We visited a Carthusian horse farm located only 30 minutes from Rota. This farm was founded in the 15th century as a monastery where the monks first started raising these horses. The monastery was closed in the 1800s when the Catholic church lost power and the land was taken over by the state. The current farm was built in 1991. Only 1% of the horses are black. This is because the black horses were only used historically for pulling funeral carriages so they became seen as bad luck. After a horse is 1 year old, their color is known and any black horse would not be kept around, thus dwindling the population. Obviously, in recent times the opposite sentiment is being viewed and the different colored horses are encouraged. The naming convention at this farm is very structured to keep the lineage straight and make sure that no families end up in-breeding. The male horses (colt) born are given the male form of their mothers name and a female horse (philie) is given a completely new name, just each year all the new philies have the same first letter. They skip the letter K because so few Spanish names start with that letter. I'm sure that X and Q have similar problems. The baby making process is also very...managed. There are three rooms within the stables next to the vet clinic rooms for this whole process. The first room is titled the "Banco Esperma" which is exactly what it sounds like. The second room is for the stallions to be beguiled into thinking what looks like a pummel horse without handles is a lady horse. Being a stud isn't as exciting as one would have imagined! The third room is for the lady horses to be corralled into to check on their various pregnancies. Far from romantic, but it gets the job done. After the tour they did a show of the free-running colts and mares, a carriage race type thing, and dressage. Then the mares were all running around, one of them sat down in the middle and I felt for her that she was probably preggo and tired! It was really cool to see all the horses and the farm, a good little day trip.
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