Country of origin | Brazil |
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The Nordestino, also known as Crioulo Nordestino, Mourão, Pé Duro Nordestino or Sertanejo do Nordeste,[1] is a breed of horses native to the Northeast Region of Brazil. The breed is near extinction due to the lack of interest in maintaining it. A stud-book was created and approved in 1987 by the Brazilian government; nevertheless in 2017 the authorization to carry out the genealogical records of the breed was revoked by the Ministry of Agriculture ("Portaria n. 1.537/2017" do MAPA published in Diário Oficial da União, on 26 July 2017, section 1, page 17[2]) causing the loss of the breed's lines records. It is the first native horse breed of Brazil, and derived from the first horses brought by Portuguese settlers in the sixteenth century. Over time the horses have evolved into a small breed very well-adapted to surviving in the local semi-arid climate of the Northeast Region. Today around 500,000 horses (purebred and mixed) survive in the region pulling horse carts or in cattle work.