Day 1

We made it!!!

After a couple longs days of traveling (with long layovers in both Chicago and Madrid) we finally made it to our hostel in Chipiona, Spain for the week.Our first day consisted of a short orientation and an introductory Spanish language and culture lesson. I can’t say we are all perfectly fluent yet, but I think we did pretty well.😁After getting some lunch we had the rest of the day for beach time and exploring the area. This gave us the chance to familiarize ourselves with the local grocery stores,shops, and landmarks.

The Faro de Chipiona, is the tallest light house in Spain and is just a quick walk away from the hostel we are staying at.We also had the chance on our first night to have a family dinner at one of the near by restaurants. Everything is just across the street from the beach.

Day 2

The free time and beach time did not last long. Today was packed to the brim with activities and industry excursions. Our first stop after breakfast at the hostel was the Yeguada de Militar de Jerez. It is a Jerez military base that focuses and specializes in breeding the supply of horses used for the Spanish military and police forces across the country.The two kinds of horses they breed exclusively at the base are the Arabian horse (left) and the Spanish/Andulusian horse (right). The Arabian horse is positioned slightly farther back in the picture, so it isn’t really that small compared to the Spanish horse. But, the Arabian horse is still built significantly smaller when compared to the stockier Spanish horse.This first of the two bases we visited housed aproximately 400 mares as well as their growing foals.While on base we got the chance to witness a few procedures that were being performed on some of the mares. Including an embryo ultrasound.

It was determined that the mare being untrasouded was approximately 35 days pregnant.

The second military base was located about a half an hour away. This base houses and trains all the stallions that could potentially become part of the military force or used to continue any desirable bloodlines. The large quantity of mares and stallions must be kept separated and never meet. This great seperation is to keep the stallions from getting distracted and is also much safer for all parties involved including any workers and other animals.While at the stallion base (above) we also got the opportunity to witness a semen collection using a tease mare.Our second industry excursion of the day was to Terapia Equestre La Corbera in Utera. This facility uses equine assisted therapy activities as a way for individuals to improve upon any disabilites they may have. We didn’t get many pictures of the clients in action due to respect for their privacy but we did get to interact with them and help out during their sessions. We definitely get some lovely shots of us riding some of the therapy horses though and participating in some of the activities they use during sessions.

This operation takes care of roughly 200 clients who’s ages range from 2 on up. We learned that each individual, both horses and clients, work different from one another and require different types of therapies for their unique conditions.

I know the looks of joy and excitement on the faces of the clients put smiles right back on all our faces. The staff at the facility were so patient and kind with us while we were there.

To finish off the night we went back to Chipiona and had another family dinner at El Camarote.

There is so much more to come in the next 2 weeks and we are all so excited to keep sharing our experiences with you!!!

Adios! Buenos noches!!! (It’s 11:45 pm here😄)