Equestrian centre

Does anyone know if the equestrian centre and tapas bar have now opened?  I spoke with Antonio last week and he was very positive that both would be opening at the weekend. Am hoping that this project doesn't turn out like the Commercial Centre!

Eric & Heather

I actually went up there today and it looks ready to open but he wasn´t around to ask 

What tapas bar is this, Erich? Where will it be and when?

Regards

Noel

Had an email from Antonio last week to say that the Equestrian centre and Tapas Bar were opening on 21st May.  We are going over on the 20th June for a week so will check then.

Noel, supposedly it is overlooking the riding arena. Access is from the roundabout in the top left corner of the resort.

Eric & Heather

Overlooking the arena? Sounds great. Look forward to hearing your report, Eric and Heather.

Hi Eric

Sorry to be a pain but had heard nothing about this at all. Am trying to understand where you mean by location. Is this at far end of development ie away from club house?

will be out there ourselves again from June 18th so very much look forward to seeing it.

 It is off the roundabout at the southwest corner of the development. Helpfully, there are 'no entry' signs, but if you ignor them and drive up a hundred meters or so the equestrian centre car park is on your right. Drive in to it and the buildings are on your left.  The entrance is round the far side of the buildings. There you will find a terrace that  should, hopefully now have a tapas bar, which over looks a menage area. Round the back is a yard that, when I was last there, already housed the horses. There are also around 30 horses running 'wild' in the protected land behind the site. The idea being that they take people trecking in the protected land, and lessons in the menage. Antonio is a keen horseman himself apparently. When I was there last month, everything was ready to go, but there was some hold up at the town hall. Antonio did email me a couple of weeks ago to say that it was to open last weekend. However, I've seen nothing on their website, and there has been no 'grand opening' email. Still we'll be out again on 20 June, so we'll see!

We visited the equestrian centre last week but have to report that we were very disapointed & shocked - the first thing we noticed was a wire cage which housed a large white tank ( a bit like a gas tank) & three horses inside - they had water & food & put it down to the fact that they were just put there temporarily! Alas not - a couple of evenings later the Bay was tied up to the fence allowing him no access to the water. When we questioned this - it was because he bites - well take him out then - I would bite if you tied me up in a pen in the heat with no water. - We do not believe that treating horses that are working for you in this manner is beneficial to both paying customer nor the horse (We later checked that evening to ensure he was untied - he was in fact removed from the pen)

We learnt later that they are being kept there whilst their stables are being buillt. Would it not have been best to do this first before working horses were brought in?

It would have been quite easy for them to build an outside pen with a shelter to protect them from the direct sun whilst the stables were being built

Yes - we do have horses of our own - three - for many years -& have been hugly disapointed by our initial experience of this equestrian centre

We will be relaying this information onto the owners of Peraleja as we believe that what we saw last week was totally unacceptable

However, this was our opinion only & if you wish to drink & eat tapas whilst a horse is potentailly suffering just around the corner from you then feel free - we will not  - our only concern is for the horses welfare not the viability of the Tapas bar!

Please forgive the tone of the message - but you can tell we were pretty upset & angered at what we saw

We will be checking again when we visit later on this year - maybe you can too?

Regards

David & Caron

 Two things; firstly the taps bar at La Peraleja is excellent. Interesting staff - an excellent waitress from Romania who now lives in Sucina with her Spanish husband and their baby, and a highly excentric spaniard who takes your order, brings what he thinks you'd really like, gives yo extra drinks and then makes up a (very attractive) bill! The food is great and the service prompt.

Secondly; the horses. I didn't see any of them 'at work', but, over three visits last week, I had a good look at them. I have mixed feelings over what I saw. All of the staff that I spoke to seem genuinely both interested and caring about their horses, but, at the same time, equally genuinely surprised that, as Britons, we would find their animal husbandry 'unusual'. Although not a horse owner, I have lived around horses for many years (there are around 2-3 dozen within 30 yards of where I'm sitting as I type) so I have seen much good and bad practice over the years. What I saw in Spain may be far from the best I've experienced, its also far from the worst and, by southern European standards, about average. I suspect that the influence of the British may well see standards at Peraleja rise, but in the meantime, I think that the characterisation that animals are 'potentially suffering just around the corner' is slightly over the top. In Britain we no longer buy our cats and dogs from glass boxes in pet shops in shopping centres, but that won't keep me out of Carrefore or Eroski, and it won't stop me having a coffee at Nam-Nam. So David & Caron, please feel free to express your disgust, but lets encourage improvement rather than trying to throw the baby out with the bath water. The equestrian centre has the potential to add such a lot to the viability of Peraleja as a whole ... and we all benefit from that ... even the horses!

Hello

Just thought that everyone would like to see the response from Peraleja

"I understand your concern about these 3 horses. We went to Portugal last month to purchase a new stallion and a mare that are arriving next week. When we were in Portugal we saw these 3 horses, 2 of them were in very bad conditions and we saved them from a sure death. Now they are getting weight and recovering their good shape. ONLY during feeding time we had to tie the bay one (who is the strongest one), because he didn’t let the others eat, kicking and bitting them. Now the new stables are finished and everyone is in his own box"

We are really pleased with this outcome & wish the new equestrian centre success along with happy contented cared for horses

For information & NOT related to Peraleja  - there is a horse rescue centre based up near Rojales that is helping educate people & save many horses in the local region - worth a visit if you have time - they are called Easy Horse Care & can be found on the web

Kind Regards

David & Caron

Hi - we are neighbours at La Tercia and last week we were over in Murcia.  We had a superb week - the weather was gorgeous and one of the highlights was meeting a friend who lives on Peraleja and going up to the Riding Stables where we sat outside facing the school where an owner who liveries their horses there brought them out and gave us a fabulous display of dressage.  The tapas and beer were good too as was the ambience and the stunning views.  Well worth a trip.

Sandra