Spain – 1986

September 29, 2009 | Posted by Black Horse Rider

A view from the city of Rhonda, Spain

Once upon a time I went to Spain to work with horses. Actually, I wore two hats…personal riding instructor to Patricia and part-time nanny to her youngest daughter. The nanny portion was infrequent but the horses played a prominent role during my time there.

I was working as a riding instructor at Claremont Riding Academy in New York City when I met Patricia. She took a private lesson from me and we spent it riding in Central Park. As the end of our lesson drew near she asked if I would like to come to Spain and be her personal riding instructor over the summer. I jumped at the opportunity of course! Patricia and her husband were part of an entourage who traveled with an infamous oil sheik, reputed to be one of the richest men in the world at the time. Little did I know the world I would be entering.

The apartment in Puerto Banus

I flew to Marbella, Spain where I would be staying with Patricia and her family at a lavish apartment in the marina, Puerto Banus. After recovering from my very long flight via Amsterdam to Spain, I made my first trip out to the horse stable.

I was provided with a car and driver whenever I wanted to go to the stable which was about a 30 minute drive from the apartment and was located, along with the Sheiks many other sprawling villas, on several thousand acres in Marbella, Spain. As I approached the stable I was astounded! Horses were actually kept in this facility. It was spectacular and I wanted to spend every moment I could out there.

The Stable Entrance - wow

Everyday I was driven out to the stable where I would spend hours riding the Arabian stallions in the outdoor arena or taking them out for rides along the dusty roads that traversed the property. Occasionally Patricia would come out later in the day and I would give her a riding lesson or we would go for a ride together.

The majority of the riding horses were stallions and almost all the horses were Arabians. There was one tall, bay gelding – some kind of warmblood, that I would occasionally ride and a beautiful sorrel Arabian mare that was broke to ride. The rest of the mares were strictly used for breeding.

The warm blood gelding sporting a Portuguese Saddle

There were both English and Western saddles to use but my all time favorite saddle was a fleece-covered Portuguese saddle, something I had never seen before but was absolutely the most comfortable saddle I have ever ridden in.

One of the younger men who worked in the stable.

There were three men who ran the stable, an older fellow who was obviously in charge and two younger men who did most of the labor involved with the horses. The older man spoke a tiny bit of English but both young men spoke only Spanish, although I never seemed to have any problem communicating. I got pretty good at pointing and playing charades and learned enough words that I could manage to get my message across.

There were two stallions I just loved to ride. One was a dapple gray, the other a flea-bitten gray. The dapple was the taller of the two, younger, softer and a bit more hesitant. The flea-bitten stud captured my heart! He was a little, stocky fellow with a bold personality and some pony-like characteristics – which meant he was a mischievous little guy. I would often take him out for long rides by myself. We would gallop along the dusty roads and every time we’d come to a cattle guard he’d leap over them!

The Skeik had hundreds of exotic deer imported onto his property and on a few rides I’d come across these beautiful creatures. Once I was galloping along the road, between a cliff wall and a steep drop-off, when a magnificent antlered deer of a kind I’d never seen before leaped down from the cliff wall, raced along side us for a few breaths, then dove off the other side of the road! My heart skipped a few beats.

Playing with the minature pony.

There was a herd of miniature ponies at the stable and back in 1986 I didn’t see a lot of those little creatures around stateside. So playing with the ponies was a way to fill some slow times during the day.

The Sheik’s prize Arabian was a tall, white stallion. I rode him once but he seemed rather stiff and anxious to me so I went back to riding my two favorite boys.

Besides the beautiful horses, amazing landscape and spectacular horse facilities, I also had the opportunity to attend the Sheik’s birthday party and spend some time at the central villa. Sean Connery and his wife were guest at the house along with the McGuire Sisters. Those three serenaded the Sheik with a birthday song one morning when we were all eating breakfast at the villa. The late Farrah Fawcett was a friend of Patricia so for two weeks she stayed with us in the apartment in Puerto Banus. It was very exciting to spend dinner time sitting around the table talking to Farrah. She was a quiet and nice person but a lot smaller than I imagined from my days as a child watching Charlie’s Angels!

Petting the cougar through the bars...

The icing on the cake was being able to play with the Sheik’s captive cougar. I would say ‘pet’ but I’m really not sure he would fall in that category. The cat was kept in a spacious cage and I would go down and pet him through the bars. Eventually I mustered up enough courage to go inside the cage. I only did this three times. Even though the cat was a small one, about 90 pounds, when he would leap at me and wrap himself around my leg I’d always sweat a little. I’d hang on to his collar and say soothing kitty words to him but he was pretty determined to have me as a playmate. The clincher to my decision to not go back into the cage with him anymore was when I watched him stalk around the perimeter of his pen, following every movement of Patricia’s little girl, Lulu. That cat wasn’t looking at Lulu like he wanted to play with her, he was looking at her like she would be his next meal. The intensity of his stare and the deadly stealth he used while following her around made me grateful there were bars separating him from us.

Playing with the cougar!!

It also made me come to my senses a little – this was an animal who could hurt me. So, I still visited him, because I felt sorry that he was penned, I just didn’t go into the cage any more. I did have a little internal “whoopee” moment when I heard that he had knocked down some person who was going into his pen and had escaped. I never did hear if they captured him. I hope he got some pleasure from being free, even if was just a short while!

When I came back to the states I was filled with great stories and wonderful memories of my trip. I feel honored to have had the opportunity to work with those beautiful Arabians and to have experienced a way of life I’ll probably never be privy to again in this lifetime!