The M'Par or Mpar is a

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

of small horse from the historic region of

Cayor The Cayor Kingdom (; ) was from 1549 to 1876 the largest and most powerful kingdom that split off from the Jolof Empire in what is now Senegal. The Cayor Kingdom was located in northern and central Senegal, southeast of Waalo, west of the kingdom ...

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

, in

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

. It may for that reason be called the . It is the smallest of the four Senegalese horse breeds, the others being the

M'Bayar The M'Bayar is a breed of small horse from the historic region of Baol in Senegal, in West Africa. It is the most numerous of the four Senegalese horse breeds, the others being the Fleuve, the Foutanké and the M'Par. History The origins ...

, the

Fleuve The Fleuve is a List of horse breeds, breed of horse from Senegal, in West Africa. Its name is the French word for "big river"; it is named for the Senegal River (). It is one of four Senegalese horse breeds, the others being the Foutanké, t ...

and the

Foutanké The Foutanké or Fouta is a breed or type of light horse from Senegal, in West Africa. It results from the cross-breeding of a Fleuve stallion with an M'Bayar mare; its conformation is similar to that of the Fleuve. It is one of the four rec ...

History

The origins of the horse in Senegal are not documented. According to some authors, including

Georges Doutressoulle Georges may refer to: Places *Georges River, New South Wales, Australia *Georges Quay (Dublin) *Georges Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania Other uses *Georges (name) * ''Georges'' (novel), a novel by Alexandre Dumas * "Georges" (song), a 1977 ...

, the M'Par may be an autochthonous breed with ancient origins in the area; others such as René Larrat see the horses of Senegal as descendants of

Barb Barb or the BARBs or ''variation'' may refer to: People * Barb (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname * Barb, a term used by fans of Nicki Minaj to refer to themselves * The Barbs, a band Places * Barb, ...

horses from the

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ), also known as the Arab Maghreb () and Northwest Africa, is the western part of the Arab world. The region comprises western and central North Africa, including Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. The Maghreb al ...

countries to the north. In 1996, Senegal had a horse population of about 400,000 head, the largest of any West African country. This was a substantial increase from the 216,000 reported in 1978, and a much greater increase from the population after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, estimated at barely 30,000. Population numbers for the M'Par are not reported. In 2007 the

FAO The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition ...

did not have data from which to estimate the conservation status of the M'Par breed. The M'Par is gradually being assimilated into the much larger

population, and is at risk of extinction.

Characteristics

The M'Par is a small horse or

pony A pony is a type of small horse, usually measured under a specified height at maturity. Ponies often have thicker coats, manes and tails, compared to larger horses, and proportionally shorter legs, wider barrels, heavier , thicker necks and s ...

. It is generally of poor conformation, heavy-headed, too long in the back, thin-legged, flat-chested and often with defective conformation of the legs. In compensation for these defects, it has exceptional qualities of endurance and rusticity.

Use

Horses play an important part in the social and economic life in Senegal. The M'Par is used as a light

draught horse A draft horse (US) or draught horse (UK), also known as dray horse, carthorse, work horse or heavy horse, is a large horse bred to be a working animal hauling freight and doing heavy agricultural tasks such as plough, plowing. There are a nu ...

. Because of its small size it is able to pull only light carts and fiacres.

References

{{Horse breeds of Africa Horse breeds Horse breeds originating in Senegal