History
of the Carthusian horses
Dear
admirer and aficionado of the Pure Spanish Horse,
It
is a great pleasure to inform you of the recent publication
of the English translation of Historia de los caballos cartujanos
(The History of the Carthusian Horses), researched and written
by Juan Carlos Altamirano. Works of Sr. Altamirano have been
read on five continents. His book have beeb exhibited by the
Spanish Ministry of Culture at international fairs in: Cairo,
Havana, Brussels, Prague, San Pablo, Peking, Casablanca, etc.
On
the basis of research of official government documents and
those from the Carthusian monks of Jerez de la Frontera from
the time they began to breed horses until the disappearance
of their order in the 19th century, everything that had been
written about Carthusian horses is held up to scrutiny in
this book. Following an extended and painstaking study of
documents which were thought to have disappeared at the time
of the French revolution, the author has explained in this
book the extraordinary results of his research.
In
these pages you will learn about the real colors of the Carthusian
horses, their size, who they were sold to, and what branding
iron the monks used on their animals. You will also learn
about the stringent control horses were subjected to by the
Spanish goverment at that time in history.
The
book also tells of the problems of the breeding farm of the
Zapata Pilar family, which until now was the source of the
legend surrounding the Carthusian horses. You will come to
understand why Pedro José Zapata did not buy the horses
of the Cartuja, that he did not design the hierro de bocado
(" bit ") branding iron; that no Carthusian horse
was ever branded with it; and why the horses never went to
the Breña del Agua property.
You
will read about the quality of the horses which were said
to be the descendants of the Carthusian horses, as revealed
in the results of a Revision of the Zapata stables, carried
out in 1812. This revision proved that the "pure"
bocado horses evolved from some "overlooked" crossbreeding.
The
book reveals the true origin of the "bit" branding
iron, who designed it and who its real owners were. It also
explains why the letter C which Vicente Romero added to the
bit branding iron does not mean "comprado" (purchased)
and why it was added; why the King did not use Carthusian
horses to renew his stables after the fire at the Royal stables
of Cordoba in 1734, but instead bought mares from the Jesuits;
and how their stables in Arcos and Jerez de la Frontera (the
link between the Royal mares of Cordoba and the other Spanish
stables for the dissemination of the Spanish horse) were expropriated.
The
History of the Carthusian Horses, is celebrated as the most
controversial and informative literary work on the Carthusian
horse. It has come to our attention that the author has received
death threats as a result of its publication and widespread
acceptance. However, not a single one of the facts presented
in this book have been proven false as all information is
verified by an extensive bibliography and there are many photostats
of the original documents.
The
equine press, which has published many editorials on this
literary work, consider- it to be a pleasant and revealing
investigative work. A book which has left no stone unturned
in the passionate, imaginative and erroneous legend surrounding
the Carthusian horses.
|
