Learning to Listen
in the Andalusian Hills

Watch Seamus work with one of La Donaira’s young colts, gently introducing new skills through movement, patience and trust. Stay close to the exchange or under his guidance, explore the signals passing between horse and human. Move, pause, adjust and try again. Something clicks: the horse responds and, for a moment, there is mutual understanding.

For a first encounter on horseback, there is nowhere you need to go. Settle into the saddle and become aware of the warmth and movement of the horse beneath you. Guided by La Donaira’s equestrian team, find your balance, soften into the experience and begin to match your breathing to the horse’s. Gradually, two different rhythms begin to settle into one.

La Donaira’s foals remain with their mothers until around three, roaming the hills and learning their place within the herd long before formal training begins. Head out across the estate with the breeding team to find mares and young Lusitanos grazing beneath ancient oaks or moving through open pasture. Spend time among them, watching foals play, learn and communicate with one another. Here, horses learn how to be horses first.

Whether you’re relatively new to riding or have spent years in the saddle, La Donaira’s equestrian team shapes the ride around your experience. Follow ancient livestock tracks through oak woodland and open pasture, with the Serranía de Ronda stretching away beyond you. As the miles pass, you settle into your horse’s pace, following the rise and fall of the land and discovering the pleasure of simply moving together.

As evening settles over the hills, join Seamus for dinner and estate wine. Stories travel from rural County Cavan, where his first job was collecting milk by horse before school, to Montana, Brazilian cattle ranches and wild ponies in the Welsh mountains, and eventually to Andalucía. For Seamus, horses have always been more than a life’s work. They’ve been companions along the way.

A young Lusitano meeting your gaze. The warmth of a horse beneath you. Hooves following dusty tracks through the Serranía. Spend enough time among horses and communication begins to feel less like something we say and more like movement, intention, trust. Perhaps understanding one another begins with becoming a little more aware of ourselves.