Judges and officials traveled all the way from Spain for the Inter States Pura Raza Espanola (I.S.P.R.E.) regional show at Coves Darden Farm just east of Aiken on Route 4. This show, held March 4 through 6, was the first in a series of three regional championships to be held in the United States under the auspices of the Associación Nacional de Criadores de Caballos Españolos (ANCCE), which is the organization that registers and inspects PRE (commonly called Andalusian) horses in Spain.
The show was primarily a conformation show for mares, stallions, geldings, colts and fillies. There were also "functionality" tests for stallions and geldings, which consisted of a basic dressage test. Each class awarded ribbons from first through third place. At the end of the show, championships and reserve championships were handed out to the top two stallions, mares, colts and fillies. There were also special awards for the champion owner, the horses with the best movement, and the one with the best functionality.
Competitors came from as far away as Florida and Virginia to take part in the new show series, and, judging from the scores handed out by the judge Saul Davalos Vidal, the quality of the horses was quite high. Champions included Fresona Roy, a 3-year-old filly owned by Kathy and Donald Stewart, who was both the juvenile movement champion and the juvenile female champion of the show. The Hacienda Terpak's Juny, a stallion who competed in the "over 7" class won the best movement award for adult horses. Coves Darden Farm took home championships for functionality with Berbenero B, and had the champion mare, stallion and young horse with Faraona CLXI, Tronc II and Nevado, respectively, earning the farm the champion owner award.
Future shows in the I.S.P.R.E. USA series will be held in Texas and California, with finals planned for November in Texas. For more information, check out the website: www.ispreusa.com.
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