First Prize, from the First Block, for the Club...

After the race concludes, the power of horse and rider subsides, and the Castle esplanade becomes a bustling hub of people awaiting the awards ceremony: the pinnacle of this equestrian day.

Representatives from the City Hall, the Brotherhood, and the Board of the Wine Horses, along with the Amazons, announce the top 10 finishers in the race (though everyone already knows the fastest horse) and the rankings based on the mantle: the prizes for harnessing, embroidery, and a year's effort.

The awards start with the ten prizes for the Race. From the last to the first, the horses that ascended fastest with their four handlers attached. Often, these are clubs with a younger average age. Riders, young but experienced in the slope and understanding the significance of reaching the Castle, share hugs, joy, and even tears—emotions of true festival representatives. Some will see their year-long training pay off with a prize, while others will hope for better luck next May 2nd. These awards leave no one untouched, earned and fought for. Each horse that ascends the slope etches its name into the history of the Wine Horses.

Next, the harnessing awards. These commend the best-dressed horses, the finest garments, top embroidery, and greatest originality. The horse and its mantle, a combined entity, finally receive their well-deserved awards today. The equestrian clubs are segmented into blocks for harnessing, divisions indicating the quality of the work, with those in block 1 representing the most meticulous and traditionally highest quality. Finishing in top places in block 3 or 2 allows for category advancement; meanwhile, finishing last in block 1 or 2 can lead to a downgrade the following year. The voting is done by the riders themselves; clubs vote among themselves as does the board, collectively deciding each horse's final standing for the day.

History of the Harnessing Contest

In the Harnessing Contest, the attire the horse wears and its presentation are judged, crucially considering the harmony between the horse and its outfit. It's not solely a contest of embroidery, as the final judgment should, or at least is supposed to, depend on how the attire suits the horse and its maintained composure throughout the day.

From the 18th century, as the oldest documents suggest, the distinctive feature of the Wine Horses has been their decoration and adornment, thus covering the wine loads brought to the Sanctuary for blessing by the Holy and True Cross. These documents describe in detail the attire of the horse prepared by the Knights of Santiago: “a blue cloth tapestry with fringe and royal arms placed over the wine load, which ascends to the castle for the bathing of the Holy Cross. A flag of plain crimson satin with three tassels and gold trim along the edge, on which the Holy Cross is depicted in plain white satin on both sides for the adornment of the horse as it carries the wine load up according to tradition,” plus red ribbons.

In the latter half of the 19th century, the Wine Horses underwent two significant and notable changes. The first occurred due to the dissolution of the Order of Santiago, as all functions related to the Wine Blessing Ceremony, including the Wine Horse, were taken over by other institutions, allowing for community participation and thereby enabling horses dressed by private individuals, usually linked to the agricultural sector, to participate.

The second change happened at the end of the century when horses ceased to be the means of transporting wine to the sanctuary, although they continued to participate, now only carrying adornments as a representation of their former role. This period saw a certain decline, so the Festival Commission sought to facilitate and increase participation by providing the horses and flags, leaving only the “clothes and flowers with which they are adorned” to the riders, as Father Sala mentions in his famous 1898 manuscript about the Festival Commission. The situation improved, as the 1902 festival chronicle counts 14 participating horses and by 1910 details “a large number and very eye-catching.”

The attire during this period consisted of household linen, typically bridal quilts, Manila shawls, christening gowns, and similar items, completed with leather harnesses and tack, with the flag remaining the most distinctive piece, considered the visual and aesthetic hallmark of the Wine Horses. Pedro López Ruiz describes them in 1917: “very well harnessed with artistic and exquisite flags displaying the four-armed Cross held by Angels, as the true emblem of the Holy Vera-Cruz of Caravaca... and dressed on their backs with silk quilts and tails adorned with rich cords and tassels of the same, all combined in eye-catching and whimsical colors.”

This leads us to 1921, when to enhance the festival and encourage participation, the Festival Commission brilliantly decided to create prizes for the best-harnessed horses, consisting of three in this first edition. As mentioned, during this era, horses were dressed in simple pieces, so the most valued were the flag and accessories, which were renewed each year, as the contemporary press notes: “the judging panel must carefully examine the overall ensemble of each one, and particularly the ingenuity of the group it represents. I say this because I have had the opportunity to see two flags and other accessories for two groups, which would make even the most competent jury hesitate, as one represents wealth, and indeed it is, and the other represents labor. In this group, its author has expended ingenuity, so I draw the attention of the gentlemen of the jury to examine them carefully and reward sincerely the one that presents the most art and ingenuity.” As an anecdote, the flag of the winning horse, dressed by Ms. Dolores Michelena, was raffled for the benefit of the Cross, raising 23 pesetas.

In the festival program for the following year, 1922, the existence of the harnessing prizes is noted again, at least one: “Immediately, the typical races of the Wine Horses will take place on the Castle Slope, with the awarding of a prize to the best-harnessed horse.” Its continuity cannot be precisely determined as it does not appear again in the festival programs until 1929 and 1930, which note the existence of three prizes of 25, 15, and 10 pesetas, disappearing again in subsequent years until 1943, featuring continuously from then until today.

Shortly thereafter, the first pieces specifically made to dress the horses appeared, again initiated by Dolores Michelena, who embroidered a mantle in black silk with oriental motifs. However, it was not until 1955 that the harnessing of the Wine Horses experienced an extraordinary renewal, as to stimulate participation, the Festival Commission decided to significantly increase the amount of the first prize, motivating Lola and Carmen Navarro to create a harnessing with all the pieces embroidered, including the chest plate, the straps, and the flag for the famous “Horse of the Hoyo,” which had been coming out for some years with mantles painted by Perico “the tall.” The design was commissioned from José Molina “the furniture man,” and the success was extraordinary, winning the first prize, marking the beginning of what we might call the “modern Wine Horse.”

This began a phase in which a model that persists to this day was established, with all pieces embroidered and consolidated with the Horses of the Arañas, embroidered by the Valdivieso sisters, and especially with “Arturo” and his legendary “Panterry,” which won six first prizes, with designs by Pascual Adolfo and embroidery by the popular Encarna “the embroiderer.” In the middle of the decade, “El Estudiante” with “El Jata” and his brother Eusebio, managed to dethrone “Panterry,” achieving three first prizes. Other notable horses were “El Profesor,” “El Malacara,” “Jabato,” and “El Faraón.”

During the 1970s, the Wine Horses underwent another major renovation with the emergence of the Horse Clubs, as harnessing developed extraordinarily due to an increased budget allocated to it, becoming less burdensome as it was distributed among the club members. Led by the Peña Pura Sangre, gold thread embroidery was introduced, becoming increasingly luxurious and eye-catching, transforming into true works of art. Since then, the roster of winners of this contest has included the clubs Terry, Zambra, Mayrena, Champion, Pura Sangre, Mayrena-Cartujano, Triana, Solterón, Fogoso, and Santa Inés, topped by the Peña Sangrino with nine first prizes.

The harnessing of the Wine Horses includes both the design of the garments and the making and embroidery using silk, gemstones, and gold and silver thread. It consists of 18 pieces: the bridle for the head, the feathers that crown it, two bell-shaped ornaments adorned with colored ribbons, two harness ornaments, the flag, the chest plate, two mane covers, two blankets, two straps, the breech, and two wristbands; all topped off by the tail strap with its corresponding tassels and the saddle pad where the pieces are fixed.

The contest has evolved over time, moving from being judged by judges to the clubs themselves deciding the awards through their votes. Currently, participants are divided into four blocks, with the possibility of moving up or down depending on the final result. Traditionally, a portion of the participation quota was reserved for those who used clothes from previous years, not participating in the contest; however, the mandatory use of new harnessing each year has led to some excessively simple ones hitting the streets, far from what is a true Wine Horse, for the good of the festival, this regulation should be reviewed.

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