Óbidos or Bust

After breakfast the next morning, Morgado’s Commercial Manager (and self-avowed prince!), Henrique, loaded Anne from Australia, Meg and me into his car and we headed north to Óbidos. Since I am unable to phonetically spell out how the Portuguese say the name of this enchanting little village, I looked it up. Here ya go: ˈɔβiðuʃ. You’re welcome. I hope that helps. We just Americanize it with a bit of shooshing thrown in and try to sound all cosmopolitan.

A trip to the Escola Portuguesa de Arte Equestre, or Portuguese School of Equestrian Art, is usually a part of the agenda for a week-long trip to Morgado, but there was no training or show there because they were off in France riding around with the Cadre Noir de Saumur. Years ago, I saw a show in Lisbon featuring the trifecta of the Portuguese and French riding schools along with the Real Escuela Andaluza del Arte Ecuestre, the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art, from Jerez de la Frontera, Spain. I would like to see that again, but I digress.

So, instead of going to Belém to the Portuguese school (and visiting my all-time favorite bakery, Pastéis de Belém), we made the hour-long drive to Óbidos. First stop: the beautiful old railroad station. It’s no longer in use, but the Portuguese tiles, azulejos, are postcard perfect. It’s just around the bend from the home of Henrique’s mother and stepfather where the young Lusitanos bred by Morgado are kept.

Baby Horses

We got to see the broodmare herd with their babies along with a posse of young mares. The horses were interested in hanging out with us (until they realized we didn’t bring food) but one of them was curious about my hair products, so I shared my secrets with her.

Henrique’s charming mother gave us a tour of their amazing home full of historical artifacts and photos. We sat outside to admire the view of the medieval castle and the walled town of Óbidos, while putting down a couple shots of ginjinha, the local liqueur. It was around 10:30 a.m. We’re tough that way.

Old Óbidos

We visited a beautiful church that had been restored on the outskirts of town, the Sanctuary of Lord Jesus of the Stone, Jesus da Pedra, built in the mid-1700s.

Then, into the old part of Óbidos with its charming narrow cobblestoned streets and traditionally painted houses. Historically, Óbidos was presented to the Queen of Portugal on her wedding day, a tradition that began with Queen Urraca in 1214 and continued until the 19th century.

A serious history buff with stores of knowledge, Henrique’s a great guide. Although I had been to the breeding farm several times, I had only been to Óbidos once before with my friend, Pat, and we were too busy terrorizing the tourists to get in much history. They used to have these little electric cars they called “Twizzy” cars you could rent to transverse the winding streets of the town and we even drove them through the castle. We MAY be part of the reason those fun little minion cars are no longer available.

Henrique pointed out churches and bookshops and points of interest for the more cerebrally inclined, but secretly we wanted to do a little shopping. As you’ll see, Anne, Meg and I were a formidable shopping trio.

My Language Lessons

Not only does Henrique teach us about history, he’s been teaching me Portuguese language idioms to supplement my knowledge of Portuguese curse words. One of those idioms is amigos de Peniche, or friends of Peniche, a phrase steeped in historical reference to a crisis of succession in 1580, when Filipe II of Spain obtained the crown to the detriment of D. António, the claimant to the throne. Queen Elizabeth I of England, Sir Francis Drake and Admiral John Norris were all mixed up in this because QE1 wanted D. António back on the throne of Portugal. As was wont to happen in the late 16th Century, there were some communication issues and it’s a long story but now the Portuguese use amigo de Peniche as a derogatory remark about someone who is a false friend.

I’ve been to Peniche and took this photo of a fisherman. I guess he would be my amigo de Peniche because I didn’t meet him so he’s really not a friend, is he? Needless to say, the people who live in that lovely seaside town known for its tubular waves and excellent surfing, aren’t too crazy about that idiom.

Back in Óbidos with some genuine friends, we ate lunch al fresco and finished off our meal with another ginjinha served in a chocolate cup before heading back to Morgado for our afternoon lesson.

Lesson Time

We arrived in time to don breeches and helmets for our lessons. I had a private lesson and Meg and Anne rode together. In all honesty, neither Meg nor I enjoyed the lesson. I felt the instructor was just going by route and not individualizing the lesson to me. My impression was he was ticking off a list of things each lesson was supposed to include instead of assessing my weaknesses and trying to improve them. I don’t need to have what I call “the cookies,” a piaffe or passage tour every lesson, but if I can improve my timing on the changes, I’m thrilled. I want something I can take home and apply to my riding and my horses. Frankly, I was surprised. I had lessons like that at another riding school in Portugal, but never at Morgado. I was even riding one of my favorite horses, Quefito, so I was doubly disappointed. Meg was also let down.

“I did learn a lot about myself though,” she said. “I felt a huge disconnect with the instructor and I realized that, as a rider, I directly tie my worth to the instructor. So I had to alternatively find ‘my’ value. I ended up asking my instructor at home for words of encouragement and she reminded me of some of my strengths.

“So that was humbling and she was really thoughtful and got me out of my funk,” Meg said. “I shouldn’t place all my worth on the opinion of someone who doesn’t know me and I felt wasn’t seeing me. And that was equally as valuable as other kinds of lessons. So, I had a good cry and then had a great time at dinner with everyone with lots of wine.”

At dinner, we learned that almost everyone had less than stellar lessons that day (with a different instructor), so we figured that the moon was in the seventh house and Jupiter aligned with Mars and the stars weren’t right for great lessons. So, we drank wine and toasted to a new day. Everything is not always perfect in Portugal (ugh—do we HAVE to have so much “fishy” fish?) but it’s still a learning experience and I am always grateful to be there enjoying the horses, friends new and old — and the wine. 

The next day, we spoke to Henrique about our concerns and our future lessons with the instructor were much better. Anne, on the other hand was completely happy with her lesson and loved the entire experience at Morgado.

“I still feel a bit overwhelmed by everyone’s knowledge and expertise and can’t quite believe this ‘old age beginner’ got up the courage to rock up to a place of such high standards and excellence!” she said. “However, everyone from other participants, organizers, instructors, staff and Henrique’s mum, were so welcoming and encouraging that I had a fantastic time, learned heaps and didn’t feel out of place at all.”

BTW, Anne said she is a beginner. I assure you, she is not.

Next, we hit the tack shops and I learned I needed to teach Anne some of my naughty Portuguese vocabulary.