Maxixe de Barrios - a bit about the breed & the name!

Hi sales information is online now here; http://www.artbymorgen.com/maxixe.htm

Max's gallery is here http://www.artbymorgen.com/galleries/maxixe/index.html.

& Now I'm excited to finally share more information about his inspirations and namesake!

First, the breed...
So some leads on learning more about the Criollo (aka Crioullo). As South America’s stock horse, these guys are of obvious Spanish decent.  http://www.justacriollo.com/pages_en/Criollocaracteristiques_en.htm   I was inspired to do this sculpture after coming across a good # at my first horse event here in North Carolina (here is a photo I shared earlier of one horse there https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEdYdrOXvSBE0lWwxPRo59txEoajYp4Rzi2vt3Nmc0C8ihdy3rMEWXe7ySrAEf_vVSNydfGklP5HXy8WaCVTJCv7UHX1e6RYw6RZXljJgd3tCRwdnIf0mHzkjIpS9DQpJ8ufnDEtvFvkw/s1600/criollo_bensonmuledays.jpg ) .  Where I was born/raised (CT) horses are predominately bay/brown & grey, appaloosa or pinto is a notable exception.  For instance I distinctly remember when I first saw a blue roan or a buckskin!   So of course I’m just charmed by what a wonderful variety of colors I stumbled into with these guys!  And for even more, please check out Martina  Vannelli’s flickr albums!!

That last cream (champagne?) fellow shows how they seem to like to leave ear hair there to protect from those flies even though many are quite meticulously groomed.

The build of these guys to me is this epitome of the notion of a “foot in every corner” stock horse look – crossed with the gorgeous Spanish body type (*check out this guy -> "Guapo" indeed eh! https://picasaweb.google.com/tiagodpoa/CrioulosABCCCVIII#5088448429188613538 )   There are many names for the breed in the various South American countries.  There are various ways they do the hair, more often now you’re seeing the completely roached forelocks too – but I opted for the more traditional look they often seem to be halter shown in; roached mane, hair at the wither & long forelock, banged tail.  I recently saw someone describe Andalusian’s as “hair growing machines” and these guys definitely have that going on for them as well!  Most I’ve found have exceptionally lush wavy tails.

This handsome Criollo shows that robust build and also, you can see they are very small! (Under 14.2hh very often I guess).  Used with permission of “LA PRESTANCIA - CABALLOS CRIOLLOS - TANDIL – ARGENTINA” (Facebook page; https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001062555671 )

Another album you REALLY might enjoy for both it’s historical value and all the variety of builds and colors these horses come in;
https://picasaweb.google.com/tiagodpoa
 

https://picasaweb.google.com/tiagodpoa/CrioulosABCCCVIII


https://picasaweb.google.com/tiagodpoa/CrioulosArgentinos


Next….the name...
My choice of this (crazy hard to pronounce!) :)  name is based on the so so typical Spanish breed movement.  I wanted an M name that related to the musical beat aspect of their gait.  They always seem to me as if they’re hearing their own internal rhythm!

Maxixe is a Brazilian tango – the name actually stems from the African influence which is why it’s a very unusual (hard to pronounce!) word.  Portuguese translators indicate it’s almost pronounced to rhyme with hasheesh.   However if you listen to the man at the beginning of this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msVY6ysbyWk  performance you’ll hear him say “maxixe” and it’s as if he puts an extra “sheesh” in there. ... as in "mah-she-sheesh"… SHEESH huh? Lol! Sorry to pick another tough name gang!

To harken back to the fashion in which most Spanish horses seem to be named I created a rather arbitrary sounding bloodline by the “de Barrios”.  In part because of all the little maxixe pieces I found on youtube they lacked the right tempo except for a few, I especially like this one as the bongo (bongos right??) really tap out that beat you tend to associate with hoof beats! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lyLaASIjsU&feature=related    Some versions of Agustin Barrios Mangore’s maxixe are often played slower… but I give you these two to hear it as I do – with more staccato!

So there you have it!  Max represents a little folksy working & proudly parading stock horse from a country with rich traditions and beautiful and exceptionally athletic horses! (What a mouthful).