I know this is an old thread.

Am I right in getting the impression from this thread ad from my own observations that a classical Lusitano seems pretty spot-on for a high-quality destrier?

Am I also right in saying that most people that would like one are put off by the price tag?

If yes and yes, then it might be worth your while looking for unregistered Lusitanos in Portugal. My fiancee and I found a lot of adverts on the websites of Portuguese studs for Lusitanos from one or two unregistered parents. There are often videos of the horse in action - some have not inconsiderable classical dressage schooling in them - and they are clearly well-conformed, well moving horses. In fact, apart from not being in the studbook, the only difference seems to be the price. It's a big difference, too.

Naturally there would be the time and expense of getting to Portugal, and the worry and expense of transatlantic shipping for many of you, but we are talking about big savings even then. The shipping isn't too complicated really, and with a relatively small horse with a sensible reputation (like a Lusitano) it shouldn't be problematic.

(With an 18hh Dutch Warmblood that's daft as a brush, on the other hand... Tried that, not fun. Caused the plane to abort take off and he may be permanently blinded in one eye after he banged his head trying to jump out of the stall. Second attempt with a double width stall was fine. Moral of the story - if in doubt, double the width!)

Hope this maybe helps someone find the horse they want.

We have two horses already and are not quite ready to take on a third. *sigh*

--------------------

In some cases though, that's still a heck of a deal. One of my clients got two horses in Holland and had them shipped to the US for $10,000 less than it would have cost her to buy a single Dutch WB of equivalent ability and training here. Most confirmed Grand Prix horses are running around $100,000 in the eastern US right now.

--------------------

--------------------

Went out to Portugal (Golega) in July - ironically booked the hol a few days before the above post - for some lessons and a horse buying trip. Ended up buying two Lusitanos; one failed vetting unfortunately but as of today (well yesterday strictly speaking) am now proud owner of APSL registered Lusitano gelding, 8 yo, good bloodlines (Novilheiro, grandsire)with basic low school training. Beautiful steel-grey chap with great potential.

Will post pics when I get chance/sober up/work out how

--------------------

If it is, this is a ridiculously small world.

Who knew.

Am loving him already. He's putting the weight back on that he lost from the 5 day journey across Europe, and we're getting the movements back that we had in Portugal. They are so sharp - very intelligent, but un-assuming, horses.

Despite being on a busy working farm, we had about an hour of frantic behaviour when he got here but after that he settled down and now is calm and settled.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Macha:
SO HOW ABOUT SOME PICTURES, THEN? CAN'T WAIT TO SEE HIM! If I could ever figure out how to do it I'd put some up of our lads.

---

To put photos up on this board, you need to link to another web site either your own or something like Facebook or Flick'r (or other social web site).

Note: Free sites have issues with photo-linking using the image tag, however, if you just use a web address (url), it tends to work better.

--------------------