j1ffy
Well-Known Member
...and don't worry, there are lots of horses!! Just over two weeks ago I got married in Andalucia, close to where my horses are kept. I'll skip the boring parts and get to the arena part! We'd arranged for our horse trainer and his brother (former Doma Vaquera champion of Spain) to do a horse show. However our trainer and a good friend had organised an extra surprise - all our horses were there!!
OH and I turned the corner to the arena to see these three - the bay in the middle is my beautiful PRE, Pocholo, who did a great job of growing 4 inches and puffing himself up to match the two stallions!
Not only was he there, but they had also trained him to carry me feria style, so with a somewhat ungraceful scramble up we headed off around the arena. OH hadn't been on a horse in 4 months and had never ridden with a vaquera bit, so the first turn was a bit, umm, interesting..!
I'm pleased to say that my Jimmy Choos survived the dismount and I got lots of congratulations on the leap off!! I hugged my friend and fought back the tears (I couldn't risk the make-up after all..!!).
After that, Gonzalo did a doma classica show:
And the wonderful finale - our trainer, Antonio, did an incredible garrocha display. The highlight (for me) was 3-time tempi changes on a 10-metre circle around the garrocha and the pirouettes under the garrocha.
And the next tearful moment, Antonio's salute to me...
Our mare and foal were also there in the round pen (the hotel where we have the reception has horses so they had all the facilities!) - here's a shot of the gorgeous boy a few days later on his 4 month birthday:
Naturally there was also a lot of drink, food, speeches and dancing but that's not relevant here It really was an amazing wedding all round but having our horses there was just incredible.
Sorry if the pics are huge, I've resized them in photobucket but it seems to be taking a while to refresh!
OH and I turned the corner to the arena to see these three - the bay in the middle is my beautiful PRE, Pocholo, who did a great job of growing 4 inches and puffing himself up to match the two stallions!
Not only was he there, but they had also trained him to carry me feria style, so with a somewhat ungraceful scramble up we headed off around the arena. OH hadn't been on a horse in 4 months and had never ridden with a vaquera bit, so the first turn was a bit, umm, interesting..!
I'm pleased to say that my Jimmy Choos survived the dismount and I got lots of congratulations on the leap off!! I hugged my friend and fought back the tears (I couldn't risk the make-up after all..!!).
After that, Gonzalo did a doma classica show:
And the wonderful finale - our trainer, Antonio, did an incredible garrocha display. The highlight (for me) was 3-time tempi changes on a 10-metre circle around the garrocha and the pirouettes under the garrocha.
And the next tearful moment, Antonio's salute to me...
Our mare and foal were also there in the round pen (the hotel where we have the reception has horses so they had all the facilities!) - here's a shot of the gorgeous boy a few days later on his 4 month birthday:
Naturally there was also a lot of drink, food, speeches and dancing but that's not relevant here It really was an amazing wedding all round but having our horses there was just incredible.
Sorry if the pics are huge, I've resized them in photobucket but it seems to be taking a while to refresh!