Horses have been present in Camargue since the earliest Antiquity, even though the Camargue horse breed was only officially recognized by the National Stud Farms on March 17, 1978. It now benefits from a stud-book that defines its characteristics: small size, coarse skeleton and limbs, heavy head, and gray coat almost white in adulthood. Its 120 or so breeders raise around 5,000 horses throughout Camargue. Grouped together in the Association of Breeders of Camargue Breed Horses (AECRC), they are mostly settled in the cradle of the breed, which extends between the Hérault, Gard, and Bouches-du-Rhône departments from Montpellier to Fos-sur-Mer via Lunel, Tarascon, and Salon-de-Provence.