Lusitanos, Bullfights and Selection

Lusitanos, Bullfights and Selection

This week I’m going to continue my dissertation about our dear Lusitano. This time, I’m talking about a subject that’s kind of a taboo in our society these days... "Bullfights", hated by some, loved by many, are subject to criticism and praise, debates and discussions, rivalries and passions. But what leads me to write about bullfighting is not the controversy it causes, but the passion I have for our beautiful Lusitano horse.

All the characteristics, morphological and of personality, described in the previous article result from a secular selection. Horses of the Kings, Lusitanos could only be noble horses. Selected for war and fighting, they could only be brave and suffering horses. Portuguese horses, they could only be victorious.

The current Lusitanian for having an "easy command" allows the bullfighter to perform his functions as a rider based on the three main rules of a fight, Parar, Templar e Mandar, concepts that would only be associated with bullfighting on foot if there were not such an antique selection of our horse.

The Lusitano is able to insert himself with ease in the performance of several elements of “high school”, exercises of high difficulty, with a very light contact on the hand. We’re talking about exercises such as, isolated or tempie flying changes, pirouettes at one time, passage, piaffer, half-passes, and all that inserted in a circumference of short diameter. All this comes from a very important feature that I have not yet mentioned, the EQUILIBRIUM.

Bullfighting has, as the most truthful moment, the “frontal luck” and the lusitano horse can do it in an exemplary way, with the inclusion of the bases of the bullfighting: Parar, which means, fundamentally, to stop, wait and give primacy to the opponent's attack; Templar, which consists in imparting a sense of slowness, achieved through the cadenced and impelled gallop of a superb amplitude allowing variations of rhythm; and Mandar, which is to impose trajectories until the moment of the meeting. A meeting that the Lusitano horse allows to be realized slowly, with expression on the body and the face, which demonstrates his virile, fighting and victorious personality. 

Photo taken by Frederico Henriques - in the photo Paco Velasquez and Duelo da Broa.

READ MORE ABOUT HORSES - https://animalix9.blogspot.pt/2018/04/lusitano-horse.html

 

 

These characteristics corroborate the thesis that the selection must always follow the objectives of functionality and maneuverability, and here, the talent of the Portuguese breeders has proven to be remarkable. They have often selected for functionality in their dream of obtaining the ideal horse for the requirements of the users.

The bullfighting was thus the laboratory of creation by excellence of the Lusitano, in which there was always a perfect symbiosis between the riders and the breeders. This narrow and important selection allowed us to obtain a horse of a unique beauty, unequaled generosity, magical souplesse, and with an enviable quality which has led our horse to international arenas, competing among the world’s best and achieving historical results as the 12th place in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, a result achieved by the Lusitano Rubi AR, from one of the oldest studs in our country that has always selected based on the functionality and the aptitude for the “high school” exercises executed by the magnificent riders of the Portuguese School of Equestrian Art.

And that’s it, this week we finish the sequence of three articles related to the Lusitano. We’ll sure be back to him since the Lusitanos are the horses we work with more often!

Written by Pedro Miranda

Translated by Raquel Quaresma

Lusibraid

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Egyptian Mau

Egyptian Maus are a small- to medium-sized short-haired cat breed. Along with the Bahraini Dilmun cat, they are one of the few naturally spotted breeds of domesticated cat. The spots of the Mau occur on only the tips of the hairs of its coat.




Cat fanciers bred and exhibited Maus in Europe until World War II, when attention toward the cat waned and it nearly went extinct. The breed was saved in the 1950s when Russian princess Natalie Trubetskaya (sometimes Troubetskoy), living in exile in Italy, was given a Mau that was reportedly imported from the Middle East. Trubetskaya took a shine to the spotted feline breed, and when she emigrated to New York City in 1956, she brought along three Mau cats. She used these kitties to establish the Fatima Egyptian Mau cattery, which produced many of the ancestors of today’s Egyptian Maus in America.
Once the Mau arrived in America, fanciers continued the rare breed’s bloodline by outcrossing it with other cats, and imported more Maus from Egypt and India. In 1977, the Mau was granted championship status by the Cat Fanciers’ Association (CFA), the world's largest registry of pedigreed cats. As of 2014, it was the 20th most popular cat in America, according to CFA registration data
Maus often possess very musical voices. They are known to chirp, chortle, and emit other distinctly unusual vocalizations when stimulated. Another behavior, quite common in happy Maus, has been described as "wiggle-tail." The cat, whether female or male, wiggles and twitches its tail, and appears to be marking territory, also known as spraying, but during this behavior the Mau is not releasing urine. Facial expressions may change according to mood, and eye colour may change from green to turquoise.

Personality

When the Egyptian Mau is happy, you know it. He vocalizes (called chortling) in a quiet, pleasant voice, swishes his tail rapidly, and kneads with his front paws. What makes him happy is being with his family, to whom he is fiercely devoted, or showing off his hunting prowess by chasing and retrieving a tossed toy or stalking and pouncing on a wriggling lure at the end of a fishing pole toy.
This is a moderately to highly active cat. He likes to jump and climb and will appreciate a tall cat tree, a window perch or two, and a sturdy scratching post that allows him to stretch out to full height. The Mau also enjoys playing in water. Don’t be surprised to find him dipping a paw into your koi pond or aquarium, turning on the tap in the bathroom or kitchen, or splashing water out of your pool — or his water dish.

The Egyptian Mau prefers family members to anyone else. When he’s not playing fetch, he enjoys sitting in a lap and being worshipped, just as his ancestors may have been.
The Mau has the distinction of being the fastest domestic housecat, as she can run at speeds of up to 30 mph.

Health

Both pedigreed cats and mixed-breed cats have varying incidences of health problems that may be genetic in nature. Egyptian Maus are generally healthy, but be sure to ask a breeder about the incidence of health problems in her lines and what testing has been done for any that are genetic in nature.

Egyptian Maus are said to have a longer gestational period than most cats. While average felines give birth after 65 to 67 days of pregnancy, Maus reportedly remain with child (uh, kitten) for an average of 73 days.

Coat Color And Grooming

The Mau’s most striking characteristic is his spotted coat in silver, bronze or smoke (pale silver fur tipped in black), closely followed by his large gooseberry-green eyes. He is a medium-size cat with a muscular body and a slightly rounded wedge-shaped head topped with medium-size to large ears. With hind legs slightly longer than the front legs, he gives the appearance of standing on tiptoe on his small, dainty feet. A medium-long tail is thick at the base, tapering slightly at the end.
The medium-length coat has a silky, fine texture in the smoke coloration and a dense, resilient texture in the silver and bronze colors. The body is covered randomly with distinct spots that can be small or large, and round, oblong or other shapes. The forehead bears an M shape, the cheeks are adorned with “mascara” lines, and the tail is banded, ending with a dark tip. On the pale belly are dark spots that resemble “vest buttons.”
In addition to the silver, bronze and smoke colors, Maus can come in solid black, blue silver, blue spotted (a dilute version of bronze), blue smoke and solid blue, but these colors are not permitted in the show ring. These cats of a different color make fine pets, however, sharing all the other characteristics of the Mau.