ABSTRACT
This chapter examines contemporary forms of thinking about Crioulo horses and their link to a particular regional Brazilian cultural identity, as well as the principal practices related to breeding, sport, and leisure. Drawing on multi-site ethnographic work that has been carried out over the last four years, we examine how traditionalist discourse and the new needs of urban and rural men and women come together to promote a breed that flourishes, notwithstanding the economic fragility of this highly unequal South American society. We conclude that as an expression of cultural identity, the Crioulo breed offers insight into questions of subjectivity and change in contemporary Brazil.
