Advice to independant riders.

    For the passage of high altitude massifs, you have to know perfectly the environment to be safe even in bad weather, horses must be well educated and used to the ride difficulties, and you have to be careful to the weather. (except between the Atlantic Pyrenees and the Pays Basque where it is high less.)
  
    It exists other rides easier in medium mountain , ask for more information.
    If you wish to take a ride in these mountains, make sure your horses are well trained, and ask for being backed by a professional guide belonging to the

 

    The BGET is not responsible if you ignore these advice.
It exists other equestrians itineraries in the Pyrenees, here are some advice :
In mountain, don’t forget your sun glasses, and your favourite hat. ( good bye protecting ozone layer !)
    Weather in mountain changes rapidly. A sunny morning can change into a rainy afternoon.
Storm are usually dangerous for the riders and the horses in altitude over 1500m. Temperature can drop of about 20 ° in less than a hour .
Hailstones are always very hard and horses can’t stand it at all, your little k.way will not be sufficient.

    The only mean is to go early in the morning because storm usually occur after 4 hours PM. Make sure the weather is good the day before and observe the clouds : the cumulonimbus are big clouds that may be several kilometres big and are those who provoke storm as well…
In case of storm, avoid to stay under a lone tree, watch your map to see a refuge, go quickly in a forest and don't stop under rocks because storm may break them and let them fall…

    To go throw some passages, do not hesitate to get out your horse and to go behind him, and not close to him, making sure you have good walking shoes much more comfortable than riding shoes…
Avoid to wear big shoes that may get jammed in the stirrups…
before leaving, train yourself to get out your horse on both side, which can be useful in narrow passages…
  
     If you ride with your horse, keep him with a leach when you meet shepherds.
First objective : keeping good memories for breeders who are living in mountains all the year long, they look after you…
All the enclosure must be closed after your passage. A particular effort is being made to put easy enclosure everywhere in the massifs…
A prefectoral decree made fire in nature forbidden from the beginning of the spring to the end of the autumn…
thank you for respecting these conditions to protect forests : you will have the possibility to cook in shelter fireplaces…
   
    Take care : all the passages listed on the IGN maps ( former Spanish map ALPINA are not very reliable) are not all available for the horses.
In spite of the indications, you will need a compass; it is indispensable in the fog (rare in summer).
Take your time in mountains, leave early in the morning. It is worth taking advantages of the day instead of hurrying at 4 hours PM under the storm.

    Keep quite to ride on slopes of about 20%. Get out your horse and stay quite, it will take 10 minutes instead of 5…
The most important thing to do is to protect your horse !
To help you to organize your ride, we propose you some accommodations :
All these « friendly stage » are not all certified, the BGET cannot be responsible for some possible problems.
It is up to you to contact them directly to know precisely what you want.