This documented work shows the vicissitudes which the Spanish Horse had to
live through during one of the most unsettled political and social periods
in the Spanish history. It covers the years from 1700, the year which
coinsides with the arrival in Spain of the Bourbon kings, until the
beginning of the 20th century. It explains the historical development of
this breed of horses which, ever since its creation in the second half of
the 16th century, kept expanding through continuous endogenous crosses
carried out mainly by the Andalusian breeders. The aim was to try to uniform
the rest of the equine population, based on the morfological and
psychological characteristics for which the Spanish Horse had gained its
status of being perfect. The book examines all different aspects of its
evolution during those two centuries, placed in the historical, social,
military and economic context in which it occured. In this way, it analyzes
the various changes of regulations concerning horse breeding that were
issued, and through which this horse breed was being controlled, ever since
it had emerged from its cradle: the Royal Stud Farm of Córdoba. It describes
its morphology during that period and the process which had led to the end
of the religious orders´ predominance in horse breeding. It also clarifies
the confusion existing around the supposed crossbreeding of the Spanish
Horse in some moments in history, like those it endured during the French
invasion, in which it found itself on the verge of disappearance. The
subsequent arrival in Spain of new breeds of horses, like the Arab, the
English Thoroughbred or the Norman, together with the tax grants they were
being awarded, the Ordinances concerning the breeding of mules issued in
order to stop the progressive stagnation of the horse population, and the
obtaining of the lusitano horse through crosses are amongst the other
aspects also studded in this work.
We are talking here about a work of special interest, one that provides the
key which allows us to understand, to large extend, the present situation of
the Spanish breed. Furthermore, this book is the second part of the History
and Origins of the Spanish Horse (Historia y origen del caballo español)
which, only a year after it had been published, was regarded by the
specialized press as one of the ³classics², and awarded with words such as
³fundamental², ³brilliant² and ³revolutionary work². In it, it has been
shown and documented that the Spanish Horse was not the fruit of natural
evolution, as it had been claimed, but the result of the first genetic
megaproject in history undertaken in order to obtain a breed of horses whose
characteristics had been layed out by the classical Greeks as being ideal
for an equine. This was the project ordered to be carried out in the city of
Córdoba, in 1567, by the king Philip II.
Chapter I. Horse breeding in the first half of the 18th century.
1.1 Historical context. Philip V and horse breeding (1700-1746).
1.2 The prohibition of producing of mules and registration of
³stableboy².
1.3 Ferdinand VI (1746 -1759) and the reorganization of horse breeding.
The expansion of Purebred Spanish Horses to Portugal: The origin
of the similarities between the Purebred Spanish Horse and the Lusitano
Horse.
Chapter II. Charles III and the development of horse breeding (1759-1788).
2.1 Reorganization of horse breeding.
Stallions and mating services.
2.2 The expulsion of the Jesuits and the its effect on the expansion of
Purebred Spanish horses.
2.3 The breeding of ³Purebred² horse in Andalusia, Murcia and
Extremadura and the prohibition of breeding mules
2.4 The change of the Old Regime; decline and revival of equestrian
arts.
Chapter III.The decline of absolutism and the purebred
spanish horse.
3.1
Carlos IV y los picaderos reales.
3.2
The last Ordinances on horse breeding of the 18th century.
Prerogatives of the Royal Stables of Cordoba.
3.3 Recommendations for crossbreeding Spanish Horses.
The rrots of the crossbreeding recommending.
3.4 Críticism of the horse breeding system during the 18th century.
The morphology of the Spanish horse towards the end of the Old
Regime.
3.5 The Horse Register at the beginningof the 19th century and the new
prohibition to breed mules.
3.6 Inventory of the horses at the Royal stables of Córdoba, 1802-1804.
Chapter IV.The war of Independence, the advent of liberalism and the
arrival of new breeds.
4.1 Ferdinand VII prior to the War of Independence, 1808-1812.
The first requisitions of horses following the advance of the
French army towards Andalusia.
4.2 The Andalusian horse population following the Courts of Cádiz,
1812.
The return of the monarchy,(1813-1820)
The Constitutional Triennium and the arrival of draft horses in
Andalusia, (1820-1823).
Arrival of Norman mares at the stables of Aranjuez.
The stud farm of the Infante Francisco de Paula de Borbón
(Úbeda-Jaén).
4.3 Ferdinand VII's second period of absolutism, draft horses and the
Purebred Spanish Horse, (1823-1833).
The English thoroughbred (PSI).
English thoroughbreds: their influence on crossbreeding of draft
horses and the first racecourses.
Arab horses and the legends about their origins.
Racial characteristics of the Arab horse and its similarity with
the Spanish purebred.
Chapter V. The evolution of the breed and the work of the stablemasters.
5.1 Liberalization of the horse market under the regency of queen Maria
Cristina (1834-1840).
Sale of Church land and decline of breeding amongst monastic
orders.
Public stallion stations.
5.2 Isabel II and the new organization of the Royal Palace stables,
(1840-1870).
Morphological characteristics of the Spanish horse in
the 19th century and equestrian renaissance.
5.3 The First Republic and sale of the Royal Stud farm (1870-1875).
5.4 Alfonso XII (1875-1885): his love of horses.
Importation of English thoroughbreds by the Spanish Royal
Household.
Two Arab horses for the Spanish Royal Household.
Jacas for the Royal Household.
Recovery of the purebred Spanish horse
5.5 The regency of María Cristina of Habsburg-Lorraine, mother of
Alfonso XIII (1885-1902).
Horse censuses.
The purity and revival of the Spanish purebred horse from the
19th to the 20th century.
The Creation of the Military Stud farm.
The book has 368 p. 21x28 pages, 150 gram gloss paper with 134 color and
black and white photographs and ilustrations. Leather binding with gold
engraved letters and jacket with color, plastic coated photograph
with gold relief stamped title.
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