After the publication of the book Rules and Passion, the story of the fascinating world of horses continues with five new visits to as many stud farms in Spain and around the world.
In the book Rules and Passion (available in our online shop for 24 euros) we have focused our attention on a series of key points. One is the need for patience to work and live in this industry. It is from patience that the work we had left last November, after the successful presentation at SICAB (the PRE horse fair in Seville) where the photos of authentic quality taken by Roberto Benzi and Paolo Mazzo were highly appreciated and where the documentary was shown for the first time, starts again.
BEYOND PHOTOGRAPHY
Photos are a filter to tell facts. They are aligned one after the other and build a coherent plot between people, places and products. This triad that is created doesn’t allow the elements to divide. They stay together and support each other.
THE CULTURAL BINDING AGENT
The great difference we have found between those professionals we are used to interviewing in big cities and those we meet in the farms is serenity. We don’t want to tell you the same old story about how life in cities makes us all stressed while in the countryside we work outside and we are therefore well. The environment is a facilitator, but not the interpretation of work. The cultural glue between all breeders we met is passion, in a context made of rules that survive due to the enormous patience of people.
PATIENCE
Patience can be observed from different perspectives, just like an image through a prism brings back many coup d’oeils. We were struck by two faces of the prism, two ways of conceiving patience. Patience is a virtue without which horse breeding is impossible. The first kind of patience is found in the time necessary for gestation, growth, and doma. The second is patience for repetitiveness. Horses are delicate animals; they eat three times a day, and they are very refined in what they eat. They expect to live in a big and clean stable, hence they are a big emotional weight for those who breed them. Without the patient repetitiveness of daily gestures, the horse doesn’t live well and consequently the breeder loses their game with success.
THE LONG-TERM PERSPECTIVE
It is apparent that the patience we spoke about has a mid- to long-term perspective with no guarantee of success. Mendel has taught us some things about genes; at the end of the lecture he even told us that nature is uncertain and oddly mischievous. You may expect a champion from two excellent horses and for some reason you get a stupid or ugly horse. With the same degree of doubt, nature is able to play the inverse joke in respect of what we described.
THE ENTRANCE BARRIER
In terms of human resources and career choice for people who intend to get into this world there is only one serious obstacle; other challenges can all be overcome. The barrier to entrance is the will to start down a mid- to long-term path that is highly demanding, and doesn’t do favors for anyone, as well as not guaranteeing success in economic and visibility terms.
DISCOVER THE 5 SPANISH STUD FARMS
1. Yeguada Guardiola
2. Yeguada José Luís De La Escalera
3. Ganadería Cárdenas
4. Yeguada Ayala
5. Yeguada Lovera
Jaime Guardiola is a breeder and owner of the Yeguada Guardiola Fantoni, family-run farm since 1888. The animals are kept at the Ranch “El Pinganillo” in Utrera (Seville). The family cultivates cereals and breeds PRE horses as well as bulls. Mr. Guardiola has been a famous torero.
Miguel Ángel de Cárdenas is a breeder and owner of the Ganadería Cárdenas. His lands are dedicated to agriculture, but primarily to breeding PRE horses for competition. His animals are found at the San Pablo ranch in Écija (Seville).
Vicente De La Escalera is one of the sons of breeder José Luis De La Escalera, owner of the Yeguada de la Escalera. They form part of a very prestigious family of breeders for more than 300 years. Their horses are kept at the Pozo Santo (Holy Well) ranch located in Fuentes de Andalucía (Seville).
Enrique Lovera is a breeder and current manager of the Yeguada Lovera, which he inherited from his grandfather and father. His ranch is a heavenly place surrounded by olive trees. The farm is located in Santaella (Cordoba).
THE BOOK RULES & PASSION
The Book Rules and Passion (ISBN: 978-88-906114-0-7). Cover price 24 Euros, Published by GWH (SA).
Horses. The relationship between people and animals and how horses are bred.
People. The personal and career stories in a fascinating and complex working world.
The Landscapes where the work is carried out are the same for an entire lifetime, rational and stratified.
On the dedicated website workandpassion.com you can also have a look at the reportages we did in France at the Elevage Garcialagos and in Belgium at the Yeguada Alegria. The images of the reports are published on the same site just next to the images of the book Rules and Passion. During the Spring of 2014 we’ll run 2 photographic exhibitions with the images of the book.At Equisur 2014 from May 15 to May 18 in collaboration with IFECA Jerez. In Vejer de la Frontera during the summer 2014 in collaboration with Club Hipico La Mimbre and Ganadería Sarmiento.
[W ancce.es sicab.org workandpassion.com workstyleshop.com]
Published in the hard-copy of Work Style Magazine, Spring 2014
