April 10, 2004--In 1519, when Cortez landed in North America with the Conquistadors, they brought with them, several small framed horses to work the mines of Mexico and to carry wounded and dead from the fields of battle. These "galicenos" had been captured in the mountains of the Galicia region of Spain. Galicenos were primarily solid colors, with a rapid, smooth forward gaiting that is characteristic of other Spanish breed horses and that belied their heritage: galicenos were a cross between the wild garrano type mountain ponies of Spain and Portugal, the wild Sorraia horses of the swamplands and the war horses, the Andalusians.
Hundreds of years prior to the sailing of the Conquistadors, the Spanish shepherds would drive their flocks into the hills using their favorite breed of horse as a mount: Andalusian. The shepherds rode their stallions up into the hills, then released them at night where they would often breed with the wild small mountain ponies. The mix was further complicated by the wanderings of the Sorraia stallions from the lower lands of the penninsula.
As a result, unique to the Galicia region, the mountain ponies exhibited a more refined head, body and movement than other wild ponies: a result of their blend of Sorraia, Andalusian and Garrano heritage. The Garrano and Sorraia are also "gaited" breeds meaning that they show the Spanish gaiting coveted by many horse lovers. The galiceno, depending upon the individual horse's heritage, may or may not show this movement, but it is written into the breed's standards, and most of the horses captured in the Mexican interior showed this Spanish movement.
The horses released into the hills of Mexico's interior by the Conquistadors, remained wild and isolated for several hundred years. They were captured by some groups and during the movement into the American frontier, many Galicenos were released during conficts or brought in by Spanish missionaries.
The galiceno is one of the original Indian ponies and many references to it in combination with the mustang are made in the old 1800s literature. The galiceno was brought out of Mexico in the 1950s by several groups, and the registry for the breed was started in Texas in the late 1950s.
At the Hardcastle Ranch, the stallion NDs Windfire, has been bloodtyped by the University of Kentucky to match offspring of his known sire: El Capitan, a stallion captured in Mexico and brought out by Walt Johnson and John LeBret with an original herd of 135 horses. Windfire's DNA shows evidence of Spanish markers and he has the rapid smooth forward gaiting common to the breed, once referred to as a "running walk".
The Hardcastle ranch is working with registered Galiceno mares, of proper coloring, conformation and height {small, 12-13.3 hands} to produce some beautiful registered galiceno foals. Photos are posted on the site. Since galicenos are still a rare breed and may be considered for the endangered list, availability is limited. Galicenos are intelligent, easily trained, and very "aware" animals - they make excellent mounts for children, and for small light framed adults. They are hearty animals and very easy keepers.
Several foals have been born: colts and fillys, many exhibiting the lineback markings of NDs Windfire. Windfire is also registered with the American Indian Horse Registry, currently "AA" being considered for "O" as his sire, originally thought to be captured in Spain, was actually captured and imported from Mexico, a requirement of the "O" standard, the highest rating.
Please refer any inquiries to the Hardcastles.
Visit www.galiceno.com for photos of this year's and last year's foals.
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