Athena, Offended, Generous, Winemaker, Norman, Playful, Blessed, Gondola… are some of the names of the mares and horses who participate in the Royal Stables these days in the 29th Spanish Pure Breed Morphological Competition City of Córdoba, where a total of 105 animals will compete for the crown in a competition divided into a purely morphological test (adaptation to a standardized appearance) and another of functionality (in which certain movements are evaluated). Fifty-two of the world’s best stud farms compete for the title of the perfect horse, in which breeders and riders are always searching for that extra point of splendor that brings the score closer to an almost impossible ideal.
This competition is part of what its organizers have described as ‘super’ Cabalcorfor the number of activities which are distributed between the months of September and October. The morphological aspect is also at the origin of this Cordoba Horse Fair.
Today it is a complete horse showintended for both horse lovers and tourists visiting the city in your high fall season. “Inside competition of morphology looking for the perfection of the horse regarding the qualities of the breed”, says Juan Manuel Crespo, member of the board of directors of the Cordoba Horse Breeders Association. “They must comply as much as possible with the breed standard, published in the BOE, according to their different regions, such as the head, neck, back, withers, rump or legs,” he concluded.
And what does it say? standard? In summary, the Spanish breed horse must be between 1.52 and 1.72 meters tall and muscular and harmonious bodywith a well-proportioned head and a straight or slightly convex profile. Grey, brown and black coats predominate, although others are permitted. First defined in BOE 313 of December 31, 2002, the standard is truly wordy and detailed, and also includes rules for pedigrees, defects or breeding suitability. And from there there is a institutionalized official canon: excellent (10 points), very good (9 points), good (8 points), acceptable (7 points), average (5 or 6 points), bad (3 or 4 points) and poor (1 or 2 points).
The Morphological Competition takes place again in the monumental setting of the Royal Stables
Among the evaluable characteristics, there is also character, through relationship with the rider and the animal response to commands. “A horse, to be perfect, must have almost the characteristics of a person,” jokes the director of the Camp Rodó ranch, Juan Manuel Fernández. “The character of a Spanish horse is good, gentle and noble, they are horses very attached to the house, they are familiar, they can almost end up being another member of the family.”
Head and tunes
For Fernandezcompared to other races, and whatever the beauty, the behavior of Spanish horses is at light years away from others: “A whole horse or a stallion of other breeds is almost unmanageable; Ours are together and absolutely nothing is happening.
But can you register for perfection even if it is at the abstract level? This is what riders believe, always attentive to everything that can be improved in the Spanish horse. Juan Antonio Jiménez Cobo Last summer he became the oldest Spanish athlete to take part in the Olympic Games, at the age of 65: “The preparation for going to Paris went very well.but there we had no luck and the horse did not respond well to me because of the heat on the day of the competition,” he remembers.
The Morphological Competition consolidates the historic headquarters as a showcase for the excellence of these specimens
“THE Spanish horses are beautiful“, they have a meeting, and it is the horse who has the most brain, understood as character and intelligence to learn, for me he needs to improve his gaits”, recognizes the Olympic athlete. This term “gaits” includes the movements of different walks, such as walking, trotting or galloping.
Public present at the Morphological Competition on Friday
In this sense, the Olympic athlete bet on the direction of a more strength for dressage. Rider Juan Francisco Lecina Moreno, who represents the Echandi stud, is of the same opinion: “We have made a lot of progress in improving these gaits, perhaps we should improve the mechanics of the movements.”
These specimens presented in Cordoba, and practically perfect, nevertheless have weaknesseslike certain illnesses, the most fundamental being colic due to inadequate diet “or the infectious diseases which affect epidemics, such as currently the West Nile virus”, explains Juan Manuel Crespo, also a veterinarian. “It can pass from horse to man, and from man to horse, it is even capable of killing a horse if it “catch with few defenses,” he clarified. “In fact, we are vaccinating the entire herd against West Nile virus, at least in this region of Andalusia.” For the moment, this vaccine does not is not obligatory.
“Spanish horses have beauty, harmony and are those with the most brains, that is, character and intelligence to learn”
With free entry, the morphological competitionwhich starts at 9:30 a.m. and ends in the evening, is a constant movement of the publicfans who came “ex professo”, other Cordobans attracted by the competition and its attractiveness, and of course tourists.
For attract visitors organizes a to show in the ancient entrance to the Alcazar of the Christian Kings. There, dressed in ancient clothing, Rafael Ruiz accompanies his horse while many spectators surround him. “We have prepared several figures,” he says. In addition to his old costume, he has another gala costume for the ordinary show organized at the Royal Stables and which, on this occasion, will also serve as the icing on the cake for the morphological competition. There are still many other equestrian events until October.
