is a very good cow and ranch horse, the kind
that a vaqueiro won't part with!
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The
Brazilian crioulo horse found by Fernando Ferreira
in a parade. He appears to be of good Sorraia type and
shows the Sorraia inheritance of the crioulo
Photo © Ferreira
A
son of the horse shown first that
Fernando Ferreira was able to locate,
which again clearly displays Sorraia
characteristics and is testimony to how
strongly these genes breed
Photo © Ferreira
Vaiada,
Fernando Ferreira's Sorraia mare from Portugal,
at her arrival in Brazil
Photo © Ferreira
Vaiada
getting acclimated in Fernando's barn
at São Paulo, Brazil
Photo © Ferreira
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FIRST SORRAIA BORN IN BRAZIL
Fernando Prado Ferreira, who recently imported a Sorraia mare from Portugal,
announced the birth of a foal out of that mare:
"I am very pleased to annnounce that Vaiada, my Sorraia mare bred
by José Luis d`Andrade and imported to Brazil last November, gave
birth to a healthy and good looking colt named Cabral, after the Portuguese
Navigator who discovered Brazil in 1500. It is my belief that Cabral is
the first Sorraia born in the Americas, which makes all of us especially
proud. In reality, it is the return of the Sorraia as we know it today,
since the colonial times of Portuguese America, now Brazil."
Cabral V.P. was born February 22, 2007.
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UPDATE
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In view of unnecessary inbreeding by the Portuguese in the past, it seems
to be in order to report that recently, at least a certain interchange
of Sorraia stallions has taken place between some breeders.
2003 had been a bad year for the Sorraias in Portugal, as very few foals
were born and survived. 2004 was much better in that respect. In 2005,
a number of foals were born - in spite of the draught - and also in 2006,
which was a much better year in regard to the weather.
The greatest threat to the Sorraia's identity in Portugal is that it
is increasingly treated like just another breed, and is thus losing rapidly
the wild behavior and instincts. This is in sharp contrast to what Ruy
d'Andrade saw in these horses and why he preserved them. This domestic
breeding also tends to change the phenotype, and artificial measures taken
in the reproduction of the horses allow individuals to reproduce which
would have been eliminated under natural conditions - again, quite the
opposite of Ruy d'Andrade's endeavour.
The Portuguese declared 2004 to be the "Year of the Sorraia Horse".
However, they celebrated it by showing Sorraias in a variety of activities,
just like they were so many small Lusitanos, or other domestic horses.
It had not been Ruy d'Andrade's idea to create a new horse breed, one
smaller than the Lusitano, as an alternative to the latter. He was convinced
of the Sorraia's status as a primitive and indigenous Iberian horse. What
is taking place today is not in keeping with his ideas and conviction.
The only place where Sorraias are allowed to live wild and natural today
is the newly established "Vale de Zebro Sorraia Horse Refuge"
in Portugal (see separate chapter).
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FINALLY A REFUGE FOR SORRAIAS!
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| By Martin Haller
It may strike us a bit odd that two German horse experts contributed
decisively to the awareness and preservation of the Sorraia horse. Michael
Schaefer directed scientific interest to these horses and bred them for
three decades on his farm near Munich, however without having any influence
on their preservation in Portugal, the country of their origin. There,
the government and private breeders more or less neglected this genetic
treasure, which due to inbreeding and lack of interest was threatened
to become extinct. Not until the mid-1990s was there a man whose interest
in the Sorraias and whose engagement were to lead to a positive turn for
them. The renowned western horse expert and author of specialized books
Hardy Oelke, who has always been interested in primitive horses, found
on a trip into American mustang country some mustangs that he thought
resembled the Sorraia to an uncanny degree. He decided to travel to Portugal
to see first-hand if that impression was correct. Because of the phenotypical
similarities he subsequently initiated a mtDNA research which yielded
significant results in various aspects.

The horses are difficult to see in the refuge, as
there are plenty of opportunities for them to hide
Photo © Oelke
His first visit to Portugal made him already concerned about the Sorraias'
situation in their homeland, an impression that got stronger with every
visit. He decided to try and help these horses and in 1997 imported some
to Germany, with more following later.
"Nowhere were the Sorraias treated as what Ruy d'Andrade believed
them to be and why he tried to preserve them", explained Oelke. "And
hardly anywhere were they kept under according conditions. Until 1998,
there was a small group allowed to live under practically wild conditions,
but they, too, have since come under a certain domesticating influence.
Everywhere else they are treated increasingly like a domestic breed. I
realized that only a reservation would enable at least some of these horses
to retain their primitiveness. That had also basically been Ruy d'Andrade's
intentions, only that his descendants didn't keep that up."
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The refuge offers plenty of open land, where the most
lush grass is growing, but the horses preferred the shelter of the trees
and bushes
Photo © Oelke

In the Vale de Zebro Sorraia Horse Refuge, the horses
took to the forest directly and stayed in it, therefore, they are difficult
to spot
Photo © Oelke
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According to Oelke, Sorraias still show a wild behavior which other horses
under similar conditions lack, i.e. Koniks or mustangs. This wild behavior
is in the process of getting lost. Therefore he began looking in Portugal,
Germany, and The Netherlands for a possibility to establish a preserve,
or refuge, where Sorraias could live wild again. Through the help of a Portuguese
friend, and after some disappointments, he came in contact with a Portuguese
landowner family involved in organic farming and forestry in parts of the
Ribatejo in Portugal. They have an interest in these horses and agreed to
make available sufficient land for such a refuge, gladly making this valuable
contribution in the Portuguese publics interest and in the interest
of the entire horse world.
"It's the icing on the cake that the refuge lies in what is known
as the "Vale de Zebro", i.e. a original habitat of these ancient
Portuguse wild horses", Oelke says, "as 'zebro', for all we
know, meant 'wild horse' in medieval times."
March 13, 2004 became a historical date for the Sorraias, as that's when
Oelke's Sorraia mares arrived back in their home country and were released
in the refuge as the nucleus of a new, wild herd. Their shipment there
was made possible by the Germany-based Wiechers international transport
service. They all arrived in good shape and immediately took possession
of their new range. For more than a day they disappeared and were only
viewed by Oelke due to sheer luck the following evening. When the mares
spotted the intruder, they took to their heels in the blink of an eye.
"They showed that they haven't yet quite lost their instincts",
said Oelke. "Here they can live as free and wild as is possibly in
today's Europe, and have a chance to retain their primitive character."
As his own stallion was already too tame, and also the sire of one of
the mares, he approached a grandson of Ruy dAndrade, Fernando d'Andrade,
for a stallion, who graciously agreed to support the project by lending
a proven herd sire. Fernando d'Andrade's Sorraia herd is one of the most
naturally kept, and is also genetically as distant from the mares as is
possible in Portugal.
"The project should be put on as wide a genetic base as is possible
under the circumstances", Oelke explained. "The mares stem from
two different herds, and the stallion is now from yet another herd."
The stallion had had hardly any contact with humans and had to be driven
on the truck by way of a chute. After having jumped off the truck in the
refuge, he directly took to the woods - probably he had smelled the mares.
He will hopefully sire some offspring within the next couple of years.
The refuge, which is not too far from the town of Coruche, is about five
square kilometers in size. Climate, vegetation, and topography are similar
to what the Sorraias were used to for millenniums, when they roamed the
range as "zebros". Human intervention is going to be kept at
an absolute minimum. Even scientific observations are not planned for
the time being. The area is patrolled by armed forest rangers, but no
one is going near the horses. Management is restricted to eventually taking
out excess horses. According to the law of Nature, the weakest ones will
be taken out whenever the herd will get to be too large.
THE VALE DE ZEBRO SORRAIA HORSE REFUGE
By Hardy Oelke
Yesterday, the mares had arrived and had been unloaded in the refuge.
After two days on the road, they had seemed overjoyed by being released
in such an ideal environment. My feelings were mixed - I had taken care
of them for years, and they had grown on me. But I could not help but
notice how they lost more and more of the wild behavior they had once
possessed, and seeing what is being done with the Sorraias everywhere,
how they are increasingly treated like a domestic breed, I am glad that
this refuge could be realized, where they will lead as wild and natural
a life as is possible in our modern times.
All morning we had been wandering over the refuge, seeing horse tracks
here and there, but not a single horse. After lunch, I went back in alone,
determined to search for them until I found them, or until it would get
dark on me. Now the sun is already pretty low and I decide to head back
toward the gate. My legs and feet hurt. I've done more walking today than
I normally do in months
One significant observation this project has already yielded: horses
are generally viewed as steppe animals, as creatures of the open plains.
Well, the Sorraia Refuge has several fairly flat and open valleys. The
cows can be seen mostly in these bottom areas, feeding on the lush grass
there. And I had certainly expected the horses to prefer these flat bottoms
as their "living quarters". Quite to the contrary. They have
taken to the forest almost immediately, and have never come out of it
since! Unless they did so at night.
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One needs a bit of luck to find the horses in the refuge.
The filly in front on the right is Xeta, Nortada's daughter,
an exceptionally well-marked mare for today's Sorraias
Photo © Oelke
Trapaça, the oldest mare in the refuge, had several
sons
in Germany, two of which went to the USA. She appears
to be most happy to be allowed to roam free
Photo © Oelke
Trapaça, born in 1989, retained much of her original
wildness and will hopefully revert back to it, now that she has no human
contact anymore
Photo © Oelke |
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The forest here - mostly cork oak and pines, heather and bushes - is
not dense and lets plenty of light in and offers good grazing. The horses
seem to like it. Even if they should later - after having become more
familiar with the surroundings and feeling more secure - go more often
to the open valley bottoms, in other words, if their object of taking
to the bush is to hide, it is still significant that they automatically
seek security in the forest. If the theory were valid that the horse is
an animal of the open grassland, where it can see danger from afar and
take to its heels, then why do these reintroduced Sorraias retreat to
the forest for security?
This morning we had been making too much noise, I'm sure. Even if everyone
is cautious, a group of four men is bound to make some noise, and the
horses could have avoided us easily. Going alone, I've tried to be really
quite
I can't deny that I'm a bit disappointed not to have found
them. I had been hoping to get a few photographs of them in their new
habitat. On the other hand, I'm telling myself, "This is great!"
It is exactly why this area was chosen, because it is so large and diversified,
with hills, forest, bushes, etc., all of which makes it hard to see the
horses, but make a wonderful environment for them. I'm reminding myself
that it is exactly what I've hoped for all these years, and that it doesn't
matter if I get a glimpse of them or not. What matters is that I've done
for them the best I could, enabled to do so by the generous consent of
the Cunhal Sendim family who own this land.
And all of a sudden I see a horse's tail moving between some pine trees!
Well, I've found them after all, albeit by cheer luck! I slowly step a
little bet closer, as noiselessly as I can. I get my camera ready, zoom
in on them, and start shooting. At least I'll have some shots to show
off! Then one of them notices me and in the blink of an eye they are all
gone, like so many deer
How wonderful! They have not yet lost their wild instincts completely.
I well remember how they reacted even in the comparatively small and completely
open pasture I kept them in at home, how in the beginning they had run
away whenever one entered it. And how over the years, the distance of
tolerance had continuously decreased. Hopefully, not being exposed to
humans routinely in the future - not being interfered with at all - will
result in a revitalization of their wild behavior. Maybe in a year's time
one won't even be able to do what I just did - or at least not without
a lot more cunning.
A few days later, a Sorraia stallion is hauled to the Sorraia Refuge
and released there. He is from Fernando d'Andrade, whose Sorraias, especially
the stallions, are still pretty wild and not being handled at all. He
had to be driven into a round corral and from there into a chute, which
the truck was backed up to, so he could be driven onto it. Fernando d'Andrade,
a grandson of the great Dr. Ruy d'Andrade, is thus supporting the project,
as he also is of the opinion that it is likely to help the Sorraia horse.
The stallion jumps off the truck, puts a little distance between himself
and the people and starts sniffing the ground. Then he takes off rather
dedicedly in one direction. Has he already smelled the mares?
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The stallion in the Vale de Zebro Sorraia Horse Refuge, the use of which
was graciously donated by Fernando d'Andrade for two years
Photo © Oelke
Nortada, the first mare that had gone to Germany, back
in Portugal in the Sorraia refuge! One daughter of hers
which was born in Germany stayed there, but her
youngest daughter went with her into the refuge
Photo © Oelke

Nature in the Vale de Zebro, now a refuge for Sorraia
horses, is still intact and
vegetation is diversified
Photo © Oelke |
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By the way, although he was unloaded at the edge of the forest,
the open meadow was still visible from that point, and he could have run
to it had that been his desire. However, he, too, disappeared into the woods.
Of course his main reason for that could have been that he smelled the mares
and was heading toward them, but the fact remains that none of the horses
gave the impression that they longed for the open country - they seem perfectly
happy in the forest. Which reminds me of an experience with mustangs in
a remote area of the American west. The horses, which were very shy, had
been grazing in a wide, open meadow on a mountain side. I had been able
to sneek up on them, using some interspersed fallen trees and bushes as
cover. When they finally spotted me they wheeled around and made for the
nearby forest - explosively is the term that comes to mind -, and had disappeared
there within seconds. Those wild horses too had not tried to distance themselves
from perceived danger in the open, but rather headed for the cover of the
trees
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After the truck and everybody else has left, I try to follow the stallion.
Perhaps I have a chance to see him making contact with the mares
Every so often I stop and just listen, expecting to hear the typical screaming
and squeaking horses make when introducing themselves - but there is nothing
to hear except the wind in the trees, and sometimes the faraway clinking
of the cows' bells. When the sun starts to set I leave, again a little
disappointed, but with a more deeply felt satisfaction for the size of
the Refuge and what it has to offer. The stallion and the mares are bound
to meet soon, if they have not already done so. For them to be able to
roam like their ancestors did is the main issue of this project, for them
to hone their survival instincts, to be able to complete their diet with
all sorts of plants besides grass, to stay surefooted
All this land
is, by the way, not artificially fertilzed, and no chemicals are used
for whatever reason, allowing a natural balance of plants to grow. For
all these reasons, the area is ideal. After all, for all we know it is
a land where wild horses used to roam in the past, because "Vale
de Zebro", the name this area is known by, can be translated as "valley
of wild horses".
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A glimpse of a free-roaming Sorraia old Ruy dAndrade
would certainly
appreciate that if he were still alive!
Photo © Oelke |
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What is the medium-term and long-term plan for the Vale de Zebro
Sorraia Horse Refuge?
The short-term, medium-term, and final plan is to leave the horses to
themselves and interfere with them as little as possible. Regarding the
stallion now introduced, the plan is to take him out after two years;
by then there should be some male offspring. The two strongest of the
young stallions will be left in the Refuge, any additional ones will be
taken out. Then it is left to the two stallions to battle over the mares.
The area is large enough to allow for this, meaning it is large enough
for a defeated stallion to retreat from a stronger one. As there are mares
in the refuge from two different Sorraia herds, and the stallion now introduced
is from yet another herd, we will have represented most of what genetic
diversity can be found in today's Sorraias.
Any excess horses that need to be removed will always be the weaker ones,
which Mother Nature eventually would have culled anyway. The eventual
size of the population in the refuge is dependend of the Cunhal Sendim
family, who own the land; it is their call to decide on the limit. They
have been very supportive and are glad to be of service to a uniquely
Portuguese cause, that of the zebro, or Sorraia horse!
This is the only herd now that is allowed to live wild, without human
interference, or at least with the least possible interference. As in
this day and age, everything has to be managed to a degree. The fact that
the area is fenced in is, for instance, an interference. However, it stands
to reason that the horses can't be allowed to go just anywhere, because
then they would get lost. Even the mustangs in America, whose herd management
areas may sometimes be the size of half of Portugal, need to be managed,
in order to keep numbers in check and allow other wildlife to prosper.
What will be different in the Vale de Zebro Sorraia Refuge compared to
some other places where Sorraias are kept under fairly natural consitions
is:
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- In the Refuge the stallions are not going to be separated from the
mares, but stay with them all year round, and the young stock is not separated
either, allowing for a natural interaction and social structure.
- Young horses will grow up under natural conditions, and not together
with domestic horses (Lusitanos), as is the case with several Sorraia
breeders in Portugal nowadays, including the National Stud (Coudelaria
Nacional). Being raised with Lusitanos, they adapt the Lusitanos' tame
behavior.
- Mares and foals will not get their manes and tails roached, as is customary
with most breeders, which not only looks awful, but robs the horses of
natural protection, and the process is bound to desensitize them. And
it is of course completely unnatural anyway.
- The horses born in the Refuge are not going to be branded, or handled
in any way.
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Mare at the Portuguese National Stud in Alter do Chão,
with a
strap around her neck and her mane and the upper part of her
tail clipped a sorry sight. The clipping of mares as an Iberian
tradition may stem from the days when horse hair was used in
many ways, including hair ropes, but that should be no excuse
for manhandling primitive horses in this way
Photo © Oelke |
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| Vale de Zebro 2006 Update
As of June 2006, everything in the Refuge has been going fine. If one
could ask the horses, they would most likely say: "More than just
fine. This is GREAT!"
Fortunatey, the terrible draught in 2005 did not affect the Refuge adversely.
Because of the size of the area, and the diverse vegetation, the horses
did not have to suffer in any way. It's also very fortunate that the area
was spared from the wildfires. Rough roads have been cleared as firebreakers,
and also to give access to the firefighters in case of an outbreak. And
all relevant people have been instructed as to what to do in case of an
emergency. These things are good to know...
Late in the summer of 2005, the stallion had driven away the two yearling
colts, which was to be expected. They have become very shy, living in
hiding where the trees are pretty dense. They had not yet joined to form
a bachelor band. It was with great difficulty - and considerable help
of lady luck - that we were able to locate them at all. One day we saw
one, a couple days later we happened on the other one. They both looked
like they are coping well. It's going to be interesting to see if and
when and how they are going to join the mares again, once the old stallion
has been removed, which is going to happen this summer (2006), as the
lease has run out.
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