Lusitano Horse

The Lusitano horse breed is a horse breed that derives its name from the ancient name of Portugal Lusitania. The Lusitanon is a direct descendant of the famous Spanish horse and is widely used in Portugal’s own version of bullfighting where the bull is not killed, and until well into the 1960s the Lusitanohastarna were bred in a single large herd with the Andalusia.

The Lusitanon have the same genetic background and characteristics of the Spanish Andalusierhastarna and are basically Portugal’s own version of this horse breed.

They are descended from the extinct Spanish horses, which were crossed with the Arab and the Berber thoroughbred horses that were common among farmers in Spain and Portugal of that time and after the Morerrnas invasion of the Iberian Peninsula in 700s AD.

During the 1600 the horse was no longer in demand other than for the bull fighting, and fighting bulls from horseback in Spain. The Andulusian horses played an important role in the parades and ceremonies and riding horses during the bull fight.

The bull fighting in Portugal assisted in keeping the Lusitano breed in demand and the nature of the horse being well suited for the bull fighting the breed nature and characteristics were retained.

The Lusitanon was also used a lot in the Portuguese cavalry. Since then, the breeders sought to distinguish the breed a bit more from the true Andalusia by mixing the blood from their Portuguese Sorraia breed.

In 1966 the horses outward appearance differed as the various out crossing varied the breed and the breed was developed for the various variations and the different stud book records.

The Lusitanon horse breed name was derived from the old Latin name for Portigal, Lusitania. The Portuguese Lusitanoforeningen or Associacao Portuguesa de criadores do Cavalo Puro Sangue Lusitano, APSL was formed in 1967 and at the same time they built a stud book of lusitanohastar the Livro genealogico Portugues de equino.

The Lusitanon has an outwardly curving nose profile and a heavy mane and tail

Attributes

The Lusitanon is a true fleet riding and harness horse and were the most sought after horses especially those that have a mulberry like coat, a unique rust-coloured coat with black legs and black mane and tail.

But the white or grey and dappled grey coat colour and chestnut are the most common coat colours in this breed. The mane and tail is unusually thick in Lusitanohastar.

The Lusitanon profile looks exactly like a Andalusian horse, but is not quite as noble, as is evident in nose profile which is more pronounced convex than in Andalusia.

The croup on the Lusitanon is even more sloped with a lower tail set in comparison to the Andalusian. The horses Shoulder is a little too straight down towards the legs, but the slope contributes to the Lusitanons airy movements.

Lusitanon is known for its mobility and high movements which are reported to be quite spectacular.

To keep the standards of the Portuguese bullfighting history, which are considered to be a pure art form of the dancing horses, the horse receive formal training. The Lusitanohastar are sent for training in “high school” movements which are the same as seen in the Lipizzaner horses trained in the Spanish Riding School of Vienna.