Abdelkebir Khatibi was a prolific Moroccan literary critic, novelist, philosopher, playwright, poet, and sociologist. Affected in his late twenties by the rebellious spirit of 1960s counterculture, he challenged in his writings the social and political norms upon which the countries of the Maghreb region were constructed. His collection of essays Maghreb pluriel is one of his most notable works.
Fantasia is a traditional exhibition of horsemanship in the Maghreb performed during cultural festivals and for Maghrebi wedding celebrations. It is present in Algeria, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger and Tunisia. It is attested in the ancient Numidian times during which it was practiced by the Numidian cavalry. Historian Carlos Henriques Pereira stated that the North African fantasia also called barud is a modern watered down version of a Numidian military technique.
The Anglo-Norman horse is a warmblood horse breed developed in Lower Normandy in northern France. A major center of horse breeding, the area had numerous regional types that were bred to one another and then crossed with Thoroughbreds to form the Anglo-Norman. Various body types developed within the Anglo-Norman breed, two of which were split off to form the Norman Cob and French Trotter. The remaining types were eventually standardized, although there remained some criticism of the "hybrid" nature of the breed's conformation. However, it is successful as an international sport horse, especially in the sport of show jumping. The Anglo-Norman also contributed to the development of several other breeds in Europe and Asia.
Marine Oussedik, is a painter, sculptor and an illustrator specialized in horses. In 1990, she graduated from ESAG Penninghen, the Higher College of Graphic Arts, and started exhibiting in Parisian galleries the following year. Immediately afterwards she was commissioned paintings by the Living Museum of the Horse in Chantilly to be permanently displayed in two rooms. At the same time she published a book, Les chevaux d'encre. Many art books would follow including Les chevaux du Sahara in 1998, Les chevaux du vent in 2002 and Les chevaux de rois in 2003. She would be rewarded by Prix Pégase for those last two books which testify to her passion for illustrations of all kind of horses, Arabians being her favorite. In 2014, she illustrated an art book dedicated to classical French riding with texts by Guillaume Henry.
The Haras national du Pin is a French national stud located in Le Pin-au-Haras district, in the Orne (61) department of the southern Normandy region. It is the oldest of the French "Haras Nationaux".
Royal Moroccan Equestrian Federation is the governing body of equestrian sports located at the Dar Es Salam facility in Rabat, Morocco. It has been an affiliated member of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) since 1958. The federation oversees equestrian sporting which includes horse racing, dressage, jumping, and the traditional equestrian sport of fantasia. Started in 1956, the federation was created under the Moroccan Ministry for Youth and Sports.
Alphonse Clément André Brondy, known as Mattéo Brondy, was a French military veterinarian and painter.
Horses Leaving the Sea or Horses Coming Out of the Sea is an 1860 oil on canvas painting by the French artist Eugène Delacroix, now in The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. Relatively atypical in Delacroix's oeuvre, it shows two horses leaving the sea led by a Moroccan rider, with the town of Tangiers in the background. It was produced for the same art dealer as Arab Horses Fighting in a Stable and is usually regarded as a pair with that work.
A hot-blooded horse is an unscientific term from the field of horse breeding, coined by orientalists and popularized by various hippologists. It refers to a light horse with a lively temperament, primarily the oriental horse breeds of North Africa, the Near East and Central Asia. Such a name is also applied to some horse breeds descended from horses from these geographical regions, such as the Thoroughbred, Anglo-Arabian, and Namib horse.
Kheir is a gray Barb horse, born in 2004 at the National Stud of Chaouchaoua in Algeria, and then given as a diplomatic gift to the French President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007. He was subsequently sent to the National Stud of Les Bréviaires in France and trained for equestrian shows.
The Arab-Barb or Arabian-Berber is a breed of saddle horses originating from the Maghreb. It is the result of crossing the Arab and Barb breeds and shares a common genetic origin with the latter. The first Arab-Barb studbook was created in 1948.
The National Stud Farm of Chaouchaoua is a stud-farm in Tiaret, Algeria. Established in 1874, its primary focus is the preservation and improvement of Algerian horse breeds.
The history of horses in Cameroon is linked above all to the traditional presence of this animal in the northern regions of the country, around Lake Chad from the 16th century, then in Adamawa, as well as in the Garoua and Maroua regions. Traditional equestrian practices in Cameroon, such as horse parades and horse dances, have more recently been joined by equestrian activities, under the influence of Western expatriates and investors, notably in Yaoundé since the 1990s. The main use of horses in Cameroon is in agriculture and transport fields.
Equine ethics is a field of ethical and philosophical reflection around the horse, aimed at questioning human behavior towards this animal, and modifying it in the event of unethical practices. It includes questions about breeding, keeping, use and end of life, in close relation to the notion of respect and well-being of the horse. In particular, this debate crystallizes around sensitive subjects such as the slaughter of horses, the consumption of their meat, their legal status, zoophilia, doping in sport, their possible retirement after exploitation by humans, the choice of euthanasia and the destination of the animal's body after death. Societal demands include recognition of the horse as a pet, and greater consideration for its sensitivity.
Persik, born on 1 April 1969 and died on 24 August 2001, was a gray-coated Arabian horse who was the leading sire in the equestrian discipline of endurance from 1975 until his death in 2001. His eclectic origins include Polish and Russian bloodlines, as well as French and English, in particular the famous Skowronek. Purchased in 1973 from the Tersk stud farm, Persik was imported to France by Jean Cougul, a breeder from Vigoulet-Auzil, then bought by the Cévennes National Park with the aim of breeding horses suitable for trail riding. In 1975, Persik won the first edition of a well-known endurance race, the 130 km de Florac.
Quickly de Kreisker is a Selle Français show jumping stallion born on February 5, 2004, at a stud in Finistère. Sired by Diamant de Semilly and Briseis d'Helby by Laudanum, he was sold by the Fences agency as a two-year-old. He spent several years in France on the classic cycle, trained by Benjamin Robert and Bruno Souloumiac's Breton stables. At the end of 2012, King Mohammed VI of Morocco bought him under Marcel Rozier's supervision, and entrusted him to Abdelkebir Ouaddar, a Moroccan rider.
The Haras National de Lamballe is one of five equestrian centers in the French region of Brittany. Originally, it was a depot for royal stallions, created in the autumn of 1783 in the sole stable of a barracks in the town of Lamballe. Abolished in 1790, briefly recreated in 1825, this national stud took on its definitive form in 1842, when it was given the task of making breeding stallions available to the owners of the 70,000 broodmares in its district. Numerous extensions led to the construction of eleven new stables until the beginning of the 20th century, housing up to 350 stallions of all breeds. The National Stud played a major role in the development of the Norfolk-Breton breed, the future Breton horse, by importing Norfolk Trotter stallions from England. It was also responsible for the success of the half-Ardennes stallion Naous, one of the founding stallions of the Breton horse breed.
The Haras National d'Hennebont is one of five equestrian centers in the French region of Brittany. It was created in 1856 in Hennebont, Morbihan, around the former Abbey of La Joie, as a result of an exchange with the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Langonnet. Inaugurated by Napoleon III on August 15, 1858, it was classified as a historic monument in 1995.
Horses in Brittany have a clear historical, economic and cultural importance, since their introduction often attributed to the Celts. In Brittany, the horse, generally a Breton bidet, was mainly used as a saddle animal until the middle of the 19th century. As roads improved, most breeders specialized in draft horses and carriage horses. They mainly settled in the west, in Basse-Bretagne, Trégor and Léon. The Breton draft horse, a renowned working animal, was exported in large numbers from Landivisiau in the early 20th century.
Equestrianism has been practiced in Brittany since at least Celtic times, and continues to be used for military purposes and travel. Although horse racing is a very old tradition in Lower Brittany, equestrian sport, codified in England, took root in the 19th century, to the detriment of more popular traditions. The practice of equestrianism declined as transport improved in the 19th and 20th centuries, before undergoing profound changes with the growth of the sports and leisure markets.
