Having a blast here

It's hard to believe that January is almost gone. They say that "time flies when you are having fun" and we have been having a blast here on Isla Margarita. Every day we make new friends with the horses. When people are on vacation they leave all their little problems and worries at home so we always meet people that are in a great mood. 

The weather has been absolutely beautiful this month. Nice and cool at night and during the day it is only reaching about 29c. When it has rained it has usually been at night so the days are available for riding the horses and exploring. 

A couple of things stand out in my mind about the last couple of weeks. First, we have had some really good riders with lots of experience. Good riders make our job fun. In fact, when we have riders like we have had this week it is not work at all and it seems that the experienced riders almost always come back for a second or third ride. 

Anne and her sister-in-law Linda are from Denmark, they are both good riders. Linda trains Thoroughbred racehorses that have problems. They rode with us twice while they were here. The second ride they brought Anne's boyfriend along who is also a very good rider. Linda rode one of our guide horses, Bomberita, the second time and led the group. I was able to take our young stallion Jack out and just follow along. It was like a day off for me! 

From Our Guests

Helen and Dawn are nurses from England. They rode twice last week and are coming one more time before they leave. They both have horses back home. The second time that they rode I put them on Cajun and Chili Pepper, our two coleo "rodeo" mares.  They are both great horses but they have never been out with a guest before. I was a little apprehensive but the girls handled these mares like the pros that they are. We had a great ride and I don't know who enjoyed it more, the girls or the horses. It was nice to get the mares out for a little relaxation.

From The Horses

 

We also had Jarvinen, from Finland, ride with us twice last week. She is a great rider and has lots of experience with horses. Her dream was to ride a horse on the beach of a tropical island. We rode the long north beach through the marina and fish market both times. On our second ride we stopped at the fish market so she could see the fresh fish as they were bringing them in. She rode Chocolate both times and of course we did lots of galloping.  I know that she will remember this for a long time to come. 

From Our Guests

The second thing that stands out about the last couple of weeks is the number of people that rode horses with us that did not speak any English or Spanish. We have recently had many people visit Isla Margarita from Eastern Europe. This is always a little bit of a challenge for us when we are trying to determine how much experience a person has. Although we have new riders all the time and all of our criollo horses are suitable for first time riders we still like to know who we are working with. There is no sure way with hand signals to get this information. What we generally do is bring the horses out and watch how the people behave around them. We can always tell who has spent time around horses and who is new. Once we get our guests mounted then we know for sure and we can get our ideas across using hand signals. There is no need for a common language when we are riding because we can tell by the smiles and oohs and aahs that people are having a great time and enjoying themselves. 

We spent a day at the beach with our staff and the horses just fooling around. It gave us all a little unwind time, the horses included. 

From Play Day At The Beach

Our young stallion, Jack, loves to swim in the ocean so we let him play around for a while. Looks like the Loch Ness Monster doesn't he?

From Play Day At The Beach

There are lots more picture on our photo albums on Google and if you are on Facebook look up CabaCaribe.                        

We also put up a new little website, www.islamargaritahorseriding.com  because people have been telling us that when they google horse riding on Isla Margarita or something similar that they can not find us. Hopefully this will help. 

Time to go for now.  

www.cabacaribe.com

www.islamargaritahorseriding.com

This Week On Isla Margarita

We had a bit of bad news to start the week. Ghandi, our most gentle horse died. We don't know what happened. He was old but in good health. He had a new girlfriend, Princessa, so maybe the excitement gave him a heart attack.  

Monday morning we had a couple of girls from Finland who ended up riding with us two more times during the week. One of them rode Chocolate all three times and the other rode Sunset the first time and Bomberita the last two times. We generally do not let our guests ride Bomberita but she was a very good rider and developed a little bond with the horse right away.

Later on Monday we took three kids from Canada to the beach. A brother, sister and their friend who were visiting their dad who lives on the island. They were first time riders and had a blast! Which means that we had a blast, too. 

Tuesday, I took Sue and Simon from England to the beach. Sue is a horse owner and Simon was a described as a confident beginner. By the end of the ride Simon was off cantering alone. I would describe him as a natural horseman. He said that when he got home from vacation that he was going to buy himself a horse. 

On Wednesday we had a family from Venezuela for the entire day. In the morning we showed them the mountains and then we rode to the beach for lunch at a little tiki bar. Then in the afternoon we finished up on the beach and the cliffs. 

Thursday we had two couples from the Czech Republic. They we all  first timers and spoke no English or Spanish. This was a bit of a challenge for us at the beginning but after a few minutes we had all figured out the basics and we had a really fun ride to the mountains.

Friday, very busy. In the morning we had our girls from Finland for the second time. We rode to the beach and then up to the cliffs. 

At noon we had a great couple from Sweden They were both experienced. She was a life-long rider and he had been riding for about a year and a half. He rode Teardrop and she was on Sunset. I rode our stallion Jack. It was a very good ride for me and I think that they enjoyed themselves. When we started the ride he told me that his girlfriend would not let him ride her horse until she saw him ride. About half way through the ride he told me that he had passed the test. 

The last ride of the day was a couple from Brazil. He had a little experience and she had been riding only a couple of times. We rode to the beach and she wanted to run right away. She turned out to be a very good rider for a beginner. She had Princessa charging up and down the beach by the end of the ride. 

On Saturday we finished the week with the Finnish girls for the third time. They wanted to go back to the mountains for their last ride. I took Chili Pepper, one of our coleo mares. She is always in training and rarely gets to go out for a little relaxation. It was a nice day for her. 

This week we met some super people and had a great time! 

Remember to check for new pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/CabaCaribe  and come join us on www.facebook.com

Hasta Luego,

CabaCaribe

www.cabacaribe.com

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Happy New Year Everybody! 

 Wow!  2008 was a good year for us and we know that 2009 will be even better. We have been super busy this month with hardly a minute off to keep up with the pictures, emails, and this blog. But, that's the way we love it. We have the best job in the world. We get to share Isla Margarita on horseback with the most interesting people from around the world. 

 Isla Margarita is full this time of year. Many people come from the mainland of Venezuela to spend Christmas. They begin arriving about the middle of December and they will leave about the middle of January. Of course this is the beginning of peak season for the Europeans, also. Many Scandinavians are here enjoying the warm weather, the daytime temperatures are about 28 or 29 Celsius, and they love to ride horses. We also have many people from Great Britain, Germany, Belgium and Holland getting away from the dreary weather there. 

 

From The Horses

The holiday season is the time of year that many families with children come to the island and of course all kids want to ride a horse. We had many families ride this month, which is special for us because we are giving children as young as eight years old their first horseback ride with cabacaribe. We are giving them an experience that they will remember for the rest of their life!  

 

From Our Guests

Twice this month we had honeymoon couples ride with us. One couple, James and Nathalie, were married here on the island. They brought both families and a whole bunch of friends. Sounds like a great way to escape the cold weather in London and have an unforgettable experience as well. The other couple was from Sweden. They were married in Sweden and then came to Margarita for a week of fun in the sun. Their dream was to ride together on the beach of a tropical island and we were able to make that dream come true for them. 

  We are looking forward to meeting many new friends in 2009 and seeing some of our old friends back again. Our website is www.cabacaribe.com . We have lots of pictures posted on the internet at picasaweb.google.com/CabaCaribe and remember you can connect with us at www.facebook.com or www.myspace.com/CabaCaribe

Hasta Luego,

CabaCaribe