A Week in my Life: Tuesday - I get Paid to Ride Horses on the Beach!

This is part of a series! Want to read the previous posts? Check these out...
Sunday - My "Monday" in the Office
Monday - The Reason Sunday doesn't bother me

Tuesday begins the same way as Monday, only I get to sleep in for an extra 15 minutes as we have less to do this morning. We only tack up 10 horses today, and Rachel stays home with her 4 year old daughter Charlie so Vinnie can come out with us on his bike to take pictures of the guests. By the time we’re finished tacking up today, I’m officially awake and notice that Mitch, one of the forest guards is standing next to the hay with his horse – a gorgeous flea-bitten dun stallion called Apollo. He’s decided he’s going to ride with us for a bit today, and he joins me at the back first for a bit of conversation before heading up to ride with Jose in lead where he can really get the good gossip.

Today we head down to the beach for our first beach ride of the week. We ride out to the West and up to Sally’s Whiz, a gallop up a beautiful wildflower meadow where Vinnie is waiting to take pictures of us. We ride down the main road from here to Los Caños and then through the town down neighborhood streets and past house after house of familiar faces. I’m riding Palomo today, a new horse we have and this is his maiden voyage to the beach. This is officially the only horse (knock on wood) since I’ve been here that’s successfully thrown me off. I was a tiny bit nervous to see what he would be like on the beach, but he hasn’t shown me another buck since our first ride out, so it shouldn’t be too bad.

We come onto the beach, Playa de la Laja, in between Los Caños and Zahora onto some sand dunes. We ride down to the water, or at least, everyone else does. Palomo is not having it though, and though he casually investigates the water line as the waves recede, the second a new one begins to approach, he is on his hindquarters and backing up as fast as he possibly can. What would be a relaxing day on the beach for our guests, was not going to be a relaxing day for me. As I wage war against Palomo’s hydrophobia, we turn the corner of the beach onto Playa de Mariscucia and Jose turns around and informs us that the tide is right and the sand packed down hard enough for us to have a quick canter – a warm up, if you will, for the gallop to come once we come onto the beach La Playa del Faro past the Faro de Trafalgar – the Trafalgar Lighthouse.

After our warm up, we pull up next to the lighthouse to a little rain and tide fed pond we amply call “the Lake.” The Lake is basically a shallow bathing pool about the size of a football field and about 3 feet deep with salty water. We do a quick gallop through the lake, thoroughly soaking ourselves, but loving the refreshing water covering us, as it’s quite hot today. Jose turns the ride from here up the Playa del Faro and we walk up for about an hour to a quiet wildflower field for a break before turning back and heading down the beach back towards the lighthouse.

We’ve timed the ride just right and the tide is completely out now. The sand near the water and up towards the dunes for at least 20 feet is packed hard and is perfect for a long gallop. Jose calms his horse, Tano, long enough to inform us that we’re in for a real treat and then heads off full speed up the beach. The rest of us desperately try to keep up, but we have no hope; not only did Jose get a head start, but Tano is fast – REAL fast.

We take another turn in the lake before tying up the horses just off the beach in the pine forest. We walk the short trek to Las Dunas, a beachside bar in between Los Caños de Meca and Zahora. Jose and I sit the guests outside at one of the homemade picnic tables while we mingle inside with the bartenders. Today’s meal is a simple tuna sandwich with mayo, lettuce and tomato. It’s accompanied by the best aceitunas or green olives IN THE WORLD. Yes. That is correct. They are grown near here, North a bit, towards Cadiz and soaked in garlic and olive oil and they are delicious. After this it’s a leisurely ride back to the yard to untack and feed the ponies.

This afternoon, I need a big nap because tomorrow is my day off, and as such, I am going out tonight (out out), so I need to rest my weary head in preparation. After a quick dip in the pool and 45 minutes on each side laying out, I collapse in bed from 5 until 8, waking up just before the dinner bell rings and I head down to meet the guests for the meal. Tonight, we’re having Moroccan Moussaka, Falafel and couscous salad and Flan.

I guzzle down my food rather quickly and make my all-to-familiar walk to Miguel’s.  I’m the first of the crowd to arrive, so I settle down at the bar and have a quick chat with Fabian – no need to order a drink here; they know exactly what I want. I sit and shoot the shit with the locals until the rest of my party arrives. Tonight, Clair, Jose, Fernando and I are going to Saboy, a great bar/club down in Los Caños with live music.  Fernando is driving, so the stress is off and the rest of us are looking for a party. The bars in Spain are usually open until 2-3 AM depending on who’s around and who’s working. At that point, the clubs open. The great thing about Saboy (and most of the bars/clubs in this area) is that they’re a bar club combo which means they open in the afternoon and stay open until… well… until usually the sun comes up.

Lucky for me, tonight, Saboy has an American cover band. It’s actually incredibly humorous to listen as the band speaks relatively no English and sings the wrong words most of the time to very popular songs. Jose, Fernando and I dance for hours while Clair socializes with one of the hundreds of people she seems to know. The next thing I know, it’s 5:30 AM and we’re dancing the Sevillana to the Rolling Stones. We’ve managed to relocate Clair and Jose still has to work tomorrow, so the rest of us take one for the team and Fernando takes us home.

I think.

Cue the next thing I remember, which is Wednesday.