Riding Holiday

[Toni W]

Hi all

I'm 25 and haven't ridden at all except for a few lessons as a kid. I really want to get back into it though and I think the best way is to go on a riding holiday - trouble is that there are too many to choose from! Please can anyone recommend a good place to go for either a long weekend or a weeks holiday? Ideally it should be somewhere with a mix of adults and kids and prefereably up north somewhere!

Thanks for your help!

Toni

[trick_pony19]

Hey there Im nikki
What syle of riding did u do????

[james]

This place has ben recommended to me and I intend to book on to the Learn XC early next year:
http://www.equestrian-centre.co.uk/

[Toni W]

I'm a complete beginner really.......the only riding I have done is the basic lessons in walking and rising trot about 15 years ago! Ideally I want to do a "learn to ride" holiday because I think it'll be much more effective than one lesson a week for the next year!

[CarolineR]

I would also recommend the equestrian centre near Wrexham, as they cater for complete beginners and have a wide selection of horses who are very very good. We went a couple of years ago and thought it was great. Perhaps a long weekend to start with would be your best option as a week of riding when you are not used to it can be very painful.

[james]

Caroline - which course did you do at Wrexham? What was the quality of the instructiion and the horses like?

[Santorium]

I'm going to the equestrian centre in September :D

[Lgd]

Yorkshire Riding Centre near Harrogate in North Yorkshire.

Home of the Bartle family (Chris and Jayne both rode at Olympic level).

www.yrc.co.uk

[Toni W]

Thanks for the recommendations so far.........

I like the look of the Equestrian Centre especially. I was really looking for somewhere further up north though - say Scotland or Northumbria! Any suggestions? I've heard of one called Raygill - has anyone been there?

[james]

When I recently compared the Equestrian Centre to the YRC, I preferred the former's specific course curricula and most of all, their prices!

[tarkia]

As long as you know & remember some basics you'll be fine, you could brush up with some of your riding skills in a horsey book before you go. Try looking on google.co.uk they have some good places for riding holidays in the UK.

[CarolineR]

James - sorry for the delay in replying my e-mail systems has been down. We were not complete novices when we went, so we did the combined training, we were there for a week and rode for 3 hours a day, 1 lesson flat work, 1 lesson jumping, 1 beginners x country. It was great. If you did not want to jump you could have 3 hours of flat work.

They initially assessed everyone, which I found refreshing and split into groups of varying ability.

For complete beginners they were catered for with lunge lessons first and then by the end of the week they were doing small jumps.

The quality of the instruction is as good as most riding schools, if you are specific want you want when you book and reconfirm when you get there they are very accomodating. Also any problems you are best to speak to the head girl on the yard instead of the owners.

All in all we learnt a huge amount in 1 week and our riding and confidence improved enormously.

Have a great holiday when you go.

[bexj]

ToniW - I've been to Raygill but only for a 3hr pub ride:D in the wet:( it was a lovely place though - loads of horses and ponies, a couple of outdoor arenas, xc course and some beautiful hacking. Seemed v friendly too.

Are you wanting to combine instruction with riding, or looking for somewhere to hack out loads.

I would recommend The Dales Trekking Centre at Malham (details under Riding holidays on this site)- again, some stunning riding on the lovely hairy Dales ponies! I think they do instruction there too......its the kind of place that would tailor a few days to your needs.....

Have fun!