El Caballo Blanco
Location update: I flew the 2000km from Perth to Adelaide yesterday (as the crow flies... it's 3000km by road). I am staying with Jennie's (squidypoo's) mum, who kindly offered to host me with only 12 hours notice! I am staying here until Sunday, when I fly to Melbourne to meet my flight to Christchurch. Yes, I gave up on doing the Great Ocean Road. It just wasn't meant to be. Oh well, just one more thing to do on a return trip! Ah, and I should mention that I am starting a short-term job of sorts the day after I land in Christchurch. It is on a horse farm near Rangiora, 25 minutes outside of the city. I work 3-4 hours a day in exchange for meals and accommodation, and should have the rest of the day free to explore. So excited to be around horses all the time again!
My mum says I should post less pictures because even SHE'S not looking at all of them anymore (and she's my mother! Although to be fair, she is on dial-up internet). But I really tried to cut down the numbers for this post and I just couldn't get it down to less than 53, which is still massive. But judging from the reaction to my last horsey post, you guys will enjoy them. Please keep up the comments and tell me what your favourite pics are... it does encourage me to continue! Sonia was saying that she would never have the drive to continuously blog, but it is the prospect of blogging that KEEPS me driven to chronicle my journey. As I know many of my blogging friends have experienced, I often have moments when I'm out and I think, "This will make a great Livejournal entry!". Hah hah.
So, what do I have 53 pictures of? Well, on January 10th, Sonia and I went to a place called El Caballo Blanco ("The White Horse" in Spanish). It is a riding establishment that trains Andalusians and puts on performances for the public similar to the Spanish Riding School. They have several stallions, and their claim to fame is that one of them is the only Andalusian stallion who has been exported out of Spain and is allowed to have his frozen semen shipped worldwide. Oooh, ahhh.
El Caballo's has a bit of a tumultuous history. It was opened in 1974 and imported the very first Spanish horses into Western Australia. It originally operated until 1991, during which it drew big crowds and in fact, won the award for the Best Tourist Attraction in Western Australia in 1982. Then, things fell apart and it closed down. The horses were sold and the beautiful mansion, stables and property were simply abandoned. Sonia visited the place both in its prime and when it was reminiscent of a ghost-town. Finally, in 2006, someone purchased it and reopened it and brought back the horses. First though, he put 2.2 million dollars into restoring the property. As you can imagine, it was very run-down after sitting for fifteen years. There are still improvements to be made, but eager heads now extend over stall doors, the pool is once more a sparkling crystal-blue, and the people have returned.
We got there quite early, and we asked if could see the horses in the stable before the show.
The owner kindly obliged, and Sonia and I spent some quality time giving the gorgeous boys pats and kisses.
The jackaroo (cowboy) was practicing for the Roman Riding part of the show.
Outdoor stalls.
There are still lots of spider webs to clean up!
The courtyard.
Statue in the main entrance.
(Sonia lent me her fish eye adapter to play with)
I thought this worked well with the fish eye due to the curves and circles already in the scene.
The dining room, with pool beyond.
Sonia said this photo was in full colour when she visited in the 70's!
The show started with the playing of both the Australian and Spanish national anthems.
Gallop out of the arena... I love the shadow in this one.
Then they loosed this stunning dapple grey stallion. I'll take two, please!
The jackaroo did a lunging demonstration with him.
Next came another gorgeous grey to demonstrate some dressage.
Then, a long-lining demonstration with a nearly pure-white stallion.
He was then tacked up for a ridden section and "duet" with an Aboriginal playing the didgeridoo.
This buckskin Andalusian (again, the only word I can use to describe him is GORGEOUS!)
pulled a cart and did "barrel racing". The guy on the back assists the turns by leaning.
Roman Riding time! I can stand on my horse, while he's STILL, but yeah, can't see myself doing this.
The bays in the following photos are Brumbies (descended from wild Australian horses)
Next, more dressage with this lovely girl in a traditional Spanish dress.
Then the jackaroo did a bridleless riding demo with one loose horse as well.
He reminded me a lot of Jonathan Field, who I saw at the "Mane Event" in April.
He put one foot on each horse, stood up, and cracked a bull whip over them. Woo!
This is actually a stallion and a mare, so the stallion was making kissy faces at her, hehe.
Belly rub. :)
Amaaaaazing amount of trust between these two!
Built-in hat rack. :p
The stallion was train to sit on this giant bean bag. I love how "at home" he looks!
They asked for a volunteer to come sit by the horse and I waved wildly, but instead they picked this older hippie dude who proceeded to jump from the stands into the sand, a good 1.5m, and then almost couldn't get up. He must have torn or pulled something... he literally HOBBLED over to the center. I didn't feel too bad for him because he was showing off by jumping in, instead of lowering himself in. Maybe he misjudged the distance, but still!
One last bridleless demo to end the day.
Overall, the show was fantastic. Such beautiful and well-trained horses, and excellent handlers and riders. I'm so glad this place was re-opened; I can't imagine why it was abandoned in the first place. After the show, we talked to the owner again and he asked if we were staying for dinner. I said (wryly), "Are you inviting us?". He laughed and said to go to the front and tell the girl we were paid for, and then he took us to the bar and told the bartender to "take care of us". Ooh, special treatment! We had told him we would send him photos, so perhaps he was being nice to us because of that, but we both agreed that he was just generally nice overall.
This kid was sitting on a bar stool while the dad ordered, and he gave him this $50 bill to hold, lol!
Sonia and I. :)
My mum says I should post less pictures because even SHE'S not looking at all of them anymore (and she's my mother! Although to be fair, she is on dial-up internet). But I really tried to cut down the numbers for this post and I just couldn't get it down to less than 53, which is still massive. But judging from the reaction to my last horsey post, you guys will enjoy them. Please keep up the comments and tell me what your favourite pics are... it does encourage me to continue! Sonia was saying that she would never have the drive to continuously blog, but it is the prospect of blogging that KEEPS me driven to chronicle my journey. As I know many of my blogging friends have experienced, I often have moments when I'm out and I think, "This will make a great Livejournal entry!". Hah hah.
So, what do I have 53 pictures of? Well, on January 10th, Sonia and I went to a place called El Caballo Blanco ("The White Horse" in Spanish). It is a riding establishment that trains Andalusians and puts on performances for the public similar to the Spanish Riding School. They have several stallions, and their claim to fame is that one of them is the only Andalusian stallion who has been exported out of Spain and is allowed to have his frozen semen shipped worldwide. Oooh, ahhh.
El Caballo's has a bit of a tumultuous history. It was opened in 1974 and imported the very first Spanish horses into Western Australia. It originally operated until 1991, during which it drew big crowds and in fact, won the award for the Best Tourist Attraction in Western Australia in 1982. Then, things fell apart and it closed down. The horses were sold and the beautiful mansion, stables and property were simply abandoned. Sonia visited the place both in its prime and when it was reminiscent of a ghost-town. Finally, in 2006, someone purchased it and reopened it and brought back the horses. First though, he put 2.2 million dollars into restoring the property. As you can imagine, it was very run-down after sitting for fifteen years. There are still improvements to be made, but eager heads now extend over stall doors, the pool is once more a sparkling crystal-blue, and the people have returned.
We got there quite early, and we asked if could see the horses in the stable before the show.
The owner kindly obliged, and Sonia and I spent some quality time giving the gorgeous boys pats and kisses.
The jackaroo (cowboy) was practicing for the Roman Riding part of the show.
Outdoor stalls.
There are still lots of spider webs to clean up!
The courtyard.
Statue in the main entrance.
(Sonia lent me her fish eye adapter to play with)
I thought this worked well with the fish eye due to the curves and circles already in the scene.
The dining room, with pool beyond.
Sonia said this photo was in full colour when she visited in the 70's!
The show started with the playing of both the Australian and Spanish national anthems.
Gallop out of the arena... I love the shadow in this one.
Then they loosed this stunning dapple grey stallion. I'll take two, please!
The jackaroo did a lunging demonstration with him.
Next came another gorgeous grey to demonstrate some dressage.
Then, a long-lining demonstration with a nearly pure-white stallion.
He was then tacked up for a ridden section and "duet" with an Aboriginal playing the didgeridoo.
This buckskin Andalusian (again, the only word I can use to describe him is GORGEOUS!)
pulled a cart and did "barrel racing". The guy on the back assists the turns by leaning.
Roman Riding time! I can stand on my horse, while he's STILL, but yeah, can't see myself doing this.
The bays in the following photos are Brumbies (descended from wild Australian horses)
Next, more dressage with this lovely girl in a traditional Spanish dress.
Then the jackaroo did a bridleless riding demo with one loose horse as well.
He reminded me a lot of Jonathan Field, who I saw at the "Mane Event" in April.
He put one foot on each horse, stood up, and cracked a bull whip over them. Woo!
This is actually a stallion and a mare, so the stallion was making kissy faces at her, hehe.
Belly rub. :)
Amaaaaazing amount of trust between these two!
Built-in hat rack. :p
The stallion was train to sit on this giant bean bag. I love how "at home" he looks!
They asked for a volunteer to come sit by the horse and I waved wildly, but instead they picked this older hippie dude who proceeded to jump from the stands into the sand, a good 1.5m, and then almost couldn't get up. He must have torn or pulled something... he literally HOBBLED over to the center. I didn't feel too bad for him because he was showing off by jumping in, instead of lowering himself in. Maybe he misjudged the distance, but still!
One last bridleless demo to end the day.
Overall, the show was fantastic. Such beautiful and well-trained horses, and excellent handlers and riders. I'm so glad this place was re-opened; I can't imagine why it was abandoned in the first place. After the show, we talked to the owner again and he asked if we were staying for dinner. I said (wryly), "Are you inviting us?". He laughed and said to go to the front and tell the girl we were paid for, and then he took us to the bar and told the bartender to "take care of us". Ooh, special treatment! We had told him we would send him photos, so perhaps he was being nice to us because of that, but we both agreed that he was just generally nice overall.
This kid was sitting on a bar stool while the dad ordered, and he gave him this $50 bill to hold, lol!
Sonia and I. :)