Natural Hipic

Who they are

Natural Hipic is not a conventional riding school with arena lessons. It is a western riding and natural horsemanship ranch in Castellbell i el Vilar, in the Bages, on the north face of Montserrat, where horses are also bred and trained. Its website presents it through Juan Araquistain, born in Barcelona in 1967, a lawyer by training who discovered natural horsemanship in the late nineties, and Juan Araquistain Junior. On one part of the estate they have their breeding stud, Three Breeze Ranch, of American Quarter Horses, and on the other the paddocks, the round pen and the arena where they give lessons and organise western riding competitions.

The estate is on a plain of meadows, with a small stone chapel next to the stables and the needles of Montserrat in front. From there the rides leave through the Montserrat Mountain Natural Park.

The horse rides

Its website presents the outings as a quiet ride through the natural park, cowboy-style: a western saddle, docile and well-trained horses, and small groups, of one to four people according to the rides page. They have horses for adults and ponies for the little ones, and rides for people who have never ridden and for experienced riders.

In May 2020 they published that they ran rides Tuesday to Sunday mornings, at €30 per hour, for groups of one to seven people. In June 2021 they announced the sunrise ride: Tuesday to Sunday in June, July and August, leaving at 6:00, back at 8:00 and breakfast at the ranch at 8:30, at €75 per person, in groups of one to six. These are the only prices the website has published, and they date from then: today's price is given to you when you book.

Lessons and other services

They give individual handling and riding lessons based on natural horsemanship: first you learn to understand the horse from the ground and then to ride with balance and calm, in the arena and later in the countryside. They also do colt breaking and western horse training, livery and horse sales.

How to book

Rides are booked by WhatsApp on 609 43 80 80, the channel the website asks for these outings; they also answer on the same number by phone and at [email protected]. When writing, say how many of you there are, the age of any children, each person's experience and which day you want to go, and ask for the price and length of the ride. The website does not publish a minimum age, whether they lend helmets or cancellation terms: ask about those too.

To get there you need a car: the ranch is on the BV-1122 road, on the outskirts of Castellbell i el Vilar, about fifty minutes from Barcelona via the C-16. On Google Maps it appears as Natural Hípic. Its website, naturalhipic.com, has no secure (https) version.