Commentary
by Jim Porcher, Blue Mesa Arabians
Of these the only ones that are pure Spanish are TITANIC, SUSPIRO,
and GHORAK. The judges were Mrs. Ann Norden, Switzerland, Dr. Marek
Trela, Poland, Mr Peter Upton, Great Britian, and Mr. Pierluigi Rotas,
Italy. Mrs. Norden was okay, Dr. Trela fairly knowledgeable.
The quality of the horses was much better than I had seen my last time
there (three years ago). The movement was better, the heads better, necks
longer and cleaner, and the conditioning was vastly improved. However,
excluding Diego's horses, Ses Planes and a handful of others, the horses
were very poorly presented. Most of the Spanish handlers only care about
the stretching of the neck and that is a hit or miss thing, few of the
horses really know how to "stand up" and use their whole body and then
when handlers go to move the horses all sorts of noise makers are allowed
which is really distracting and usually only accomplishes having the horse
run around the handler or over the plants in the ring. On a rare occasion,
a horse will turn on and really trot because of the noise makers, but that
is the exception and not the rule. The British Nationals the next
weekend was very refreshing in that regard. The crowd knew and recognized
good movement, would applaud accordingly and the judges were good to reward
the better moving horses in the classes.
In Spain, flagging ones tail is related to movement or at least that
is the way it seemed to me. I never could get the judging straight on the
movement. A good moving horse would score an 18, the next horse would come
along and maybe he would move very similar to the previous horse but not
flag his tail or snort, he would score a 17, then the next horse would
come along, be so straight in the shoulder he couldn't trot over a white
line in the road, have poor angulation in the rear and no ability to get
under himself, but he would be one of those "drinkers of the wind",
flip his tail over his back, have no length of stride, but hesitate or
hang up while trotting and he would score a 19. To me, that tail carriage
and attitude has a lot more to do with type than it does with movement,
but not so to the judges. I found that very frustrating.
Like I said, it was nice to see the good moving horses rewarded in Britain,
the crowd to recognize the good movers, and to learn that I wasn't just
totally off base as to what a good mover was. There were some very
good movers in Spain that were rewarded with 20's, but it was very inconsistent
with the 18 and 19 movers.
I found the fillies to be consistently smooth of body, heads getting
better and wonderful toplines. As a group, their necks were a little
short and thick, though the shapes were good.
The yearling colts had a lot of type, almost more than the fillies,
but I found them to be of inconsistent quality. In the older age
group both the Domecq bred Titanic and Suspiro were very similar in type
and exuded a masculinity and presence that commanded one's attention. There
was no question that they were Arabians and no question that they were
colts on their way to being stallions. While they both lacked in
the movement department, they had bucketfuls of quality in other areas.
So much so, in fact, that Titanic was named Junior Champion Colt and Suspiro
was Reserve to him.
In the older stallion class Rawalpyndi, at 13 years, is holding his
age well and is still a beautiful mover. While this horse is not pure Spanish,
he is by the English stallion Carmarque, I have followed his career over
the years and have always enjoyed seeing him in the ring. He is a beautiful
horse, with a lot of type, and is an excellent mover. He has produced his
share of winners, too, which is always nice to see in a show/breeding stallion.
In the mare championship it came down to a pose off and the Champion
mare, Diandra, presented by an American handler, came through in the end.
It was the Reserve Champion mare, Ghorak, that caught my eye, though.
She had a three month old foal at her side, had been living outside as
her owner felt that was better for the foal, had not had the rigorous conditioning
program that the champion mare obviously had and yet she never quit showing.
She was very tired by the Championships that evening, having the duties
of being a mother and a show horse, but she exuded a quiet grace that was
captivating and it must have charmed the judges as well. This is
Ghorak's third time to be Reserve National Champion Mare of Spain. As an
added note, this was one of the first horses of the show to score a 20
in movement.
 The
stallion that won the 4 to 6 year old class was a phenomenal mover. He
moved almost as good as *EMANOR, and was not shod with pads or heavy shoes.
He had good type, but his neck could have been a little longer and better
shaped and he could have been smoother over the topline, but he scored
20 in movement by all three judges. He was the only horse in the show to
do that. Unfortunately, he has the misfortune to be named ARABIAN BEAUTY.
He is by Mel Nacar x Ceramica by Kadsura. The class he won was the best
of the show and very spectacular in the beginning with 21 stallions of
that age group all trotting around the ring, snorting, tails flipped over
their backs, in the prime of their life, the handlers dressed in white
and all vying to catch the judges attention. It was a beautiful class.
Knowing that I am pretty opinionated, I am going to stop here before I
take off and say something that I may be sorry for later. E-mail me for
the specifics.
 This
is just the first three days of our trip. On the fourth day we went shopping
and then took in a bullfight which featured "El Juli", the eighteen year
old bullfighter that is taking Spain by storm. It is my understanding that
there hasn't been a bullfighter like him since "El Cordobes" in the 60's.
I have to admit that I was pretty impressed with his showmanship and Schanen
(Unser, Unser Arabians)was
a total convert. She went to the bullfight somewhat hesitatantly (still
bothered by the horses being lifted up by the bulls), but came out a total
convert, spent the rest of the trip buying bullfighting memrobilia and
talking about "El Juli." When you see her pictures of him you will understand
why.
During this time we went down to the harbor one evening to eat and watch
the car and people show. It isn't really intended as that, but the
Arabs (these are the real ones not the four legged kind), drive their Rolls
Royces up and down the road in front of the open air resturants.
And we quickly became true Spaniards, staying out till at least 2:00
am every morning, sleeping till 9:30 or 10:00 am and taking at least two
hours for lunch every day. It was very hot in Marbella and Schanen
was quick to adopt the fan tradition. The ladies really do use those things
and our friend Javie showed Schanen the sublties of flirting and communicating
with the fan, though I think she was really more interested in keeping
the air moving. (This was before the bullfight and "El Juli").
Adios,
Jim
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