Beyleria  (*Delerio x Offira Bey)

The Spanish Arabian's ability to produce winning outcross individuals has been unsurpassed, leading many people to wonder about their genetic pool and the causes of this hybrid vigor when crossed with other strains. Their history is unique, shaped by the role of the Spanish military over the last hundred and fifty years, and circumstances of the last century. These forces have produced a strain of horse that is proving to be important to that goal which all breeders strive for: the production of the perfect Arabian horse. It is a goal that allures, yet alludes.

In 711, the Moors invaded Spain and remained for eight hundred years, bringing their influence in art, architecture, literature, and science as well as their astounding desert horses. These horses had been culled for centuries, as only the heartiest were able to withstand the hard work, scanty food, and harsh climate they were subjected to. Used as mounts, these horses were the deciding factor in the Moslem Wars of Conquest, so the exceptional quality of the Arabian breed was well-known in Spain by the time the Royal Stud was founded in 1820.

The Yequada Militar is a military organization, a branch of the Spanish government, operated by the Ministry of War. This ministry controls everything related to war, including horses (which are considered a war machine). "Yequada" is Spanish for "broodmare band" or "stud". The Yequada Militar, through an office in Madrid, the Jefatura de la Cria Caballar, administers activities for all breeds of horses in Spain, including the breeding, the stallion stations, and the stud books. It owns seven stallion depots in Spain and many farms in different locations for raising several breeds of horses.

The Yequada Militar has directed the breeding of the Spanish Arabian horses since the Arabian Stud Book was founded in 1847 (except for a short period of time the 1930s during the Spanish Civil War). The first entry in the Spanish Arabian Stud Book is for a yearling colt descended from a group of horses imported from the desert by Queen Isabella II for the royal stud near Aranjez. Now, the Arabian stud is located at a farm called Coritijo de Vicos near Jerez de la Frontera, where the climate and terrain are ideal for the production of the desert horse.

The Spanish military had long been aware of the value of using Arabian stock to improve other breeds. In a move to upgrade the Cavalry horse and the country's equine population, a military commission was sent to the desert in 1849-50 to search for good Arabian stock. It brought back 24 stallions, 12 mares, and 12 colts, none of them intended to be used for purebred breeding. The stallions were available to private breeders at a nominal cost, and the emphasis at the Yequada was on improving the herd of Andalusian mares. By 1894, no purebred Arabians tracing to those early importations remained. 

Finally, in 1908, the Cria Caballar decided to import a large number of horses and mares from the desert and Poland as foundation stock for a herd of purebred Arabians. Twenty stallions and twenty mares arrived in the first importation, and some of their names appear in pedigrees today. Among them are Bint, granddam of Eco and Ymm, great great granddam of Congo. n

Wan Dick

It was in 1908 that a horse came to Spain, from Poland, who probably changed the course of the quality of the Arabian horse.  That horse was Wan Dick (Van-Dyck in Poland) His quality and correct angulation come through today as he was the sire of many very important broodmares and he appears in almost all the important pedigrees of today.  His lay of shoulder, set of neck and his depth of hip was most unusual for his time and those qualities

Another horse who appears in Spanish pedigrees from this time is Seanderich, a tall grey stallion, was foaled in Turkey in 1902. He was discovered in 1908 by a horse dealer in Istanbul who bought horses for European governments. This dealer had been asked to look for an

The stallion was taken to the state stud in Jerez, where his extraordinary quality as a sire came through in his two sons Eco, who originated the Barquillo line, and Illustre, sire of Congo, the Ybarra-bred horse that later sired so many excellent stallions and mares for the Yequada. The famous sire Galero was a double Congo grandson.

By 1912 the herd of purebred Spanish Arabians at the Yequada Militar had grown large enough that for the first time mares were offered for sale and private breeders had an opportunity to aquire stock from this select group. The Marquis of Domecq and Don Jose Maria Ybarra were among the early buyers. Both established breeding programs of such note that the Yequada Militar later bought stallions from them.

Itwas also in the year 1912 that we saw the importation of another important stallion who carries down to present day pedigrees. Ursus, a dark bay, was imported to Spain for the Bialocerkiew Stud in Poland where he was foaled in 1908. There is an interesting story about the purchase of this horse.

Count Branicki, the breeder of this horse, was adamant about not wanting to sell Ursus. He offered to sell other horses, including some of his best mares, to the Commission from Spain, but not Ursus. However, the Commission was absolutely set on having the horse for Spain, so they asked for the help of the Spanish Ambassador at the Tsar's court, something that had never been done before. The Spanish Ambassador was not a personal friend of the Branickis, but he was a very good friend of the British Ambassador, who in turn was reported to be a great friend of Countess Branicki. Bedroom diplomacy (perhaps even involving a threat of exposure) finally resulted in Ursus being acquired for Spain.

The price paid for Ursus was an enormous sum for those days, and this led to trouble. In Parliament, a socialist member asked the Minister of War about the outrageous expenditures that the Cria Caballar had been making abroad, buying foreign horses at such prices! This Minister did not know anything about this, as the Cria Caballar had its own funds to spend as it pleased. He said he had no knowledge of the matter. Following this pronouncement, a great outcry arose from the opposition benches. The upshot was that the Minister finally resigned, and the government fell. The entire Spanish government was in a shambles over the purchase of this horse!

Despite the scandal and the exceptionally high price paid for Ursus, for some reason the State Stud did not use him much for purebred breeding, and in 1928, he was sold to Don Jose Maria Ybarra who built up one of the largest and most successful private studs in Spain.  Ursus sired 30 sons at Ybarra's stud. Most Ursus offspring were lost in the Civil War, but six have descendants in modern pedigrees.  Of these Gandhy is considered Ursus' most famous son. Gandhy's dam was Gomara, 
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who brought in Egyptian, desert, and Polish lines. (In 1935, the YequadaMilitar purchased Gandhy from Ybarra. At the State Stud, Gandhy sired 33 sons. The most influential were Tetuan, Habiente, Malvito and Maquillo. Maquillo sired Bambu who in turn was the sire of *Abha Hamir and *Delerio.)

Until 1931, with the advent of the Republic, it is certain that Spain had the best bloodlines anywhere, mostly at the National Stud, but also in the hands of private breeders. No expense had been spared, by either the government or private breeders, in acquiring the top horses in the world. In Spain horses are a passion, and that passion carried through to the acquisition of the best Arabians to be found anywhere. Importantly, the private breeders, as well as the directors of the breeding program at the Yequada Militar, were incredibly knowledgeable about Arabian horses, and knew exactly the qualities they were trying to develop in the breed. Because they had accurate records of all the purebred Arabians in Spain, they were able to carefully (and unemotionally) direct breeding programs in order to achieve the desired results.

The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and the resultant ruin to the country interrupted the Arabians breeding program and put it on a low priority for a while, but one of the many tradgedies of that war brought new bloodlines to the Yequada Militar.

The Duke of Veraqua had inherited Valjuanete, one of the oldest farms in Spain, famous for its brave fighting bulls. Veraqua had little enthusiasm for the bulls, however, and gradually sold them all and began to breed Arabian horses. Before long, he owned some of the best in the world. He had imported mainly from England, and had in fact acquired five Skowronek daughters, an amazing feat in and of itself. During the war, Veraqua was murdered by Republican troops, and most of his horses were confiscated by the Republican government. Although many of the horses perished, cavalry officers recognized the value of the horses and took the herd to the Yequada Militar at Cordoba. Later, the horses were purchased from the Duke's heirs.
 

Fifteen of these horses account for the "de Veraqua" mares seen in Spanish pedigrees. While it is certain that these mares were pure Arabian, only the Duke knew who their sires and dams were, as the fillies had been weaned by the time they were moved to Cordoba.

Reyna

Lady Wentworth, in THE AUTHENTIC ARABIAN HORSE, said that Veraqua was "one of the world's authorities on Arabian horses", so although the details of their ancestry were lost when the Duke died, we can be sure today that the "de Veraqua" bloodlines are superb.

Spain's economy was devastated by the Civil War. But as it turned out, it was not a tragic setback for the purebred Arabian breeding program in Spain. The harsh culling program necessitated by economics has proven to be extremely beneficial. While the postwar studbooks reflect a continual decrease in the numbers of horses registered, rigid culling ensured that only the finest stock was kept and used as broodstock, and breeding was carefully continued with a rich pool of the best bloodlines. After 1939, very few horses were imported to Spain.

In the mid-1950s, the stud at Cordoba was needed for other purposes and the Yequada Militar had to be relocated. The mares and foals were taken to Cortijo de Vicos, a former remount depot east of Jerez de la Frontera. The facility was smaller than the Cordoba farm and many mares were sold, providing another opportunity for private breeders to acquire the Yequada Militar bloodlines.

The advent of World Arabian Horse Organization (WAHO), the acceptance of the Spanish stud book, and the possibility of sales to foreign countries brought about a revival in the breeding of pure Spanish Arabian horses, in Spain and elsewhere. The revival resulted in a new appreciation of the bloodlines maintained at the Yequada Militar for so many years. The Yequada has expanded its broodmare band, and now caters to a highly selective clientele which competes for stallions for their farms each year. There is a great deal of interest in the annual sale of Yequada Militar horses. The closing of the Spanish border due to "El Peste" (African Sleeping Sickness) resulted in no horses being allowed to be exported from Spain (except to South American countries) for several years. This increased the pressure on pure Spanish breeders in other countries to carry on the tradition set down by the Yequada Militar and private breeders in Spain. The importation of horses from Spain was opened back a few years ago, though there have been few, if any, new imports into the United States since then. Most of the exportation of Spanish blood goes to South American or to European countries.

The Yequada's top stallions are kept at the stallion station, the Deposito de Sementales at Jerez de la Frontera. Each spring, a commission from Cortijo de Vicos comes to the Deposito to select the stallions for the current breeding season. The chosen stallions are taken to Vicos to stay from January to May. The remaining stallions are leased to private breeders or sent to villiages throughout the country. (The plan is very similar to the U.S. 's Remount Service, which leased or loaned Arabian and Thoroughbred stallions for the purpose of producing horses for war. The Remount made long-term or permanent loans, however, whereas the Yequada Militar stallions are returned to Jerez after each breeding season and the competition for them for the following breeding season 
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begins all over again.) Occassionally a private breeder may secure the services of a top stallion for a breeding season, but this is quite a coup and takes a lot of political maneuvering. For example, the heirs of the Duke of Veraqua at Vajuanete were able to acquire Zancudo for five seasons, and thus they had a large collection of his daughters.

Fillies foaled at Vicos are kept there until they are four and have produced one foal. Then they are classified by a commission of Yequada Militar personnel which determines whether they will become future broodmares at Vicos or be sold in the annual auction. Full sisters of mares in the broodmare band are sometimes sent to auction as are older mares with several daughters being held as replacements. The Hoyts and I were able to obtain a couple of our foundation mares from this annual auction. Only five to ten mares are sold each year.

Colts are kept at Vicos or at a farm in Jerez a few blocks from the Deposito. When they are four they are put in a training program, then classified by the commission which evaluates their acceptance of training and their movement under saddle. This commission is made up of horsemen who have a background in several disciplines, including jumping and eventing, so, while appreciative of the Arabian breed, they are highly critical of non-athletic, non-trainable horses, and those horses are rapidly culled. This practice has, through the years, produced an Arabian prized for its trainability.

Thus, for over a hundred and fifty years, Spanish Arabians have been selected from the best stock in the world with a pragmatic, non-emotional approach. While the pure Spanish Arabian can be magnificent in appearance, it was never been the aim of the Spanish breeders to develop a strain of horse that is beautiful, but impractical. Physically, the desired "type" requires a large dark eye, high-set neck, excellent topline and strong muscling of the loin, a powerful trot characterized by tremendous drive from the rear, and elevation of the forehand, accented by a high, straight tail carriage. A high degree of trainability, intelligence, and amiable disposition are considered to be as important as physical features. All these characteristics, highly desirable in today's show ring and brood stock, come through when the pure Spanish Arabian is crossed on other strains of Arabian horses.

Ihave been involved in breeding pure Spanish Arabians since 1981. I have been fortunate enough to have made countless trips to Spain and able to see many of the "old greats" in the flesh. I saw what they produced, their strong points and their weaknesses. I have spent countless hours with many of the top breeders in Spain getting their view and theories on breeding the pure Spanish Arabian. Through the Hoyts, I was involved with the importation of over twenty pure Spanish Arabians. From that stock we have produced horses that have been Champions in Scottsdale and National Champions in the United States and in Spain. My goal has never wavered: to produce performance horses that excited the eye, horses for horsemen, powerful, athletic horses that were soft to handle, free from vices and neuroses. It is the same goal that the breeders in Spain have been following for 150 years, but refined for the demands of today.
 

Some of Spain's old greats:
Dandi II	Galero	Garbo	Jacio