The jewel in Oliva’s crown
Riders and their mounts hit the beach
HORSE-LOVERS should head to the beach the day after the Carnivals – whether or not they have access to a quadruped – for a splendid, fast-paced festival of rippling muscles, gleaming coats and hell-for-leather flatout galloping.
Equine spectator sport is what Oliva does best, with the regular international Mediterranean Equestrian Tour showjumping events throughout the year and its annual Joia (‘Jewel’), a quarter-kilometre race along the beach in three categories.
If you don’t get the chance to ride and don’t have a horse of your own, watching these action-packed competitions are the next best thing, although the Joia is more accessible to owners whose animals are not up to Grade A affiliated showjumping: you basically just hit the sand and go, which is probably what you’d do out on a hack anyway.
Those with a good strong seat and pretty confident they won’t get bucked off in the excitement could enter the bareback race, where they would be in for the chance of winning the Joia that gives the event its name – a silk handkerchief – although if you’d rather keep your feet in the stirrups, classes A and B will cater for you, the first for ponies (14.2hh, or 147cm, and under) and the second for horses (over 14.2hh).
The third class is exclusively for Pura Raza Española (PRE) horses, those beautiful, muscle-bound native creatures, built like middleweight hunters but with a strong Arab influence, usually grey, and so tractable and easy to school that the stallions tend to carry on being stallions; such a docile breed that owners rarely bother to geld them.
This class does not stipulate height, although Pura Raza Españolas (which translates, deceptively, as ‘Spanish Thoroughbred’) are usually between around 15hh and 16.2hh (152cm to 167cm).
If you’re not au fait with the breed, you’re still likely to have seen them – they’re the ones which carry out all those amazingly-complex looking steps in fiesta parades but, being so easy to train, these high-school dressage moves are not difficult to teach to them or for a rider of average ability to perform on them.
Riders and non-riders will enjoy watching from the sidelines, although admittedly, it’s more fun being in the thick of it.
Horses and ponies will be measured between 09.30 and 11.00 on Sunday, March 3 and papers for PREs checked, enrolments taken and numbers handed out, then lots will be drawn for heats if the number of entries warrants it, before the races themselves begin at 11.30.
For safety reasons, participant numbers are limited, so it is best to enrol ahead of the race if you’re planning to enter – by 14.00 the day before (Saturday, March 2) via the email address manoloarnalb@gmail.com, stating your and your horse’s name, your town, where your horse is stabled, and telephone number.
Whips are not permitted, and riding hats to current EU safety standards are compulsory.
Winners of each class will get rosettes and trophies engraved as the Inma Masquefa Memorial Cup.
The race takes place on Oliva’s Pau Pi beach just south of the yacht club, and a collection of non-perishable food parcels for the Red Cross will be held at the same time.