Andalusian Horse

The Andalusian horse is a breed of horse that originated in the Spanish province of Andalusia. It is a type of Iberian horse that is one of the oldest horse breeds in the world.

In Spain also it is commonly known as “Spanish Horse” and was officially named “Pura Raza in Spanish PRE, because it is considered that the Andalusian horse is quintessentially Spanish, although there are many other equine breeds in Spain.
However in most countries is called an “Andalusian horse”

The horses in the territory of Andalusia today are famous since ancient times were very popular in the Roman circus and during the Caliphate of Cordoba they very important studs at the court of the Umayyads and the mares and their riders

Almanzor Berbers.

The stud of the caliph Alhaken reported by the Chronicle in which Ibn Ziyad Aflah, equerry of the caliph and zalmedina of Medina Azahara, praises the quality of the foals born that year in the Amiriya Almunia and weaned from the 3000 mares that belonged to the caliph in the marshes, with 500 sires at the back of the Saca
Given the quality of the horses in the south of the Iberian peninsula, from the thirteenth to the nineteenth century kings established the prohibition of crossing mares with asses, in Andalusia, Extremadura and Murcia, establishing a “Pure race” which forbid the mixing of the animals to preserve their purity.
History

Philip II of Spain decided in the sixteenth century to create the Royal Stables located in Cordoba, where he brought together the finest mares and stallions, and this stud can be said to be the origin of the breed as we know it today.

The Andalusian horse has been pivotal in giving us many of our familiar European and American breeds, such as Spanish-Breton horse Spanish Arabic, the Friesian horse, the, the Kladruber, Lipizzaner Creole, the Paso Fino, the Peruvian Paso, the Mustang, and the Alter Real Lusitanian horses.
Features
Height to shoulder withers between 155 and 165 cm. and the Neck strong and arched, covered with a long mane and tail and the head should slightly convex head like the of head of a falcon, lively eyes, broad chest, croup rounded and powerful.

Currently the breed supports all colours and in the past was only accepted as black, brown and chestnut with the most common colour being chestnut.

The Andalusian horse is an easy mount, so it is used as a riding horse in all the disciplines of dressage as the horse has very good trot, good piaffe passage and other “airs above the ground movements”.
Breeding

Andalusian horse breeding is focused in Spain, but there are good studs around the world. The system is based on breeding herds of horses living semi-loose and some foals are sold at weaning, and remain at the stud and start to be broken in and trained at 3 years old.

The mares are not tamed or ridden, but participate in showing classes and there is a stud nomenclature where the stud males often carry the name of their mother in their names and all fillies in a year are named with names of the same letter of the alphabet so they can be used to trace the colts born to them.

Competition
Throughout the year competitions are held in the breed classes and horses are judged by sex and age. Most classes sexes participate individually, but the mares can participate in addition to a working classes.

In fact, 25% of the colts 4 years or older their breeding suitability is dependant on a dressage test. The winners of these competitions are qualified for the finals of SICAB, which takes place in November at the Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones de Sevilla. The SICAB is the most important event in the world of the Andalusian horse and after the Championship of the Spanish Pure Breed there are auctions, shows and conferences.