The Lusitano Purebred is the oldest saddle horse in the world. It has been ridden for around 5000 years and has now, at the dawn of the 21st century reconquered its 2000 year old splendour when Greeks and Romans considered it the finest saddle horse in Antiquity.

The Lusitano Purebred is a “hot blooded” horse of the Arab and English Purebred type. It is the result of a selection process which has taken thousands of years and which ensures a greater degree of “empathy” with top quality riders than any other modern breed.

The Lusitano Purebred, selected for its hunting and fighting qualities over the course of the centuries, is a versatile horse whose gentleness, agility and courage permit it to take part in almost all modern, equestrian trials and compete with the finest specialists.

The Lusitano Purebred is again in demand as a sport and leisure mount and as a studhorse on account of its rare qualities of character and genetic antiquity.

Its rarity derives from a very small breeding stock of around 4.000 broodmares.

In Portugal, the cradle of the breed, there are more than around 1.800 mares of fool-bearing age. The total in Brazil is 1200, France has 400 and the remainder are split up among Mexico, England, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Canada and the USA.

The Lusitano Breed is currently growing, particularly in Europa and Brazil, in which the progression in terms of quantity and quality has been remarkable. There have been improvements in the general quality of production in Portugal and everything suggests that new lines will be established within the breed, contributing towards its progress and ensuring its vitality.

The Lusitano Purebred in the 21st century will always be the perfect choice for equestrian art and bullfighting. In addition to being the most pleasurable mount, it will continue to amaze us on account of its natural aptitude for obstacle jumping, dressage and competition carriage driving in which it has already won the world Four Horse Carriage Driving Championship.

In terms of Working Equitation, open to all breeds, the Lusitano horse has distinguished itself by winning four European Championship and the World Championship (Team) Title.
The official institutionalisation of the Lusitano Breed Studbook represented a decisive step forward by conditioning the admission of studhorses, giving rise to a general and painstaking selection process, providing detailed knowledge on bloodlines and permitting the perpetuation of the characteristics of certain studhorses.

Famous Riders:

Félix Brasseur, Champion of the World in Coupling with 4 Lusitanian horses in 1996.

John Whitaker in the obstacle jumps with Lusitanian horse “Novilheiro”.

Gimenez in the 5th place in Dressage Championship of Europe 2005 with Lusitanian horse “Guizo”, and a silver medal in Olympic Games and a bronze medal in a team work in European Championship.

João Lynce as Portugal Master Champion 2003 in Working Equitation with horse “Nabão”, and in the same year was European Champion individually and has a title of World Champion in a team work in 2002.

We have a lot of famous horse riders and horses in bullfighting because a Lusitanian horse is showing there his best performance.