The day before I left for Scandinavia, we went to see my friend Altiné. He recently brought in a foal from the bush which he wanted Anette and me to see, but first we had to take pictures in front of his beloved horse Pablo.
The sweet 5 month old foal was tied to a post, and knowing how socially handicapped foals become without any interaction with other horses, I convinced his somewhat skeptical owner (horses are never let loose in Zinder…) to let him “go for a walk”.
“You always think of something!” Altiné said as he relented, and I took the little one for some social interaction. As expected, the little guy immediately tried to connect with the white mare stationed behind me, but she unfortunately wanted nothing to do with him, so such a relationship would need a little bit of patience. In any case, the foal on the picture above is the offspring of the former local race horse champion named Gario, and his owner has expressed a desire for a Scandinavian name. Suggestions, anyone?
6 users commented in " Scandinavian name needed for a barb foal "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackBoth of those horses are beautiful!
Jag tycker han ska heta Carl-Philip. Som vår prins. Mer svenskt kan det inte bli!
You know i see american horses out here sometimes but those look so much bigger than NIgerien horses
i saw a picture of the horse that i used to ride in my childhood i called it :James Bond “last time i saw that horse it look so skinny
i was wondering what happened to it as the horse was getting older
@B: Thanks! I’ll tell the owner you appreciated his horses. He’ll be very glad, because he is so proud of them!
@Karin: Carl-Philip is a great name. I’ll pass it forward!
@Niger1: All horses look so much bigger than the Nigerien Barb! I often refer to the Nigerien Barb as the “hound of horses” as it has no round belly to speak of. A good looking horse in Niger has rounded hips - and that’s as good as it gets. I’ve seen a few imported horses who are fed enormous amount of food and who have an equivalent belly, but you end up feeling sorry for them because of the heat… In Niger, both animals and people stay slim, which is due to the climate.
If you ever find out what happened to that horse of yours, let us know! Chances are high that he has left a few offspring - unless he was a castrated sultan’s horse.
I talked to my friend today.
It couldn’t be Carl-Philip, as Philipe is a common French name, and in Niger, it is an insult to give your animals human names. Unless you want to make a political stance against a prominent world leader: then you name your sheep after him/her.
However, he put together a name from another suggestion I offered, and the foal is now the proud owner of the very unique combination:
Carl-Picasso!
[…] this little guy, whom I posted about on March 19? His owner wanted a Scandinavian name for him and ended up calling him Carl-Picasso, as a merge […]
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