You’ll be collected from your hotel this morning and driven the short distance to the 16th century hacienda (equestrian centre), where you’ll embark on your first ride: a relaxed hack through the surrounding fields, olive groves, and orchards. Depending on the season, you could see sunflowers, wheat, cotton, peaches, oranges, and melons. The ride takes you past impressive Haciendas and Cortijos that hark back to the days when Cervantes (beloved author of Don Quixote) rode these same trails, collecting olive oil taxes. You’ll return to the equestrian centre for a lavish, freshly-made lunch.

This afternoon brings your first dressage lesson (1 hour). Every single instructor at the equestrian centre is qualified by the Spanish Equestrian Federation and incredibly gifted at teaching, as you’ll soon come to realise. The knowledge they have gathered (having trained under many masters of various nationalities) has allowed them to form their own dressage training and teaching techniques, with safety, learning and enjoyment being the main priorities. They can cater to riders of all levels and backgrounds, so you don’t have to be a Grand Prix dressage rider. Even if you’re a happy hacker, or new to dressage, you’ll enjoy and benefit from every lesson you receive here.

If this is your first time attempting dressage, although your lessons will be kept simple, by the end of the week you’ll know that your riding foundations are correct and solid, enabling you to pursue any discipline you choose in the future.
For the more experienced riders, you’ll be given guidance towards riding your horse in a correct outline, straightness, balance, rhythm, etc.

As the week progresses, lateral movements such as shoulder-in, travers, renvers and half pass will be added. If you’re lucky, depending on horse availability, at the end of the week you may have the chance to experience piaffes, pirouettes and other more advanced movements.

Dinner tonight is NOT included in the price, but your hotel is within walking distance of many restaurants and tapas bars in Carmona, so you are free to choose where and when you eat.

This morning you’ll enjoy an early breakfast before being collected from the hotel at 8:30am and driven to Jerez de la Frontera in the province of Cádiz, approximately 1.5 hours away. Jerez is internationally renowned for its production of sherry and brandy. However, the main attraction will be the visit to the Real Escuela Andaluza del Arte Ecuestre (Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art) to witness the school’s famous performance, “How the Andalusian Horses Dance”. Here you will have the privilege of seeing 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, comparable only with the famous Spanish Riding School of Vienna. Fernando Garcia, one of your hosts, is well known at the school and is good friends with many world famous riders. His daughter Vivi (head instructor at the equestrian centre) is a graduate of the Real Escuela and frequently performed in the show during her four years of training.

After a mesmerising performance, you’ll return to the equestrian centre for your afternoon lesson (1 hour) where you’ll brush up on the things you learnt yesterday and continue to improve your school work or dressage.

Dinner is NOT included and is to be enjoyed at your free will in Carmona.

Back at the equestrian centre this morning, you’ll mount up and set off across the Spanish countryside for the Roman bridge. Today’s ride promises to be a scenic wonder: you’ll meander through a landscape patchworked with different crops, still rotated year by year as they have always been, with wide headlands of uncultivated land separating one field from another and providing a natural bridleway across country. The variety of wildflowers, butterflies and birds makes this ride truly memorable. Along the way, you may come across the river, full and flowing in spring, cool and shallow in summer, a natural haven for wildlife, with abundant vegetation year-round. Splashing through the shallows, terns and grebes, you’ll emerge at an old Roman bridge and shady eucalyptus grove.

After pausing to rest and take some beautiful photos, you will ride back to the equestrian centre for lunch. The afternoon brings more lessons in the arena.

Dinner is NOT included and is to be enjoyed at your free will in Carmona.

Today you’ll be collected early and driven to a seaside village where sturdy Andalusian horses bedecked in Spanish cowboy tack (‘montura vaquera’) will take you on an unforgettable route through Donaña Natural Park, bordering the National Park of the same name, one of Europe’s last true wilderness regions and one of the largest wildlife reservations in Spain. You’ll ride over golden dunes, brushing through fragrant wild lavender, rosemary and thyme. The area is home to many species (some protected), such as fallow deer, boar, fox, lynx, imperial eagles, kites, vultures, storks, flamingos and herons. Finally, you’ll ride down the steep dune to the beach, and then it’s time for the horses to wet their legs and, for those who wish to, a canter through the surf.

You’ll head back to the equestrian centre for lunch, then remount for your final dressage lesson. If you have any questions or you want to try a particular movement, now’s your chance! You will notice the improvement in your riding since day one, and will take these newfound skills with you to put into practice back home.

Dinner is NOT included and is to be enjoyed at your free will in Carmona.

**PLEASE NOTE** During the months of July and August, the Doñana beach ride cannot be offered. An alternative trail ride setting off from your hosts’ property will be offered as a replacement.