My name is Higinio Gonzalez Oti. When I was a child my father bought me a cartujana mare whose name was La Cartujana!

My father was  a vet and all my life I have spent surrounded by animals. Nowadays I am a forest engeneer and I have my own stud farm called Yeguada Carceña, so named because it is situated in the beautiful Carceña mountains of Cantabria in Northern Spain.

We breed cartujano horses because this is the purest bloodline of Andalusian or Pra Raza Español (PRE) horses. I believe genetics are very important. They pass on the conformation and even the soft character of the proud and noble Andalusian horse.  All my breeding horses are chosen for their good character as well as their conformation.

Andalusians are superb for dressage. They have an excellent mind for learning, and their conformation is ideal for the high school movements which require complete collection.

Yeguada Carceña was founded in 1984 and since then we have been selecting mares and stallions carefully to create good sport and dressage horses 

Carceña´s name has its own history. When the Moors invaded Spain, they placed a massive chain across the Guadalquivir river to prevent unwanted ships entering Seville. When King Ferdinand III drove out the Moors it took several rushes from the flagship captained by Ramón de Bonifaz before the great chain snapped. The name of the ship was Carceña because she was built from the wood of our mountains.

Our horses have won many awards in Spain for their movements and for dressage. The few horses we have exported to the UK are doing likewise. Last year we exported all our foals to the USA.