By Lanys Kaye-Eddie

Horses of the 'Escalera' (ladder) brand were known to exist in the early 1700's. During the late 1800's the stud used stallions representing Carthusian lines, from don Vicente Romero. In the early 1900's, the grandfather of dona Maria Fernanda, don Jose Maria de la Escalera y Fernandez de Penaranda, reduced the herd of mares, which were used for work, by "scrupulous selection" from about 100 head to only 400 special individuals. These horses were bred within the line without crossing with other blood. Up until 1960, his son, don Jose Luis de la Escalera y Vasco continued the breeding ideals of this extraordinary herd.

In 1973 the widow of don Jose Luis divided the stud between her two children, don Jose Luis and dona Maria Fernanda. The original brand (the ladder with 5 rungs) continued with don Jose Luis, and dona Maria Fernandez began using the brand of the ladder with 3 rungs, framed by a horseshoe.   After the tragic death of her husband, do Manolo Novales Vasco, dona Maria Femanda continued with the direction that he set out, for the future of the stud farm. The farm has produced extraordinary horses, which have become famous for their functionality as well as their morphology.

One of the most famous stallions of the stud is Ganador VIII, whose blood flows in many of the mares and stallions of this line of horses.

The power and strength and trainability of the "Escalera" horses has made them especially successful in dressage arenas in Spain and Europe during the past 15 years or more. These horses are modern athletes with the best characteristics of the Spanish horse still evident in their composition