Characteristics of pure Spanish breed horses (PRE: Pura Raza Española)

The origins of the breed date back to 1572, when King Philip II controlled the royal stables of his kingdom. He defined the standards for the Pure Spanish Breed, and took it to its peak in the following years. At the Royal Stables of Cordoba he mated the best stallions and mares of the provinces bordering the Guadalquivir, which at that time were the most prolific areas for horse breeding.

The PRE-horse is balanced, resilient, energetic, noble, and easy-going. It is very sensitive to its trainers, has a friendly manner, is intelligent, and has a great capacity for learning.

In short, the horse’s mental balance, peaceful manner, intelligence and willingness to work cooperatively, coupled with its special predisposition for collection, makes it an ideal horse for classic taming.

Farriols horses: Origin and selection

The family’s love of horses began about 1945, but the real origin of the breeding farm is from the 1970s. It was completely private then, and was only for recreation. It became a breeding farm In 1979, becoming what it is today.

Rafael and Carmela traveled through the all of Spain, selecting mares and stallions from the best sources, always looking to breed horses with a good character, and good morphology and movement. As a proof of this, they have won many awards in morphology contests.

The first horses they gathered came from Yeguada Militar, Granda and Paco Lazo.

After more than 30 years of breeding, we now have our own line of horses, Farriols Horses, with these characteristics:

• Physique: horses with strong bones, great limbs, good hooves and excellent top lines. The heads are slightly convex, long arched necks, prominent wither, broad and angled shoulders, straight backs and powerful rumps, favoring overall quality of movement.
• Mental: Farriols horses trust people, which greatly improves communication and cooperation in daily management and training.

All this favors having physically, mentally and emotionally balanced horses that allow us to enjoy this splendid animal to the full.

Connected to people since birth

Melín Farriols creates a bond of friendship and trust with the horses from the time they’re born.

After many years of breeding, our horses our born with clear minds and a natural trust towards people. We accustom them to daily life. During their first few months of life we have them wear a halter, and we let them get used to the clippers and the farrier, and we teach them behavioral patterns that make their future treatment and management very easy. In addition, they run free on the farm, so they have contact with a variety of things and situations, becoming happy, confident and sensitive horses. Once they’ve been weaned, we take them to the field, where they have ample space to run and play.

A few years later, Melín M. Farriols started the training work, always respecting each horse’s own learning rhythm, physically and mentally, so that the horse enjoys this new period, still preserving its curiosity and willingness to learn. She also applies the Connected Riding™ technique to teach the horse how to move with great ease and freedom and with proper posture, to support the weight of the rider comfortably.

We could summarize the benefits that we have experienced with our horses in the following way:

• Confident horses. We could differentiate between the genetic and learned behaviors of horses. The first are instinctive, but thanks to the treatment they received from birth, we can modulate them. So the natural fear that the horse has towards the unknown could be transformed into curiosity, because a curious animal needs to know what could be harmful, so it can live calmly and comfortably. That’s why from birth we create a trustworthy environment, to accomplish this important step.
• Friendly horses. Horses are very sociable animals, and have a natural tendency towards friendship. We use this characteristic to create a good connection with our horses. They perceive the good treatment, which improves the relationship between human and horse. The result is horses who feel very close to people, so people can enjoy their expressivity and essence.
• Communicative horses. When you establish a relationhip based on trust and respect, the horse is more predisposed to communicate with people, which directly influences its willingness to cooperate. When we employ empathy — to see the world from the perspective of the horse — we establish a positive bond that strengthens the relationship.