Special Offer for Riding Lessons
6 lessons for the price of 4...
The Owners:
Fernando Avila Ruiz and Dorcas Veronica Pollok de Avila met working with horses is December 1989, the rest is history! They bought the property Cortijo Las Minas in 1994 and from then on have been working on a personal project to establish a lifestyle and an equestrian centre with special character.
Our Riding Instructor:
Dorcas Veronica Pollok de Avila, born in Scotland, United Kingdom in 1964 has lived and worked with horses all her life. She learnt to ride at the age of 4 and very soon horse riding became her preferred sport and passion. She has been teaching riding for over 30 years, she holds the British BHSAI certificate since 1986 and the Spanish qualification Técnico Deportivo en Equitación since 2008. She studied French, Spanish and Art to ‘A’ Level and took a BA(Hons) degree in Fine Art at Sunderland, in England in 1987 later that year she travelled to Spain to take up languages again and become proficient in Spanish. Qualified Riding Instructor and Professional Equestrian guide since 1983
Dorcas has lived and worked almost exclusively in Andalucía since 1987, always in contact with horses and the horse riding world. She is a qualified typographer and graphic designer, with a certificate from "London College of Printing" in 1992. She worked in graphic design, advertising, layout and magazine design for 8 years, making use of her ability with languages to work as interpreter and translator and also teaching English as a foreign language since 1993.
Our Guide:
Fernando Avila Ruiz, born in Almuñecar in Granada in 1967, native to La Herradura, has been a great lover of animals all his life. He began his career with horses in 1990 at the Club Hípico in the Sports Marina Marina del Este. Working with horses he learnt to ride, the care and handling of the horse, management, shoeing, first aid and to acompany hacks and trails. From 1992 he has had a great deal of experience in the planning, exploration, design and setting up of itineraries and trail rides of all types. Since then he has been closely connected to the world of horses and has owned horses since 1993. As co-owner of the equestrian centre Cortijo Las Minas, he took the leadership in the the construction of the centre, participated actively in the exploration and design of our rides and trails, in the buying, breeding and training of our horses. He takes charge on a daily basis of all the agricultural work and maintenance of the centre as well as doing the shoeing of our horses. He is a Professional Guide for Equestrian Itineraries in the Natural Environment.
Fernando has worked in other spheres such as the construction industry, being 1st official, gardening, maintenance, security, installation of irrigation systems, and agriculture, being an expert tractor driver.