Annie and I spent a few days in the province of Murcia in Spain last weekend, and while we were there we were able to spend a short time in Caravaca de la Cruz, which is one of the Holy Cities holding a fragment of the True Cross. It has a rich history, and this fiesta focuses primarily on the events of the Reconquista era when the Moors occupied large swathes of Spain, centred on Andalusia.
Every year, they hold a special festival (fiesta) which includes The Running of the Wine Horses. In this event, dozens of horses and their teams of runners race in a timed event on a road leading up to the castle above the town, a distance of some 80 metres carried out at the gallop for the horses and a desperate sprint for the runners, who must retain their grip on handles placed on the horses’ harnesses. This year’s event was won in under 8 exhilarating seconds!
The event is said to recreate a moment when brave squads of Knights Templar managed to break through the besieging Moorish lines to obtain skins full of wine from the local countryside, then returning to quench the thirst of the Christian Spanish defenders, though the veracity of the link to such events may need to be taken with a pinch of salt!
Prior to the race, in which the teams compete against the clock, there is a series of parades and one of these is the subject of this video. One by one, the horses are walked up the main street of the town, accompanied by their peñas (teams organised by local cavalry clubs far and wide) and dressed in the most extraordinary caparisons, or mantles, designed and constructed over many months by the peñas. Not only is their construction time-consuming, it is also expensive: many of the mantles contain real gold, silver and jewels as well as beautiful paintings.
You can find out more about the whole fiesta at https://murciatoday.com/may-1-to-5-the-running-of-the-wine-horses-2025-and-the-main-events-of-the-annual-caravaca-fiestas_1000207945-a.html#:~:text=article_detail-,May%201%20to%205%20The%20Running%20of%20the%20Wine%20Horses,of%20the%20annual%20Caravaca%20fiestas
There is more information at https://picadera.de/en/horse-festival-spain-caballos-del-vino
If you speak Spanish, there is a lovely website at https://caballosdelvino.org
And if you want to watch the entire afternoon’s events – four hours! – there is a video on YouTube! (Spanish language)
https://www.youtube.com/live/jPwpE_Eq_QM?si=CIXdEhzDZ9U_aN_L
The video was shot on a hand-held iPhone 16 Pro. I hadn’t planned to film the event at all, but was so impressed by the spectacle that I thought I’d record it for posterity. I hope you enjoy what was really compiled as a home movie, but which I’m sure that fans of both history and horses will find interesting. I have added captions where appropriate to explain what is going on, but for the most part you can just relax and soak up the atmosphere.
Henry
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