Kyra Kyrklund is at the moment training the Lusitano Stallion PSL Rico.
She has planned to bring him out in competition soon, but didn’t set a time-schedule yet.
Rico is owned by Antonio Borba Monteiro and was breeded by the classical dressagemaster Dr. Guilherme Borba.
Here some pictures :
http://www.santoandrelusitanos.com/v1/imagens/fotos/dressage/Rico%20Dressage2.jpg
http://www.equisport.pt/fotos/noticias/Perfeito345.jpg
Theo
Well, can’t wait to see the changes! I know the pirouettes won’t be a problem,LOL.
[QUOTE=canyonoak;3921037]
Well, can’t wait to see the changes! I know the pirouettes won’t be a problem,LOL.[/QUOTE]
Because my sister is training some students with Lusies she always is complaining about the work she has to spend on the half passes :yes:
Half passes too.
They are wonderful horses–we have some at my barn and one is,IMHO, about as good as the one Kyra K is sitting on. Nevertheless, changes and half-passes are definitely areas that require work and thoughtful schooling.
Changes, half pass, and extended gaits.
Very cool to see KK on a Luso. I have a question though, what do you mean by training the half pass and even the changes require a lot of work? I have a Luso and doing a lovely half pass on him is so easy. All his lateral work is pretty easy actually. We are still perfecting the changes. No problem in one direction but still a tad late behind in the other. He happens to have amazing trot lengthenings too. Just curious since I had never heard that before about the half pass. Thanks.
The horse looks great, and as a lover of the baroque horses I’m excited Kyra is riding one with the intent of showing. However, is it just me or does his hind end look weird in the trot? It certainly is stoppping him engaging, it just looks odd- I’l be curious to see a conformation pic.
Some of the most athletic Lusitanos have some of the most sloped hind ends. There was a recent article that says it correctly (it’s 3:33, I’ve just gotten off a 10hr shift 
) but a moer angled croup (vs flat) and lower set tail are common in certain lines, and seem to go hand in hand with the more baroque heads. It is different to the eye not used to it.
As a breeder slowly evolving my program to Iberian lines along with my baroque pintos, I’m THRILLED to see another in the top spotlight. As a rider, I have come to immensely respect and value the soft back and easy trainability of the Iberian.
I too do not understand the comments about half pass. I’ve been riding Lusos at my teacher’s for a decade… from High School schoolmasters (airs) to green beans. Lateral work is usually very, very easy with them. Just as many of them have FABULOUS extensions as any cross section of any other sporthorse breed I’ve known… different lines are bred for different work. They are, afterall, originally bullfighting and basically ‘ranch’ horses bred for work, a few lines bred for parades and showing off… but different strengths in each line–and of course each individual…
People who look at the horses with an unbiased eye can usually see that while the horse may go sideways very willingly, there is a lack of ability to develop suspension in the half pass.
I love Kyra K’s riding and limited exposure I have had to her training style.
He is gorgeous 
It will be interesting to see how competitive he is.
I guess they’ll be doing a running braid?
[QUOTE=slc2;3923218]
unbiased[/QUOTE]
:D:D:D:D Roflmao that coming from you
is “biased” Dutchmike-ese for ‘didn’t agree with Dutchmike about something in the past’ 
I have no ‘breed bias’. I love 'em all, and try to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each breed and each individual horse.
He is so beautiful! I can’t wait to see him in action.
PintoPiaffe- Some of the most athletic Lusitanos have some of the most sloped hind ends. There was a recent article that says it correctly (it’s 3:33, I’ve just gotten off a 10hr shift ) but a moer angled croup (vs flat) and lower set tail are common in certain lines, and seem to go hand in hand with the more baroque heads. It is different to the eye not used to it.
The correlation between the hind quarter conformation and head conformation is interesting. I’ve been around PREs and Lippies, but not to many Lusitanos. I’ve seen some sloping hind quarters on the other baroque breeds, this one just looked more extreme than I’ve seen on the other breeds. I’ve also noticed in the horses I’ve seen that the sloping hindquarters predisposes them for engagement and collection, which why I’m interested in seeing his conformation shot, as it is clear his hindquarters are not getting in the way
As a breeder slowly evolving my program to Iberian lines along with my baroque pintos, I’m THRILLED to see another in the top spotlight. As a rider, I have come to immensely respect and value the soft back and easy trainability of the Iberian.
I agree, its wonderful (and not surprising in my opinion) to see more top riders bringing in the occasional top quality PRE/Lusitano.
[QUOTE=slc2;3923218]
People who look at the horses with an unbiased eye can usually see that while the horse may go sideways very willingly, there is a lack of ability to develop suspension in the half pass.[/QUOTE]
The Lusitano was never bred to have suspension in the half pass…suspension, by definition, makes you slow. You don’t want to be slow in the bull ring.
This video’s been around, but worth re-watching…this is what the Luso was bred for
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgG_Gwy7Ysg
Somehow I’m led to believe that if KK is working this horse that she feels he must have the suspension and talent necessary. But, of course, we could clue her in…
Exactly. The horse looks fantastic and I’m pretty sure a horse that Kyra Kyrkland would wind up with would be rather capable. But that doesn’t mean all the Lusitano and Andalusians are the same as this horse, or even, that the best of them are exactly the same as other types of horses.
Suspension is NOT something you want in a ranch horse or a speed horse, but for perfect using gait the horse should only lift his feet clear of the ground sufficiently to be nimble and handy, not bend his knees and hocks any more than he needed to. For speed a horse’s gait should be as flat as possible; most speed comes from the speed with which the legs are drawn forward and there’s a very minimum amount of bend of hocks and knees and lift that goes along with speed.
The Baroque breeds are not bred solely for speed, and a small amount of suspension doesn’t affect speed, so I don’t quite go with that argument, but the key with suspension is that it involves body lift as well and that is not something that is desirable with a working horse.
The problem is any more than necessary upward lift in the gaits, whether of the body (suspension) or the legs themslves, is wasted motion, and while it improves the horse’s ability to do dressage, it represents an unneccessary expenditure of energy as well as disturbing the rider’s position with stronger motions of the back and lifting of the back. The Andalusians and Lusitano horses were developed as multi purpose horses, not dressage horses, even so individuals still have dressage traits - just look at this one.
[QUOTE=slc2;3925848]
Exactly. The horse looks fantastic and I’m pretty sure a horse that Kyra Kyrkland would wind up with would be rather capable. But that doesn’t mean all the Lusitano and Andalusians are the same as this horse, or even, that the best of them are exactly the same as other types of horses.
Suspension is NOT something you want in a ranch horse or a speed horse, but for perfect using gait the horse should only lift his feet clear of the ground sufficiently to be nimble and handy, not bend his knees and hocks any more than he needed to. For speed a horse’s gait should be as flat as possible; most speed comes from the speed with which the legs are drawn forward and there’s a very minimum amount of bend of hocks and knees and lift that goes along with speed.
The Baroque breeds are not bred solely for speed, and a small amount of suspension doesn’t affect speed, so I don’t quite go with that argument, but the key with suspension is that it involves body lift as well and that is not something that is desirable with a working horse.
The problem is any more than necessary upward lift in the gaits, whether of the body (suspension) or the legs themslves, is wasted motion, and while it improves the horse’s ability to do dressage, it represents an unneccessary expenditure of energy as well as disturbing the rider’s position with stronger motions of the back and lifting of the back. The Andalusians and Lusitano horses were developed as multi purpose horses, not dressage horses, even so individuals still have dressage traits - just look at this one.[/QUOTE]
When these kind of horses can make it to the GrandPrix, we will see (the same thing that happened with Olympic Ferro) that the half passes will get more suspension, but many of these Lussies at lower levels show half passes that look very rushed.
Theo
There is(was)? an american breeder in Portugal called Rex Henry who managed to breed some with a incredible natural suspension specially xerxes had just as much if not more then a lot of WB’s and there are more breeders doing so nowadays. Lusitanos bred mainly for bullfights are in days passed.
That video was FABULOUS and that’s one of my favorite songs. That horse looks better than some stock horses bred for working cattle. Those spins, tucks and runs, half passing at warp speed. Wow. Thanks for sharing that, I hadn’t seen Merlin, but he’s awesome.
Good luck to KK and Rico.
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