Stanfordville, NY – Sept 2, 2025—Active Riding Trips is pleased to announce that the coastal beaches of its riding trip partner in Portugal, Monte Velho Equo Resort, have been recognized by the Blue Flag Association for Environment and Education (ABAAE). Monte Velho was one of 31 coastal and 10 inland beaches in the Alentejo region of Portugal awarded the Blue Flag in 2025.
“Accommodations date back to the Romans,” says Active Riding Trips president, Stacey Adams, ”and have been carefully and luxuriously added on to over the years, maintaining integrity to the local roots and showcase the countryside. You can ride for hours without ever crossing paved roads and experience a true Alentejo landscape of lakes, cattle, cork and holm trees.”
The resort’s architecture is by Diogo de Lima Mayer, founder of the sustainable design group, INTERGAUP, and its surrounding landscape has been classified as a National Ecological Reserve.
One of the world’s most recognized eco-labels, the Blue Flag program, run by the Foundation for Environmental Education, is an iconic symbol of environmental excellence and water quality for beaches, marinas and sustainable tourism boats. A series of stringent environmental, educational, safety, and accessibility criteria must be met and maintained to qualify. Central to the Blue Flag program is connecting the public to their surroundings and encouraging them to learn more about the environment; as such, environmental education activities must be offered and promoted, as well as a permanent display of information relevant to the site in terms of biodiversity, ecosystems and environmental phenomena.
Active Riding Trips offers four horseback riding experiences in Portugal, including a Cadre Noir/Saumur-trained Classical Dressage Program at Monte Velho Equo Resort, where its stud farm has been breeding champion Lusitano horses since 1994, earning four ‘Champion of Champions’ awards in gaits at The International Festival of the Lusitano Horse, the Conde de Fontalva Trophy for standing the top FEI-ranked Lusitano stallion, and producing the Olympic-qualifying dressage duo, Joao Torrao and MV Ecuador.
Learn more about riding at Monte Velho Equo-Resort, or elsewhere in Portugal, at activeridingtrips.com.
Media Contact:
L.A. Berry
Active Riding Trips
latheequinista@gmail.com