Spanish Horse Video
Training, breeding, movement, handling - there is a spanish horse video connected with many of our blog entries, as well as the library of horses we have sold. Our foto records have grown over the years, as have our video clips, and we are continually working to make these available free of charge to our readers.
From buying a spanish horse to fitting stirups on a vaquero saddle, you never know where the cameras are going next!
Spanish horse videos of horses for sale from Spain
We are breeders of the PRE, the purebred spanish horses who are sometimes still called andalusians. We record our horses at many stages of their training, and in all sorts of circumstances. You can receive a wide picture of what has gone into that horse. As well as serious work in the arena, he could be seen in the stable, being handled, groomed, loaded, ridden out and with other horses.
It’s the beginning of 2011 and I am compiling a library list where we hope you can find the spanish horse video you would like to watch. Give me a few weeks for that, and in the meantime we invite you to settle in and get to know us and the horses through our blogs.
The 2011 blog on Horses in Spain is now in progress
the 2010 blog follows on this page, in chronological order.
and the 2009 blog archive is here.
The 2010 Blog starts at Christmas 2009
Twas the Day After Christmas . . .2009
Orange and red alerts, flights cancelled, flooding and general Christmas fun.
Christmas Eve
We set out to go to family for Noche Buena (Christmas Eve, evening meal, traditional time of celebration).
Out the gate, turn right, down the dirt road, dip to cross the bridge. Pause: what bridge? Trees, water, mudslide. No bridge.
Reverse, backtrack. Pass gate and continue in the opposite direction. Still on the dirt road, taking a longer route that goes past the lake.
See the lake ahead. Turn the corner to where the road borders it. See the lake in abundance. No road, no indication of where the road was or is.
Reverse. Backtrack. Go home.
Discuss with neighbours. Much nodding of heads. José Carlos remembers there is a back route that goes through Manolo’s cauliflower fields
and bypasses the bridge. Further discussion as to exactly where that road begins, then once more out the gate. Find the cauliflower-field road, and eventually reach the tar road, at which point it is too late to go on to the family. Come home.
Christmas Day
We exit via the cauliflower-field-road, and enjoy a Christmas-brunch-that-was-Noche-Buena-dinner.
It has not stopped raining since Christmas Eve, and the river that runs alongside the farm is rising. Starts to overflow the well that provides our water. Christmas afternoon is spent removing the pump and taking it to safe ground.
The river overflows the well. Water is running inches deep outside the back door, and flooding in. I make up sand bags in plastic rubbish bags with wet sand from the arena to try to staunch it.
The Day after Christmas
We have no running water, (except that flowing merrily under the door) and the electricity is more off than on. It is still raining.
Place buckets strategically to collect rain water.
We cook the evening meal - chicken in a pan over coal in a bucket. Have the meal by candlelight, which is great,
because I can’t see the utter havoc that now constitutes my kitchen.
Woke up this morning to amazingly beautiful clear skies and a shimmering river - which is still running smugly over the well.
A by-the-bucket washing up and cleaning marathon is in progress, can’t do washing, and my drier has died, but life is still GOOD!
Andalusian Blog and Horses in Spain - the Last Day of 2009
December 31, and tonight we ’take the grapes’, the spanish tradition of eating a grape each second as the clock from Madrid strikes the 12 chimes to midnight.
Again a time for family, but on this night it does tend more to the younger ones to stay wide eyed and energetic into the dawn of the New Year.
From us here in Southern Spain to all wherever you are, Feliz Año Nuevo and may 2010 bring you Joy and Hope.
Start here for any of the 2009 entries. the Christmas saga is here for recent visitors . .
January 6 Los Reyes, the Day of the Kings
Reyes - Jan 6th, is the ’Day of the Kings’. Traditionally, it is the Kings who bring the children’s gifts, rather than a certain red-suited visitor.
Each city and every little pueblo has street displays on the night of Reyes. The ’kings’ arrive in a multitude of ways - on horseback, on camels, on elephant, on tractors. This year, for example, it was three boats, decorated and horns a-blaring, that brought their three seasonal actors into the port of Barcelona.
As close to the 6th as is possible, (usually on the evening of Jan 5th) the ’kings’ and their assistants traverse the main streets. All dressed up in cavalcades and on floats, they pass through the crowds made up of the families out to enjoy the tradition together.
From start to end of their journeys which can cover anything from 1-6 km, they throw out thousands of sweets to the children. Barcelona last night threw out 15 tons of sweets.
Some have got health conscious and now toss dried fruits.!
So after another late night, we have a holiday on Monday , and then finally things will return to Spanish normality.
NB - That is not an oxymoron! !
Jan 11, 2010 A Look Back and a Look Forward
The internet has become so much a part of life that we can sometimes forget how recent it is in the overall plan of things.
We began the website journey with our first site, andalusians-for-you as an exciting adventure into a new form of creativity, and as a wonderful opportunity to share what we had.
What we had was our horses here in Spain, and an inside view of the spanish horse world that very few others could attain.
Andres has been farrier to top riders, vets, yards and breeders, both here and internationally. I worked in live TV news, and owned a documentary film production company.
At home in Spain I travelled with Andres for a number of years, continuing in my media-bent as I recorded horses and people on camera and video.
At the time we little realised what a unique record this could be of our world. A chance comment by a friend stimulated interest, and so began the venture into the web.
Understand that we were not young technophobes who merrily converse about such things as bytes and hard drives, gigs and bandwidths.
A byte was what an ill-mannered horse delivered, a hard drive was a challenging expedition in the winter snows of the sierras. . .
Keeping Focused
The web idea was exciting, and as I addressed it enthusiastically, it became a snowball, gathering impetus as fast as I wrote and published.
We are horse people, breeders and trainers. We live simply, our hearts committed to the Peregrino Vision. Sufficient for all our needs has always come in from Andres’ work, and my books.
How it Topsy-ed - from the Outside In
We made this statement early on:
The key element we want the website to give you is simple experiential truth, clearly stated and easily available.
We don’t know it all, but we are happy to share what we do know and point you to others who are experts in their fields.
That is just what we did. We began to share, the website hit the search engines, began to gain rankings, and the readers came in.
More and more came questions from people eager for information, requests for help, and sadly, the occasional stories of people who had been misinformed (or deliberately deceived) in their quest for a spanish horse.
How it Topsy-ed - from the Inside Out
At the same time, our spanish associates, friends and fellow breeders, asked us if we would help them to reach the outside market. Andres is brilliant in his control of languages. As well as his native spanish he speaks perfect english and portuguese, and Afrikaans from our stay in South Africa. I add to these french, and get by in all except portuguese.
So we formed a Private Group of breeders and trainers, and opened www.pure-spanish-horse-spain as a new website to feature our horses. No outsiders, no agents, just our own horses and these that we know.
And we were inundated with queries and inquiries. Now people were asking Andres’ professional opinion on horses that had been presented to them. They found it expedient to fly him across country to review a horse before risking importing it unseen, or going to the expense of a trip to spain.
They were asking us to find them horses that fitted a particular profile, asking about PRE bloodlines and claims made, asking about paperwork, asking and asking and asking.
We presented our horses, presented those we know, undertook specific searches, and answered, answered, answered.
Pause and Review
Exciting years, and we met many great people and made enduring friendships.
Today is Andres’ birthday and as the sum of years passed comes closer to 60 it is a good time for us to pause and review.
What of 2010 when it comes to the horses?
- We will concentrate on our breeding program, on working with Emilio in training the PRE, on presenting the studs in our Private Group, on finding specific horses, and on helping where we can.
- We will not expand beyond the personal involvement that has been the central point of the success of Pure Spanish Horse Spain.
What of 2010 when it comes to Peregrino?
Our hearts are set. We believe that a man must work. Our work is the work of the soil, work with people, especially children, and work with our horses.
We will continue to live with joy and expectancy.
Jan 25, 2010 Talking of Mares
Mares are very much in our thoughts and conversations at present. Queridita, the Little Darling, is close to foaling down with her first foal.
Fathered by a strong Bohorquez line stallion, possibly the only surviving son of the legendary Albero II, the new arrival is the subject of endless speculations.
Colt or filly? What colour? - Mama is still greying out from a very bay appearance, Papa is a picazo with much bay in his ancestry. And what about movement? Queridita is a floating dream. Will she pass it on?
Ridden PRE mares
The older line of thought here is still that it simply IS NOT DONE to ride PRE mares - they are for breeding.
Of course that is not to say that no-one rides them - we make no claims to the omniscience of always and never - but it is an exception.
One notable exception I know is a big, beautiful grey mare owned by a friend who is a leading practitioner of garrocha - the work with the long pole and cattle.
She was his best horse for a long time, and watching them flow together was reminiscent of the intuitive horsemastership of the rejoneadores in the bullring.
He is one who loves his horses, lives for his riding, and it shone out of their partnership. She would twist, turn, snip sideways, speed and slow at what appeared to be no more than a thought from him.
He never tires of praising her. Whenever we visited we could be sure of a glowing step by step description of how she had moved, thought, reacted as they galloped in the fields . .
Now she wanders peacefully around those same fields, with her second or third foal at foot, and he sits on a short tailed jaca, watching her with the indulgence of a proud grandfather.
Feb 15 2010 Price of a Spanish Horse
There are a lot of adjectives we can add to ’price’ when it comes to andalusians. Descriptive words, such as ’realistic’, ’hopeful’, ’my absolute limit’,(or, to get facetious, ’what my friend paid for a horse she bought over the internet from the friend of a friend’ - which has been known to translate into ’and is hoping to get back because she cannot ride what she got . .’)
Does a Spanish Horse have a Market Price
Yes and as in any other market, it can be summarized as the price paid by a willing buyer to a willing seller.
I would like that to expand to a Fair Market Price, which would be for a horse with no hidden aspects, surprises, faults or vices.
Spanish Horse Prices are part of a reality checks system. Both seller and buyer must acknowledge and accept certain realities.
Andalusian Horse Prices - Putting a Figure to it.
Putting a price to a Purebred Spanish horse from Spain is a bit like saying a Rubik’s cube can only be red.
A horse is not static. He is not a manufactured object, like a car, which has a starting price and a set devaluation rate.
On the contrary, a horse can as easily increase in value as he can lose it. As more factors come into play, the price reflects it accordingly.
What Decides the Price of a Spanish horse then?
That is a question I have been asked more times than I can recall. So in the process of archive sorting that the rainy season brought on, I have started to co-ordinate my writings on the subject
You are invited to visit visit the Articles Section and enjoy a ramble around this and the many other subjects we cover.
Feb 23 2010 Buying a Spanish Horse in Spain
I was recently asked for input for an article about buying a PRE from Spain These were among the points I made, which could be considered relevant also if you are thinkng Luso in place of PRE
- Buying from Spain is advantageous because of the sheer number of pure spanish horses there are here. The choice becomes very wide.
- The linked disadvantage would be that ’outsiders’ do not know where and how to locate these.
How can a visitor obtain a true full view of the spanish scene, when they are working from a distance with limited resources, and most likely a language barrier.
Use agents? Go to YouTube? Browse the internet and advertising sites?
That only lets you touch the fringes. Those are the fringes that everyone else is touching, and sometimes these fringes can get quite tangled.
So that set me to work again, and the Buy Wisely Guide is rapidly taking format
All the material is here, years of answers and article and case studies. I just have to co-ordinate it.
March 10 2010 Things are Happening
The re-vamp of the site is flying. The major sections are identified, and a lot of pages are already assigned to their new locations. As ever, I keep discovering things I had forgotten I had written. Some articles need updating, some are incisively pertinent, and some get quietly junked.
The 7 major sections are now in the Top Menu. Then as you click to each section, there is a Section Menu on the left hand side.
The Section Menu takes you to pages particular to that subject. Occasionally a page is referenced in 2 sections, but on the whole it is a distinct delineation.
There are now close on 300 pages on the site.
March 18 2010. Remembering the Basics
One aspect we continually reiterate is that a horse is best placed for progress when he works from well-established, clearly explained basics.
A showy movement, a flashy seeming-piaffe, a dramatic spanish walk - they are often seen. Allow the initial impact of beautiful horse, long mane and épris to flow over you, then pause . . . . .
This perceptive comment in a forum I frequent, struck me, and with permission from the author I reproduce it here. The author had just returned from a clinic run by Rosalie Lewis. see box.
"It really bought home to me how small gaps in their foundations can become huge gaps when the going gets tougher, and that irrespective of the situation these do need to be dealt with effectively to ensure safety and compliance, allowing the horse and rider to move forwards in their training without having to constantly revisit issues from their youth.The clinic really changed my expectations from my horses as I learnt how those with the pure pursuit of riding as an art form expect
as a result of the training of the young horse, not just one schooled technically in the basics paces and positions, but foremost one that
is schooled emotionally to work politely with their rider."
Debbie Survila, amateur rider and student of Rosalie Lewis
Rosalie Lewis has worked in the UK, Portugal and France, training students and their horses from raw beginnings to advanced level. Currently she lives in France, breeding and training Lusitano horses.
Ross worked for Nuno Oliveira, and spent many years working with and being taught by the classical Maestro as she developed her horsemanship.
April 18 2010. Three websites
This is one of the three websites we maintain. One of the sites is spanish, and deals mainly with tack an correct turn out.
The two english sites are both centred around the horses of Spain, and our stud.
I am designer, author and overseer of them all. The basic design of the english sites is similar, a design I have developed over the years that works for me.
It can be seen that the two are related. But are they twins? By no means. They have developed like two children of the same parents, into two distinct characters.
More work is coming up on www.andalusians-for-you.com as I continue to unearth the stories that have been shared.
Here is an extract from Alison’s marvellous encounter with the lusitano stallion, Opalino
- forgive me if that page is not yet formatted into the new design, I am working on it!
‘You are late’ said Opalino stamping an elegant foreleg on the ground. ‘Sorry’ I said, ‘Forces beyond my control’.
Opalino ground at his bit and laid his ears back momentarily ‘The Maestro was not pleased, he is busy, this lesson was very much a favour’. Feeling nervous and a little embarrassed I untied Opalino and led him to the outdoor school and the mounting block.
‘What do you want me to do?’ asked Opalino ‘Just move over and stand quietly whilst I get on, dear one’ I said, ‘I am too creaky to get on from the ground and my back problem gives me difficulties with my hips,
I am very stiff and cannot throw my leg over the saddle’. Opalino was silent but let me get on.
continue reading about Alison and the lusitano stallion, Opalino
May 23 2010. Spring is Busy Time
Spring is foaling time, and Arcoiris is the first Peregrino babe to arrive.
At the same time, spring is the time for the final stallion decisions in the 2011 breeding program.
We are still using outside stallions to firmly establish the stud lines, and we prefer live cover wherever possible,
so there is quite a lot of travelling, loading, obtaining of permits and on and on. . . . .
I will post more news and pictures of all the participants soon.
Sept 16 2010 Thoughts on Breeding and Bloodlines in the PRE
I enjoy bloodlines. The rollcall of names of those long-gone classic figures of the past is part of my history too.
Over the years I have spent time at other studs, spent hours talking with other breeders about lines, planned crosses and expected tendencies. I have watched the youngsters grow up - some to fulfil the predictions, others to turn the theories on their heads.
There are hundreds of mare owners and smaller breeders in Spain, keen aficionados and newer entrants into stud development. All of these contribute to keeping the breed alive and to introducing new directions as they recognise the value of the established classic lines, and look to weave them into their own fresh blood.
A mare may breed out to better known lines so that the potential line-impact is theoretically greater from his sire side.
Theoretically!
Breeding - as any geneticists on here will tell us - is not a mathematical formula with certainties. It is rather a wild roll of the roulette wheel, with the accompanying anticipation, excitement and occasional jackpots.
Sept 26 2010 Website Addition - or Addiction
Maintaining the one spanish and two english websites is an ongoing exercise.
I am busy over on www.andalusians-for-you.com restructuring the Spanish Tack pages, with fotos and all the necessary info for anyone looking for truly authentic handmade spanish saddles. High school /Alta Escuela, vaquero, ladies side saddles and so on.
Now added to the Mares Table of sept 16, a foto of Arco Iris at 7 months. She will be grey.
Peregrino Mares in 2010
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Oct 05 2010 A Catch-Up
Yes, it has been quiet here over the past few months. Andres’ father has been ill all year, and getting progressively weaker.
As the many of you in similar situations know, this consumes your time. For us it was 24/7 care, emergency call-outs and all the peripherals that accompany
working with a loved one through the last days.
He slipped away quietly in late September.
Oct 15 2010 After WEG
Well, Fuego XII certainly started a ’fire ’of interest.
The name of Cardenas was one of the earliest to be brought to the attention of the outside world.
These horses were the models for Robert Vavra’s books of dramatic spanish horse fotos.
For quite some time saying ’Cardenas’ to a buyer was like waving a chocolate in front of a dieter.
Now these are good horses, no question. Also, by the law of averages, there are average horses. But on the whole, they are certainly horses worth looking at.
It is a tradition that after SICAB in November every year, Cardenas holds an auction of their stock. Again, there could well be good horses there
- you go with the knowledge that it is an auction, and with the excited hope that you just might find your particular gem.
Well, this year,for the first time in my knowledge, the auction has been cancelled. Why? Because all his stock is sold! What does that tell you, Sherlock? ! !
Apart from that, life here goes on. Emilio is thriving, and presenting some really nice work in the season of shows we have on at present.
Our mares are getting rounder, and the weather is beginning to cool in the evenings.
Oct 18th 2010 Converted to Electronic Reading
When I worked full time in production, book shops were a home from home. There was one with a coffeebar, another with snug reading chairs, and of course a wealth of books.
Country life, though, is a way from the super stores and drop in convenience of the cities. I would never change our lifestyle, but just now and then there were twinges of missing those browse and indulge days.
And then came Kindle.
At first, the electronic beepness of Amazon seemed a bit brusque, but I have to admit to rapidly getting into the whole click, download and read routine.
So I began to browse for my sort of books, and I am going to be adding those to my list on the other site, and probably opening up a page here as well.
You can read Kindle books by using a downoad for a computer - well at least for a Mac - but I must admit that for the late night snuggle-ups, a KIndle works better. I have not taken one along to a show yet, but I am hearing that this is the new way of passing the time between classes.
Kindle Wireless Reading Device, Wi-Fi, 6" Display, Graphite - Latest Generation
Oct 28 2010 A Breeder’s Life
Darling Queridita did not take in foal in the spring. Just one of those things - she is a proven mother, and the stallion was returning mares in foal even while she was there. We decided to leave her quiet through the summer, and to try once more in the autumn.
Well, that autumn is now and she is about to ’meet the tadpoles’ one more time.
We are really keen on this particular stallion - both he and his father were SICAB Champions of Breed, so you can imagine the quality. (We won't even begin to think about the cost per tadpole . . .)
She was quite upset at being away from home last time, so although we do favour natural cover, we are going to use AI. She is in season and ready, the vet came 3 days ago and again yesterday to check her.
Andres left this morning to drive the three hours to Cordoba to collect said tadpoles and return them in suspended chillness.
Then we pray, and wait.
Nov 18 2010 News Flash
Queridita is in foal. Praise Be.
Nov 21 2010 Fame
Horses are horses are horses. You find infinite variations, conformations, looks, colours, sizes, shapes and movements.
You can't change what a horse IS - that is how he was born.
After that comes training. And training is what costs.
Remember that old TV series called Fame? The cue line in the intro was a sleek thin dance teacher telling her class "FAME COSTS".
Likewise, Training Costs.
It doesn't matter if the horse is monsieur super gorgeous or Mr Joe Average: That is what he was fortunate enough to be born with.
Great for those who have the looks and the charm.
But But But
Looks don’t mean nuttin’ when you want a horse that you can trust not to dump you in the middle of a busy road at rush hour,
and charm is no opt-out for passing a leaf-blower and not so much as raising an eyebrow.
Yes, temperament does help. Yes, some horses are by nature calmer than others.
But at the end of the day, Training is what takes a horse through situations,
Training is what communicates that the world is a scary place but you don't have to run away from it.
Training is what TEACHES a horse to act and react in a way that is rider favorable.
It doesn’t come easy.
It doesn’t come quick.
And it doesn’t come cheap.
So when people say ’Oh, I don’t want to compete in big shows, I only want a horse that is reliable,’,
they need to understand what it takes to get a horse to that point.
Good horses dont just ’happen.’ They are the result of someone’s knowledge, time and training.
And Training Costs.
About the Vision of Rancho Peregrino
The 2009 blog archive of Horses in Spain
The 2011 andalusian blog now in progress
All information contained on our website is for general information purposes only. While we endeavor to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk, and in the case of a purchase should be verified between the buyer and seller at time of purchase.
