We have decided to travel to Spain for the beginning of the outdoor season as it allows us to start in February rather than March which would be the case if we went to Italy. There are a number of options in Spain but we have decided to test the brand new facilities of the Equestrian Centre Oliva Nova at the Mediterranean Equestrian Tour. All of the facilities are being built within the existing beach & golf resort. That means that the resort hotel is the riders hotel but I will stay in the truck....the riders still have to pay for the hotel so at this stage in my career , the truck is a better fit for my budget!! However I can still show you the photos & I can probably sneak a swim in the pool with a rider who is staying at the hotel!
For the first tour the developers have said they will have 4 fibre sand surfaces constructed with the "ebb and folw" system by Klaus Dammann (GER) being:
1 main arena with 120m x 80m
2 arenas with 90m x 60m
1 arena for lunging with 60m x 20m
300 permanent stables plus temporary stables to accommodate 700 horses
The 4 weeks of competition are CSI3* and CSI-YH. The competitions for young horses (5, 6 and 7 years) take place during the week (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday). On the weekends (Friday, Saturday and Sunday), the CSI 3* competitions take place with Rolex Ranking classes every week end
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Tours like this are a fantastic way to start the young horses as they become settled and familiar with the surroundings as they live the "competition life" in a busy environment with atmosphere. The tour will also be a great start to the final stages of Bella's Olympic campaign & we selected the tour specifically because the surface will be the same as the selection series at Linz (Austria) and Bourge en Bresse (France) as well as in London. I am also very excited in that for the first time I will have 2 GP horses on tour!!
My stable rider Ola, is also coming and her father and brother in law will be travelling down from Poland with Ola's truck ( her brother in law hopes to ride also). So we will have 2 trucks, 2 floats, 2 GP horses and 6 young horses and of course Jamie my dog.
Below are some photos of the resort which looks very flash.
