Photos from Portuguese Horse Show

[Pedro]

Hi everyone! :)

Saturday 5th I spent the afternoon at a horse show in Vila Franca de Xira, two dozen kilometres from Lisbon. I had borrowed a decent camera from my brother-in-law (instead of my lowly point&shoot), so I was able to take a fair bunch of pictures - 68 in 4 hours!
I'll be writing a few comments to go with the pictures, but as I will only have time for that in the weekend, I thought you might want to take a peek at the photos as I scan them. This is the first batch, 18 pictures out of the 24 of the first film. As soon as I scan the others I'll be adding them.

You can see the ones so far at:

http://www.geocities.com/pedrofortunato/vfx-prov.html


Pedro Fortunato

[Somethingroyal]

Those are great pictures! You must have had fun:)

[Outrider]

Great pictures! Beautiful horses. I really appreciate you posting the pictures. Nest time, you'll have to compete too! Happy Trails!

[horselover]

Wonderful pictures? I have a question- what kind of saddles are those? They look very different!

It looks like you had fun! I like the one of the boy with the hat! How cute!

[Hevz2001]

Kool pictures,you look like u had a brilliant time, the grey one being ridden looks like a spitting image of roz.
oh well bye!!!!!!!!

[FRED]

Thanks Pedro, you have been busy.If I had to pick a favourite,{horse that is !},mine would be the last one.
Fred

[Maci]

Pedro,
WOW! All those photos are amazing! The first few pictures of just the horses alone, are my favourite! You took them at great angles, and they all came up on your page surprisingly clear! The horses in the first few photos were beautiful! They have such long faces! Do you know what kind they are?

Excellent! That'd Be Fun To See!
Maci :)

[Edited by Maci on 15th May 2001 at 08:36 PM]

[Pedro]

Hi guys (and gals ;)), thanks for the kind comments!


Outrider, I'm afraid it's going to take a few years before I can even think of that, but who knows? I'd sure would like to try! There was a very friendly mood between the contestants, a warm feeling over the whole competition.

The saddles are Portuguese Classical ones, horselover. This saddle is pretty much the bullfighting saddle, which descends from the saddle used by 18th and 17th century Masters, which on its turn descended from the knight's saddle. Nowadays it's used as a working saddle, for pleasure rides and it's mandatory for some types of competitions. It is also used for bullfighting and High School demonstrations. I'll talk a little more about the saddles, costumes and events when I write the comments for the photos (sometime this weekend - hopefully).

In the third batch of pictures there is one you're definitely going to like, Fred! It's a close up of that horse's head taken from the side. Talk about a hairy head - you just can't make out the eyes!

About the long faces... who knows Maci, maybe they were just bored or displeased? I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist that one! :D Most, if not all, the horses are pure bred Lusitanos or Lusitano crosses. The large majority of the ridden horses in the photos are stallions.

I've finished processing another batch of photos you can see at:

http://www.geocities.com/pedrofortunato/vfx-prov2.html

I've also retouched the brightness/contrast in some of the first ones to improve clarity. The third (and last) batch should come up tomorrow.


Pedro Fortunato

P.S.: There is a very good explanation for the last photo of the second batch! Just ignore it for the time being ;)...

[Pedro]

OK, I finished the last batch of pictures. They are up at:

http://www.geocities.com/pedrofortunato/vfx-prov3.html

There are three photos I've not included so I won't spoil the fun (yes, it has something to do with the chickens ;)!).

I'll create a proper report over the weekend, and I'll post it on Monday, if all goes according to plan.


Pedro Fortunato

[Maci]

You have a great eye! Those photos turned out great! Some of them look like the pictures you see in horse magazines! I have a question though- Why do the riders sling fur pelts over the horses backs, behind the saddle?

Great Pics!
Maci :)

PS-My favourite out of batch 3 is the one where the horse is sitting down on his hinds! Cute! He must have not minded it, also, because his ears were forward!

[FRED]

Thank you Pedro,today I have spent half the day in traffic jams on our motorways?,and the rest of the day at a show out side looking at giant machines in our freezing cold start to spring,brrrr,oh those blue skys on the pictures, could you not edit them out to make us feel more at home :D
The pictures are great,the horses look massive,I have two favourites now,the dapple grey is on my list now,and that mane..wow,what can I say.
Fred

[horselover]

Tahnks for explaining about the saddles. I found the info quite interesting. They look super-comfortabele! :) Have you ever rode in one?

[Pedro]

I'm afraid the quality of the photos does not correlate with the ability of the photographer ;). It was just so easy to get great photos! I must have missed as much good photos as I took. Also, I had to leave at the end of the afternoon, and the evening promised to be a lot more interesting!

The fur pelt in the back is called the Xairel. Its purpose had me baffled for a while (remember that I'm new at this :)), I found out that it's used to accommodate hitchhikers more comfortably. It is slightly longer on the near side so that the Cavaleiro could take a lady side-saddle on the horse. It does work just as nicely sitting astride (and just as nicely for the Cavaleira to give her boyfriend a ride).

The saddles do look comfy, unfortunately I haven't had the opportunity to try one (I've gawked and pawed at them, but no sitting so far). One thing is certain, thought... whenever I have my own horse I'll be getting one, even if I have to pawn the kitchen sink! They have a wide seat and - wonder of wonders - no narrow twist and no seams or hard bits right under your seat bones! (Some of the saddles at my school are particularly "unpleasant" for a skinny boy like me!) They also appear to be very comfortable for the horse, the bearing area is large and rectangular shaped, and the weight distribution appears to be more homogenous than that of the conventional GP / Dressage saddle (I'll leave more definite remarks to Heather or anyone else with more knowledge about the issue). They're just not very appropriate for jumping or posting :).

About the sitting horse... I found that pair just beautiful. Even more so when the kid was riding too - the three of them made a perfect set! When his rider asked him to sit he did so willingly, just as if he had wanted to rest his hind legs anyway. It's just a shame this was not the best of angles for the photo though...

The weather was great that day, but unfortunately from then onwards it has been cold and rainy. Up until today, which so far as been a warm sunny day (so far...)!


Pedro Fortunato

[Nancy]

What fun! It especially made me smile when I scrolled past the first photo of the dapple gray and he has that great grin in the second photo. Thank's for taking the time to post them.
Happy Trails,
Nancy

[sagittarius]

Hi Pedro,

Great pictures. Thanks for sharing them with us. Being a woman, I really like the riding outftis worn by the lady riders. They look so elegant and dignified. Are these horse shows held often in Portugal, or are they part of a festival?

[Pedro]

Hi sagitarrius,

These show are common sight in Portugal, there are dozen of them from the smaller ones to the mother-of-them-all in Golega. There is actualy a strong resurgence of this kind of show, and an increasingly strong presence of riders with traditional attire. As for the women outfit, there are two of them, slightly diferent. One is for use with side-saddle, the ones shown are for ridding astride.


Pedro Fortunato

[sagittarius]

It's me again Pedro,

These horse shows could be a huge drawcard for horse-lovers from other parts of the world to visit Portugal. Judging by the one you were at, they must be really festive with all kinds of events. Is Golega near Lisbon? And when are such shows usually held? Throughout the year? BTW, I've only been learning to ride for 6 months - the achievement of a childhood dream. I've always been fascinated with horses but we don't have a riding culture here in Malaysia, although riding is gradually becoming popular as a form of recreation.

I think in future, I might plan holidays abroad around horse events.

[Emma_G_NZ]

Awesome pics!!
Sorry but i have to yell out:
WHERE ARE YOU OUTRIDER!! PEDRO!! MACI!!
Come back :( I miss y'all (outrider style, hehe).

[Pedro]

I'm still around, Emma. Fortunatly I don't have much time to post ;) All of my free time is spent on Pimpao who is doing just great!
Between him, work and my friends, not much is left for NR. I usually read the boards at work in the morning... but mostly that's it :(


Still I'm around and going nowhere! Whenever I get some new photos of Pimpao and me I'll show you all (probably it wan't be anytime soon, sorry :( )

Pedro Fortunato

[Emma_G_NZ]

Ahh I see :( Alot of our old friends have slowly disappeared! I remember you though, as we joined pretty close together, so I dont want you to disappear either! :eek:
Pimpao is a very gorgeous looking boy! Have you been to any competitions or anything?

[Ashby]

Hello Pedro,
By the way i think Pimpao is beautiful!

I was just wondering what breeds the horses are in the pictures. They have the build of a horse that i really like, heavier but not heavy, heavy. If you know i'd really appreciate it if you could tell me.

[Mossy]

Hi Pedro, thought you'd left us. Not had achance to look at the photo's will do so later, sounds as though you had agreat time though.

[larri]

Mossy this is long time old thread, goes back to 2001 - I looked and thought Brill, new photo's from Pedro, but sadly not...

Think all his time is taken up by the lovely Pimpao these days, haven't heard from him in yonks! :(

[Brewers Pride]

He was lurking on NR a few days ago - wish Pedro would come back as his posts were so entertaining.

[jess_1995]

hry i luv horses:)

[FancY_FriesiaN]

wow all very lovely! are they andalusians?
They all seam to ahve concave heads.