Rafael grew up in Jerez de la Frontera \u2013 the heart of Spanish horse country. Following in his father’s footsteps he commenced his career at a tender age when his father bought and ran an equestrian centre in Palma de Mallorca.\u00a0 It was there that he had his first important dressage competition success becoming the Balearic Regional Champion in 1982.<\/p>\n
In 1987 he obtained his Spanish Instructor’s qualification and returned to his native city of Jerez to pursue his career.\u00a0 After winning his first National Championship with his horse Flamenco in 1994 he was chosen to form part of the Spanish National Dressage Team representing Spain in the 1995 European Championships.<\/p>\n
His next international horse was the great Invasor, another pure bred Andalusion stallion. At the 2004 Athens Olympics when the pair took hom team silver and individual 8th position.<\/p>\n
Following the retirement of his beloved Invasor, Rafael now dedicates his time to his passion for teaching and training.<\/p>\n
In 2013 Rafael was appointed the trainer for the Spanish National Dressage Team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have worked with horses all my life. I\u2019ve never stopped training, my father ran an equitation centre, Palma de Mallorca. So I learnt when I was a kid with my dad, and then with Alvaro Domecq who founded the School in Jerez. I was helped by some of the very experienced riders of the School, and then when I started to compete internationally, I had the luck to have very good trainers \u2013 J\u00fcrgen Koschel and Jan Bemelmans, and then to have the experience of riding three Olympic Games, three World Equestrian Games, five European Championships \u2013 there I saw so many good riders and teachers training\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI always looked with a view of being open to ideas, so my method is a mixture of many things that I learnt from those people, and from the horses themselves. Jan Bemelmans told me many years ago, that dressage is about learning how to speak with the horse, how to understand from the horses, then they tell you many things.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd believe me, I also learn from my pupils. More and more I teach, and less and less I compete, for me it is the time to teach, and from working with different riders and horses, I learn a lot. From being alert to what is happening in this training, I learn new little details.\u201d<\/p>\n