What do we think of Spanish/Iberian horses?

Mearas said:
I have seen some Iberian x Connemara's, which seems to be a good combination. In the darkest recesses of my mind I can remember something about Connemaras arriving in Ireland from the ships wrecked during the Spanish Armada thus having Spanish roots. Of course it could just be something I dreamt.:)
Click to expand...

as per my previous note in this thread....!!! DNA which proves that there is this blood in the breeding - but not connies - wrong country!.
 
Luci07 said:
as per my previous note in this thread....!!! DNA which proves that there is this blood in the breeding - but not connies - wrong country!.
Click to expand...

Just got totally confused by this then realised, think you meant county not country! So is there still a "Kerry" breed?
 
I have always admired Iberian horses, they are undeniably striking to look at, I think they are absolutely stunning animals. After I watched documentaries about the training of Spanish high school/ dressage/ bullfighting horses I was just stunned by their agility and intelligence- not just pretty photogenic beasties! As Fuego proved at WEG the modern sport horse type can compete with the WBs on the international stage...

Not to mention the dominating presence of Iberian horses in film; they have the required look but also the bravery & trainability to make super stunt horses. Being a film geek, I've wanted to own a black Andalucian [PRE to be correct :P] stallion ever since I saw The Mask Of Zorro! XD
 
j1ffy said:
Just got totally confused by this then realised, think you meant county not country! So is there still a "Kerry" breed?
Click to expand...

Sorry, typed too quickly! Not a Kerry breed, but a generic term for the irish grays who show their iberian influence. If I could post a picture of my boys head, you would see what I mean. He is ISH, no connie bloodlines at all.
 
I have a bay PRE and he is the perfect horse, my best friend and the best horse I have ever ridden.

He does SJ, HT, stressage, horse trials and anything I ask him to do. He is very intelligent, trainable and when you ask him to do something he asks how much do you want. He has a very solid brain, I quite happily trot round roundabouts in the heaviest of traffic. He has the funniest naughty character I've ever seen in a horse. on top of that he is stunning to look at as well.

He's very easy to look after, clean in his stable, doesnt wear shoes anymore and my farrier checks him but never touches him, he does his own feet when we hack out, doesnt need much feed so is cheap to look after.

Some one else who posted on this thread said they were not very fast x-country, my fella can go at the speed of light!

As you can see I love the PRE and can thoroughly recommend them.

Pal of my has a Lusitano, very traditional but shap as a butchers knife but she adores her too!
 
I love the iberian breeds, I've been dying to put an andi mare to my friesian stallion, as that's what the friesian was originally derived from, but at 20 grand for a very nice andi mare I may have to win the lottery first!!!!:D
The only thing I don't like is, as it seems with every other breed especially the friesians, they are breeding them to be big, long and leggy like a warmblood and not the compact powerful little horse they are supposed to be, and their backeneds can sometimes be lacking.
And the stallion in the mask of zorro is actually a friesian with its feathers clipped off!!!:D
 
I have a grey 5yo PRE gelding, and he's pretty much just what Andalusianlover said of hers - the best horse I have ever ridden. He's very calm and mature in his mind, I only occasionally remember he's a young horse, great to hack and do dressage with, I feel he'd never ever hurt me, he's so gentle and always interested in people and ready to do whatever you ask of him. And beautiful too :)
 
Well........

The reason I asked is because I have been an admirer of this breed for some years. Some of my family live in Spain and have a couple of stallions, who are the most well behaved, sweet tempered, calm and intelligent horses I have ever met. I have always wanted one over here and almost imported one last year.

However, I over heard a conversation once in a tack room between two women. They were saying that although these horses are gorgeous and wow they don't think there is a place or use for them over here. I have also heard people say that dressage judges at BE level aren't fans of them too.

Over the last year or so I have noticed a lot more PRE studs oin the UK and see alot more advertised. So.....I was just seeing if opinions were changing and they were becoming more popular over here and there was a market over here for them.

:D
 
Twirly said:
Um...Pura Raza Espanola is the correct breed terminology for a registered pure bred Andalusian, so one and the same thing lol
Click to expand...

OK, accepted :o BUT, in my area, there are two different "looks" to the 'caballo español'. For example, a few years ago my friend asked me to help school her PRE mare, who looks very different to the typical Andalucian. She is much finer built and has a different shaped head to them. This is her:

anna032zoom-1.jpg


And this is the YO's more 'traditional' looking Andalucian (not a great pic but the best I have on this PC):

anna057-1.jpg


Not sure if I've explained myself very well, but I always think of them as 2 breeds...:o :confused:
 
I love mine Andi x Arab - as has been previously said, she's level-headed mostly - until her Arab comes out - and as a youngster is willing to give anything a go. Plus, she looks really pretty :)

We're loving winning all of our unaffiliated XC - times at least 15 seconds faster than the 2nd placers - and are looking forward to a winter of hunting and BS and then getting on with some BE next year to see what happens.

Hopefully the fancy dressage paces will come out soon...
 
Alexart said:
And the stallion in the mask of zorro is actually a friesian with its feathers clipped off!!!:D
Click to expand...

So he is!

The horse in The Legend of Zorro was actually a Friesian horse, named Ariaan and was chosen because he wasn't very big. ("Antonio Banderas, who plays Zorro, isn't a very tall man. If he had to ride a big horse he would have looked tiny on the silver screen"). Another horse, the Friesian gelding Tonka, was also used in the movie as a backup. He was used in some galloping scenes and when Ariaan, a stallion, didn't want to cooperate.
 
Love them! My friend has a PRE stallion and she is also an artist and has just done her new broze of him :)

44931_472739644975_607254975_6739111_7308037_n.jpg


Well its him in wax that the mould for the bronze will be taken from anyways! :)
 
I love my PRE, very cheeky, loving going through a naughty stage to ride at the moment but he is a baby boy. Have to reason rather than argue with him as others have said. Never ever lifted a leg to me and very chilled out at home. Ive gone from having a nutty warmblood to him so very different. Totally understand not everyone likes them though.
 
I had admired them from afar for a long long time, finally got the chance to purchase a weanling colt last year so now I have a lovely yearling

He is extremely friendly, loves people, good with other horses, excellent paces, brave and intelligent with a glint in his eye and a beautiful noble head.

I can't wait until he's ready to be ridden! He will be aimed at competing dressage and hopefully low level eventing but he will mostly just be my pleasure riding horse :-)
 
Alexart said:
I love the iberian breeds, I've been dying to put an andi mare to my friesian stallion, as that's what the friesian was originally derived from, but at 20 grand for a very nice andi mare I may have to win the lottery first!!!!:D
The only thing I don't like is, as it seems with every other breed especially the friesians, they are breeding them to be big, long and leggy like a warmblood and not the compact powerful little horse they are supposed to be, and their backeneds can sometimes be lacking.
And the stallion in the mask of zorro is actually a friesian with its feathers clipped off!!!:D
Click to expand...

Ooo ooo oohhh!!! When you do can I have one... the warlander is my dream dream dream horse (ok I said iberian but but but) have you looked on crack o' noon ranch...???? I've got my eye on thiers but I need a massive bonus to gets me one o those babies......
 
I have always thought they were great, ever since being a kid.

I went on holiday in 2004, and my mum saw a horse advertised as an andalusian x tb n the paper and couldn't help herself but be a timewaster and go and look. Cue a phonecall to me, I saw him when I got back and bought him. Don't have any papers to prove it, and the breeder didn't seem to remember :mad: but, he looks, acts and is many ways ahev traits of an iberian. Although I appreciate he isn't a purebred.

I had the pleasure of 2 lessons on a lusitano stallion when I went on holiday to Portugal this year and it was A M A Z I N G :)
 
I absolutely LOVE them, I always loved the cross-bred at the yard I did work experience on as a teenager, and when I went to work on that yard after school, I remembered how much of a soft spot I had for him. The owner's husband then bought a Lusitano stallion and then a PRE mare and I love them both too - first time I sat on anything Iberian was the mare, and she pretty much read my mind (well obviously she was reading my body language, but it felt like she was reading my mind!) and it was the most amazing feeling and I was hooked.

I very briefly worked at a dealer's yard, which was so lovely to work with such fantastic horses - a shame I didn't have the support I needed to be able to train them out of the naughty habits they'd got into by taking the mick out of some riders - they were so quick to be naughty when they could get away with it. When they were good, though - wow! One five-year old I hacked out, spooked a pheasant in a bush which then got caught and was flapping madly and screeching - every other horse I've sat on would have bolted, but the PRE boy I was on went up to the pheasant to investigate. What a clever brain - he wasn't scared because he worked out what it was.

I also fell in love with a Hispano Arab mare there, she was fantastic fun if green (broodmare). I hated it when she got sold, and I really wanted to buy her when she got sold again a year after. She's actually for sale right now and I've been debating whether to get her - she is my dream horse and I haven't stopped thinking about her for two years! Damn not having any money!

One day, I will own another horse, and it will be at least part-bred. I absolutely adore them and can't imagine owning anything else.
 
Simarillion's post reminded me of these quotations.

One is the Duke of Newcastle writing in 1657 after doing his first pirouette on a Spanish horse:

“I was so dizzy, that I could hardly sit in the saddle.”
Click to expand...

And the other is Thomas Blundeville from 1566:

“The Spanish horses are the wisest… and strangely wise, beyond Man’s imagination.”
Click to expand...
 
I'm surrounded by them!

There is no such thing as an Andalusian horse - that's just any horse that is born in Andalucia! As said before the correct term is PRE (Pura Raza Espanol) and any horse that can be called this shoud have a 'carta' or passport/identity document with their entry in the Spanish stud book records. No document - no es espanol!

I don't like them much, they were bred for a specific purpose (war) and were adapted for cattle herding and stock work, resulting in the discipline known as Doma Vaquera, which is spectacular to watch, but not my cup of tea at all.

My FB is an unpapered half PRE - lord knows what his mum was but he has the legs of an Araby type. PRE's tend to have longer, sloping pasterns which makes them superb for dressage and 'movements' but not too good for jumping.

Give me an Arab/Anglo Arab any day! :D
 
Gorgeous, highly sensitive, athletic, full of character. I love mine to pieces, my dream horse! Lovely mover, great stamina, very nice jumper and enough spark to have that 'look at me' quality. I may be bias though!

2009-01-1813-23-22_IMG_0052_resize.jpg

2009-07-0610-11-24_IMG_0059.jpg
 
I thought I could ride until I bought my PRE stallion! Very sensitive, brave, kind and loving. He would never deliberately dump you. Not for the hang on to one end and boot the other end brigade, though! He would just get upset, tense and go into sewing machine mode!
They are so easy to ride, once they've taught you how to ride that is! I ride my stallion using seat and weight aids.
As they are true riding horses, dating back to at least Roman times, they are very comfortable, especialy for someone with a bad back, and not heavy in the hand.

A well bred PRE doesn't have long pasterns! They do, and should have, long cannon bones.

Whatever you ride, with the exception of the Arab, you are probably sittiing on a horse with some Spanish blood. Including, ID's, Connemara, Welsh D's, Highlands, Cleveland Bays, Freisians, Warmbloods, Lippizaner, Lusitano, Criollos and Paso Fino, to name but a few! Even the Thoroughbred was bred from mares of Spanish origin crossed with Arab stallions.
 
Love them - own several - Lusitanos - bought direct from Portugal - Very affectionate, trainable, and cuddly - even though stallions ! Wouldn't want anything else !! The best !
 
Ironic isn't it, that dressage really started with the Iberians, yet now it is considered that they can't do dressage - but competition dressage is a competition, not just about training, so it is what the judge wants to see in order to win.

The Spanish horses are lovely to look at and everyone I know who owns them think they are wonderful.
 
templewood said:
Whatever you ride, with the exception of the Arab, you are probably sittiing on a horse with some Spanish blood. Including, ID's, Connemara, Welsh D's, Highlands, Cleveland Bays, Freisians, Warmbloods, Lippizaner, Lusitano, Criollos and Paso Fino, to name but a few! Even the Thoroughbred was bred from mares of Spanish origin crossed with Arab stallions.
Click to expand...

Yep and don't forget the Appaloosa!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top