Jerez – Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art
Jerez – Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art
11th August, 2009.
An early start saw us on the train from Puerto Santa Maria to Jerez and out to the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art standing in a queue for tickets to the midday performance for the dancing stallions. This was an anxious moment as attempts to book in advance had been unsuccessful so it was good to get tickets and enter the impressive establishment with many other visitors.
Firstly we took advantage of a lovely coffee and visiting the souvenir centre. We watched a multimedia video showing the history of the horses, walked the first floor of the stately rooms of the mansion and the training arena and stables.
The show commenced at midday and sounds of Spanish music introduced the first horses onto the arena. The horses were beautifully trained and presented with the riders in costumes trimmed with brocade and embroidery. Horses worked in hand on the long rein
performing high school movements, next riders performing dressage and also a wonderful quadrille. Then came the carriage horses with a pair harnessed in colourful authentic Spanish costume with bells and bobbles and a 4 in hand team presented in full English costume. Lastly the younger horses and riders showed their abilities and skills performing in every corner of the arena thrilling the whole audience. Coming outside we finished the tour by spending at least ¾ hr looking through the carriage museum with 30 or 40 carriages and which also included harness for single, pair and teams, some with collars and other configurations to suit every occasion, some decorated to the Spanish style. The whole presentation, show, house and gardens were very professional and a joy to horse lovers and others alike.
Coming outside afterwards we were faced with the famous Sandeman bodega on the street opposite and took advantage of the 3pm tour in English. As the temperature outside was indicating 40 degrees we thought a tour inside would cool us nicely. Victoria from Perth in Scotland was our tour guide and she gave us a full and informative tour of the bodega. We learnt about the Sandeman history and sherry making which included wines and brandy production from three kinds of white grapes. We participated in samples of 3 sherries and met a lovely newly married couple from Athens in Greece who insisted upon sharing ten of their twenty samples which we did happily. Jim especially enjoyed the ten year old brandy and we had great fun talking together.