The Lusitano, joins the “Ride for Life”

On June 4, 2011, the Sons of the Wind School of Equestrian Arts will host their third annual Lusitano Festival.

This year, the Pride of Portugal; The Lusitano, joins the “Ride for Life”. This exciting event showcases the beautiful Lusitano horses and highlights the amazing Portuguese culture, and will now be helping to try and raise $50,000 for the Johns Hopkins Avon Foundation for Breast Cancer. Each year during the “Ride for Life,” Sons of the Wind demonstrates the quadrilles and athletic aires above the ground to the thousands in attendance for this worthwhile cause.

One of the highlights at this year’s event will be a traditional Quadrille performance by the riders at Sons of the Wind. Using four talented Lusitano horses, the riders will perform a beautiful dressage test in sync with music and each horse. All of the horses and riders will be wearing authentic Portuguese costumes.

Sons of the Wind Founder Vitor Silva commented, “We will be using our young horses Cassador, Bullero, and Bonzai. They are all young horses that we have been carefully working with for this performance. These are also the same horses that we will be using for our performance during Ride For Life on June 25th in Maryland.”

During the Lusitano “Pride of Portugal, Ride for Life” Festival, visitors will experience Lusitano exhibitions, kids activities, music, along with authentic Portuguese food and drink. The horse show starts at 2:00 p.m. at Sons of the Wind Farm in Merrimac, MA.

The Lusitano was best known for its amazing athleticism as a loyal war horse, and then as a brave, bold mount in the bullring. Today, the modern Lusitano has found its way in to many disciplines including dressage. The Lusitano Horse Festival ­will not only feature the magnificent Lusitano history, but Luistano school masters performing mounted presentations by the Riding School trainers and their students.

In addition, after the show, there will be farm tours for visitors, a presentation of their Lusitano breeding program and foals. While dressage enthusiasts will enjoy the more technical aspects of Lusitanos trained through the levels, everyone will enjoy sharing the upbeat displays of the Portuguese culture at one of the premier dressage teaching and training facilities in the United States.

About Sons of the Wind:

Sons of the Wind School of Equestrian Arts currently has locations in Merrimac, MA, and Palm City, FL. Founded by Portugal’s Vitor Silva, Sons of the Wind and its affiliated schools were incepted in response to the need for an establishment capable of providing the rider the opportunity to experience and understand the correctness of all the movements of dressage. These establishments offer the training and schooling to horses and riders of different backgrounds and levels. Sons of the Wind is also a full service breeding facility for the talented Lusitano breed as it is very important for the growth of the school to keep training horses that could be great mounts and prospects for lessons and for sale.