Riding Centre at Baião to promote “garrano” trot racing

The Riding Centre at Baião has finalized an agreement with the local municipal authorities and will be organizing a number of equestrian events, including “garrano” trot racing, show jumping and other equestrian activities.

With this agreement the local authorities will make available to the riding centre a sum of 12.500€ in funds, with the objective of creating a tourist equestrian itinerary, pony racing, fairs, riding for the disabled and other activities.

In return the riding centre will provide free riding lessons to pre primary schools and the underprivileged children.

The first event will be the National Championship of the Garrano pony and will take place on the 25th June and the Baião Grand Prix on the 27th August.

The Garrano Breed

The Garrano pony, an ancient breed, descended from the same stock as the more-famous Sorraia, mainly lives in the fertile regions of Minho and Trás os Montes, and has probably had more outside blood influence than the Sorraia.

It is generally believed that the Garrano is one of the ancestors to the Andalusian and the Galician pony. Recently, the breed has had infusions of Arabian blood, implemented by the Portuguese Ministry of Agriculture. This has refined the breed, but the ponies have also begun to lose some of their primitive features.

The ponies are strong and hardy, and very sure-footed with the ability to travel over steep and difficult terrain. For their size they have great speed and are used in trotting races. They have a long neck set on a straight shoulder. The body is short and compact, the hindquarters muscular and sloping, the tail is low-set. They have a deep and wide chest, hard hooves, and broad joints. The pony is usually bay, chestnut or brown in colour and stand between 10 and 14hh.