Yeguada Militar de Jerez de la Frontera

The modern stud has two locations close to one another, Vicos (Cortijo de Vicos), located between Jerez de la Frontera and Arcos de la Frontera, and the Garrapilo (Depósito de Sementales) in the north area of Jerez de la Frontera. There are also seven stallion depots scattered throughout Spain. Mares live at Vicos, with unbred fillies kept separate from the mares with unweaned foals, and weanling colts go to Garrapilo until the age of five, at which point some mature stallions remain at Jerez de la Frontera, The Guadalete River provides water to both properties. ==History==

The stud was founded in 1847, and at that time hosted what today is the oldest written breed registry for purebred Arabian horses in the world. ==Arabian breeding==

The military remained heavily involved in the importation and breeding of Arabians in Spain well into the early 20th century. Between 1905 and 1908, the Yeguada Militar purchased 23 more Arabians from the Middle East, and in 1906 began to purchase additional Arabians from breeders in Poland. Many private breeders contributed stock. Significant among the private Arabian breeders in Spain whose efforts contributed to the bloodstock of the Yeguada Militar was Cristobal Colon de Aguilera, XV Duque de Veragua, a direct descendant of Christopher Columbus, who founded the Veragua Stud in the 1920s. He imported a number of Arabians from the Crabbet Arabian Stud in England, but he was killed and his horses were scattered during the Spanish Civil War. A number of his mares were later recovered, identifiable to ownership and purebred breeding through their brands, though their individual identities were unknown. They were given new names, all with the prefix "Vera" (for Veragua) and incorporated into the broodmare herd at Moratella. However, a closed gene pool and limited focus on Arabians had dropped the number of purebred Arabians in Spain to a low of 328 by the 1960s. ==Andalusian (PRE) breeding==

The 1893 facility owned 18 purebred Andalusian mares. The breeders of Pure Spanish Horses (Pura Raza Española or PRE) who contributed these foundation mares included Don Francisco Molina, Don Francisco Rioboo, Don Gregario Garcia, Don Pedro Guerrero, Don Rafael Romero, Mrs. Widow of don Vicente de los Rios. By 1949 there were 84 PRE mares at the facility. ==Modern day==

Today, although horses are no longer bred for military uses, there are still civilian uses for horses. As the primary goal of the Yeguada Militar remains to produce stallions to improve the bloodstock of horses through Spain, In addition to horse breeding, the Yeguada Militar also works on environmental initiatives, working with the Ministry of Environment to protect the imperial eagle, which lives on land owned by the stud. In 2000, the Las Mejores Ganaderias deo Mundo stated: The breeding plan (of Yeguada Militar) is intimately bound to the improvement project, based on getting a horse that, without losing the qualities that it possesses and following the breeds' pattern, improves its qualities and eliminates defects. The means of this plan of improvement are based on a continuous evaluation and selection process for individual type, improving the environment and the genetic selection. ==References==