The Portuguese School of Equestrian Art by Patti Schofler

Though Portugal’s riding schools have lived several lives, their newest format, founded in 1981, is steeped in centuries of tradition, history and knowledge of classical horsemanship and the horsemanship of the bull ring.

The Escola Portuguesa de Arte Equestre – the Portuguese School of Equestrian Art – is the successor to the Royal Riding School founded in the 18th century and closed in the late 19th century. Today’s riding hall and the school’s Lusitano horses are housed in the grand style worthy of the classical tradition, Lisbon’s Queluz Palace.

Between May and October the gardens of the Queluz Palace become the setting for gala performances by the riding school where clothes, horse tack, music and choreography are reminiscent of the school’s founding years.

Construction of the rococo and neo-classical Queluz Palace began in 1747 and became the official residence of the royal family in 1794. The royals’ hasty departure for Brazil in 1807 with the French invasion of Portugal left the palace abandoned until the court returned in 1821. Its use after that time was rather random until the state took ownership in 1908 and installed the valuable period Portuguese decorative arts, furniture and royal portraits.

Underway is construction of the school’s new headquarters in the Bethlehem section of Lisbon on a property once home to the 7th Cavalry.

In 2007, the school was recognized as one of the four great riding academies of the world when the four schools performed together in Paris for a three day, sold out presentation.

In current times the school has produced 2008 Olympic riders Carlos Pinto, Miguel Ralao and Daniel Pinto, winner of the 2007 World Cup Grand Prix Freestyle Final B section, on his Lusitano stallion Galopin de la Font.

However, the school owes in part its traditions and fame to the great master Nuno Oliveira. Director Filipe Graciosa’s history of the Escola Portuguesa de Arte Equestre portrays Oliveira as well as other masters of the Portuguese school of horsemanship King Duarte, The Marquis of Marialva and Mestre Miranda.

The school works hand and glove with the historic Coudelaria de Alter stud farm which is devoted to breeding the Alter Real Lusitano. In 1748 Marie-Anne of Austria married King D. Joao V of Portugal. She persuaded her husband to set up an equestrian academy in Lisbon like the Spanish Riding School of Vienna. As the king was quite wealthy thanks to the gold he brought back from Brazil, he bought 300 Andalusian mares and Arabian stallions from Spain to breed horses for the royal riding school. He placed the horses at the Alter stud farm in the small village of Alter do Chao. The resulting horses, the Alter Real Lusitanos, were named after the town of Alter do Chao. “Real” was added to indicate that the horses were from the royal breeding program.

In the early 20th century, as Portugal deposed its monarchy, the Alter Real strain faced extinction. Records were burned, stallions were gelded and the stud discontinued. Thanks to Ruy d'Andrade, a specialist in Iberian horse breeds who saved two stallions and several mares, the Lusitano strain was re-established. Eventually his herd was turned over to the Portuguese Ministry of Agriculture. Today the farm is open for the public to view the mahogany bay Lusitanos as ridden at the school.

In an interview with www.dressageportugal.com , Director Graciosa pointed to the improvements made in this strain of Lusitano. At one time the Alter stud horses had a reputation for physical weaknesses resulting from inbreeding. Today, after constant testing and selective breeding, Graciosa describes with pride the Alter Real Lusitano as a mahogany bay with strong hindquarters, short coupling and talent for collected movements. Whatever the bloodlines, a horse is only a legitimate Alter Real if it was born on the premises of the Alter Real stud in Alter do Chao

The mares, foals and stallions are enough to get you to the farm, but you can also visit the armor and carriage museum and enjoy the falconry where hawks, owls, falcons and eagles, bred on the farm, provide demonstrations of their skills.

Graciosa shares breeding responsibilities with his wife Isabele who as a teenager was a bullfighter until her father declared that bullfighting was not the life for a young lady. When asked in an interview if she now competes in dressage, she answered, “Oh no, I tried it twice, but it was much too much stress.”


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