Can anyone recommend riding holidays

D

DebbieH

New Member
Jun 14, 2005
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Hi

I used to ride a fair bit but haven't ridden now for around 5 years. I feel I am 'getting the bug' again and want to start riding again. Am thinking that a 2-3 day riding break at a good school might be an option. I want to do a fair bit of riding - mainly lessons but some hacking. A good school that caters for more mature and slightly nervous riders!

Can anyone recommend anywhere?


Debbie x
 
On holiday I have ridden at Pennybridge Riding School on the Isle of Man. We had booked a hack, but the weather was hideous, so we had a short lesson followed by a play at jousting which was fun. I liked the lady in charge. They are used to tourists and will put together a programme for when you are over with enough advance notice. I don't think there is on site accommodation though, so you'd have to organise that independently.
 
In the UK, Wellington Equestrian Centre in Hampshire does tailored adult riding holidays and you can do dressage, XC, showjumping etc.
 
Cornish Riding Holidays are excellent, depending how far away you are. They do a mixture of everything - indoor school lessons, hacks out in beautiful countryside, beach rides, bareback, Western etc etc. They will put together a programme according to your needs/abilities. The accommodation is fairly basic but the food was hearty, home-cooked and excellent!
 
Willow Farm near Skegness in Lincolnshire is brilliant especially if you are into jumping as they got a brand new BSJA course last year. I hadn't jumped much before but I learned loads and jumped higher than ever before. They also take pics for you which I really liked!
www.willowfarmholidays.co.uk
Food was good and we went to the beach too!
 
OldandNew said:
Cornish Riding Holidays are excellent, depending how far away you are. They do a mixture of everything - indoor school lessons, hacks out in beautiful countryside, beach rides, bareback, Western etc etc. They will put together a programme according to your needs/abilities. The accommodation is fairly basic but the food was hearty, home-cooked and excellent!
Click to expand...

I personally wouldn't recommend this place after working here some years ago and witnessing a rather nasty incident. Unless management has changed since
 
I've also heard Talland is good. Depends where you live really! Talland if West or South West England - Willow Farm if East Midlands or East.
Newtonmore is good too - but that's Scotland!
 
Alison Johnson Horsemanship at Hedleyhope, County Durham, you can take your horse or use theirs, she does camp out weekends or also has holiday lodges. Have a look at her website, Ali is lovely and would try and accommodate your needs. They do western riding/training, shes a NH trainer and they do playdays, demos etc, she's really friendly too which helps.
 
Willington Hall Riding Centre in Cheshire. https://www.facebook.com/groups/21347260462/?ref=ts&fref=ts

I've been there twice with my sister in law for a riding spa break (we stayed at the MacDonal Portal Hotel for the spa part, but there are other places to stay).

Sandra at Willington will be happy to tailor your lessons to your own requirements and you can hack out from there too - through lovely surrounding countryside.
 
Talland is a famous dressage school. However there have been mixed reports about visiting students not being well taught. And it is not necessarilly the style of dressage everyone likes. I had lessons at another famous dressage centre in Surrey and when the RI left, had one last session from a young man who had just arrived from Talland. He was was very dictatorial and wanted to change my ways completely. Not a good advertisement.

I am in Surrey and do know some excellent riding schools - Some of the good Surrey schools do both hacking and lessons. But Surrey is a big county.

However the good schools may be incredibly busy with children's courses during the school holidays - at our schools it is hard for us adults to get slots to ride as often as I would like. Sometimes I even stopped riding in August!

My advice would be to look at the lists of recommended schools (BHS and British Association of Riding Schools) and visit a few to see how you like the teaching and what sort of horses they have. That is what OH and I always do, but it is hard if you are looking for somewhere to holiday. Places that cater for holidays will be used to fitting in lots of hours for someone within one week.

However, if you havent ridden for 5 years, your body may respond better if you don't start with the intensive course. Have two or three lessons first before you take a holiday.

If you are older and nervous you really need individual tuition from an experienced teacher, and not to be in a group. Remember that many schools wont allow you to hack out until you can do a controlled canter in a school. That is a matter of safety.

You need the right horses too. There are lots of us older riders on NR too - and being older and stiffer limits the horses that some of us can ride. Rider weight comes into it too. Many riding schools use cobs to teach older beginners but I cant sit on a cob or a broad backed horse. But I am small and light enough to ride some of the ponies. You need to be sure that a school has a horse suitable for you to ride and which is able to do the things that you want to learn.

I dont advertise for my teachers nor name names. One of the merits of New Rider forum is that we are not identified - Similarly we dont know who any new member is.
 
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