HOLIDAYS


on huge horsesperforming dressage at alevel Ican only dreamofwith their legs barely reachingpastthe saddle flaps, making it seem so effortless.Was it time formetogiveup my little dreamofDuranteand the half passasafive year old child floated pastexecuting perfectflying changes... Ithink possibly yes. To be honest if Ieverachieve adecent leg yield to the right Ishall die avery happywoman ... Anyway Idigress. In viewofthe chilly air Idecided to purchase one of the


beautiful Portuguese jacketsIhad seen everyone else wearing, well, Iwas justgoing to look and then wastreated to aglass or two of Abafado alocal desert wine,after two of these I bought the jacket and had to be restrained from buying another such wasthe fabulous Portuguese hospitality, sip don’tgulp Abafado is my advice. Iwas very glad of the jacket on the chilly night evenings that followedand it got put to good use. In the centreofGolega is the main arena surrounded by


the Manga, which is best described as the outside warm up ring, nowifyou canimagine every single discipline including carriage driving warming up together,mainly dressed in Portuguese costume it will giveyou avague ideaofwhat this is like, it wasgrowing increasingly difficult to knowwhereto point the camerawhen we were by the Manga as each horse and rider wasaspectacle to behold, children areheld on in front of their parentsonthe saddle and therewerelotsof people doubled up on horses, as Ihad spent the lastmonth deliberating over whether a161/2” or a17” saddle would be the right length forDurante’sback it kind of threw all my research out of the windowand made me feel slightly stuffy. Our second daywas spent again in ahazeofsurrealequine


imagery.The Manga wasaconstant draw as we watched everyone ride round, little did we knowthat we were going to become apart of this. Beforeflying out Claire, being extremely clever, had sourcedsomeone who had some horseswecould ride and better still could actasour guide,with our sense of direction this wasprobably the mostimportant factor in not ending up on horseback in Spain.. Likeall the best laid plans we didn’tthink that this waspossibly going to happen but we had amessage from Mille at PM Lusitano’sand she met us by the main arena and recognised us immediately, we all went back to Mille’shouse in the centreofGolega in asort of dreamlikestate, thinking this can’tbereal! At the bottom of the garden were stables and inside were the most beautiful Luso stallions, each one wasallotted to us judged on our riding ability, Iinstantly fell in love with Estrunfe, grey and gorgeous, plaited to perfection and tacked up in the most beautiful Portuguese saddle and bridle,Ithink we were all pinching ourselves slightly at this point as to get to actually ride in this amazing placewas beyond our expectations. We led our horsesout via the sitting room of the house


which in itself wasafirstand were soon all mounted, Ihad treatedmyself to aPortuguese riding costume on my previous visit and had lugged it all the wayoveronthe off chance, having only worn it oncebeforeInoticed it wasn’tfalling straight, in my excitement Ithought ‘well, it’ll sort itself out along the way’..... we set off through the streetsofGolega towardthe Manga feeling thoroughly at home on our horses, not one spook or hesitation. In the melee of the Manga we got to knowour mountsabit better,Estrunfewas as light as a feather to ride and Iwas feeling quitecosyinmyPortuguese jacket and riding skirt and tried abit of leg yield at trot and he fair floated acrossthe track, by this point Iwas beginning to feel abit smug and wasquitehappyatposing with Estrumfeto have my phototaken until avery lovely immaculately dressed Portuguese lady pulled along side me and very kindly told me that Ihad my skirt on the wrong wayround. Feeling throughly mortified Ithanked her profusely with the excuse ‘English.’ Luckily at this point the lightswent down and the showin the main arena started, Iwas able hide my blushesand fix the offending fabric by performing asort of ‘round the world’ in the dark. Estrunfetook it all in good part and stayed with me.Such loyaltythese Luso’shave. He didn’tlaugh once. We watched some of the showonhorseback and then went


out intothe streetsofGolega and became part of the living film. With my skirt on the right wayround my confidence bloomed. Iwould describe this ‘hack’ as abit likebeing out clubbing with your horse as we stopped at barsfor a Ginjinha, another local drink. Then we headed off to the horse disco, this appealed to my sense of humour hugely,would it have horsesinwhiterugs with medallions Ipondered as we rode up and in, with the loud music and flashing lights and asand school, it wasindeed ahorse discoCelia’sHorse wastransfixed with the bull fighting on the tv screen and then performed piaffewith justhis front half in time to the music. What acomic. Iwill remember forevergoing to a discowith ahorse.Aperfectend to aquitesurrealnight. In the centreofGolega close to the main arena thereare a


Formore


informationon theLusitano


horsecontact: http://www.


lusobreedsociety. co.uk


seriesofCasettas, small wooden cottagesinwhich individual breedersprovide hospitality, on one of our moreadventurous peersround astreet doorway we got welcomed in, met the horsesand were given ahistory on the stud and then invited back to the breedersCasettawhereweweregiven coffee and extraordinary hospitality, it waslikealittle pocket of warmth much appreciated on achilly Portuguese night, photographs of the horsesand their achievementsadorned the walls and the pride in their horseswas immense.Infactwhen anyone noticed us peering round adoorway we were immediately welcomed in and given aglassofAbafado and introduced to the horses, this coupled with the wonderful buffet lunch provided by


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