A la Caballeriza

For those who know me, I love horses. I rode a lot in the US, but it's been pretty hard to find a place to ride here in Guadalajara. I mean, there are a lot of places to go trail riding, but that is not what I love about riding horses. I love riding because of the challenge... the challenge of making a strong animal that could easily buck you off its back in less than five seconds, do something beautiful... to follow your lead with just the slightest movement of the leg or rein. It's a heady feeling and I never get sick of it. So, I've begun riding again and it's been great. I ride every week at the country club in El Arenal just 30 minutes outside Guadalajara. It's great to get out of the city too... get some fresh air... ok... mostly fresh air mixed with "horse musk"... which to me only makes it that much better... haha. Anyway, here are some pictures of the country club and the horses I get to ride every week.

Why yes, that is a lovely pool overlooking the valley... One day I'll actually take a dip in it.

Another view from the clubhouse of the Country Club.

For my first ride, I rode this stallion... boy was he powerful. I won't lie, I was a bit nervous.

This is the barn and also another horse I got the chance to ride.

I ride this horse fairly frequently. He's a calm gelding but still with a few things to learn, so he challenges me.

One of the few moments when the horse is actually paying attention to me. He gets distracted easily!

He has such a calm stride... very easy to sit.

Getting lessons in Spanish has been a challenge since I don't know the vocabulary. I understand most of what my instructor says by inferring from other key words or just having to end up asking. My instructor likes to speak English, so it's mutually beneficial... he explains to me and I tell him what the word is in English. The other thing I find very interesting about English Riding classes is that sometimes I run into a lot of "Reining" type moves. I focus a lot on Dressage, but here the most common equivalent is Reining. It's been interesting to see the differences in how the horse is trained and the signals I need to give it to do what I'm asking.

Anyway, I'm sure I've bored most of you who don't like horses... but well... that's what you get... just be glad I don't write about it every week. ;-)