Ocala, FL - When Karen Jenkins demanded her own pony at age five, her unsure parents insisted on riding lessons. Years of instruction and various horses later, they knew horses were in her blood – and not going anywhere.

“My parents insisted that if I had a horse, I had to take care of it myself,” said Jenkins, who now is 73. “I think they became resigned to the fact that I was dedicated to making horses a lifelong habit when they saw that to have my own horse, I would brave the cold Wisconsin winters, carrying water buckets to the barn a half-mile from the house in below zero temperatures.“

Jenkins spent many adult years riding and showing American Saddlebreds, Tennessee Walking Horses, Quarter Horses and Hunters. She loved her horses but always pined after her true “dream horse.” She had nearly retired from the show ring and was restlessly in between horses when, by accident, she discovered the Andalusian.

A 1984 trip to California - and an Andalusian and Lusitano horse show - was the preface to a weeklong trek up the coast of California looking at countless Andalusians. At La Lomita Ranch in San Luis Obispo, CA, there she saw her - the dream horse.

“This fabulously beautiful mare, Oriana S, was standing in the pasture doing ‘show poses’ when we strolled out to view the broodmares,” said Jenkins.

But there was one major issue: Oriana was not for sale.

“My heart was lost,” Jenkins said. She had waited patiently for two months, hoping they would change their minds, when a call came from La Lomita asking she ‘really wanted’ Oriana. “Did I ever!” Jenkins said.

Next, she added a two-year-old gelding, Jaro T, and a pretty yearling filly, Gracia T, to the package. And Jenkins officially was in the Andalusian business.

Oriana S stayed in California for two years producing foals but in 1987 Jenkins learned that La Lomita was closing down and their horses were returning to Majorica, Spain, to the ranch where they originated.

So Jenkins brought Oriana to her farm in Tennessee, along with Oriana’s yearling colt, Oro T, who later became the “airs” horse for Medieval Times in Florida. An "airs" horse, also known as “schooling above the ground,” performs a high-level dressage technique, Jenkins explained. “Like what is performed by the Royal Lipizzan Stallions in Vienna,” she said.

The major change in Jenkins’ Andalusian life arrived from La Lomita on the same van as Oriana. Desperately needing a stallion for her mares, she pleaded with La Lomita to send her the horse that in end would become her true dream horse – Ofendido VII.

“From this wonderful stallion, I learned the true meaning of the soul of the Andalusian,” she said. “He became the foundation of my breeding program and my best friend for the next 12 years.”

In 1998, Jenkins’ herd had grown to about 50 horses and she moved them to Elkhorn, WI, to be near a greater Andalusian population. Two years later, she added the first Lusitanos to her breeding program.

“I had made several trips to Portugal and found the Lusitano to be an exciting and athletic horse,” Jenkins said.

While in Lisbon in 2000 for the Lusitano Championships, she saw a weanling colt in the ring with his dam and immediately decided to take him to the United States. A few months later, she returned to visit his renowned breeder and her friend, Arsenio Raposo Cordiero, and claimed the colt, Tirol, and three weanling fillies, Tainha, Taranbola and Tulipa, to be his traveling companions.

“Although we have a limited number of Lusitanos, I feel that our selection is exceptional,” Jenkins said, who added that Tirol, an APSL-approved stallion, has become a major part of her breeding program.

Eventually, though, Jenkins decided that the wrath of the Wisconsin winters was not for her.

“This was not my idea of a good place to raise foals,” she said, and soon was on a quest to find property in the Sunshine State. She chose Ocala, FL, for its availability of veterinarians and horse shows, and year-round pasture.

To move forward with her plans to move to Ocala, she formed a partnership called ‘Peninsula’ with Abelardo Morales Puron in 2002, the largest breeder of Spanish and Lusitano Horses in Mexico. From 2002-2006, Morales afforded Jenkins’ breeding farm the privilege of a number of his fabulous Spanish stallions – many of them National Champions of IALHA (International Andalusian & Lusitano Horse Association).

In 2006, Morales decided to return his horses to Mexico. Music City Andalusians remained in Ocala, FL, where it continues to thrive with about 70 Andalusians and Lusitanos.

Jenkins, who has a staff of four, no longer trains at the farm as most horses are sold before they reach four years of age. Each year, she selects her most promising horses as two- and three-year-olds to begin a training program at nearby New Dawn Equestrian in Ocala from October to June.

“This relationship has proven very successful in getting the proper education on the young horses so that they become great partners for their new owners,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins says she plans to stay in Ocala.

“I love it here,” she said. “It is the perfect place to breed horses of any kind and especially suits the Andalusian and Lusitanos. I feel we have made progress in our breeding program by leaps and bounds since coming here in 2002.“

Others would agree. At the IALHA show in 2007, Music City Andalusians earned the coveted title of “Top Breeder of the Show” by exhibiting a few outstanding young mares.

“We are very excited about the future of our breeding program,” Jenkins said. “My greatest joy now is in the new foals every year.”

Jenkins’ “true dream horse,” Ofendido VII, has passed away.

“He is no longer with us except in the many daughters and sons that form the strong basis of our breeding program,” said Jenkins, who is retired from the IAHLA Board. “I see him every day in his children and grand children.”

Karen Jenkins, Music City Andalusians – Fast Facts

• 2011 - The 2010 “Leading Full- and Half-Andalusian/Lusitano Breeder” at the Performance Horse Registry’s Silver Stirrups Awards.
• 2010 - IALHA Horse of the Year winner.
• 1988 - Joined the IALHA Board of Directors (then the IAHA) as a Regional Representative.
• 1988 - Organized the first recognized IALHA Horse Show held east of the Rocky Mountains (held in Nashville, TN, in the midst of torrential rains from the backlash of Hurricane Hugo). The show became an annual event as it moved to a covered arena in Shelbyville, TN, to avoid a repeat of hazardous weather.
• 1996 - Became IALHA National Show Chairman, and produced two successful National Shows in 1997 and 1998.
• 1998 - Became IALHA president and for three terms traveled often to Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Costa Rica and Brazil, serving the interests of the association.
• Advocated the creation of breed-specific commissions for the Pure Spanish Horse, the Lusitano and the Pure Spanish/Lusitano Horse. The result: the creation of the breed classes at the National Show that are now a popular forum in which breeders exhibit.
• Worked on the National Show Committee helping to create new show venues, writing show
rules and producing the National Show – all while striving to preserve the true heritage of the Andalusian.
• 2003 - Retired from the IALHA Board to spend more time with her own horses and to manage her breeding program.

ENDS