Andalusian Stallion

Andalusian stallion - classic image of the Pura Raza Española horse from Spain, and the Lusitanos of Portugal. Beautiful - and noble in the truest sense.

Registered 7 year old PRE Andalusian stallion.

One of my all-time favorite models for photography

Now in the USA - available for breeding

In Andalusia, among the purebred horses - the PRE's and PSL's -

• stallions predominate as those used for riding and carriage driving.
• The mares are used more for breeding than for riding
• mares of mixed blood are popular as doma vaquera horses
• geldings are not common among Purebred Spanish and Portuguese horses, but are frequently found in vaquero work and pleasure riding.

Andalusian stallion - under saddle and in harness
In the southern part of Spain almost all the Pura Raza Española horses ridden, or driven in harness, are stallions. This includes those ridden by children. The nature of the Andalusian stallion - together with tradition - has meant that there are few ponies to be found in private yards.

A stable full of Purebred Spanish stallions is the norm, not the exception. We work in a yard in Portugal where there are a dozen Pure Lusitano stallions, all in training for competitve dressage. They are stabled next to one another, stand alongside in the shower bays, and when being tacked up. They are disciplined to behave one with another - and the famed noble nature can be seen as a reality.

See some of these competitive dressage stallions

Piaffe and extensions on the beach - registered Pura Raza Española stallion.

Andalusian stallions - working together. Obviously, precautions are taken, but I've frequently seen PRE stallions working in the same arenas as mares and other stallions, with no problems. They hack out together, and work in carriage teams as a matter of course.

Yeguada la Cartuja, the national stud of Carthusian horses here in Jerez, has 60 stallions stabled. We have often worked on one stallion with another tied up just a few metres away.

And wherever there's a gathering of horse people, you'll see Andalusian stallions tied up alongside one another. Woe betide any Spanish horse that interrupts his owner's time with friends!

Andalusian Mares

In Andalucia the Pura Raza Española and the Lusitano mares are used almost exclusively for breeding. At last year's Feria de Caballos in Jerez - the spectacular display of Spanish horses, spanish dress and Spanish tradition held here every May - I saw only one four-in-hand of Purebred Spanish mares.

The exceptions are there, though - a prize-winning garrocha horse ridden by one of our clients is a beautiful, strong PRE mare.

Looking across the wider spectrum of sports horses in Spain, mares are more prevalent. In the recent Campeonato de Doma Vaquera - the Doma Vaquera Championships - the 2 first places went to mixed-blood mares.

Elsewhere in the world, Spanish Purebred mares shine - as carriage horses and under saddle.

Very much a part of Spain - and one place where the andalusian stallion is outnumbered -is the cobra Studs present a line of mares - joined only by a strap at the neck - performing perfectly co-ordinated movements under the oversight of their trainer. They may be in foal, and sometimes they are followed by a group of their babies.

Cobra of Andalusian bay mares from the Yeguada Militar - the Military Stud.

Andalusian Stallion - or a Gelding?

Geldings are rare among Purebred Spanish Horses. If you’re not going to breed, though, there’s no reason why you can’t geld an entire. I’ve seen it done, and the geldings kept their neck carriage, and their manes. Geldings here are mainly the - registered mixed breed horses Hispano-Arabs, CDE's, three-bloods, Anglo-Arabs. Portugal retains very similar registries of the half-Lusitanos there.

As with many other areas, your decision to own an Andalusian stallion or to choose a mare or a gelding, is part of the balance of preferences.

All the Spanish and Lusitano horses
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