Breeding Horses at the service of spain

The Horse Breeding Service, which is under the authority of the Subdirectorate General for Peripheral Management of the Ministry of Defence, celebrated 150 years at the service of Spain in 2014. The objective of this little-known service is the breeding, selection and provision of horses and dogs to the different Army branches, the Civil Guard and other units, centres and bodies within the Ministry of Defence.

The Service also provides animals to the Security Forces and other public bodies by virtue of partnership agreements concluded with the Ministry of Defence. It also trains soldiers on horse riding and care and cooperates with other public and private bodies in activities related to horses and dogs.

The Horse Breeding Service has several Military Horse Breeding Centres distributed throughout the country (Jerez de la Frontera, Écija, Ávila, Zaragoza, Mazcuerras in Cantabria, and San Sebastián), as well as an Applied Research Laboratory in Córdoba and an Equestrian Training Centre in Madrid. In addition, it has agricultural holdings in Écija (Sevilla) and Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz) to manage and exploit the rural properties assigned to the Horse Breeding Service. They cover a combined area of 3,900 hectares distributed into three sections: self-sufficiency, title transfer and seed harvest.

This Service, which reports to the Ministry of Defence, continues to fulfil a valuable role a century and a half after its creation. Photo: BITIERRA