06/08/2025
Classical riding tours for 2026 are filling up!
Tour dates
March tour 2nd to the 12th- spots available
April tour 6th to the 13th- Full
May tour 4th to the 14th- spots available
October tour 1st to the 10th- 2 spots left
November tour 5th to the 15th (Spain and Portugal) Lusitano meets Andalusian 🙂 - Full
What makes our tour special? When I first arrived in Portugal I was looking for lusitanos for mum and I got to travel the country and ride a range of different horses. I found the experience of riding different horses so good for my riding. To feel the way each horse moved and his tendencies was such a valuable experience. Our tour gives riders the chance to visit different equestrian centres, riding different lusitanos and training with a range of different instructors from around the country. Most riding tours are situated in the one place and you ride the same one or two horses with the same instructor for the entire time. This can be really good, but if you happen not to click with the horse or the instuctor is can be quite a tiring experience. It’s trendy now to offer riding retreats, but what I think is much for fun is a riding adventure! If you are going to travel a long way to ride, you might as well see some of the beautiful country and it’s history; after all, to truly understand the Lusitano you must know Portugal, as they are a part of eachother 🙂. For more information contact me [email protected]
We also run private tours to Portugal and Spain for individual or small groups. Below an article I wrote about the Lusitano ❤
Who is the Lusitano?
When I arrived in Portugal 15 years ago I knew very little about Portugal and even less about Lusitanos. I had ridden warmbloods all my life, and the only time I heard mention of Lusitanos was when mum would talk about Nuno Oliveira and the clinics she attended with him in Australia.
The first Lusitano I ever rode, “Alancelot”, was a then 4 year old bred by a famous bullfighting stud.
Excited to ride him I jumped on. It wasn’t until halfway through the ride that I realised there was a small bull asleep in the corner of the large round arena. The man shouted something to the bull and he stood up. The bull was then given another order and he proceeded to paw at the ground while Alancelot went around ignoring the bull completely. I was impressed. Not just with the agility and energy of this fabulous little horse, but also by the training and character of both horse and bull.
“On horses such as these even gods and heroes will appear and men who know how to work well with them will look magnificent.”
A passage written around 400 BC by one of the forefathers of classical dressage, Xenophon.
And so it was. Right there in the bull ring, with the Lusitano and the bull, I became curious. Who was the Lusitano?
Ridden for over 5000 years, the breed association APSL claims the Lusitano to be the oldest saddle horse in the world.
The fame of the horses from Lusitania (the region Portugal occupies) goes back to the Roman Age, which attributed it’s speed to the influence of the West wind, who was considered capable of fertilizing the mares.
When the Muslims invaded Iberia in 711 AD, they brought Arabian horses with them that were crossed with the native horses, developing a horse that became useful for war, dressage and bull fighting.
The Portuguese horse was named the Lusitano, after the word Lusitania, the ancient Roman name for the region that modern Portugal occupies.
It’s not surprising then that the Lusitano is as much a part of Portugal as the land itself. It was the Lusitano’s agility and courage in battle that helped claim the land that Portugal covers today, and the more I knew about the Lusitano, the more I understood the people, the culture, and the incredible depth inherent to the oldest country in Europe.
In truth, I fell in love with the Lusitano well before I fell in love with Portugal, but the later made perfect sense as I got to know the country through it’s national horse.
The Lusitano was unlike any horse I had ridden before. They have a curious mix of being both clever and cheeky, while also being wise and brave, and somewhere amongst it all is a horse that is just so incredibly willing. They just want to please you, and they try their heart out to get what you are asking. In addition to all this there talent for the high school exercises is unmatched. Piaffe for a lusitano is fun, and you feel them come alive a little when you ask it, because they know it so well.
So when people ask who is the Lusitano? I say that the Lusitano is in the beauty of the Portuguese coast, and the stones of the century old castles. He is in the taste of a fresh Portuguese tart, and the first sip of a Portuguese wine that has been produced by the same family for generations. He’s in the over 3000 year old Olive trees in the Alentejo, or the cork tree plantations that were planted by a generation that would never see the fruits of their labour. He’s in the first fresh sardines of the season, and the incredible colour of Portuguese sunlight in spring. He is the bravery and agility of the bullfight, the same characteristics that made this horse formidable in battle.
To know the Lusitano, is to know Portugal, as the horse is as rich, and as profound, as the country itself.
I had so much fun last year helping riders find their dream lusitano, while also showing them a bit of Portugal, so they may better know the countries national horse.
For more information on finding a lusitano in Portugal or the classical riding tours to Portugal contact me at [email protected]
Portuguese school of art photos by yglesias de oliveira
