My turn to contribute on the equine front...(du warning)

"Mr. Wonderful" (no, that's not his name, just what I call him) is a 5 (almost 6) year old gelding, around 15.1 hh. He's little, but he's a powerhouse with lots of presence & energy...and impeccable manners.

April - Andalusians (Pura Raza Espanol, or PRE) are all the rage right now, there's been a lot more breed promotion done with them than the Lusi's, and many folks are under the impression that Lusi's are just a "Portuguese Andalusian." The Andi stud book was open to other breeds at one point, and while many breeders won't be up front with the info, there have been quite a few crosses done with Andi's to make them more "typey" for specific events - i.e. park seat, competitive dressage, Western, etc. On the flipside, the Lusitano (Puro Sangue Lusitano, or PSL) stud book has not been so lenient & thus has mantained animals of a purer lineage & baroque type.

Both breeds are correctly referred to as "Iberian" horses, and then further denoted as PSL or PRE.

To ride one, well...all I can say is I'd be hard-pressed to look at any other breed, even with as much as I love little Pasos & big fancy Fresians (and just about anything else equine, frankly). In my limited experience, for a hot breed, Lusi's are generally SO forgiving & intelligent and willing to please, but you have to be ready to learn how to ask them correctly for what you want them to do. The 4 that I've ridden are just uber sensitive & so well trained, but also very generous. I'll tell you this...it's EXTREMELY humbling to get on one of these classically-trained horses & realize that you have to re-learn everything you've been previously taught, if you're really going to ride academically & in harmony and lightness. Lots of two steps forward, one step back.

And I wouldn't trade it for the world! ;)

K~

Great post and information! So what are you and your man there up to lately? Do you show or are you just riding and enjoying him?
Enjuy some riding for me; my two girls are too busy with their babies to do much with them. Kinda sad when your first summer having your horses in your backyard, you can do little more than lunge them (and clean up after them...) :)

Thanks for the info Kara. I love the baroque type, and I dislike what many breeders are doing with the friesians and andalusians to make them a more plain 'sport horse' type rather than the elegant horse they were originally bred to be.

I will have to do some reading on lusitanos.

Thanks for the link, Jo. That reminds me.. I've got some great pics I took of an andalusian stallion named Santiago.. he was at the midwest horse fair. Maybe I should upload a couple?