THE BREED

SON OF THE WIND

Already in Roman times, the Iberian Peninsula was famous for its fantastic horses and very popular with the mighty of this world. They were considered as beautiful, courageos, strong and fast. The legend told that the mares were fertilized by the wind, so they were known as "The sons of the wind". The reputation of the Iberian horse has been maintained throughout thousands of years. In the Middle Ages this was the most wanted horse for his capacity in war. William the Conqueror rode these horses in the famous Battle of Hastings in 1066. During the following centuries, this horse was a "must" at every European Court. Some of these horses were painted in famous portraits, with or without their Kings. They were used in the Riding Academies, the most famous being the "School of Versailllel".

THE BREEDING

The oldest riding horse of the world now enters the 21st century with the goal of reconquering the position they had during the Greek and Roman periods, when they were considered the best in the world. The Portuguese breeders, contrary to the Spanish ones, continued to breed, maybe not for battles, but for another kind of fight, the one with the bull. The functionality, fysical as well as mental, always was considered the most important quality of the horse.

The Lusitano of today, a thouroughbred as well as the English and the Arabian, is a result of the efforts made by the Portuguese breeders in selection, bloodlines and reneweal inside the breed. There are four bloodlines, which are Veiga, Andrade, Coudelaria Nacional and Alter Real. The size of the horses varies, but in the pattern of the breed, stipulated by APSL, the mares should be around 1.55 and the stallions around 1.60. The Lusitano has a tendency to grove bigger, which is what a lot of breeders, riders and clients want, without, of course, destroing the characteristics, for wich we love and appreciate them so much. With that everyone agrees. There is probably going to be two kinds of breeders, the ones wanting to breed an international sporthorse and the ones wanting to breed the original, smaller bullfighting type.

Since 1965 the Lusitano horse has his own stud book with its three parts, Nascimento, where every foal with approuved parents has the right to be registered, Adultos, where the the approuved stallions and mares are registered and Merito, to which only specially qualified horses have access.

The Lusitano is an exclusive breed with not much more than about 12.000 all over the world. Maybe half of them are in Portugal. Brazil is the biggest country after Portugal and the rest are spread in Spain, France, Holand, Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Thailand.

FIVE VOICES ABOUT THE LUSITANO:

In order to better show the fantastic potential and capacity of this horse, I have interviewed some persons from different disciplines. This is what they had to say:

FELIX BRASSEUR: The Lusitano might toady not be the best dressage-, jumping- or carriage-horse, but it is certainely the best horse in the World. Thanks to it´s fantastic mentality, an incredible cooperation, important versatility and an unfailing generosity, everyone can enjoy this breed, even hobby riders and families. With the work done by some of the Portuguese breeders to improve their horses by a thourough selection and an excellent nutrition, this horse shortly will be able to impress in all disciplines. 

When I started  working with my Lusitanos, I understood very soon, that these horses, which I had underestimted without knowing them, had all qualities required to become champions, i.e. agility, rapidity, strength, courage and confidence in the human being. At the World Championship, Haag 1994, I won the dressage test with four Lusitanos, which six months earlier never had seen a carriage. 1995 and -96 we won the World Cup, 1996 the Dressage individually at the World Championship and were World Champions as a team. I have, during the last  ten years, won the dressagethree times with three differens horse teams, at the latest in Wrold Championship in Aachen, where came first in the Dressage and four  totally.

JOHN WITHAKER: I rode Novilheiro, (Firma SA - Guerrita MV) 4 - 5 years internationally. One year he won most money of the horses in Great Britain and was the 12th best ranked horse in the World. He combined courage and agility and was also quite careful. He was really at his best at 1.50, not as powerful as the legendary Milton, but faster. His super mentality made him a very nice bloke to be with.

KYRA KYRKLUND: JOÃO PEDRO RODRIGUES. JOÃO LYNCE: DANIEL PINTO:

PABLO HERMOSO DE MENDOZA: The Lusitano gave me everything! It is the most expressiv horse that is, with an enormous heart and a flexibility, which makes the interaction with the bull so much easier. It adapts to the attacks with a most incredible agility and rapidity. The breeders in Portugal really have paid a lot of attention to the functionality, specially of the back, hindquarters and legs. These qualities together with it´s fantastic mentality, which also is extremely functional, make the Lusitano a complete sporthorse.