“When I’m in my garden in the winter and scan the fields of the Dutch countryside, when a watery sun gently draws traces of light. I experience endless pleasure. Especially when my young Carthusian stallion, his coat still a soft grey color, frolics happily through the snowy grass.”

‘Horse of Kings, Thief of Hearts’, really started as is described in the prologue of the film.
In 2008 horse lover Mario bought, together with his former wife, two young Carthusiancolts: Ingo and Nero. Surprised by the beauty, nobility and gentleness of these horses, his heart as a cameraman beat faster at the sight of this beautiful scene.
In the same period, Mario worked on a presentation about Carthusian monks in Roermond, the Netherlands. This aroused his curiosity for the story behind this Spanish breed.For what was the relationship between these horses and the Limburg monks? Where did their paths cross and get separated in history?

Friends/colleagues of Mario also got excited about the story behind the Carthusian horse and soon the ‘vague idea to do something cinematic with these horses’ became reality. Via Frans and Sylvia de Rooij, breeders of Mario’s two Carthusian foals, Mario and his friends met with Juan Llamas Perdigo. His stories and knowledge about the history of the Spanish horse in general and the Carthusian horses in particular, made the team even more enthusiastic: this story was too good to ignore. This story deserved to be a documentary!