P.R.E. THE PURE SPANISH HORSE: THE ANDALUSIAN

The Andalusian - strong, athletic, beautiful, noble in appearance and character, easily trained and ridden - The Pure Spanish Horse -- is the horse we honor today, tomorrow and always.

There are cave drawings dating back to 5,000 BC found in the caves of Altamira and Canforos de Penarubia in northeastern Spain depicting native horses whose body types are remarkably like today's horse. These drawings depict the predecessors of the Andalusian Horse. The Andalusians as they are sometimes called today (because the horse was primarily bred in the
province of Andalucia) is truly called the Pura Raza Española in Spain and The Pure Spanish Horse in the United States and Canada.

The Pure Spanish Horse was unified as breed in the sixteenth century (between 1567 and 1593) by the Spanish King Felipe II who formally established the standards for the breed which we recognize today as the Pure Spanish Horse, the Andalusian. During these years he decided to bring to life the universally idealized horse which has been so long pictured in history, in bronze, in paintings. He looked at the basic horse bred in Spain, selected the best of those examples which came closest to the idealized animal he desired, and directed that the idealized horse be produced. Concurrent with his breeding program, the humanistic approach was spreading through Spain and the teachings of the ancient Greek Xenophon were put into practice for the treatment and training of these carefully bred horses.

While the historical use of the Pure Spanish Horse in Spain was first as a farm horse to work with the brave bulls destined for the bull rings, it was also the horse which carried its lords into battle and equally proudly carried them in their moments of triumph as a parade horse. The Pure Spanish Horse is still used in Spain to fight in the bull ring and still used to work stock on the farms, and of course, is considered one of the national treasures of Spain, an inheritance handed from father to son through generations. The horse is used in dressage competitions, in
competitive driving as single horse or four-horse hitch, and in the discipline distinctly Spanish, the doma vaquera - formalized as the show ring version of farm work, most closely related to a reining pattern with combined dressage elements.

Their conformation hints at their capabilities: strong boned legs, good slope to the shoulder, deep heart-girth, round powerful haunches. The classically beautiful head of a Pure Spanish Horse in unique and an instant identifier of its breed. One can read the history in their large oval eyes inside a triangular-shaped orbital arch and can imagine strength for extended efforts in the inverted comma-shaped nostrils which expand downward to bring in large quantities
of air. And of course there are the unique racial characteristics on the shape and dexterity of the upper lip, the sensitivity of the mouth and the point of the chin.

Perhaps the best quality of the Pure Spanish Horse is the willingness to work with his less than perfect human companion - the nobility and grace with which he participates joyfully in anything requested by his rider. From the drawings in the caves where early man was shown leading the
prototype Spanish horse to today, the Pure Spanish Horse has been know and respected for its submission to the aids and the assistance he offers his weekend rider. The Pure Spanish Horse is truly a horse which can offer its best qualities to his rider, even after days unexercised.