Orinx

The family Orinx (also written as Orins, Oriens, Oreins, Orens, Orenge even Orange) are an age-old family of millers in Pajottenland and neighbouring regions Hainaut, East Flanders and Walloon Brabant in Belgium. A family member played a prominent part in the creation of the Belgian Draught horse at the end of the 19th century.

Etymology
According to Jozef Van Overstraeten (1896–1986), honorary President of Vlaamse Toeristenbond – Vlaamse Automobilistenbond, the most probable explanation is the medieval Dutch word "oorrinc", meaning ear ring. A nickname for someone either wearing or making earrings. Less probable is the explanation as medieval Dutch "horic" meaning "hoek", corner, which is a remote dwelling in a village. Family names Hoorickx and Van Hoorick occur as well.

Frans Debrabandere, secretary-general of the Royal Commission for Toponymy and Dialectology, is an advocate of the latter explanation as "hoek".

Spelling
The name Orinx is written in a variety of ways, due to:


 * the prevailing illiteracy: few people could read and even fewer write. Compulsory education was only introduced in Belgium in 1914,
 * the use of dialects,
 * the use of French in French-speaking regions: a different pronunciation may lead to Orinx being pronounced and spelled Orins, Oreins.

Distribution according to the spelling of the name
The national Belgian register of 2008 features different spellings. The people named Orinx in Brussels mostly came over from Pajottenland.

Related millers
The following families are related to the Orinx-Orins families:

Auguste Oreins (Orenge) and the origin of the Belgian draft horse
Jean Orens (Orins) (c. 1620 – 1698) was both miller and alderman in Hove. His son Paul Antoine Orens (c. 1650–1735) went to live as a farmer in Montignies-lez-Lens, the first inhabitant with that name. His children were registered there under the names Oreins and Orenge. In 1823 the birth of Auguste Oreins meant the fourth generation.

In 1864, this Auguste bought a 30 month old stallion named Prins (Prince) in Grimminge. Auguste undertook week-long trips from village to village to have mares covered by Prins. Farmers had the owner and horse stay as long as possible, to make sure their mares were serviced at the precise moment. In the end, they nicknamed the stallion Gugusse, after his owner Auguste. When Gugusse turned ten, the governing board approved the stallion for the last year, since the horse had become lame. Gugusse was sold and in 1878 ended up with Jules Hazard, tenant of the Fosteau Castle manor farm. With 500 hectares to work, Jules Hazard needed many horses and he wanted a stud farm of his own as well. He had Gugusse registered in the stud book as Orange I (B.S. 1144), most probably as a reference to Auguste Oreins. All Belgian Draught horses are descendants of this Orange I. His best known sons were Brillant and Jupiter. Orange I died in 1885, aged 21.

Brillant, born in 1868, was bought by Remy Vanderschueren from Vollezele when he was nine. The success of the Brabant/Belgian draft horse started with this stallion. The horse won the highest international prizes from 1878 till 1884. At the Paris Exposition Universelle (1878) he became international champion, surpassing the best English, French and Italian breeds. The French press wrote: "An extraordinary stallion, Brillant was awarded the first prize as the most beautiful and strongest of all draft horses." More distinctions were to follow: London (1879), Lille (1879), Brussels (1881), Hannover (1881), and Amsterdam (1884).

Brillant, Belgian champion in 1890 as well, made Vollezele, a village in Pajottenland west of Brussels, a household name. Many important farmers in Vollezele and neighbouring villages followed suit, which made stud farming an important source of income with the Vollezele region as its centre. The Belgian draft horse became one of the main Belgian exports. In 1910, 34,599 draft horses were exported to Canada, Germany, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Russia, the United States and Sweden, at the price of 50 million Belgian francs. Enormous amounts were paid for stud horses. In 1930, Espoir de Quaregnon (Belgian champion in 1929) was exported to Italy for 1 million francs, equaling 505,000 euros. Stud fees were not cheap either, with 10,000 franks for Avenir d'Herse, the Belgian 1925 champion.

Since no top mares were available, Brillant could not fully pass on his qualities. Jupiter became Belgian champion in 1889 and was a successful stud horse. His son Rêve d'Or became world champion overall in 1900, winning three gold medals. Another son of Jupiter was Brin d'Or, who sired 140 descendants, among them Indigène du Fosteau who was Belgian champion in 1906, '07, '08 and '09. A number of Indigène's descendants were exported to The Netherlands. In 1924, 15,5% of registered Dutch horses descended from this stallion, and thus from Orange I

Since 1887, a Wabash County, Indiana corporation has kept a register named The Belgian Draft Horse Corporation of America. The number of Belgian draft horses is higher than other breeds overall. The American Brabant Organisation was founded in Isanti, Minnesota in 1999, to protect, safeguard and promote the Brabant draft horse in the US. In the United States and Canada, Belgian draft horses are still used by the Amish.

Homage to Orange I and his descendants
Sint-Kwintens-Lennik has a 4-metre-high bronze statue of Prins (Orange I) by sculptor Koenraad Tinel, as does Grimmige. Vollezele has a Brillant statue. In La Louvière, an avenue was named after Rêve d'Or. The tradition of the Brabant/Belgian draft horse has been listed as immaterial cultural Flemish heritage since 2018. The shrimp fishing on horseback in Oostduinkerke is recognized as Unesco World Intangible Cultural Heritage since 2013.

References and footnotes
This article is a translation of the corresponding article in the Dutch Wikipedia,