Riding in the "Wild West" of Lucerne

What girl doesn't want her own pony one day! For Carmen Spinas, this wish actually came true as a child. Her first pony, Blacky, awakened her passion for horses, which has accompanied her through life ever since. Her husband Claudio took over this passion, so that the fascination of horses became their life project. Since May 2017, the Spinas family has lived in and managed the Schüpfheim riding stables, within walking distance of the village and train station. The house, stables, riding arena and pastures are located between the tracks and the Kleine Emme. "It was important to us to be as close to the village as possible," emphasizes Claudio Spinas. On the one hand for the sake of the two children, Marco and Anna, who can walk to kindergarten and school; on the other hand, it is also more convenient for the riding school's customers not to have to drive to a remote farm. Children who take riding lessons can travel there independently by train, post bus or bicycle.

The desire for "something of their own"
The dialect gives it away straight away: Spinas' come from Graubünden. The couple had already leased a riding school in Davos for several years. The facility was much larger than the current one in Schüpfheim: the stables could accommodate up to 30 horses, eleven of which were their own. However, over the years, the lease no longer met the expectations of the innovative couple - the desire for "something of their own" grew stronger and stronger over time, until finally the opportunity arose to take over the existing riding facility in Under-Trüebebach. Today, the Spinas family owns seven horses and the Shetland pony India.

The twelve-year-old Holstein gelding named Cricket is Carmen Spinas' favorite. She competes in various equestrian sports with the sporty all-round horse, and her list of training courses is long. In addition to show jumping, the soon-to-be forty-year-old trains western and dressage riding, she is a club trainer, J+S leader (Youth+Sport) and a brevet instructor. Carmen currently offers a few military training sessions every year at the magnificent facility in Avenches in the canton of Vaud, the well-known Mecca for horse enthusiasts.

There's no such thing as boredom
At the moment, however, Carmen Spina's work with horses, riding lessons, rides and training sessions are limited to her free time, as she works full-time as a primary school teacher. So much commitment to the horses, the riding school, her job and her family - teamwork is required. Boredom is a foreign word in the family business. Trained businessman Claudio Spinas runs the riding school, gives riding lessons, leads rides lasting several hours, develops programs for the riding camps and offers carriage rides. Up to nine people can be comfortably seated in the open, two-horse carriage. A one- to two-hour tour around Schüpfheim is pure wellness. The leisurely passing landscape and the tinkling of the bells in time with the trotting horses relaxes you and makes you forget many everyday worries.

Riding camp: popular with girls
But back to the riding school! In addition to courses with individual lessons for children and adults, Claudio and Carmen Spinas also run regular riding camps. During the school vacations, children and young people spend a week at the riding school, get to know the horses, familiarize themselves with the saddle and bridle and learn to ride. "My goal for the week was to learn to gallop, and I did it!" announced one of the girls who was just there proudly. Claudio was a strict teacher, but she learned a lot from him, she added appreciatively. The children - the majority of whom are groups of girls - enjoy this time when everything revolves around horses, including mucking out the stables and picking up the "Rossbollen" during the carriage rides. The children come to ride twice a day, but also visit the outdoor or indoor pool in between, work and draw together and learn theory about horses.








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