Caballos

Characteristics of the Lusitano breed

Type: Of middling weight (around 500 kg); medium shaped, sub-convex (rounded shape), with a square shaped silhouette.

Height: medium at withers using ameasuring stick at age of 6: mares with 1.55 m and stallions with 1.60 m.

Hair: All shades of grey and bay are the most frequent.

Temperament: noble, generous and ardent but always gentle and longsuffering.

Movements: Agile, high stepping and forward thrusting, gentle and very easy to ride.

Aptitude: a natural gift for concentration, well disposed for Artistry and courageous andenthusiastic in Gineta exercises (combat, hunting, bullfighting, herding etc.)

Head: well proportioned, of medium length, narrow and dry with relatively unpronounced lower jaw and relatively long in thecheek with a slightly sub-convex profile and upwards curving forehead (over eyebrow bones) huge elliptical, expressive confident eyes. Ears are of average length, delicate, narrow and expressive.Neck: of average length, arched with a slight hairline, with a narrow junction to the head, broad at the base and perfectly positioned in respect of the shoulder blades rising from withers without anymarked depression.

Withers: well defined and long, with a smooth transition between the spine and neck, always slightly more raised than the croup. In fully grown males it is covered in fat but isalways clearly visible through the shoulder blades.

Chest: Medium, deep and muscular.

Ribcage: well developed, long and deep, with ribs obliquely arched into the spinal column, providing a short,full flank.

Shoulder blades: long, oblique and muscular.




Back: upright, leaning horizontally providing a smooth union between the withers and loin.

Loins: short, broad, muscularslightly convex, well connected to the back and croup with which they form a continuous and perfectly harmonious line.

Croup: strong and rounded, well proportioned, slightly oblique, identical in length...