A Morning of Horse Riding in Menorca

While preparing for my trip to Menorca, the smallest of Spain’s Balearic Islands, I had to choose between three different activities for one of the days – kayaking, a boat ride or horse riding. Even though all three activities sounded quite exciting, especially if we took the setting into consideration, it was an easy choice for me: I had been on many boat rides the past few months. I feel slightly anxious in the water – then, no kayaking for me. So, horse riding was the best activity for me. But it wasn’t just any horse ride. I was going horse riding in Menorca in the local Menorquin horse.

THE MENORQUIN HORSE

The island of Menorca has its own indigenous horse breed, the Menorquin horse. The breed has been preserved for centuries, but was only officially recognised in the end of the 1980s. The Menorquin horse is always black and is very elegant, calm and obedient.

The horse is the main star in Menorca’s patron saints fiestas, when it parades and shows all its elegance.

MY EXPERIENCE HORSE RIDING IN MENORCA

I arrived in the village of Son Bou early morning, along with a small group of six fellow bloggers. We headed straight to Son Bou Rutes a Cavall, where we met some of the horse trainers. They have dozens of horses available and ours were already there waiting for us. Not all horses were of Menorquin breed – most of them are rescued horses and, as such, some of them need extra attention. That was the name of my horse, Dolores. She wasn’t as tall as most Menorquin horses and I was given her for having a bit more experience than my friends.

Accompanied by riders Cristina and José, we set off horse riding on part of the island’s Camí de Cavalls path. It was created in the 14th century to protect the coast of Menorca and that today encircles the entire coast, with a total of 116 miles. Today, rather than soldiers and artillery, you will find locals and tourists walking, jogging or riding horses.

I was told that Dolores had a hard life before being rescued by her current owners. This made me think I was up for a tough ride. As we made our way to the actual route, we went past some old farm houses, some abandoned, others recently renovated. From time to time, Dolores got distracted and tried to stop to eat. We carried on and saw a small family of pigs eating whatever they found in their way.

The scenery changed constantly. At one point we were riding along a large green plantation and, minutes later, we had a field of dry wheat to photograph. Even though it was only late May, the heat was already intense.

After about one hour, we were atop a small cliff by the sea. The view was quite stunning, with the different shades of blue water almost merging with the blue sky. There we stopped to take some pictures – as the cliché goes, the spot was picture-perfect. A few metres to our left there was a beach with a small nude section – or maybe some beachgoers simply thought it was too hot to keep their bikinis and trunks on. By the way, some of the best beaches in Menorca are not far from here.

We then started making our way back. At this point, I was hoping we had all day long, as I was really enjoying the moment. I was loving the ever changing scenery, the weather and the horses. Going horse riding in Menorca made me want to go back to enjoy the patron saints fiestas and see the Menorquin horses showing their abilities.