PORTUGAL An equestrian trip of a life time for local Sandhills Equestrians

By Jan Liteshoe Photos by J. Liteshoe and Desiree’ MacSorley

Last March, a chance to combine my first love, horses, with a second love, travel, took shape. Two friends and I would spend an intense and educational week outside of Lisbon riding highly trained Lusitano Dressage horses under top instruction.

The destination was the Valenca Equestrian Academy in Vila Franca de Xira. The Academy was founded more than 40 years ago by Mestre Luis Valenca, a hand-picked protege of his worldfamous teacher, Dressage master Nuno Olivera. Mestre Luis’ three daughters inherited this classical Dressage tradition.

A few years ago, I was invited to audit a clinic here in Southern Pines with Mestre Luis’ daughter Sofia Valenca, organized by local Lusitano enthusiast and rider Fran Gertz.

I was sitting on the edge of my seat the entire clinic weekend. Here was a system that not only helped unsure riders on tense horses but improved and educated the upper level rides. Through the use of the Portuguese cavesson, I saw a system that finally combined both my classical Dressage training with my outside-the-box study of western horsemanship groundwork.

I found myself wishing I was 18 again and starting over. Still, I could travel to Portugal and have a grand taste and adventure.

The Academy’s schoolmaster horses are the product of a very specific classical method. Young horses are brought in from the field at about four years and introduced to life in the stables and groundwork. Almost everything would only build. The last day had me standing at the head of a churning, passionate, piaffing young Lusitano stallion as he mustered his balance, folded his hind joints deeply underneath him and rose into a graceful moment of stillness of levade, one of the rarely performed “airs above the ground.” Below are some excerpts from my journal.

Day 1: Shopping for a Lusitano

That first day, we drug our boots, helmets, luggage and bleary selves through customs and were picked up to be delivered to our comfortable hotel. Several coffees later, we were in the stables being given a tour by Sofia herself.

is taught first from the ground, including lateral work and piaffe, a highly collected movement. Then a supple young apprentice sits atop as the ground trainer moves the young horse through his repertoire. Over time, the rider gradually applies the aids until there is clarity and understanding.

Our week in Portugal started with a bang—passage, Spanish walk and flying changes every second stride during my initial evaluation—and

We spent the afternoon observing one hunky, dynamic Adonis of a Lusitano after another receive training. Many, if not most, were stallions, a cultural preference.

My travel buddy was horse shopping and had two potential purchase horses to look at on that first day! Gamely climbing atop a strange horse in a new situation, in full jet lag, with everyone watching, was not ideal, but she did a gallant job learning the buttons of unfamiliar stallions.

Supper at the hotel, included in our week’s tuition, was an incredible fish stew, chunks of fresh-caught cod and a bowlful of Mediterranean vegetables in flavorful broth—far more than we could eat. Did I mention the chunks of garlic? No wonder it was delicious.

Day 2: Horse Immersion Day

My sweet, kind horse today was a white Lusitano named Tenor, a former working equitation horse. We rode in the outdoor ménage for our morning session, working our way through the foundational exercises: circles, leg-yields, shoulder-in, travers, transitions, renvers, shoulder out, half-pass … everyone getting to know each other. Sophia set up some cones and we did some canter work on the circle.

“If you knock over a cone you have to buy the wine,” she said. “Luckily the wine here is not expensive.” (And it is very delicious.)

My session finished with a taste of Tenor’s passage, and then a surprise for me, his Spanish walk. After a hearty lunch, Sophia treated us to a visit to a Portuguese tack shop. I exercised some restraint, but others in my party splurged on gorgeous boots and other leather goods.

The afternoon’s riding session was on sweet Tenor again. We rode canter half pass to single flying changes. I’ve been mostly riding babies, trails or obstacle work since I returned to horses in 2019, so Tenor kindly bore with me as I regained my precision and timing in the changes to three, and then to two.

Quite high after this session, I remained behind to watch Sophia and Co. school two more young horses. Thanks to their strong Lusitano build and the quality system of training, the horses do quite amazing things in five years. Finally, a return to the hotel, a glass of local red and an enjoyable meal full of laughs rehashing the day with my companions.

Day 3: Corners and In-Hand Work

After morning warm-ups, a French rider and I remained behind in the ménage with Sofia to practice canter zig-zags. Sofia set up cone gates to ensure accuracy and coached, and this had become our group mantra. precision. It took me a while to remember to control the bend to standard and ride every stride. “Make well the corners,” Sophia

Riders come here from all over the world. Olympic dressage medalists Nicole Uphoff, Isabella Werth and Anky von Grunsven have all ridden Valenca horses in performances. It is an interesting experience to hear Sofia instructing in three different languages. The horses probably know even more languages. I have to be quick and keep riding when Sophia said, “Good, and walk” or Tenor will beat me to it.

I’m very impressed with their system of bringing young horses along and asked to receive an extra lesson in hand. After checking out and approving my lunge work and warm-up, the talented young Evalina began showing me the system they call The Method. Now I had to do it and paid close attention to the details Evalina was showing me. This work also supples and strengthens the horse’s shoulders, back and hindquarters as the handler mobilizes first the hind and then the front.

The beauty of this is that the horses learn lateral movements without the rider’s weight. When they understand how to move their body parts, a quiet rider is added, first passively with the handler creating the movements then gradually transitioning to the rider’s aids until the horse and rider work together. The morning finished with a chance to watch the training of a large bay stallion in piaffe in hand.

In the afternoon, I was given a new horse to ride, Xa, pronounced “Shah.” A white Lusitano stallion retired from the traveling show, Xa is more forward than Tenor, so I had less work in that regard but the lovely stallion has a sensitive, emotional soul, and demanded a more precise ride from me. After warm-up and getting to know each other a little bit, Sofia coached me through his passage, travers in the canter, including some wonderful canter pirouettes.

Xa really woke up. “You see why he is not a horse for the first time [riding here],” Sofia said with a smile.

Xa was an exacting teacher. He told the world of my shortcomings, so no hiding here. Our zig-zags were wonkier, as I felt how to time and lighten my cues. Sometimes, Xa just sighed and said, “Let me show you.” I had to be there early to prevent anticipation.

“It’s hard,” said Sophia. “You know, but then you do this anyway.” It’s good to be a student again. It gives me perspective besides all the good coaching.

The afternoon held a very special and enjoyable treat, and into the Portuguese countryside we went, horse shopping for our friend and escorted by Sofia. Sofia and her family are world-class trainers, yet she has personally shepherded and chauffeured us architecture and tile work, stable gardens and storks nesting in nearby pastures. Horse shopping in Europe without spending a cent!

The Portuguese countryside is filled with olive groves, vineyards and cork trees. The farm we were to visit was very near the town of Golega—site of the worldfamous Lusitano horse fair—in celebration of this small country’s impactful horse culture. Beautiful, pruned orange trees lined the old cobbled streets.

That evening, all the students at the hotel gathered together for dinner, a glass of wine and, despite the language barrier, lots of laughs.

Day 4: Xa, Lezirao and So Many Stallions

Thursday morning I rode Xa again, with Gilbert the Frenchman. I was starting to get a feel for Xa’s patterns and worked to improve each movement.

General fatigue was at the fore, and I messed up a progression, going right when I should have gone left. Sofia quickly ”read the room” and sussed out I was flagging mentally. To help, she arranged the session so that there would be some more rest points. That’s a good teacher! Sofia did a quick build-up again for the needed collection, and we finished with half pass, travers in canter and pirouettes.

This day our companion was going to try out a stallion for sale at a very old and famous farm. The farm is home to some of the most ancient lines of the Lusitano horse, the Veiga.

Manuel Borba Veiga is a skilled breeder and trainer from a long line of breeders and trainers. He is famous for many reasons, not the least for the viral videos of him riding his white stallion, sans bridle, in scores of tempi changes around the stable yard. All while sitting backward! I know you’ve seen it!

to lunch, tack shops, farms and some of the best horse culture available in the area—all after a long day of teaching and training.

While our friend tried a massive black stallion, my other friend and I admired the complex’s ancient

After a quick lunch in town, we hurried back up the winding road where my second session was to be with Evalina. As I still start a few youngsters back home, especially with groundwork, I was very interested in their system, since it produced such consistent and excellent results.

Evalina brought out a young dark grey stallion named Lezirao for us to work. It’s trickier than it looks, especially the walking backward part. Posture is key. “Keep your shoulders down, like riding,” she coached. “Your core is what moves him.”

I was also to learn about putting the rider on top. Evalina put

Lezirao through his paces, well in hand. Lezirao could be a little hot about it. “Not to worry,” said Evalina. “I got you.”

The rider is at first passive, an educated sandbag. Then slowly, they take a little contact on the reins and start adding a little leg

Our friend was smitten. “He is so kind, and rides like a couch!” She doesn’t need a stallion, so he would need to be gelded and rested before shipment if he turns out to be “The One.” This is commonly done here for export.

Our next stop was a stunning silver-gold Lusitano who shone like peened metal. This was the new facility of Goncalo Linhaus, old friends with Sofia’s family and trained by Valenca, who also presented with the Cavaluna troupe. Sofia and Goncalo often teach clinics together and have both taught in Southern Pines.

Day 5: Three Lessons and the Portuguese Carousel

also give quiet time to feel into an exercise and anchor the sensations in muscle memory.

To better ride Xa up and out, Sofia made a biofeedback “mark” by putting a red hair clip in Xa’s white mane not far behind his ears. When the clip dipped, I had to ask Xa to engage again behind and to lift up and out, especially in the passage and pirouettes.

I know this, yet the awareness of the red clip helped remind me quite a bit. Brilliant! I will use this at home.

Then we left the academy for our special highlight visit, a visit to the cultural treasure, the Escola Portuguese de Arte Equestre, or, “Spanish Riding School of Portugal” in the historic part of Lisbon.

to help the horse understand what these new things mean. “Just fingers,” Evalina said of the rein instructions. This horse was seven, and starting on piaffe, so we did a little work on that together. There was a real power here. Dynamic!

We all then piled into Sofia’s car to go horse shopping again. The first stop was at the lovely farm of a man who owned the second-largest tomato production plant in the world, Sugal. We passed yearlings in the field coming in and an open barn full of mares and babies that was open to the fields.

The horse to see here was a big black stallion in active breeding. He covered two mares yesterday, we were told.

Sophia let me ride free in the ménage, under her watchful eye as she worked with Gilbert to practice refining some sound habits I am relearning— nothing new, all foundational habits. “Give forward” is so critical. “Put your belly button forward,” is challenging for an older spine, especially when we are doing a lot of sitting trot. “Down the shoulders,” is an old posture to recall. This chance to feel my way through the work on a highly trained horse again was a great gift.

I understand, as a teacher, how a student will listen closely and try to execute the instruction. It’s needed, but it also gets the rider more in their heads. Horses are all about feel. So it is useful to

There are only four such institutions dedicated to the high art of haute école like this in the world: the Spanish Riding School in Austria, the Cadre Noir of Saumur in France, one in Spain, and this one.

Sofia’s father, Mestre Luis Valenca, had been a founding member of this institution, to preserve the art of the historical royal Portuguese horse culture.

Sofia gave us a small backstage tour of the stables and we chatted with the trainers, many of whom came from the Valenca school. At one point, Sofia pointed to a list of riders and named at least a dozen or more who came from the Valenca tradition.

In traditional Portuguese ceremonial dress, the riders performed the expected moves as well as the haute école, the airs above the ground. We watched one rider after another come into the spotlights before us to exhibit their horse’s strengths, perhaps several pirouettes, or the levade or a powerful and dynamic (and deadly) courbette, in hand and even ridden.

Unexpectedly, I found myself deeply moved by the Portuguese carousel, or group ride.

I felt the impact of this carousel art deeply, watching 12 horses (six per side) turn off the long side into the middle in canter, all together on cue, head to their opposite number, meet and pass each other elbow-to-elbow in the exact middle, at the centerline, with exquisite precision.

For a moment, a perfect split second, a millisecond, a halfbreath—in the dead center of the arena—an exact column of horse/ rider combos, each alternately facing in opposite directions, met, formed, then split apart. Each proceeded to the opposite side and performed a flying change, turning again down the long side, then going in the opposite direction. At that moment, the weight of that precision, power and grace hit me with full impact. The recognition of the profound work, the decades (and even centuries) of transmission, education, breeding, patience, practice and training needed to create that one perfect moment. And it stirred me to tears.

Day 6: Ultimo Dia, A Seaside Village Lunch, Haute École

Today, one of my companions joined me in lessons this morning, as Gilbert was returning to Nice. Our exercises were simple and allowed me to focus on the refinement of the foundational basics we have been reminded of. Isn’t everything beautiful and correct rooted in the basics?

After, Sofia took me aside and took the time to help me access the old feels of “putting the belly button forward and really riding from your seat.” Oh, my aging spine!

I kept the belly-first sketch of Nuno Olivera in mind, and finally, body memory returned. Xa kicked into another gear toward the end, and I could really ride him as I’d wanted to all week. Up and out. Forward. Straight. Simple concepts. And it was work!

Sofia was pleased. “It’s not so easy with our older bodies, coming back, is it?” she said, with a generous smile, patting her belly. “You will have new abs when you return home!”

Later, we drove to the charming seaside village of Ericeira, on the Atlantic beach for lunch. The ocean there is a wonderful blue-green, cut by white cresting waves.

We browsed the shops and explored the cobbled streets. Sofia chose a little restaurant where we could sit under an awning outside in the warm ocean breezes to dine. My friends ordered a popular green Portuguese wine and I, feeling in need of a serious perk-up, ordered a cappuccino.

“Quelle horreur!” Sofia squeaked and looked at me as if I had two heads. “Everyone gets wine with lunch.”

I ordered a seafood chowder (with a baked rosemary cheese side) that was fragrant and delicious. Others sampled the mussels and clams in garlic butter.

Upon our return to the stables, we had a last in-hand lesson. I worked quietly with shy Ogeda again, largely free, while Sofia coached my companion. Once more, this unstructured opportunity with a trained horse allowed me to solidify the moves and techniques, while still paying attention to the horse.

As our last lesson in Portugal drew to a close, Sofia gave us a final short lesson in piaffe, using the long rein on the outside. Lezirao, who possessed some expressive Viega blood, was then prepared by the piaffe in hand for a levade. I had not expected to see the airs above the ground in training, so this was an unanticipated surprise. Imagine my even greater surprise when Sofia called us in to take the cavesson! We were to be a pillar. Lezirao began to piaffe beside me. Before the levade, there is a great gathering of energy on the horse’s part—the power of an incoming thunderstorm—and the handler’s task is to stand unflinching and strong, yet not restrict the horse’s rise up onto lowered haunches. It’s not easy to stand unmoving!

This is the haute école, the high equestrian art, the start of the airs above the ground. It was a rare privilege! I’m not sure where else in the world I could go, at my age, to experience this. What a gift it was! What a way to cap off an experience-packed week!

July 28-30, 2023 marks the date for the Little River Circuit Show, run by District IV of the North Carolina Quarter Horse Association (NCQHA), held at the Senator Bob Martin Eastern Agricultural Center in Williamston, N.C. Among the premier equestrian venues on the East Coast, the facility features a large indoor coliseum and modern horse stalls. Judges for the show will be Rhonda Replogle, Gayle Lampinen, Rick Baker, and Allen Mitchells.

“We offer a little bit of everything,” says show secretary Susan Daniels. “We’ve got halter, pleasure, and hunter under saddle, which is English. English is what you see primarily in Southern Pines, where around 10% of our riders come from. We don’t do cows, since we’re not equipped to do that at our current location.”

The roots of the show run deep, back to its launch at Little River Farm near Southern Pines in 1976. Little River was the 870-acre estate