Breed development of the Purebred Spanish Horse over centuries

Abstract

The Spanish horse, sometimes referred to as the PRE horse, an abbreviation for Pura Raza Española, or in some parts of the world the horse might be called the Andalusian horse. This horse is famous for it’s courage, big heart and intelligence. The Purebred Spanish horse was originally bred for a certain type or work in the past, e.g. war, show, bullfighting or draught. Nowadays the Spanish horse is bred for racing, work and breeding, the interest of using the Spanish horse as a sport horse has grown, especially for dressage. The breeding program in the past focused mainly on the morphological characteristics and their appearance, while nowadays the breeding program focuses to produce horses suitable for dressage. The reason for why the Spanish horse is of great interest to be used for dressage is because of their temperament, expressive movements and their powerful and very beautiful appearance. These things together with their ability to make elevated movements and to gather in trot make them excellent horses to be used for dressage. In conclusion the Spanish horse has been bred for their desirable characteristics by humans, therefore the breed has changed how it was in the past compared to the modern Spanish horse. The aim with this thesis is to study the evolution of the breed development of the Spanish horse, how it became what it is today.