"It's completely different," says João who has spent a lot of time training horses in the Philippines as well as his native country Portugal. "I've never lived with snow!"

João Oliveira Joins Robinson Lusitanos

João is the son of Nuno Oliveira and brings the heritage of the Oliveira name coupled with his own notable achievements in the art of classical equitation to the Robinson operation. He arrived in the States in December last year and has since started training the young Lusitanos now in his care in the fundamentals of High School equitation. "It will take time," he says. "We are training them in the basics though some time in the future we will want to show them."

Robinson Lusitanos - one of the largest Lusitano breeders in the United States - began its breeding operation with the acquisition of several important Interagro Lusitanos from Brazil. These horses were bought under the guidance of Interagro's US agent, Peter Van Borst and included the notable stallions Maverick Interagro (pictured above working on the piaffe after just two months of training with Joao) and Pitagoras Interagro. With the addition of the foals they have since bred from the original Lusitanos, Robinson's breeding operation now totals 38 in number.

"I went to Brazil in '93," says João. "And I realized then that there would be a market for the Lusitanos from Brazil in the United States. And I was right. Interagro is the largest breeder of the Lusitano and they have imported a lot of the best horses and mares from Portugal."

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