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Carthusian ~ Cartujano ~ Bocado Line
​Yeguada de la Cartuja - Hierro del Bocado
Spain Declares the Horse a National Treasure
​We are very honored to present the story of this remarkable creature.
There are many unofficial versions of this story, and in effort to present the most accurate account, this information is from the Yeguada de la Cartuja - Hierro del Bocado.
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At Andalusians de MYTHOS, our aspiration to continue the meticulous preservation of the Cartujano lineage holds a sacred meaning for us. While the part we play has minuscule impact, it is so important to share the story of this rare and important horse. He has been carefully preserved from outside influence since the XV century by generations of dedicated clergymen who were meticulous record keepers and subsequently by breeders. Yet, only about 1,000 remain today.
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To further emphasize the importance of this bloodline, in 1990, the Spanish government's state heritage department, Patrimonio del Estado, declared the Cartujano Horse a NATIONAL TREASURE, acquiring the horses from the Terry stud to protect the fidelity of the line and located them on the original lands of the Monastery. Here is their story, we hope you find it inspiring.
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THE CARTHUSIAN MONKS
From its foundation towards the end of the XV century, the Monastery of La Cartuja in Jerez has been converted into the cornerstone of the 'Jerezano' thoroughbred horses. For three centuries, which coincided with the centuries of greatest splendour of the kingdom of Spain, the Carthusian monks established a breeding stock which, through time, would be recognized as one of the most celebrated and appreciated stocks in the world. The exemplary livestock management, carried out in the surrounds of the splendid Renaissance building, situated in an exceptional geographical location in terms of climate and fertility.
Throughout the centuries that followed, the Carthusian monks guarded their bloodlines with fervor, even defying a royal order to introduce Neapolitan and central European blood into their stock.
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In 1990, Patrimonio del Estado incorporated the stud farm into the public sector company EXPASA Agricultura y Ganader�a, S. A., which was given the responsibility of maintaining and improving this unique genetic heritage. Today the breeding program is based on the original Bocado horses and was declared an official Spanish National monument, the Yeguada de la Cartuja - Hierro del Bocado
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SUMMARY
In the mid 1400s, the production of armour for horse and rider adding 350 lbs to the weight carried into battle. A decree was issued by the Spanish military authority, directing the Spanish breeders to blend their pure Andalusian mares with Neopolitan drafts, to facilitate a larger mount capable of carrying the extra weight. A small group of family breeders refused, selecting their best horses and hiding them away on monastery lands in Cartujana, donated by a wealthy patron, Don Alvaro Obertos de Valeto.
The Carthusian monks managed a breeding program for 300 years there after, keeping detailed breeding records. Around 1835, the government dissolved the church ownership of lands. The horses were carefully passed on and treasured by a small handful of families beginning with Pedro Jose Zapata, who diligently preserved the original lines. He used the brand of the bit, called Bocado.
The XVI century represented the time of greatest splendour for the Carthusian Monastery, which coincided with the years of glory of the Spanish Empire and the reign of the Hapsburg dynasty. The dominion of the Spanish crown around the globe during that era brought with it the first great expansion of the thoroughbred Spanish horse: the horse was introduced into the Americas under the command of several Conquistadors.
During the Empire of Carlos V, the Spanish horse reached its highest levels of popularity and well - deserved acclaim, being represented in paintings and present in the breeding stocks of emperors, kings and nobility throughout the entire world.
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The XVI century represented the time of greatest splendour for the Carthusian Monastery, which coincided with the years of glory of the Spanish Empire..... During the Empire of Carlos V, the Spanish horse reached its highest levels of popularity and well-deserved acclaim, being present in the breeding stocks of emperors, kings and nobility throughout the entire world.
Yeguada de la Cartuja - Hierro del Bocado
The most important reserve of Andalusian Horse, Cartujano lineage worldwide.
PRESERVATION
Cartujano lineage is extremely rare worldwide.
Over 160 years later, there are less than 1000 pure Cartujano (Carthusian or Bocado) Andalusians throughout the world. A few private breeders are striving to preserve that lineage. In Spain a registry is maintained for this line.
One prominently recognized breeder of the Bocado line was Fernando A. and Isabel Merello Terry of the Terry Stud. In 1983, the State Heritage department, Patrimonio del Estado, took charge of the vineyard & livestock assets, and in 1985 the livestock was separated from the other assets belonging to the vineyard.
A Spanish National Monument
In 1990, Patrimonio del Estado incorporated the stud farm into the public sector company EXPASA Agricultura y Ganaderia, S. A., which was given the responsibility of maintaining and improving this unique genetic heritage. Today the breeding program is based on the original Bocado horses and was declared an official Spanish National monument, the Yeguada de la Cartuja - Hierro del Bocado.
The Bocado line possess a graceful round profile, elegance, great beauty & agility. There is one continuous flowing line, starting from the poll, tracing the arched crest of the neck, the gentle slope of the wither, the broad muscular back, and finally ending along the rounded hip at the low tucked tail. The movement is proud, powerful and lofty with high knee and hock action and strong impulsion from behind. The head is sculpted, with a large triangular eye with pronounced orbital arch and intelligent gaze. They truly command attention and seem to exude dignity and intelligence beyond the imagination.
Yeguada de la Cartuja - Hierro del Bocado - History
The most important reserve of Andalusian Horse, Cartujano lineage worldwide.
The origins of the Cartuja de Jerez can be traced back to the XV century, when the landowner Don Álvaro Obertos de Valeto, made a proposition to the Friar of the Carthusian Monastery in Seville to found a monastery of this order in Jerez. Don Álvaro ceded the rights of the land which he owned in the municipality of Jerez to the Carthusian monks who requested the necessary licence from the Archbishop of Seville in order to found the monastery, which was granted in 1475. Three years later, work began on the building which we now know. In a short period of time, the Carthusian monastery had managed to amass substantial wealth from donations, the sale and exchange of goods which was added to the already significant assets inherited from Don Álvaro. Among the land acquired, was the Dehesa de la Fuente del Suero, which until then had been the property of the Genovese Celín de Bilbao who sold the land in exchange for 140,000 maravadies. Grazing on this farmland in the present day, five centuries later, are the beautiful specimens of the Yeguada de la Cartuja - Hierro del Bocado.
The true origins of this stud farm are unknown, although one popular anecdote has it that when tenant of the Carthusian monastery, Don Pedro Picado, was unable to pay his ground rent to the monks, he decided to pay them with in kind by offering them his mares and colts. These animals had been bought by Don Pedro from the brothers Andrés and Diego Zamora, farriers to trade, who formed this small stud farm from a stallion bought from a soldier, and one of its sons, a colt of extraordinary beauty and grace, called "Esclavo". The descendants of this stud farm, which enjoyed great prestige, were called "zamoranos". However, evidence which has come to light and which has recently been analysed along with historical studies, has shown that the monks already had a breeding stock at the end of the XV century.
The spreading of the Carthusian horses around the world means that there is a blood line descending from the Carthusian breed in many races around the world in the present day: Lippizza, Kladrub, Orloff, Holstein, etc. In addition, it is the Spanish horse which has given its name to the Picadero Español and to the extremely famous Viennese Spanish Horse School, founded by the Royal Court of Vienna in 1565, as well as the present day picadero, constructed by Carlos V in 1729. However, this opening up to the outside world has also meantthe introduction of foreign horses into our country which have been crossbred with the autochthonous breeds. The Carthusian monks were aware of the difficult situation that equine stockbreeding was going through. But they were also aware of the fine qualities of the mares and the Jerezano horses. At the end of the XV century, and following in the stockbreeding tradition of the Carthusian Monastery of Seville, the monks of Jerez decided to create a stud farm, which they would remain in charge of until well into the XIX century.
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The Napoleonic Invasion
Displacement of the Monks and Diminishing numbers
threatened the future of the horse.
THE XIX CENTURY
The XIX century represents an era of convulsion and drastic changes for the Stud farm, following its past years of splendour and stability. The Napoleonic invasion and the dissolution of the property belonging to the Church meant that the stockbreeding of Carthusian horses would leave the hands of the monks and become the property of various owners, eventually incorporating the present day brandings.
THE EXPULSION OF THE CARTHUSIAN MONKS
The beginning of the XIX century coincided with the invasion of our country by the Napoleonic troops and the subsequent War of Independence. The arrival of the French army in Jerez brought about the departure and fleeing of the monks from the Carthusian monastery, who were given refuge in various convents in the area.
In their escape, the Carthusian monks left all of their possessions behind them, among which were the horses and mares that filled the stables of the convent. After more than two years in exile, the monks were able to return to the Carthusian monastery in 1812, coinciding with the Decree of the Courts of Cadiz through which the State expropriated the belongings of the monks.
Nine years later, the monks were once again forced to abandon the monastery at the orders of the Courts, following the abolition of all the monasteries in the country. In 1835 the Carthusian monks were expelled from their monastery for the last time and the monastery was subsequently used as a prison, later changing hands and coming under the control of the Diocesan Board of the State (Junta Diocesana del Estado) and finally being handed over to the Commission for Historical and Artistic Monuments (Comisión de Monumentos Históricos y Artísticos) which declared the monastery a National Monument in 1856.
A century later, in 1948, the monastery was returned to the Order of the Carthusian Monks, who continue to inhabit the monastery to this day.
Carthusian Monestary,1473
Acquisition of the Brand, Clergyman Saves the Horses from Dispersion
The name Cartujano becomes official.
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RECOVERY AND CHANGE OF OWNERSHIP
In 1810, after the monks fled from the Carthusian monastery, the legendary stockbreeding stud was saved from what would have been an irreparable dispersion by the clergyman Pedro José Zapata.
Zapata, founder of the Hospital de Arcos de la Frontera, bought 60 mares and 3 stallions of the best calibre and hid them in "Breña del Agua", sending the Carthusian monks in Cluny the amount for the established price. From these horses was formed what is at present known as the Yeguada de la Cartuja - Hierro del Bocado. The brand in the form of a Bridle without the letter C, designed by Zapata for branding the animals, which originated from the stud of the Carthusian monastery, has given the name to this prestigious stock.
Don Pedro, and his brother Don Juan José, took charge of the Stud until the death of Don Juan, when the stud passed into the hands of his son until his own death in 1854. It was then that his widow, Doña María Romero, took over the reins of the stud.
Years later, in 1857, Don Vicente Romero García, acquired part of the stud and added a letter "C" to the traditional brand in the form of a Bridle. Seven years later, he also acquired the brand without the letter C, which he used to brand the stock. Throughout the century, several fine specimens from the stud began to stand out for their excellence and won prizes in horse shows and competitions held all over the country.
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​THE CARTUJANO TODAY
Following the death of Don Vicente Romero García at the beginning of this century, who consolidated the thoroughbred status of the Carthusian stock and who introduced the brand with the letter C, the stud was to pass through the hands of a multitude of owners: Doña Rosario Romero, the widow of Domínguez, Don Francisco Chica Navarro, the Viscount of Montesina, don Roberto Osborne, don Juan Pedro Domecq y Núñez de Villavicencio, don Fernando C. de Terry y del Cubillo and Doña Isabel Merello, the widow of Terry ..., all of whom coincided in their endeavours to safeguard the purity of the blood line of the Carthusian thoroughbred.
In 1981, Rumasa S. A. bought the vineyard from Fernando A. Terry S. A. together with its livestock. In 1983, with the expropriation of Rumasa, the State Heritage department (Patrimonio del Estado) took charge of these assets, and in 1985 the livestock was separated from the other assets belonging to the vineyard. In 1990, the State Heritage department (Patrimonio del Estado) incorporated the stud farm into the public sector company EXPASA AGRICULTURA Y GANADERÍA Sociedad Mercantil Estatal S.A., which was given the responsibility of maintaining and improving this unique genetic heritage.
In March 1998, the Carthusian monks ceded to EXPASA, for use in the Stud, the original branding iron in the form of a bell, with which the horses were branded in the XV century. With this act the branding irons, which have distinguished the stud since its creation, were brought together, that of the Yeguada de la Cartuja - Hierro del Bocado.
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The Yeguada de la Cartuja - Hierro del Bocado, is in the present day, the most important reserve of Carthusian horses in the world, with over 200 horses grazing in freedom in the grasslands of the Finca Fuente del Suero Estate. These modern day descendants are the purest lineage of the Andalusian bloodline, as they escaped the influence of outcrossing by the Militar breeding studs to TBs, Arabes and draft horses over the centuries. The facility is open to the public, and performances are held. Tickets are available see link below. ​
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Yeguada de la Cartuja
Hierro del Bocado
2018 Carretera Medina-El Portal, Km. 6,5.
Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz - España) Andalucia, Spain 11408
Tel. +34.956.16.28.09 yeguadacartuja@yeguadacartuja.com
visit the website yeguadacartuja.com
HORSE OF KINGS, THIEF OF HEARTS: Story of the Carthusian Horse
Equus Film Festival New York, Best Equestrian Documentary 2015
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Available on DVD - visit website to order
https://horseofkingsthemovie.com
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