WELCOME TO NORTH FARM ANDALUSIANS

26.11.07 It is with heartbreak that we announce the passing away of "Teddy" today, - atonishingly 43 years old and fit and well until his last day, today. All at North Farm Andalusians have had a heart-breaking day, we will miss Teddy terribly. These are pictures from only 2 months ago - still enjoying real quality of life. Bye bye darling Teddy, you will never know how much happiness you have brought to so many children. xxxxxxx At North Farm Andalusians Sheila Sheppard imports Pure Bred Spanish Horses (Pura Raza Espanola, or PRE, often known simply as 'Andalusians') direct from some of the finest studs in Spain. Our horses are chosen specifically for the British Market with great care and expertise. They undergo stringent vettings in Spain and are transported home to our fully equipped yard in Wiltshire, where we have a new indoor school, outdoor dressage arena, horse walker and idyllic hacking. Once the horses have been settled and acclimatised, they are offered for sale. Sheila and her staff have over 10 years of experience importing, handling, training and presenting Spanish purebreds for the British Market (we’ve exported horses to France and Spain too!), and North Farm Andalusians are today northern Europe’s leading importer of PRE horses. We have the largest selection of fine PRE horses for sale in Great Britain and at any one time have up to 24 horses for sale, all settled and available from our yard in Wiltshire. Our horses range from highly schooled stallions to family geldings, youngstock and riding/brood mares. Clients are invited to come to Wiltshire to try a horse which has already been adapted to life in the UK. We offer an introductory education into the management of the Andalusian horse in order that new owners can develop the best possible partnership with their new purchase. Our links with leading dressage trainers and our 'school days' can ensure that buyers and potential buyers get the very best from guidance. A little about the PRE The PRE is a true “breed” in that any individual PRE is registered as such in the Spanish State Studbook. To achieve registration a horse has both to have a PRE bloodline and to pass an individual inspection. In other words, not all horses of PRE bloodlines will themselves be PREs—just those with the requisite colouring (grey, white, bay, black and chestnut) and other physical characteristics make the grade. The modern PRE has a long lineage. Their antecedents were used as cavalry mounts by Greeks and Romans, and were brought to Britain after the arrival of the Normans. Their star appears to have waned from the late Middle Ages as the spread of firearms rendered their strength and endurance in warfare less essential. Interest in the line revived in the early 19th century on the basis of the line’s physical aesthetic, and from the early 20th century to the present the breed’s appeal has steadily grown and spread. PREs are compact and very strong, with well-developed fore quarters and neck. Their thick, long manes and tails give them a fairytale look (although mares' manes are often cropped), while their precise movement has brought them to the fore in classical dressage, in which PREs took the team bronze at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Any rider new to the PRE is most likely to be struck, however, by a PRE’s personality and intelligence. A rider can rapidly develop a bond with a PRE which he will notice to be qualitatively different from that which can normally be built with a warmblood or other hotblood (see our webpage The human side.... for some pictures of bonding in progress!). And the achievement of this bond is one of the key reasons it is so important properly to match a horse and rider--when these bonds are formed, an incredibly rewarding partnership naturally flows. For a history of the PRE, try the Wikipedia article 'Andalusian horse' at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andalusian_horse Other links that may be of interest: The British Association for the Purebred Spanish Horse, at http://www.bapshweb.co.uk/ The International Andalusian & Lusitano Horse Association, at http://www.ialha.org/ The Foundation for the Pure Spanish Horse, at http://www.prehorse.org/ The Spanish State Studbook administration (FESCCR), at http://www.librogenealogico.com/

Email this page to a friend