Spain - Dressage, Beach & Countryside Riding

Date & Price

2012

Open all year, bar a few weeks across July & August, when the centre closes due to the heat. Week long holidays run from Sunday to Saturday. Short breaks are also easily arranged.

Train & Trail Programme - See full itinerary below

Adults / €1,344 per person sharing

Intensive Training Programme - often enjoyed by clients who return for a second visit, and want to concentrate on developing their Classical Dressage skills and includes lunge lessons. Call or email for more details.

Adults / €1,650 per person sharing

Classical & High School Training - a clinic designed to teach pupils how to develop their skills, and use back home training with their own horses - includes ground work, lunge lessons & a private lesson with Rafael Soto. cal or email for more details.

Adults / €2,106 per person sharing

Rafael Soto Clinics - includes 4 x 45 minute private lessons with the Olympic Silver medallist. Call or email for more details.

Dates - 12-19 Feb & 18 - 25 Mar, wioth more dates tbc for 2012.

Adults / €2,268 per person sharing

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Non- riders / €816 per person sharing

Single Supplement / €258

Under 12's / 25% discount

Unders 3's / FREE

NEW for 2012

We have introduced a new option for those guests who would like to ride out rather than take lessons in the mornings and then sightsee in the afternoons.

Adults / €186 per person sharing

Includes accommodation, breakfast, lunch, complimentary airport transfer and a 3 hour hack in the morning.

Minimum stay of 2 nights.

Horses
Andalucians & Andalucian Crosses, some Warmbloods, Anglo Arabs and Thoroughbreds and some small ponies for kids.

Level of Riding & Pace
Complete Beginner to Advanced. There are horses here to suit all levels, trusty sorts to take care of nervous beginners to spirited, athletic types who perform Piaffe, Passage and the Spanish Walk. 

Tack
English

Weight restriction
16 Stone / 102kg / 224 lbs

Group size
Maximum 10

Getting there
International flight to Seville

Transfer
The transfer time is only 20 minutes from Seville airport, and there is a scheduled transfer. The pick up is between 4 & 8pm on Sundays, and the drop off no later than midday on Saturdays. Please bear in mind the times when booking flights to benefit from the scheduled transfers.

Accommodation
This is an authentic 16th century hacienda, with simply furnished rooms, tastefully decorated in a Spanish house style. In addition to the riding, there's also a pool with lounging areas, perfect to lay by in the heat of the afternoon. The food is plentiful and guests can expect continental breakfasts, varied lunches including pack lunches/picnics and delicious, traditional Spanish style evening meals including paella, cooked by your host Jane, who is a marvellous chef,  all washed down with the local wine.      

Included
All the riding, full board accommodation, drinks with meals, transfer at pre set times and some sightseeing.

Excluded
Flights, some sightseeing (Spanish School of Equitation Jerez, Flamenco Show Seville), 2 meals in Carmona & Seville and tips.

Please Ask About

• Other riding vacations available at Epona; 
  • Intensive Training - often enjoyed by clients who return for a second visit, and want to concentrate on developing their Classical Dressage skills and includes lunge lessons
  • Rafael Soto Clinic - includes 4 x 45 minute private lessons with the Olympic Silver medallist
  • Classical Training & High School Training - a clinic designed to teach pupils how to develop their skills, and use back home training with their own horses - includes ground work, lunge lessons & a private lesson with Rafael Soto 
• Additonal horse activities
  • Private lessons - Andalucian Stallion
• Additional non riding activities
  • Massages
  • Golf
  • Tennis
  • Spanish Lessons
  • Flying

Sample Itinerary

Dressage, Beach & Countryside Vacation

Day 1 - You arrive in Seville and transfer to the stables. Get to know your way around and maybe take a dip in the private pool. In the evening, you will be escorted to the nearby town of Carmona, one of the famous white villages of Andalucia. Carmona, is the oldest, continually inhabited village in Europe and as you stroll through the narrow streets of the old town, inside the ancient fortified walls, you will feel and breathe the spirits of ancient cultures -  Iberians, Visigoths, Phoenicians, Romans and Moors. Later, possibly under an indigo sky or in the interior of a centuries-old olive oil mill, you will savour the delights of the local cuisine.

Day 2 - Mount up for the Old Hacienda Ride - a relaxed hack around the immediate countryside, through olive groves and eucalyptus trees. Depending on the season, you might see fields of sunflowers, wheat and cotton, as well as melons and water melons in late summer. The ride takes you past impressive 16th and 17th century haciendas and cortijos, which have stood here since the days when Cervantes rode these same trails, collecting olive oil taxes. Return to Epona for lunch and sample our excellent, local house wine. The afternoon can be spent by the pool, or if you are feeling in need of culture, take a bus into Carmona to explore the old streets, the archaeological sites or the Roman Necropolis, the second largest in the world after Rome itself. Equitation lessons will take place in the late afternoon when life is a little cooler. It's a great chance to improve your school work, dressage or jumping.

Day 3 - We bring you to Jerez which is internationally renowned for its production of sherries and brandies and your trip will include a visit to a famous wine shop where you will be able to sample some of the
different local varieties. However, the main attraction of the day will be the visit to the Real Escuela Andaluza del Arte Ecuestre, an equestrian performance titled "How the Andalusian Horses Dance". Here you will see the magnificent Andalusian stallions at their best, at home in the breathtaking setting of their 18th century palace and the riding hall. They will be performing piaffe, passage and the airs above the ground (courbette, capriole, etc) in a spectacle of light, music and colour, only to be compared with the famous Spanish Riding School of Vienna. Return for lunch at Epona, followed by lessons in the afternoon.

Day 4 - After breakfast, we saddle up and set off across country for the Roman bridge.You will be riding through cultivated farmland and olive groves whose ancient trees are still carefully tended and nurtured. After a break and a few photographs, it is back home for a late lunch and a siesta. In the evening there will be equitation classes and dinner at Epona.

Day 5 - We set off early to the seaside village of Matalascañas, where beautiful Spanish horses, most in Spanish tack, will be waiting to take you on the Beach Ride. The ride takes you on an unforgettable route through the Donaña Natural Park, one of Europe's last true wilderness regions and one of the largest wildlife reservations in Spain. The ride will take you over the golden dunes, brushing through fragrant wild lavender, rosemary and thyme. The area is home to many protected species such as fallow deer, boar, fox, lynx, imperial eagles, kites, vultures, storks, flamingos and herons. Down to the beach and it's time for the horses to wet their legs and for those who want to - a canter through the surf. Then it's back to Epona for lunch and a siesta by the pool. Rest, enjoy a drink, TV, games room, or a swim before your early evening equestrian lesson which is followed by a traditional "paella campestre" under the stars, washed down with wonderful home-made sangria.

Day 6 - We set off across open country for our last hack of the week, through olive and orange groves and past farmers working the land. Eventually, we arrive at the fields of a top class Andalucian stud farm and if we're lucky, you will get a chance to appreciate the noble and docile nature of the beautiful mares and foals grazing peacefully in the sunlight. We might even see some colts and magnificant stallions. Return to Epona for lunch.

Day 7 - Depart - pack and transfer for Seville airport.