The Iberian horse became known as the Royal Horse of Europe.  By the period of the 1700' s or the Baroque period, the Iberian horse was the dominant horse of the courts of Europe and became what we see preserved today as The Spanish Riding School in Vienna.

Prehistory:

The Iberian Peninsula like its northeastern counterpart the Eurasian Steppe was considered a prehistoric refugia, a place where horses thrived and ultimately were domesticated by man. We have recordings in cave art in locations all over Spain of horses on walls. The Altamira cave and La Pileta cave show images from at least 25,000 years old. The evidence points to many areas of the Iberian Peninsula that had early domestication of horses but the oldest is Los Millares in the province of what is now Altamira, Spain. It seems pretty certain that horses were domesticated in the region in the early 3000’s BCE.

Early History:

There were many mounted nomadic tribes in the Iberian Peninsula who became known by 600 BC as very good traders and fighters and had possession of breeds of very good fighting horses. They impressed Xenophon by their rapid attack and retreat methods of fighting in the Peloponnesian Wars in 457 and 451 BCE where mounted Iberians served as mercenaries.

 The Greeks traded in Iberia as did the Phoenicians. The Carthaginians replaced the Phoenicians and Rome largely replaced the Carthaginians.  The Romans occupied the Iberian Peninsula for about 600 years, from 218 BC to the early 5th century AD.  Of course, they initially brought their own horses with them over that great expanse of time it was much more cost effective to establish stud farms and breeding centers using the local Iberian horse. As their empire expanded north to Britannia they had constant need for horses of war.

Following the decline of the Roman Empire, in the 5th to 8th centuries AD, the Visigoths ruled the Iberian Peninsula.  And in turn the next invasion is known as the Muslim invasion of Iberia. Islamic Arabs and Berbers from North Africa invaded and ultimately defeated the Visigoths and began an occupation lasted for centuries, 711 until 1492.  This period of about 700 years of fighting and breeding war horses Further developed the breeds aptitude. Known as the Reconquista as The Spanish and Portuguese tried to reconquer their territory from the Muslim invaders. As a result, the Iberian horses became known as the finest war horses in all of Europe and the middle east.  The had been used for that purpose by now for a couple of millennia and were known as horses that are brave, smart, fast, and strong.  They had a very natural energy and collection, meaning front legs were very light making them extremely mobile.  They could stop, accelerate, move left or right with speed and ease. They were the ultimate weapon of war; the rider could attack and defend with the same speed and ease.

Iberian Horse and the Development of Collection:

We are going to shift our focus towards Naples and away from horses trained for use in war. But first a bit more fighting. In 1494 French King Charles the thirteenth invades Italy claiming Naples and the next year, Ferdinand of Aragon fresh from his Reconquista wins forms an anti-French alliance with an end result that in 1500 Louis the twelfth is now the King of France and Ferdinand agree to split control of Naples and in 1501. Of course, they dispute the division which leads to a war between the allies which Spain wins and in the end 1504 the treaty of Lyon gives Naples to Spain. As a result, the Italian nobility sees the Spanish war horse who arrives in Ferdinand’s new style of cavalry. The Italians wanted to get their horses to do what the Iberian horses, who in their collected equilibrium moved with great ease, did. The Iberian horses then served as the model. They wanted to duplicate the light collected balance Iberian horses displayed and as their horses were not in the same state of energy and collection, they had to started inventing exercises and progressions of exercises to develop that same lightness and collection. Thus, was born the science of horsemanship. This is the beginning of Academic Equitation. What we generally call dressage.

Through methodical and deep study of cause and effect, its essential function was to find the progressions of mental and physical gymnastics that allow the non-peninsular horses to carry themselves under their riders with impulsion and dexterity comparable to that deployed by Iberian horses.  These are the exercise patterns developed at this time which one can see in the riding books of the time.

Renaissance Naples Becomes the Center of Equestrian Training in the Early 1500's:

Naples then, became the Mecca of European equitation that developed during the Renaissance. At this time, the tournament, and the military were becoming more sophisticated and given to display. Riding as a display is a by-product of martial equitation and was a main subject of Middle Ages education for young nobility. It was felt that people that could not control a horse completely with absolute ease and elegance could not rule a polity. One can look at the endless depiction of nobility on horseback in painting and sculpture where the statement is always the same. I have my stallion under control; therefore, the situation is under control with the same degree of thoroughness and ease.

The Neapolitan Academies flocked to by young European aristocrats were the most admired riding culture in Europe.  The courts of Europe all looked to Naples for the "new science" of riding based on systematic exercise.  The Iberian horse was considered the ideal horse for the manege; collected, agile, compact, fiery, and suited to the airs.

The Hapsburgs and the Iberian Horse:

Around this time period, 1516, the Hapsburg heir of Ferdinand II of Spain inherits Spain, Naples, Netherlands and much of Europe as well as the Spanish Empire's holdings in the New World.  He had been brought up in the Burgundian Netherlands and had been shaped by the tournament culture there. Charles V came to absorb Spanish aristocratic culture and relied on Spanish cavalry for his wars.  He came to appreciate the already prestigious Iberian horse and as ruler of Spain and Naples there became a massive, unified supply chain flows of Iberian horses into central Europe. All of European Nobility become enamored of the horse's ability in war, but by the later 1600's and on by their ability in the manege. A descendant of Charles V, Maximillian II, founded the Spanish Riding School in Vienna with horses developed from the Iberian horse the Lipizzaner.