Donnerstag, 31. Juli 2014 GE Nummer 174

By Karin Seidl

She has everything, youcould think of. CarolineCountess of Saurma is able toafford the classiest horse athome in Switzerland as wellas in Bavaria where she is li-ving half of the time. Howe-ver the lady of the internatio-nal High Society prefers to flyto Spain once a month. TheAndalusian horse, she fell inlove with four years ago, isstanding in Covarrubia nea-rly 200 kilometers northernof Madrid. She says: Horse-back riding is nowhere asbeautiful as here. Well theCountess could be right.

What did I get into? It hasbeen years since I sat in thesaddle regularly. And now asix daylong outdoor ride on aforeign horse is waiting forme. At the airport of Madrid Iget to know my fellow trave-lers. All eight, two Swiss andsix English are very experien-ced with horses. They are ri-ders, riding at least once aweek for decades now. TheBriton Chris Gingell is doingthe tour with the Spanish tra-velling guide Jos ManuelBarrenada Gonzlez for thefifth time now. This time heconvinced two friends to joinhim. Debbie Brentons resis-tance has been small as it hisher second time and she al-ready had been infected bythe Covarrubias-Virus.

The trip is creatingRepeat Offenders

Nicky Crosbie claims notto be a good rider as she is notcounting her weekly rides atthe English National ParkDartmoor. Pure British un-derstatement as it turns out.She also said she was anurse but in fact she is inthe head of cancer research.Ron Medland and his wifeLinda have their own horsesas well as Michael Bates. TheSwiss Brigitte and PeterSchmid have to think a whileuntil they know the quantity

Trail Riding in Spain is addictive

of riding tours they have beenon. They count between 15 to20 riding vacations to Argen-tina, Portugal, Rumania,France etc.

Brigitte is immediately en-couraging me as I begin to geta bit pale around my nose.You can do it. You are goingto be fine! Chris gave me apat on the back. For him the-re was something more im-portant. So, Karin, do youdrink? Within a few minutesI realize that at least I will fallout of the saddle laughing.

It hardly takes Jos ManuelBarrenada Gonzlez longerthan a few minutes to knowwho will sit on which of hishorses. The same night he ap-points us to his horse stable atthe outskirts of the medievaltown Covarrubias. Jos startsto show us his gorgeous hor-ses. One horse after anotheris brought out of its stable byhis coworker Cesar. Theyprance along us, snuffle anddont stand still. Black,brown and white Andalusianhorses with long curly manes.Insanely beautiful, but ge-tting me on them? Not for allthe money in this world.Chris already whispered toJos that I prefer the moreclam ones. And now the 58-

year old horse trader and rou-te leader is making fun of meby asking over and over againKarin, do you want to ridethis tomorrow?

Jenerosa, a 13-year oldSpanish mixture female hor-se, is the first one I sponta-neously come up close to to-tally relaxed. Her calmnessemanates. I pet her chin, shecloses her eyes and puts herhead on my shoulder. Cute.Karin, that is yours, Jos ut-tered. Yes, mine. For a wholeweek.

Jenerosa carries me safelyfor 250 kilometers throughCanyons, up and down boul-ders and mountains, trotsthrough pine-tree forests,over green grassland, stepscarefully into creeks and gal-lops with me in the end twicethrough the beginning of theriver Arlanza because it is soenjoyable. Generally: Josscommand to galope contro-lado (controlled gallop) arebecoming my two favoriteSpanish words. Day by day Iam feeling more secure, dayby day more relaxed. Karin,how are you feeling?, Ronasks from time to time. Good Very good. On average wemanage to ride 30 kilometersa day, sometimes more and

sometimes less.

The hours in the saddle, attimes five or six, are just flyingby. For lunch Joss cowor-kers Cesar and Cipri are ser-ving warm meals with wineand coffee on white tablec-loths. The heat, the good foodand the long rides are makingus drowsy. In the shadow ofthe trees we are stretchingour limbs and looking intothe sky. The horses graze nextto us. Thinking? Aboutwhat? The head is clear.

Above us the vulturesare circling

We smell lavender, absin-the wormwood and cedar. Ti-ny little black butterflies aredancing around the horsesears. Bees are buzzing in theacacias and making the onlynoise. Above us the vulturesare circling. Sometimes thereare 20 of them. They are sit-ting in karstic caves and star-ring at the riders. It remindsme of an Italian-western mo-vie. And indeed: we are ge-tting to the hill which the mo-vie The Good, The Bad andthe Ugly by Sergio Leoneshad made famous. The gra-veyard was there, where thethree master shooters, theblonde (Clint Eastwood), Tu-co (Eli Wallach) and Senten-za (Lee Van Cleef) had a nerv-racking showdown.

Our showdown was stillthree days ahead. We havepassed vineyards, durmastoak forests and grazing land.From Rutruerto it goes toContreras over a spectacularhill we are riding down to thecloister Santo Domingo delos Silos. It is one of the mostbeautiful ones in Spain. Thenature park Cann del RoLobos is laying ahead of us.The wolves canyon is 32 ki-lometers long and we are ri-ding half of it. The way toQuintanar de la Sierra passes

medieval gravesites whichwere carved into the rock.The holes have the shape ofthe dead bodies. Whole fami-lies were berried next to eachother, father, mother, child-ren and babies.

Jos has ridden an uncoun-table amount of times alongthis Ruta Del Cid in Castile.

But I never have been bo-red, he said. Of the six routeshe is offering, it is the most di-versified one, impressingwith its spectacular nature,medieval often lonesome vil-lages and good hotels.

For 14 years now the Spa-nish is guiding tourists onhorseback through his home

For years a PNP Journalist has been occasionally going horseback riding Then she chanced the adventure of riding holidays in the Castilecountry. Actually he had stu-died medicine until his passi-on for horses got him. He was35 years old when he got on ahorse for the first time. Theattempt was nearly deadly.Nevertheless, I liked it. Sohe went and bought his firsthorse. Moro, a black stallion,back then just two years old,is still with him.

He has 125 horses by nowsplit up into three stables.Among them is a stallionwhich was nominated as oneof the best 10 horses in Spain.He has no fear of any horse,only respect. We can feelhis experience at every turn.Brigitte (53) and Peter (63),the most-traveled of thegroup, certify him with anoutstanding intuition for hor-se and rider. Jos is a verygood guide. That can not al-ways be taken for granted,Brigitte says. Also his horsesare well trained and experi-enced on those routes. Peteris delighted after the six dayshow safely and fast his Ban-dolero ran down the rockiestways without struggling at all.

For the two Swiss it is ob-vious: They will return. Justas Debbie, Nicky and Chris.And myself. Our commontarget: the Ruta de Santander.When we would pass themountains of northern Spainwe would be rewarded by theview over the Atlantic Oceancomplemented with a longgallop at the beach.

Caroline Countess of Saur-ma probably is right: riding isnot as beautiful anywhere el-se as here.

Karin Seidl wasinvited by Pega-sus Riding Tra-vels.

250 Kilometers inthe saddle, 6 days ofhour-long riding.The stress of thedaily routine isgetting lost by theclacking of hooves.

Arrival: Schedules flightsof Lufthansa or the Spanishairline Iberia are flying sever-al times daily to Madrid. Atthe airport the Pegasus ri-ding-tourists get picked up bytheir guide at the internatio-nal meeting point betweenTerminal 1 and Terminal 2

(Sala 1 and Sala 2, groundfloor). The connected busride takes two hours to Co-varrubias.

Where to book: The Swisstravel agency Pegasus RidingHolidays with their domicilein Allschwill close to Basel

offered this trip. You can findinformation on the internetat www.reiterreisen.com andat www.quitour.com. You getvery friendly information onthe phone from the rider Jes-sica Kiefer at the number +4161 303 31 03.

Where to sleep: Hotel Nue-vo Arlanza, Covarubias,three stars, very nice, a lot ofatmosphere, lovingly renova-ted, double bedroom for 93euros. Other accommodati-ons were for example the Ho-tel Tres Coronas de Silos atSilos.

Good to know

Riding where other people go for a hike: riding holydays in Spain make it possible. When you made the ride through the mountains the view over the Atlantic Oceanrewards the riders.

You dont have to ride through the river Arlanza to reach the stable of Jos Manuel BarrenadaGonzales. But you can just because it is fun. By the way: riding is mostly mens business in Spain.