Los Caballos del Mosquin in Canillas de Albaida has recently had a flat area excavated to create a riding school at the stables. They are extending the existing riding school to double the size (50 x 20m) in order to meet the international measurements for a working size area. (In this moutanous region it is a quite an ambitious and costly project. Flat land in the mountains isn’t that easily obtained but Eva and the owners of other horses homed at the stables grouped together to fund this new facility. Eva hopes to be operational for November along with the arrival of a professional riding teacher for the winter months.. The teacher is an Austrian international and very well known rider; Angelika Miki. She has her own equestrian academies in Hungary and Austria and meets the profile of the Los Caballos del Mosquin concept which focuses on natural horseman ship, body language and horse wellfare all the way through from the very basic principles in handling a horse to the higher disciplines in classical dressage. Emphasis is on the cooperation with the horse instead of implying force, violence, punishment and pain. At Los Caballos del Mosquin their wish is to make horse men aware of the trend of horse welfare which Eva believes is very much needed in the area! Their aim is to make the riders (locals as well as foreigners) be aware that with a positive attitude you can climb mountains with your horse with both rider and horse enjoying the journey. Their goal is to to ban the Cerreta a metal nose band shaped as a saw, laying on the bare nose bone which causes the horse constant pain. It is used commonly in these kinds af areas and it dates from the age of Don Quijote, (the middle age) when the horse was used as a warrior in wars. It is prohibited in all other western countries and punished by law . The new facility and new Teacher is a great advantage to the area. The riding school is suitable for those who own horses and who want a flat area to ride, practice technique and fine tune skills. The area can be hired or booked with a teacher and prices charged can be on an hourly, monthly or a daily basis. Anyone is welcome to bring their horse, home it at the stables if this is easier and use the riding area and make use of the professional instructor. The riding school is not really directed at beginners but more intermediate and advance levels. Eva’s horses are able to take beginners out on treks in the summer when the horses have less energy but during the winter these horses are more suited to intermediate riders and above. Eva is keen to add to the horse owners that she collaborates with in order to invite further professional riders to the stable or specialists within the equine industry. With a bigger space and more horse owners involved the stables offers further possibilities of other specialists visiting from around the country and abroad. The new riding school also allows the possibility of jumping practice which Eva explained is something the younger generation prefer to do! Learning to do this is in a controlled and large flat space in the mountains isn’t easy so she hopes this will encourage riders to use her riding school to practice instead. Caballos del Mosquin has been in its current situation in Canillas del Albaida since 1997 and offers a number of services including various treks of different length of time from a couple of hours to a few days depending on what you want to see and level of proficiency. Eva offers a livery program which can be to home a horse on a long term of short term basis and also to a small extent she breeds horses. If you would like to find out more about any of the services on offer and the new riding school contact Eva see advert opposite
