Spain Dressage Lessons
I rode at Epona, near Seville in Spain, doing the intensive dressage option during April 2005.
From Germany I travelled to Spain via the UK where I met up with an old friend of mine Wilma. She lives in the north of England (brrrr!!) with her gorgeous horses and I managed to get out on a ride in the drizzle on one of her horses' Kizzy ... with a friend of hers. Wilma also took me to a saddlery (I love horse related shopping!) and a very interesting trip through a supermarket (my second favourite tourist destination after saddleries!).
We set off very early in the morning for our flight to Spain where we picked up a hire car and Wilma very kindly offered to drive (perhaps she wished to live through the trip and didn't trust an Australian to drive on the wrong side of the road!). My map reading skills did hold up and we managed to arrive at Epona and receive the welcome everyone gets ... dogs!! The cutest one of all had to be Poppy, a little jack russell:
Our first night we went out to dinner in Carmona and saw the old walls built around the city to keep various invaders out. The weeks activities are explained to the group of about 12 people ... I think I was the only one who didn't live in the UK. I was also the only rider doing the intensive dressage option. The others chose to do half trail rides and half lessons.
On our first morning the trail ride horses were prepared and it was fantastic to see that the horses were so well looked after, unfortunately with so many places like this, the horses suffer in order for the owners to make money, but at Epona they are all fat and happy, with fitting gear and no signs of sores etc. The weather was been just beautiful, around 25�C and sunny each day.
I waved all of them off and waited around for my first lesson. In the mornings I rode a lovely bay andalusian called Trajano:
Trajano's aids are a lot more like the horses I have at home, than the horse I rode in Germany. I can do a 20m circle without completely embarrassing myself and I'm a bit better at keeping them going. The first day I had a bit of a problem to get him moving, but I wasn�t sure how much leg I could use etc or how much I should ask. My next ride was so much better, as I went out from the start asking him to be more forward. Most of the work we do is the good ol� basics! Walk, trot, canter ... looking for stretching and relaxation to begin with, then moving on to a tiny bit of leg yield. Then to the lateral work, mostly shoulder-in and a bit of travers.
The first lesson was all basic stuff ... which was great as I was working out how these horses respond to rein and leg aids, how to get them straight, how to get them bent, how their transitions work ... I had lots of problems with the upward canter transitions ... obviously it is very different to what I do with my own horses at home! Trajano put up with me confusing him, but I have a bit of fun in walk, as what ever aids I gave him seemed to come out as Spanish Walk aids ... and when I tried to stop it, he gets even higher with his front legs! Didn't help when I start laughing about it either! What worked best was to halt him, then try walk again.
In trot all I needed to do was to use my seat a bit more, give a bit more push but not give out too much with the reins ... and oops ... that is a funny kind of passage!! Getting him back to normal trot is a bit of fun again!!
Seneca was the other horse I rode, a grey andalusian ... he is much more responsive to my leg ... which meant he went sideways when I didn�t want him to and I made a mistake!
Seneca was in a double bridle and I have very limited exposure to doubles, since mine are all in snaffles and I haven�t got to a level where a double was compulsory. Making sure I keep the curb steady and the bridoon correct was fun, but easier than I�d imagined ... everyone says it feels like there is too much in your hands ... but I feel fine ... not sure I could add a whip as well though! The hardest part was trying to see the reins through all the long andalusian mane!!
We did lateral work with him, work on my seat and position ... it is so easy to sit to the trot on these horses as their stride is not huge like my warmbloods. Caty, one of the daughters, of the owner of Epona teaches me, and she copes so well with me playing with the horses. We had great discussions often completely off the topic ... and I have to remind myself that I am sitting on a gorgeous andalusian in Spain on holiday!
Below are some photos of the other riders who were at Epona at the same time I was there, the group lessons were of about 6 people of varying ability ... and it was beautiful to watch a group of white andalusians go around so happily.
At one stage Wilma "borrowed" Trajano for one of her lessons, I don't have any photos (or video) of me riding him as he was my morning lesson horse, whilst everyone else was out on trail rides! The other photo is Wilma on her "trail ride horse" a very impressive looking horse called Marius who did some very impressive interpretations of the high school movements!
Real Escuela Andaluza Del Arte Ecuestre The Royal Spanish Riding School in Jerez
We visited the Royal Spanish Riding School and got to watch a performance. The gorgeous Andalusians did all their "tricks" ... but my favourite part was the carriage driving display in the indoor arena and the gorgeous harness and accuracy of the drivers! The teams of horses were interesting to watch as you saw the strengths/weaknesses of each. At the school the students can be seen outside riding some of the non-performance horses for that day. They ride in green polo shirts, whilst the "masters" ride in blue!
Here is a link to a short video file of a horse being worked by a student at the Royal School at Jerez. They were schooling the horses on the outside arena before we went in for the performance. Video.
And some more random photos of Carmona, Epona and riding!
