Market Place Understanding the Andalusian horse market place ...

How to Read the Andalusian Horse Classified Ads

by Donna DeYoung, Pure Spanish (PRE) Andalusian Horse Breeder

Are you new to reading Andalusian horse advertisements? The following information will help you decipher those ads.

Andalusian Terms A to Z

Alot of bone - minimum suggested is 18 cm around the cannon bone just below the knee. A horse with 20 - 22 cm cannon bone would be considered having more than the minimum. A young horse (yearling or two -three year old) can expect to put on about 1 cm a year as he grows.

Azteca - crossbred with quarter horse or paint. The better Aztecas and National horses of Mexico are considered to have predominately Andalusian blood which you only get after breeding back 4 times to an Andalusian.

Baroque - a term used to describe the classic horse bred for royalty - i.e., convex head, long mane and tail, rounded body, rounded movements, beauty, elevation in movements

Beautiful eye - nice, large and round eye. If eyes are protruding, this is an Arabian characteristic (not desired) but lends towards a "prettier" head

Big moving -  excessive knee lift and engagement of hocks is evident or else length of stride and amount of ground covered is great. Hard to get both. The excessive knee lift is very desirable movement for show or parade horses, slightly less desirable for dressage. The longer stride is more desirable for dressage but tends to be less flashy. Its up to your personal taste.

Black gene - the horse can be a grey or bay but has at least one parent that is black or has close relatives that are black. Has nothing to do with the chestnut gene.

Brave and intelligent - strong tempered! watch out. Colts tend to be braver than mares.

Breeding stallion potential - just about every colt, since so few are gelded

Combines the best of Spain and Portugal - this is an "SP" or "PSP" - considered a crossbred in both mother countries.

Complemented by the Cria Caballar - take a closer look, horse probably looks very Spanish and would be a complement to your breeding program

Correct conformation - see well-bred

Cria approved - same as revised

Cria caballero - a misspelling of the correct term "cria caballar"

Double registered - has both USA (IALHA) and Spain (Cria caballar) papers

Dressage prospect -longer legs in proportion to the body, good length of stride with legs reaching out in front, flatter type movements - OR just about every advertised Andalusian

Floating movement - all four feet appear to come off the ground, as opposed to the western jog trot where all four feet appear to stay on the ground

Foundation sire - the first horse they bought

Full mane and tail - a nice mane can cover up plenty of faults.

Going to be huge - over 16 hands, maybe

Gold medal best movement - the horse in the conformation class (IALHA) with the best score for walk/trot (conformation is not a part of the score and the horse could be really ugly)

Grey, can throw color - a grey horse with one bay parent. The bay is recessive, so a bay parent will always pass on his or her bay gene. A grey from a grey and bay is heterozygous for color and has a 50% chance of throwing a grey gene and 50% chance of throwing a bay gene (or black or chestnut) when bred.

Greying - horse looks dark bay or black but will eventually grey

Hierro de Bocado breeding - the old lines that are still preserved in Spain today by the State, similar to Cartujano, Terry bred, Carthusian, etc.

IALHA - International Andalusian and Lusitano Horse Association registry (in the U.S.)

Imported bloodlines - for pure Spanish horses this is most often from Spain. Can also be from Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica, etc.

In your pocket - slightly spoiled and pushy

Inscribed - the horse has been written into the Spanish studbook as a youngster. Still needs to be approved for breeding as a mature horse.

Lost the papers - you can forget about ever seeing them, seriously!!! I've heard all the horror stories.

Lots of push from behind - correct moving horse with large hindquarters that are able to propel the back legs well under the body for "drive"

Loving personality - typical easy-to-get-along with disposition which is the breed standard for the Andalusian and Lusitano although there are exceptions

Mainly used as a breeding stallion - strong sex drive

Micro-chipped - required identification for an inscribed filly or colt. The microchip is implanted in the fatty tissue of the neck crest

National Champion - the horse has won a champion title in USA competition. Sometimes there are as few as 2 or as many as 20 horses in a national championship class. To qualify for a championship class, the horse only has to win one ribbon for 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place in a qualifying class against any number of horses. A typical USA championship show has 200 entries or more total.

Nationals quality - refined and pretty enough for US judge's taste

Owner does not have time - wants the cash for this nice horse

Pasture raised - no previous handling, you're going to have your hands full

PRE - Pura Raza Espanola - the real thing from Spain

Price will increase with training - very few trained Andalusians are offered for sale anyways and if you're looking for one be ready to pay big bucks ($20,000 or more)

Price goes up after weaning - hurry up and buy him while he still looks cute

Purebred - the horse can be a cross between Lusitano (Portuguese origins) and Spanish and still be considered a purebred.

Rare - as in color. The most common color is grey for Pure Spanish horses. Bay follows. Black is considered "rare" as is chestnut. The Lusitano horse is often grey, bay, or chestnut and also occurs as palomino and buckskin due to the presence of the dilution gene.

Revised - the horse has been approved by Spain for breeding

S/P - Spanish/Portuguese cross, same as PSP

Senior Stallion - over 5 years of age

Should reach 16 hands - might be that tall at 6 years of age or could be less.

Spanish commission - see Cria caballar

Spanish judge - a judge imported from Spain to give his opinion on our horses

Special - all Andalusians are special!

Sport horse - horse shows inclinations for flatter, long movements. There is no test for sport horses in this breed and very few, if any, are competing on a National level in jumping or eventing. Buyer beware. Enough said.

Straight moving - opposite of winging

Subconvex - slightly more bowed out than straight but not "roman-nosed" which would be truly convex

Talented - see special

Top breeder in Spain - usually has won multiple ribbons of national recognition. Most Spanish breeders are known to have "two herds"  -  the one the sell from and the ones they keep. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to get the best horses out of the country. Even if someone says they've got one, its hard to prove it since they can't take the horse back to Spain and show it, and the shows here in the US are judged by Americans. In other words, you've got alot to learn if you don't know who is who or what is what.

Top Five - horse placed among 5 other top horses at championship level in USA. First place is National champion and second is reserve. No minimum number of horses is required. If four horses enter, all four receive top 5 honors.

Unlimited potential - for the amount of money you're about to spend, it better have

Very quiet - lazy

Warlander - crossbred with Friesian

Well-bred - anything goes

Willing mind - will do much better with some training