Day Seven - April 5

There is little way to describe the weather this morning except to say that our luck came to an end. It was definitely rainy though, to be fair, just misting, not pouring. Oleg met us with the truck near the hotel. I don't think I have fully described the magnitude of the truck operation. Normally on this ride the horses mostly stay in fields along the way. But because of the rain forecast, Maria Elena and Enrique Sr. decided to truck them back to the stable each night. The vehicle for this is an incredibly fancy custom job that Enrique Jr.  bought to transport his show horses. It can carry eight horses, lined up sideways, with movable panels in between. 

Each morning Oleg leads them down one by one and the rider mounts.

 In the afternoon, the process happens in reverse, except for my horse, who at the beginning was having none of that walking up the ramp. He loaded a lot better by the end of the week. The truck reportedly also has a bedroom, a toilet, a shower, a hot plate and, until the dish fell off along the road somewhere when Enrique was coming back from a show, satellite TV.

The countryside was getting greener and, with the rocks and the rain, felt rather like Ireland. We had some muddy canters. 

One big fail was of not getting a photo of my face before I washed off the traces of the mud clods that everyone in front threw up at me -- before snack time. The jacket tells the tale. 

Hardly believing this was our last segment, we mounted again to head to the stable. The horses knew they were headed home but we managed some really nice canters across fields filled with cows, without too many runaways. The landscape was much more settled now, with livestock and farmland all around us. Enrique seemed to know which gate to open and how, at one point cutting a rope that held one closed while trying vainly not to step in the large puddle of water that surrounded it.

Normally we would have forded a river near the stable to get back, but the waters were so high we took a long way around, circling around the village and walking alongside the racing waters (confirming the decision not to cross them) until we could take a small bridge near, of all things, a whisky distillery. 

Then it was back to Hipica Eresma, where we ushered our horses into their stalls for a well-deserved feed. The humans got one too, in the upstairs bar of the indoor ring. Enrique's staff laid on a really lovely lunch with many choices and much wine. We all got polo shirts and photos as a present. Then it was off to the fanciest hotel yet, the Parador on a bluff overlooking Segovia, where we enjoyed modern conveniences until it was time for a final dinner. Young Enrique and a friend of his from the riding school joined us. 

Our table looked out over a great view of the city, the cathedral towering over all. Hard to believe we'd all be leaving the next morning. Joe, Nancy, Sue and I had a final drink in the bar after dinner and talked about our next riding trip......