Batholem de Bento

Stable name: Bento

Batholem de Bento (Bento) is one of the most well known horses at Historic Equitation, known not for his talent but rather for his part in the 1066 March in 2016 and his social media following that grew as a result of his cheeky personality.

Bento is on of the few Portuguese horses we own, he is a pure Lusitano gelding but was born and bred in the UK.

The Lusitano originated from the mountainous areas of Portugal in the Iberian Peninsula making them extremely strong and adaptable. The Lusitano is a true all-rounder, originally being used in the cavalry but later becoming popular on farms, within the bullring and also for classical dressage. They are one of the oldest saddled breeds of horses in the world having been ridden for more than 5000 years.

Bento has taken the full range of skills that a true Lusitano has to offer, with an unshakeable determination, strong will, fluid movement and ability to perform high school classical movements.

Bento joined the Historic Equitation team when he was five (and with a slightly darker hair colour, as had some of the team then!) Since that time Domenic and the team have worked to further develop Bento’s haute école movements, with his speciality being the capriole and levade. The capriole is a movement whereby the horse leaps into the air, at the highest point of the leap (and with the horse’s body horizontal) he kicks out with both back feet. Historically it is a useful movement for repelling attackers on foot – something we do not encourage now!

Roles:

  • Mounted falconry
  • Marshall horse
  • Jousting horse (in training)
  • 17th Century dressage demonstrations
  • Skill at arms

Speciality:

  • Capriole
  • Levade

Previous Appearances:

Bento completed the majority of the 1066 anniversary march in 2016 (it would have been all had he not thrown a shoe!)

You can read more about the march here: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/about-us/search-news/the-1066-march and  http://blog.english-heritage.org.uk/battle-of-hastings-march/

Gallery