YEGUADA MILITAR MARE BAND

A note from Molly Stanley

Ferman:
About those white mares. They are GANDHY DAUGHTERS out of VERAGUA MARES. The thing is, they were all bred to CONGO, but that was one more
generation. For instance, we owned ELEGANCIA, who was by CONGO and out of IMPEDIDA (one of the three). She is the dam of *ARMADO (by GARBO).
They look so like CONGO daughters, and I suppose that is why they were
mated to him. Like to like. And it certainly was powerful.

That brings up the whole Military thing. They were unlike any of the
private breeders in Spain, because the General who was the head of
horsebreeding in Spain (it was a Military thing. One very important thing
to remember about the Spanish Arabian is that they are MILITARY horses) was on one of the top rungs in the Ministry of War. Some of the Generals who
were the head of the YEGUADA MILITAR retired from service out of that
position, and others were promoted to Minister of War.

In any case, they were the chief of the Yeguada Militar long enough to leave a stamp, but not long enough to get barn blind.

Consequently, the Military Mare Band is extremely special, and of extremely
uniform high quality. It is basically a stallion producing entity. The
mares are there to produce worthy sons. If they produce worthy daughters,
if more than one, either the extra daughters or the dam herself is sold on
the military auctions. All the private breeders scrap over who gets which
military mare on the auction. The ones that remain are expected to be the
mothers of worthy sons, and the cycle goes on.

Therefore, I attribute the high quality of the military mare band to these
factors: the change of management of the Military Stud. Let me interject
here that Dave and I have met with several of these Generals over the
years, and they have been in every case, very intelligent men who are good
at management. Also, they will invariably follow their creed "TODO POR LA
PATRIA' (all for the country).

Also, that they are selecting for mares that can produce high quality
stallions. Now, we all know that in this country, we are filly crazy, we
have to have them, we breed for them. It is also true that Dave and I have
had this discussion with dedicated breeders of several countries - "Why
does one have to produce 10 males on average to get a good one, when we
will accept the fillies almost totally, and breed from any of them"? Why,
indeed? It appears that firstly, we are selecting for mares tthat are
filly producers, and that getting a good male is usually a secondary goal.

However. The Spanish Military Stud has a use for their stallions. The
best ones are kept as Military stallions to use at the Arabian section of
the Yeguada Militar. The young ones that look most promising are lent out
to the private Arabian breeders of Spain. The Cria Caballar evaluates each
foal crop when they go to tattoo (now they use implants that can be scanned
for identification) and they report back on which stallions should be
brought back to the Military. Of the stallions that are not chosen by the
breeders or the Military, they are posted to the various depots around
Spain. The farmers, or cross breeders that desire the use of a good
Arabian stallion, can find them there, and use them with their mares for
whatever purpose they are trying to accomplish. There is no fee involved
unless the farmer wants to register the offspring. It is a government
service in Spain, just as we expect police and fire protection.

It has also been the case more than once that an Arabian breeder toured the depots and found a stallion they wished to use with their purebred herd. ORIVE, for example, was discovered at the Spanish depot in Morocco (when she lived in North Africa). At that time, ORIVE had only two offspring. It was due to MariPaz Murga that ORIVE was brought to her farm, and used at the
Military Stud, and of course sired GARBO, and GARBI, among notable others.

 
The Stanley Ranch was made a recognized breeder in Spain as they met the
basic criteria, in that they owned more than twenty-five Spanish Arabian
mares that resided in Spain. They chose several stallions over the years
from the Yeguada Militar to cover their mares in Spain. (More on which
ones, and the results, later).

The other important factor in the Military Stud in Spain, other than the
fact that they could make use of about sixty stallions for the various
purposes, was that they maintained their mare band at about forty. They had
a ready market for any females they wished to sell, through the government auctions.

Regards,
Molly