Teaser satisfied...finally

Remember the adorble teaser I posted last month?...More......

I wanted to share the wonderful day I had with my sweet friend, D., (thanks!) at the C.I.R.-Cento Ippico San Romanello, a lovely and well-kept riding stables on the outskirts of Milan, the owner of which gave me repeated verbal permission to take all the photos I wanted to take, and to put them on my blog...thanks, guys!

At the same time, I wanted to be able to tell you how to have permission to ride there, too. It didn't make sense to get you all charged up about the place, then to have you find out that riding, there, wouldn't be possible.

I'll tell you right up front...they're not set up either for English-speakers, or for non-Italians.

Why are those two things different, here?

There is the language problem, of course, but there's also a problem of bureaucracy...surprise, surprise.

I had to jump through lots of hoops to get this info (pun intended!). Finally, I spoke on the phone with a young woman of FISE-Federazione Italiana Sports Equine, who told me that the references to "Italians" in the rules for horseback riding in Italy apply to non-Italians, as well, and sent me back to the web site in Italian, by which time I was frantically busy with work, so making a summary of it in English for you had to wait...'til today! (All efforts have been made to make the summary in English as accurate as possible; consult the original or the entities in question for further information; using the information provided, you recognize that the translations are not official, that it is your responsibility to get official information, and that you do not hold me responsible in any way for the information, herein.)

For your safety and the safety of the horse and the other riders and horses, you can't just yell "tally ho!," and jump on the first horse to pass your way, like the Lone Ranger, or Zoro. You need some learning and practice, but don't be discouraged. There are promotional and temporary passes for agritourism and for riding at a school/stables that can be released directly by the Italian entity in question.

Let's look at what you'll need for "for fun" riding that needs a one-time promotional, a temporary, or an annual "A" type permit. Riding in competitions needs other certificates that have stricter rules, and if you're riding in competitions, you're already introduced into the world of horseback riding, so you don't need these hints. All that I have to say, here, is for those of you wanting to ride for fun, or maybe just to try it, once, to see what it's like.

To go horseback riding in Italy, you'll need two official medical certificates: (1) a certificate that you are of healthy and robust constitution, and (2) that you've had an anti-tetanus vaccination. If the person wanting to ride is handicapped, semi-blind, blind, or has Downs' syndrome, special medical exams and certificates are required. When minors are involved, written permission from the parent, or guardian, also is required. Unspoken, but obvious, you'll need a form of personal identification with a photo. Italians need to bring their "codice fiscale," which is the Italian equivalent of the American SSN-Social Security Number; whatever number your country uses to identify you beautiful you, bring that, too.

You'll need to have it all translated into Italian...don't use your neighbor's husband's cousin's secretary's nephew's brother-in-law's grandson's hamster! Look up official and reliable translation services, for the few pieces of paper you'll need, it won't be expensive.

Promotional permit: released by the local official entity for ONE promotional non-competition lesson; valid for 2 months, but can be issued only once per solar year; the acquisition of the full type "A" license in the same solar year as the promotional permission entitles the card-bearer to a 50% discount on the cost of the type "A" permit.

Temporary permit (the "horse tourism" permit has just about exactly the same requirements): released for equine tourism, or for non-competitive learning, by the local official entity, the agri-tourism, or the tourism entities, or by those belonging to FISE-Federazione Italiana Sport Equestri; the rules for the age of the rider are not clearly written, but presumably they mean "minimum" when specifying the age of 4, and there is no maximum age listed; for riders from 4 - 8 years of age calculated on the birthdays the permission is for mounting only ponies; valid for 60 days, it can be renewed during the solar year of emission.

Type "A": annual permit released for non-competitive riding by the local official association; for handicapped, minimum age 8 (no maximum listed); other specifications apply for other activities.

All the above apply to children, too. They can start riding for fun from the age of 4 and up, but may ride only ponies until they are 8.

These rules apply to all stables and agritourism entities belonging to FISE. There are at least a handful of stables in Milan. C.I.R. (closed Mondays) has classes for adults, youngsters and handicapped riders, all in Italian, of course. They have two outdoor riding areas, one with jumps,...

...and a large indoor riding area.

The clubhouse has a bar and a rustic loungeroom, and there are two shaded outdoor areas to rest and wait.

To go to C.I.R. (closed Mondays; they also have classes for handicapped riders, but everything is in Italian), get yourself to the MM1 De Angeli stop, and take the bus 72 or 72/ in the direction of the Cimitero Maggiore / Molino Dorino. Get off 17 stops later at the via Togni-Via Romanello stop, then walk 50 meters to the entrance.

Summertime classes and protective helmets, vests and boots are available. For those boarding their own horses, each stall entitles the holder to a saddle box.

Personally, I was impressed with how well they treated the animals and...

...how clean and nice the place was, and, chatting with some of the horse riders (or parents thereof), I learned that they were very happy about the professionalism and cleanliness of the place, too. For information about prices, contact C.I.R., directly.

So, there it is, the scoop on horseback riding in Milan and Italy for fun and/or for agritourism. As usual, but I'd rather mention it for clarity's sake: I get no kickbacks of any kind for presenting this info to you.

Enjoy!