Centaura - half human, half horse. Intelligence, instinct, beauty, loyalty.

Those who share the world of spirited horses feel reverence in working as a united soul, moving at speeds and heights that leave behind mere mortals.

Centaura puts the true believer back into the saddle, on animals that still hold their heads high, animals that quiver at the chance to share the journey when man and horse can leave the twenty-first century.

Centaura can exist only in a country which has both the freedom to ride in fascinating places, where the ruling class still remember the etiquette of fine horsemanship, the passion for breeding and riding fine horses, and financial resources to treat proud animals well. There may be a few other places left on our planet with these unique ingredients, but we know of only one -- Costa Rica.

CENTAURA - TIME TRAVEL BY HORSE

The era of the horse began before recorded time, more than 8,000 years ago. Even in the United States, until the early 1900’s the horse ruled, the willing obedient partner/servant to the human. The era of the horse, though so recent in American history, is now long forgotten. Rural Costa Rica still relies on this ancient partnership.

Owning and riding a beautiful horse is sacred to the Costa Ricans, of all economic levels and of all strata of society. The joy of sharing your horse, and showing off your horsemanship, means that every week there’s a parade or wager race or rodeo (open to everyone). Or, our favorite, a “cabalgata” -- traveling from farm to farm, sharing the bounties of the harvest, sharing the horses and gossip and local foods and spending time with the landowners and the field hands, united by their love of being on a horse. This style of "roundup” could happen only in a country which highly prizes its egalitarian society. It’s not done for tourists (indeed, Centaura’s guests will probably be the only participants or spectators not from the local communities). Nonetheless the welcome is genuine, the beams of smiles real, the admiration for your mount openly expressed. Everyone united by the love of the horse.

But these traditional annual festivals too shall pass into history in Costa Rica as the country’s increasing wealth is replacing the horse with the machinery of progress. Centaura wants to share with you the spirit, the simplicity, the awe of horsemanship while we still have this option.