I'm a Lusitano...

These photos were taken, again, in Ponte de Lima, in the Working Equitation ("Equitação de trabalho", in Portuguese) shows.
For those who aren't familiar with this Riding discipline, it is made of 3 or 4 parts, according to the country of origin (? - correct me if I'm wrong). There is a "maneability" test, meant to test the willingness, elasticity and courage of the horse (and rider :-) ), a "velocity" test, which features more or less the same obstacles but is meant to be done at the greatest speed possible, a Dressage test and a cattle test which is optional (at least here in Portugal). The Lusitano horse excels in this Discipline, for its character and strength.
This used to be the Equestrian Discipline I photographed the most, since I spent more than 6 years riding Lusitanos that did precisely this at my old riding center. Nowadays I'm finding more challenges in photographing other disciplines. Managing to anticipate a horse's move is not always trivial - and even when it appears trivial (such as the trot extensions in Dressage), it's not at all easy to capture the perfect moment. It requires not only a trained eye, but that "horse sensibility", or is it "horse sense", the one everyone talks about?
Anyway, what was kind of funny for me is that after spending some time now in a Riding Center where most people are show jumpers, I have a bit more of feeling for the "jumping anticipation". And I could tell that some people (and horses) face the bull with no problem, they open gates, close gates, do flying changes with no problem at all, and then... the jump (which is the height of a hay bale) was their bigger problem. :-) I'm not meaning to offend anyone, I didn't jump for 9 years or so, and always took it as trivial. Guess what... Made a fool out of myself with my own horse at my brand new riding center. It was fun. :-) Oh well, on to what really matters.
I sincerely admire those who could manage to be in the traditional Portuguese riding costume (called "traje") in that sun and heat... The clothing is REALLY warm, only those who have tried it know what I'm talking about! Oh, by the way, the rubber band on the hat isn't part of the Portuguese costume, as someone told me in the past, it's part of the Spanish riding costume. We Portuguese like to pick our hats from the ground when they fly away... :-D On to the photos!






(Ponte de Lima, Portugal)