In this article we will revisit the history of the Peruvian Horse and demonstrate that many popular ideas held today are historical myths not realities. Our investigation on this subject began 7 years ago in Spain and our findings deviate from the recounts that are now being perpetuated. Our travels have led us to many interesting places and people, in fact to some of the leading Equine authorities on the Iberian Peninsula, the European Continent, North Africa and North America. We feel historical accuracy is vital to the vitality of-our breed because it profoundly effects the way we market and promote our horse. It also gives us ideas about which groups of people to target for sales and services. Separating fact from fiction can only give our breed more recognition, clout and credibility within the international horse community and the general public at large who are educated.

We will start with where the confusion began. In 1968 a major work in the field was written by Ascasubi, called, "El Caballo de Paso y Su Equitacion." From this one account a tremendous amount of misinformation has grown and, to date, has created a polarization within our breed. At this point we can liken our situation to that of Christopher Columbus. We ask, "how do we begin to change a paradigm that people cling to just because it is familiar to them?" This is no easy task as Christopher Columbus knew. Columbus was originally judged a heretic, trying to convince people that the would was round instead of flat. We are at the same juncture.

Photo 1

Notice the gait of this Andulusian in Seville, Spain.

The question we all face is: Is the Peruvian Horse a warmblood or is it a hotblood? After belaboring this question for many years our contention is, the Peruvian is definitely a "hotblood", a purebred Spanish horse that was selectively bred for the amble after reaching the shores of Peru. We discovered that many Andalusians in Spain had a propensity to amble and it is those horses that the Peruvians selected to breed to one another to get the broken lateral gait (see Photo 1). It is well documented that the Spanish Conquistadors brought with them both Hacks (amblers) and Chargers (trotters) of the same breed to the New World, and as recorded in the Archives of the Indios, the Spanish Horse was (and still is) a breed consisting of Galitian (Celtic) horses of the North, Sorraia, and Barb of Morocco. Horsemen in those days often traveled as much as a "full thirteen leagues" (thirty nine miles) which is not a bad journey for those who had only a single horse a piece and were not certain of the road. This they did at what is called in the records as a "Castillian Pace" or running walk, a Paso Llano.

However, many of our own Peruvian breeders prefer to ignore these facts. Instead, many still steadfastly maintain that the Peruvian horse is a mixed breed, meaning Spanish/Andalusian and Fresian. In other words they are advocating that our horse is a "warmblood" which means a cross of hot blood with that of a cold blood. To Spanish Andalusian and Portuguese Lusitano Breeders and historians this idea of Fresian being in the background of the Peruvian horse is preposterous. In fact, Spanish Breeders maintain if this were even remotely true it was done after the horse landed in Peru because the horses that left from Spain were of pure Spanish Blood and Sorraias, a predecessor of the Andalusian.

These are two very different points of view. In Spain, knowledgeable horseman have historical records available to them particularly in the Archives of the Indios which substantiate their contention. For this reason they staunchly maintain the Peruvian horse is Pura Raza Espanola. So to them as well, the idea that Fresian is behind the Peruvian is an impossibility.