Andalusians to prance into town

There were lots of reasons for Lynnville's Ron Hall to get involved with Andalusian horses, including the five he's bringing to the Open Andalusian/Lusitano Regional Championship at Calsonic Arena this weekend.

"They're smart and gentle and easy to work with," said the owner of Celtic Cross Andalusians, then laughed. "And I was tired of getting hurt."

He and his wife, Jackie, have had several breeds of horses, including thoroughbreds, quarter horses and walking horses, and Hall said he has been kicked, stepped on and bitten by all of them.

"So far -- and knock on wood -- I have never been hurt by an Andalusian," he said.

Since he and Jackie own about 30 of them -- with the largest Andalusian farm in the state and in several surrounding states -- that's saying something.

Besides biting, kicking or stepping on feet, those three breeds, and many, many others, have something in common. They all have an Andalusian horse somewhere back in the family tree.

"It was the first horse in America," said Hall. "When Columbus made his second trip to the New World, he brought Andalusians."

One of the oldest breeds in the world, there have been cave paintings with exact replicas of Andalusians more than 2,500 years old, according to the andalusiabc.com web site. The breed originated on the Iberian Peninsula in Spain, and up to the 18th century, the Andalusian horse was the chosen mount of royalty and the military.

"During the 18th century, European warfare caused the Andalusian breed to decline in numbers, close to extinction. In order to re-establish their breeding programs, exportation of an Andalusian became illegal without Royal consent. The penalty for exporting these treasured horses was death," the web site states.

Almost all of the light breeds -- thoroughbreds, Morgans, Appaloosas, saddlebreds and walking horses -- carry Andalusian bloodlines, even that most American of horses, the mustang. The wild horses of the west were the result of Andalusians escaping their conquistador riders and crossbreeding with some other escapees -- farm horses and "pit ponies" used in mines to haul ore. The pit ponies, usually Shetlands, contributed the colorful paint markings many mustangs have, as well as the slightly smaller stature than the bigger Andalusian forefathers.

Until the 1960s, the Portuguese Lusitano horses shared the stud book registry with the Andalusians. Because they are similar in build and performance, and because they share the same part of the world -- the Iberian Peninsula -- as well as a common gene pool, they are both often referred to as Iberian horses.

The Spanish Andalusians, and their Portuguese cousins, the Lusitanos, are shown in several ways.

"We have halter classes, western pleasure, reining, dressage," said Hall. "They just about can do anything. Matter of fact, some people have even started them in team penning. They're very athletic. They use them in Mexico and Spain in the bull fights -- you know they have to be fast."

Some of the classes are called Native Attire, and the rider and horse must be decked out in traditional costumes from the horse's country of origin, showing off not only the horse's natural good looks, but a bit of its history as well.

If you don't think you've ever seen an Andalusian, you probably have, especially if you've seen the Antonio Banderas "Zorro" movies, "Gladiator" or "The Man in the Iron Mask." Most are grays -- about 80 percent -- a few are bays, and even fewer are true blacks. Elegant and graceful horses, they carry their heads high with arched necks, and have long, thick manes and tails, and they are known for their easy-going temperament.

"We got in with Andalusians several years ago," said Hall. "We started out breeding one of our horses to an Andalusian stallion and the mare was so good and so nice, we thought we'd do it again. The breed is catching on."

Friday night will be the preliminaries as the Andalusian and Lusitano owners vie for regional championships. Sunday is when the championship classes will be held.

"We start at 8 a.m. and keep going until we're done," he said.

Classes will include halter, Western, English, show hack, driving, native tack and attire and heritage tack and attire as well as best movements.

Horses will be coming in from Florida, South Carolina, Virginia and other states to participate.

An open show will also be held on Saturday that will be open for all breeds. This show will have classes that pay back cash to top entries and will include Western, English, halter, saddlehorse, pole bending and barrels. No pre-registration is required for this show, entries are encouraged to come on show day early, register and show.

IF YOU GO

The Open Andalusian/ Lusitano Regional Championship will be Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Calsonic Arena. Admission is free, and the public is encouraged to attend. Classes begin at 8 a.m.