Riding School

Riding School
February 25, 2007

By chance, as we explored the depths of
the bullring in Ronda, we came upon the 
horse riding school/Escuela De Equitacion.

By chance, as we explored the depths of the bullring in Ronda, we came upon the  horse riding school/ Escuela De Equitacion. It was like a serendipitous little peek into the future as we all knew we would be seeing the famous Andalusian horse ballet in Jerez and also doing our own horse riding in the countryside near our village later on during this visit.

As I had mentioned in a previous blog entry (More Village Celebration on January 21), we have grown quite captivated by these beautiful Andalusian horses. One look at them and you can see why they have been the horses preferred by kings for centuries. It is also not surprising that they are one of the purest breeds of horses today and their ancestry goes back at least to 25,000 BC.

At first we stumbled upon them riding in an indoor square ring on sand  as we wondered around the inner bullring areas. They were mesmerizing to watch as they were put through their paces as their movements are very elegant and wildly free all at the same time. I am guessing that these horses are used in some way during the bullfight since they are right here in a paddock attached to the bullring, adjacent to where the bulls enter. The Picasso picture is another indication.

We also got to observe them washing and later brushing down the horses and then putting them away in another area. It felt like small stolen glances into a secret world.