Sorraia Horse Breed History in Portugal

The Sorraia -Early Ancestor to the Iberian Saddle Horse

In the 1920's Ruy d' Andrade who was well known Lusitano breeder of today's famous d' Andrade lineage Lusitanos and was the real drive behind the Alter Real lineage preservation, ran across a herd while hunting in the region of Coruche in the lower Sor Raia on an estate called Sesmaria.As stated in an article from the Boletim Pecuario XIII,3, 1945 "The first herd he encountered numbered around 30, more than half of which were light-coloured duns, some were grey, and many were striped that they looked primitive as if they were a type of zebra or hemiones." One of d' Andrade's grandson J. d' Andrade has stated to Dr. Maria Portas, a Portuguese veterinarian that his grandfather had indeed assembled the duns and grullos from herd including various colors.

He also noticed that in all the regions of the Tagus Valley in the Alto Alentego and the Guadaquivir valley that there were horses of this particular coat (yellow dun and mouse ( 'rato' means mouse in Portuguese and Brazilian) dun) in more than 300 cases, that he went to reconstructed a primitive type of homogenous herd to find out if this had been the origin of the Andalusian breed. He tried to purchase the herd and was not able to that he purchased 7 mares from the same area that had the same chararcteristics from various breeders of Coruche and formed a herd by pairing the mares with horses of the same origin and coat characteristics. 10 years later, most of the mares have perished because they were old when Ruy d' Andrade purchased the mares.

This is what he did to make a homogeneous herd *stated in his journal from Lusitano; Son of the Wind; stating the horse name and what origin they are from and color coat*

*Yellow-dun would be a dun.
*Mouse-dun would be a grulla * Notice the word 'Rato' means Mouse in Portuguese and Brazilian.*... Mouse Dun = Grulla

Family A: Origin; Couco
Cigana, yellow-dun
Marroquina, yellow-dun
Esperta, yellow-dun

Family B: Origin; Coruche- House of Cunbal
Gaivota, mouse-dun
Formosa, mouse-dun
Vadia, mouse-dun

Family C: Origin; Tolosa; no female offspring
Tolosa, yellow-dun

*Tails and manes on the Sorraia mares are often docked and roached to protect against burrs.*

Family D: Origin; Azambuja- House of Lima Monteiro
Azambuja, yellow-dun
Vassoura, mouse-dun
Verdasca, mouse-dun
Engeitada, mouse-dun
Formosa, mouse-dun
Vaidosa, mouse-dun
Carrasca, mouse-dun
Gadelha, mouse-dun

Family E: Origin; Salvaterra- House of Freire
Freire, mouse-dun
Caraca, yellow-dun
Retinta, mouse-dun
Camarinha, mouse-dun

Family F: Origin, Coruche- House of Cunhal
Pintassilga, mouse-dun
Travessa, mouse-dun

Family G: Origin >>No female offspring
Anselema, yellow-dun

Height at withers from 1.30 to 1.55 (13. hhs to 15.1 hhs)

Ruy d' Andrade pointed out that the state of nutrition of the mares when measured was not very good because some of them were still suckling their young and in foal which make them short than average. He was convinced if they were moved to a more fertile environment that they would developed more fully.

He stated through historic tradition, the convex profile and the large size appeared for the first time on various Iberian coins of the 3rd and 1st centuries B.C. and later on the monument to Marus Aurelius, which meant the large horse evolved later on.

It is now recognized without doubts by hippologists and natural historians specializing in equus, that the Sorraia is the primitive ancestor of the Iberian Saddle Horse (Andalusian, Lusitano, Alter Real, Carthusian) Still to be found in Portugal today, having been carefully preserved and cultivated from a last-remaining herd by Dr. Ruy d' Andrade, the Sorraia horse bears the strong dominant genes of the sub-convex profile, the high trotting action, and the close-coupled compact body of his modern descendants. Except in profile, he closely resembles that other primitive horse the Tarpan, which is the prehistoric ancestor of the Indo-European domesticated horse. The Sorraia represents equus stenonius, one of the six types of original wild horse known to man. *The Royal Horses of Europe by Sylvia Loch*

Today, the Sorraia is being preserved and protected at the Sorraia Horse Nature Reserve, the only Reserve supported by Portugal since the year of 2002, that the future is looking bright for the Sorraia, who was the ancestor of today's Iberian Saddle horses. As of in 2003, there was the 1st Annual Sorraia meeting held in Portugal and will have their yearly annual Sorraia breed preservation meeting each year.

The breed is extremely hardy and popular with local stockmen and for centuries was the mount of Portuguese stockmen to herd the wild bulls, and today most Sorraias are used for Dressage, Working Equitation Trail, Driving and High School.

Although there are some Sorraias that do come in bay, blacks (very few, the grulla is the most common color) and some do have white markings on their legs and head. Portugal do try to avoid to reproduce them as far as they can.

Update: The Sorraia is breeding well, with no alarmist indications of inbreeding depression, so it will continue breeding only with Sorraia descendents from those Dr. Ruy d' Andrade has chosen to be Sorraia's founders. The Sorraia is a breed with its reconstitution of the ancient south Iberia horse type, since it is organized with a closed Studbook Registry and it has a standard and it constitutes a group of Sorraias with well defined characteristics that are genetically transmitted to the descendents...it is a breed.~Prof. Maria do Mar Oom

Is the Sorraia a "subspecies" or a "species"? It is a breed from the specie Equus Caballus.

If you have any question please contact Prof. Maria do Mar Oom at moom@fc.ul.pt about the Sorraia horse and its future.