Spain, Port of Cartagena, May 6, 2024

Cartagena (Carta HAY na – and try to make a hacking sound with the HAY. Practice on the bus was pretty funny) Their population is about 220k. There’s an entire Roman city below the existing city. They get less than a foot of rain a year but do have intensive farming.

While Ron went off to explore the Roman Theater, I chose to visit an Andalusian breeding horse ranch. When he sends me his chosen photos of his day, I’ll add them to this post.

We learned a bit of history on these particular horses. They’re known as the Pure Spanish Horse (or PRE). They lived in this area for thousands of years and have been used for battle, chariots and bullfights. The Spaniards ended up taking them around the world. They’re a pretty general duty horse and are also bred for their intelligence and calm disposition. They’re also featured in a number of movies. Their history is extensive – needless to say, there’s a great deal of info in the Wikipedia article.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andalusian_horse

The ranch name is “Maipe” which an acronym of the kids (now adults) names. One of the sons gave part of the tour. This tour received an award not too long ago for its innovation – and interestingly, the owner only allows tours from cruise ships. Apparently, he doesn’t want the locals stopping by. It’s a beautiful piece of property and the buildings are lovely. He started it as a hobby but now sells them. There are currently 8 stallions and 40 mares.

We were greeted by the owner’s dog, a terrier mix who appeared to be on speed. He couldn’t stay still and wanted to say hi to each and every visitor. He finally calmed down and remembered that he liked being petted as much as he liked running.

Fun facts:

Most are gray although other colors appear. Branding isn’t done with heat – they use liquid nitrogen. Semen is collected every day after breakfast – there are semen banks in Madrid and Mexico. The boys are allowed to keep their manes and tails – the girls’ manes are trimmed short as well as the top portion of their tails. This ranch sells their horses for 15 – 45K Euros.

A rider in typical garb came out on a stallion – picture time!

Then we got to see 9 day old colts with their moms – adorable!

Skinny little guy! Shortly before this was taken, he’d taken a tumble which I think is why he’s got a scraped elbow.

After that, in what was clearly a common occurrence for them, the doors to the mares barns were opened, they (moms with older young and pregnant mares) ran straight at us before turning and charging into a large field where they got to graze. At this ranch, the boys are trained to accept being ridden, the girls are not. This is one way they get to exercise.

The dog clearly knew what was coming and didn’t get anywhere near them.

We then got to watch and interact with the mares. Most were very curious and came over as soon as we were near the fence.

Following that was a performance by flamenco dancer who was then joined with a rider on another stallion. More pictures.

I’m definitely not quitting my day job. From here, we sail to Barcelona, where we’ll spend 4 days.