The Carthusian Horse, not the Andalusian, is known as the true Spanish horse or Caballo Espanol. The actual true name of this historic breed of horses is the Pura Raza Espanol or "of pure Spanish race". The stud book for the Carthusian Horse is different than the Andalusian stud, although many people mistakenly believe that the Andalusian is the original breed.
The Carthusian Horse has also been known as the Terry Horse as well as the Bocado Horse and can be traced back to the early 15th century. Only a purebred Carthusian Horse can wear the Bocoda brand.
The Carthusian Horses are so named as they were isolated, carefully bred, and prevented from breeding with the Andalusian strain by the Carthusian monks. The monks received a herd of Carthusian horses as payment of debt from Don Pedro Picado sometime shortly after 1736. All of these horses were from the famous stallion Esclavo, from which all Carthusians can be traced back to.
It is part of the lore of the breed that two brothers named Zamora, actually rescued a military trained stallion named El Soldado when they found him being used as a simple cart horse. From El Soldado came Esclavo who was believed to be the embodiment of the perfect military and riding horse. When Esclavo was mature, the brothers used him for breeding, exclusively producing the Carthusian Horse. One day one of the brothers, named Andres, left he farm and his other brother sold Esclavo to a Portugese breeder. When Andres returned home he was so distraught over the loss of the stallion that he died shortly afterwards.
Most but not all of the Carthusian horses will have two distinctive features and those include wart like bumps under the tail and moderate to somewhat prominent bony protrusions on the forehead. It is reported that these same physical characteristics were very evident in Esclavo, and before DNA testing had to be present for the horses to be registered in the stud book.
Traditionally all Carthusian foals will have their manes and tail clipped shortly after birth and all mares are kept trimmed, but stallions are shown with the mane and tail natural and long. Mares are not typically ridden in shows and the males are not commonly gelded, but the calm and even disposition of the breed makes handling the stallions relatively easy once they are trained.
One popular way to show groups of mares is in a "Cobra" Cobras can be any size from 3 mares up to as many as 20, all walking beside each other in a line connected with simple neck collars with a single long rein. There is one handler that shows this group of mares, with the emphasis on conformity within the mares. This is the same way these mares would have historically been used in the fields when thrashing the crops, particularily maize.
The Carthusian Horse excels in dressage, show jumping, eventing but also as a stock horse, general riding horse and for an agricultural horse as well as a stylish carriage horse.
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