Archaeological evidence in the Iberian Peninsula, modern day Spain and Portugal, indicates that the origin of the Lusitano horse dates back to at least 25,000 BC in the form of its primitive ancestor, the Sorraia breed. Cave paintings in the Iberian Peninsula dated from the 30,000 B.C. depict portraits of horses and activities related to a horse culture. Furthermore, there have been findings of small tools made of bone which were used to make rope from the hair of horses.
The Sorraia is believed to have developed from crosses between the Tarpan and the Przewalski horses. Looking further into the evolution of the horse, we find that the most ancient ancestor of the horse was a small, herbivorous mammal of the genus Hyracotherium (or Eohippus) from the Eocene Epoch, having four-toed front feet and three-toed hind feet. This ancient horse existed fifty million years ago in an area that is now the western United States. Eohippus eventually became modified into what we know as the horse.
These horses then migrated from America through the land bridge connecting Alaska and Siberia and entered Asia where they established themselves and latter disseminated to Europe and Africa. However, when the Spaniards arrived to the Americas, the horse had been extinct in the continent for about 8000 years. The Sorraia remained isolated for several millennia in the southern part of Iberia in the Alentejo and Andalusian regions of modern Portugal and Spain.
Noted Portuguese historian, Mr. Ruy d'Andrade suggested that by the Neolithic period (4000 BC) the native tribes of the area may have used horses in war. Around 3000 BC, Iberians tribes from North Africa invaded the peninsula, which would be latter named after them. They were soon to be followed by the Phoenicians and Celts, who were largely responsible for a two way exchange of horses which brought into the Iberian peninsula, an influx of oriental breeds from Libya, Egypt and Syria. By the time of the first expeditions of the Greeks, in 800 BC, the Celts and Iberians formed an alliance known as the Celtiberians. According to Lady Sylvia Loch " It was the horses of the Celtiberians that were to become famous throughout the civilized world.
From this period onward, we find many references to the Iberian or Celtiberians horses and riders of the peninsula by Greek and Roman chroniclers. Homer refers to them in the Iliad around 1,100 BC and the celebrated Greek cavalry officer Xenophon had nothing but praise for the gifted Iberian horses and horsemen..". Xenophon in one of his books written about 370 BC admiringly describes the equestrian war techniques of Iberian mercenaries who were influential in the victory of Sparta against Athens in the Peloponnesian wars.
This type of warfare consisted of individual horse charges with fast starts, stops and pirouettes followed by retreats and renewed attacks. A form of riding that was been made possible by the use of incredible agile horses, curb bits and stirrups. Further invasions by the Carthaginians and Romans, recognized the superiority of the Iberian horses and horsemanship to the point that the Romans adopted the Iberian equestrian style of warfare and set up stud farms in the conquered Iberian territories. Horses from these stud farms were then used by the Roman cavalry to accomplish the expansion of their Empire.
Mr. Arsinio Raposo Cordeiro writes that: "the perfect bond between Iberian man and horse may have provided the original inspiration behind the legend of the Centaurs, a hybrid man-horse creature deemed to spring from the valleys of the Tagus River. At the time, it was also believed that the mares of this region were sired by the wind, which accounted for the amazing speed with which they endowed their progeny".
In 711 AD, the Muslims initiated the invasion of the Iberian peninsula, at the time being ruled by the Visigoths, and in varied degrees the Muslims occupied the peninsula until the end of the fifteenth century. A lot has been written about the influence of the Arabian horse on the Iberian stock during the years of occupation. The fact is that although politically this was an Arabian invasion, ethnically the invaders were Moors. The leader of this initial invasion was a Moslem Berber named Tariq ibn Ziyad who led 12,000 Saracens (largely Berbers from Algiers and Morocco) across the Strait of Gibraltar into Spain. These people brought some of their native Berber horses with them on the expedition.
Although it is not exactly clear of how many of the invaders had brought horses with them, one can speculate that because of the difficulties in transportation the number of horses was limited and that most of the Cavalry men procured their horses from the outstanding existing Iberian stock of the south of the Iberian peninsula.
Lady Sylvia Loch states. " it is now almost conclusively established that the Barb (or Berber) horse also developed as a breed from primitive Sorraia stock which gradually migrated from Spain and Portugal into North Africa in prehistoric times. Contrary to popular opinion, therefore, the Iberian horse was the likely forefather to the Barb and not vice versa. It would be more accurate to say that at the time of the Moorish conquest, Barb blood was reintroduced to the Iberian Peninsula."
Regardless of the exact influence of one breed over another, it is evident that the exchange of blood was mutually beneficial and that it produced many similarities between the two breeds, to the point that the modern Barb resembles the Iberian stock and the criollo horses of South America. During the almost eight hundred years in which Spain and Portugal were in constant war with the Moors, horse and horsemanship had become finely attuned to the war exercises. This superb war horse was the one that the conquistadors introduced and dispersed throughout the together with the a la gineta style of riding, which influenced the horse cultures of the Gauchos, Charros and Llaneros.
By the XVII century the Iberian war horse, or Jennet as it was beginning to be called, had become important not only in the battlefield but also in the great riding academies founded in France, Germany, Italy and Austria. In Portugal, almost 100 years before the famous Italian author Francesco Grisone, the King Dom Duarte wrote a classic book, "Livro da Ensynanca de ben Cavalgar a Toda Sela" in 1435. The Portuguese traditional interest in horsemanship seems to have always preceded their Spanish neighbors in its progressive sophistication, creating an equestrian tradition that has lasted intact to this day.
When not at war, Bullfighting on horseback and High School public displays were the main entertainment for the dedicated Portuguese landed gentry. Today, the annual Fair of Golegc still combines, in the most spectacular way, the aspects of traditional Gineta riding and classical European High School riding in the display of the most exemplary Baroque horse, the Lusitano. In modern Portugal, the performance of the horse in the bullring is perhaps one of the most important factor in the breeding selection process of the Lusitanos and this factor has sustained the preservation of the characteristics of the classical Iberian war horse, so esteemed in the world across the ages.
In a description by .Sylvia Loch, she states: " To look at, they are noble rather than pretty with aristocracy written all over their fine, slightly hawked, long faces. They develop a powerful neck and shoulder which makes them look extremely majestic in front. The quarters are not large, but the loins are wide and strong and the hocks long and wiry giving them the power to bounce forcefully forwards with masterful impulsion. Deep flexion is obtained from the developed second thigh and the longer than usual cannons and pasterns. The same characteristics that are essential for the bullfights, also make the Lusitano extremely efficient for other sport activities, or as a working or pleasure riding horse.
[WebMeister's note:
Here are a couple of links to sites where you can learn more about horse
breeds, and see two breeds (related to the Lusitano) used in rejoneo: Mangalarga,
and
Mangalarga Marchador.]
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