Horsey Adventures at home or abroad, what would be your dream?

[LissyBear]

Just wondering what your dream horsey adventure either at home or abroad would be? I have quite a list of things I would like to do already like ride the Inca trail in Peru, go hunting in as many different countries as possible and in April I head off to Queensland in Australia to do a seasons cattle mustering followed by a Marwari Safari in India on the way home.

I would love to hear from anyone who has either had or dreams of having an adventure on horseback, where would you go? what would you do? and if you have been already what did you experiance?

This should be interesting

 

[FionaM12]

In my teens I had a dream about going on holiday to a lovely place called The Trough of Bowland, with my horse and a couple of friends with their horses. Not that hard to bring about as a family friend had a cottage which I could use, and the barn next to the cottage had stables which we had permission to use.

Each summer we planned it, something went wrong. One year, everything was arranged then the night before my friend's horse had a minor accident. just enough to need a week's boxrest. So no holiday.

Finally, aged 21 I actually got there. Two teenage friends, myself and two horses got transport to the cottage to start a week's holiday. It was when I was still in denial about the severity of my horse allergy and asthma, and I didn't tell anyone I felt ill that day as I was so determined to go.

The cottage had no phone, we had no car, it was several decades before mobiles so when I needed emergency medical help at 2am my friends began to realise how isolated we were. One of the girls had to walk to the nearest farm for help.

I ended up in Intensive Care, it was all pretty terrifying. In fact so much so that it marked the end of my horse-owning and riding, for the next three decades.

My two friends and the horses had a lovely holiday though.

Now I have simple dreams. It's pretty amazing I can ride again and have a horse, and that's enough.

 

[SaharaS]

I simply dream of a week..hec no..even just a day, when nothing injures itself..self harms..nothing gets hurt or ill..or has owner-cidal tendancies...that would be an adventure in itself!I think my adventure would have to start off at home & then once we'd acheived it & practiced it regularly..I'd like the dream to extend to local areas..then maybe the next town..county...country..continent! Tho I suspect I would have passed out/woken up before I'd even left the yard!

 

[mandwhy]

Simple dreams of trekking through the peak district, Scottish landscapes, exploring woodlands, definitely beaches, lots of beaches (can you believe I have been riding 17 years and never galloped along a beach)! Swimming on horse back, splashing in babbling brooks...

I really want my BF to start riding, it sounds mushy but I can't think of anything more perfect than us pottering out for a picnic in the countryside on a Sunday (I'll probably need to buy another horse, oh any excuse!). He has somewhat become attached to the 2yo gypsy cob next door and says if they sell him can we buy him... wouldn't be my choice but hey ho he is cute I guess!

 

[LissyBear]

Fiona, I love your story, and I am glad you are riding again

SaharaS never give up! Good luck

Mandwhy beaches are awesome and how romantic would that be with the BF hope your ride comes true

Any one else have adventures to share?

 

[LissyBear]

Bump

 

[turkana]

I wanted to do a horse back safari for years, I finally managed to get to Botswana & South Africa & do it, it was even better then I expected.

It was fast & exiting riding, I saw The Big 5 from horse back, jumped trees felled by elephants & cantered with some giraffe.

In SA we were galloping along a sand track, went round a corner & there was a group of wildebeest, standing on the track, so they joined us, we ended up galluping in the middle of the herd, great fun!

There was a film crewe in the park shooting footage for the SA tourist board, so we had fun helping them out, which included galluping behind a truck with a camera man in the back, cantering through water towards the camera, getting very close to a giraffe (he wanted to shoot us from behind, so we had our backs to him but the giraffe was facing him) he told the guide to get as close as possible, fortunately a young male was really nosey so he walked right up to us.They also filmed us galluping with herd of blesbuck.

Unfortunately I've never seen any of the footage.

It was a dream come true & a holiday I'd recommend to any competant rider.

 

[L&M]

I have always wanted to stay on a ranch in Montana, learning to ride western, and helping out on a cattle drive.

Wouldn't mind some 'cowboy' eye candy as well.....we can but dream!

 

[cavalo branco]

That would be my dream holiday, Turkana!!

I have been very lucky in that I was born and brought up in Kenya where I learnt to ride. I was able, as an adult, to stay on a ranch near Ol Pejeta where we rode with giraffe and gazelle. Elephants were kept off the ranch with massive electric fencing as they did a lot of damage!

One day I went for a ride on my own and whilst riding along a river bank got a feeling of fear that made the back of my neck prickle. When I got back, the ranch owner said that they were several leopard in the area

 

[Shantara]

I would love to move up to Scotland with Ned and ride around there. I have Scottish blood and my father says he needs to move back there.

 

[Orangehorse]

I thought it would be good to get on the horse one day, and ride down to the coast. Since I live in the Midlands, that would be quite an adventure!

 

[turkana]

That would be my dream holiday, Turkana!!

I have been very lucky in that I was born and brought up in Kenya where I learnt to ride. I was able, as an adult, to stay on a ranch near Ol Pejeta where we rode with giraffe and gazelle. Elephants were kept off the ranch with massive electric fencing as they did a lot of damage!

One day I went for a ride on my own and whilst riding along a river bank got a feeling of fear that made the back of my neck prickle. When I got back, the ranch owner said that they were several leopard in the area

It was amazing I understand where you're coming from with the leopards, I rode in 3 parks that had leopards but only saw one (with a kill) & was told that we were really, really lucky to see it as they are so secretive.

Seeing lions from horse back was intense, we saw them twice, one time they were chilling out in the shade but they stood up & stared at us.

It was the dry season both times I went, I'd like to go back at a differnt time of the year; I don't think I'll be able to afford it again but I can dream.

 

[LissyBear]

Thank you all for the responses it sounds like I will most definitely have to add an African safari on horseback on the list.

It is only a few more month before I head out onto an Australia cate station for 6 months and I can't wait. Like you Sidney, I have visions of there being pleasing "Cowboy" eye candy or in this case Huw Jackman looking Drovers to please the eye but I am sure reality will provide me with wirey looking little men with personal hygiene issues and limited social skills when it come to those rare creatures that you occasionally find in the outback called "SHEILAS" wish me luck everyone and keep an eye out for posts as I'll let you know how I get on

In the meantime please keep sharing your horsey travel stories and dreams as I will need something to do after Australia and India

 

[TrasaM]

Lucky you Lissybear. I will look forward to your reports.
I started watching the program about the race across the Mongolian steppes last weekend .. I'd love to do that although it does look pretty gruelling. As I live in the midlands anywhere I could get on a horse and just ride across side open country would be just wonderful. No fences roads or gates.

 

[mandwhy]

Oh I hope it is the Hugh Jackman kind Lissybear, he can pick you up in his ute and fire up the barbie...

 

[LissyBear]

Ooooo, I am already in Oz so missed the Mongolian programme. A friend of mine arranges bespoke tours in Mongolia where you live with nomadic families in yurts and use Mongolian ponies and camels for transport. I might need to save money and add that one to the list too. TrasaM you are not too far from the Cotswolds where there are lots of great places to ride in open countryside there are also some places to stay with your horse which are reasonably priced.

 

[LissyBear]

Ha ha mandwhy I can but dream!! I do sometimes wonder if my crazy existence is part of a secret Hollywood movies, having said that if it is I don't think the budget stretches that far when it comes to the leading male!! Actually thinking about it, it would appear that there is no budget for a leading male when it comes to my life! Oh well we still have horses

 

[TrasaM]

Ooooo, I am already in Oz so missed the Mongolian programme. A friend of mine arranges bespoke tours in Mongolia where you live with nomadic families in yurts and use Mongolian ponies and camels for transport. I might need to save money and add that one to the list too. TrasaM you are not too far from the Cotswolds where there are lots of great places to ride in open countryside there are also some places to stay with your horse which are reasonably priced.

Yes, I'm hoping to organise something when ( if) it stops snowing/ raining/ freezing. I think Wales is a possibility too.

 

[Nic]

Another for horseback safari. Zara's planet & aardvark safaris keep emailing me & torturing me!

 

[ChwaraeTeg]

Oh my goodness, what fabulous adventures. As you most likely see by photo in my signature, I am lucky enough to live by the sea, so am on holiday much of the time ... but when not in the UK, we like to explore the country on horseback and can thoroughly recommend Italy. Portugal and Spain was adventurous too, but Italy (so far) is the favourite.
Teg

 

[dollymix]

FionaM12 - I live next to the Trough of Bowland in the Ribble Valley . Lovely part of the world!

My own dream riding holiday is in the Rockies, somewhere we could camp under the stars and ride for miles in the wilderness.... Or there is a place in Switzerland (I think) where they breed haflingers where you can ride in the snow!

 

[dollymix]

P.s I have been lucky enough to do a ranch holiday in Arizona.... Was paired with an amazing former-barrel racer called Winchester and actually cried when I left as I wanted him so bad!! Lol (even though I have two lovely horses!!!)

About 5 years ago I also rode the Mary Towneley loop with three friends. It is part of the Pennine Bridleway and we rode it over three days, staying in farm B & Bs over night. It was great fun and although in the UK the weather was amazing!!! So much so that we were worried about the besides and stopped to rest them more often than we thought we would!

Happy times

 

[HollyWoozle]

My dream is basically to visit as many places to ride as possible! I sell riding holidays so have already been lucky enough to ride quite a few places such as Wales, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Sardinia, Bosnia, Tunisia, Morocco, the US, Canada and Mexico.

This year I am taking a group of ladies (9 clients booked so far, very exciting!) to a western ranch in Hungary for a week of learning western riding skills and trail riding. I'm also hoping to ride a trail in Catalonia later in the year with clients too.

Of course a safari would be wonderful and I plan to do one probably early 2014... I think Botswana will be first up, though we just got invited to take a group to Zimbabwe which would be fun! I would also really love to ride a Marwari either in India or Sri Lanka so I hope to make that a reality one day.

Consider myself very lucky to do this job! I'd love one day to say that I'd ridden on 6 different continents.

 

[Polos Mum]

A taster for all you considering a safari - I worked out there for a few months and went back for my 30th birthday with some lovely horsey friends - absolutely magical can't recommend it enough. Don't exagerate your riding tho. ! Lovely holidays for less expereinced in other places but when they say tough riding they really mean it - we rode 6/8 hours a day, fast and very close to wildlife!

 

[turkana]

Polos Mum
What a great picture! I've got some similar but with giraffe.
I agree that you need to be honest about your riding, we did a short riding assessment in Botswana, which included cantering your horse away from the group & then galluping back.
I asked the guide if they ever refuse to let people ride in the reserve & he said that they do, so you need to be confident that your riding is good enough to pass muster.

 

[Polos Mum]

Thanks - I have 1000's becasue every day you see something amazing - where I was they did turn people away also (or sent them to next door vehicle safari place) - their paperwork is really clear about the level of riding but it was largely newly wed husbands who'd had a handful of lessons and thought 'how hard can it be! that were the problem!

I couldn't really see the appeal of unfit non horsey new OH after 8 hours in the saddle as a honeymoon prospect!

 

[Cadburys_addict]

I always wanted to go to a ranch in Montana or Wyoming when younger, but I have also found a place in the Lake District riding Clydesdales and other heavy horses for a week that I would love to do.....one day!!

 

[Suechoccy]

When I was a child, I couldn't afford a pony so read copious pony books in the library and got bought annuals at Christmas. Aged 11, I received a Riding annual with an article about the recently discovered Pazyrck warrior tombs in the Altai Mountains (Mongolia/Kazakhstan) and how the horses were poleaxed, buried with their dead masters, with ornately embroidered saddlecloths, bejewelled bridles, snaffle bits, no stirrups, 2 wooden sides to the saddle "tree", gelded, but on closer inspection the horses were old nags that were sacrified because good horses too precious to sacrifice, and how the modern day (in the 1970s) Mongolian lived a similarly nomadic life, same saddle but with stirrups, same bridle, same 12-14hh hardy ponies, living in gers (yurts), with camels, goats, horses, sheep, yaks, eagle hunters, Mongolian wrestling, etc. No photos with this article, just line drawings of the tack.
The images conjured up in my 11year old brain were fantastic and colourful and I promised myself I'd go there one day.
In my late 30s, I avidly watched the Benedict Allen documentary on tele, and bought the book, where he trekked the Gobi desert with camels and horses.
Chance finally came when I was 45, a small trekking company offered a cheap, "exploratory" trip on horseback into the Altai Mountains to establish where they could extend their current mid-Mongolia horseback offering with an Altai one.
I went and it was everything I imagined it to be and so much more. The colours of the mountain ranges and sky were so pure, so saturated. (I'd thought the photos in Allen's book had been photoshopped but nope). The ponies were very hardy. We rode with local Kazakh herdsmen and at night erected a ger and our tents, using the ger as communal base, a lovely Kazakh lady cooking for us. Food was mutton-based. Brekkie mutton party, yak butter, yak cheese, lunch was mutton soup, dinner was mutton casserole.
We got into difficulties in the mountains when winter snow arrived two weeks early, and had to make a dash for it which was pretty frightening at the time, being stuck on top of a mountain pass in the dark, trying to dig out a Furgan (Russian jeep) with all our belongings on it. We freed it and it buggared off, leaving us on the mountain top in the dark in the clothes we wore and holding a pony each. It was a long, slow, cold trek in the blizzard down the pass that night, eventually finding a half-built ger, just enough to cram us all inside to shelter, and well below freezing.
A couple of days later we stopped at a Kazakh encampment and met the eagle hunters who capture 6 year old female eagles, keep them on tethers and train them by releasing a captive chain-kept wolfcub with a sheepskin wrapped over him to protect him from their claws. Hard not to feel sorry for the lonely cub and his eventual death when the day would come when they wouldn't use the sheepskin. But it's a very very different world there. In a winter zhud (drought and blizzard) they can each lose 100s of livestock, and if their livelihood is their livestock, then they're buggared.
Mongolia has a National Women's Day where women are celebrated. Apparently it's to make up for the rest of the year when they do most of the drudgery work as the men have a reputation for drinking and wasting.
Ulaanbaatar was an extraordinary place. One massive tourist department store, like you'd find in any communist country wanting a bit of tourism, a city centre that wasn't unlike Canary Wharf or a part of London, all huge bling buildngs and skyscrapers, huge plazas, massive gold statue of Chingis Khan, fastfood shops, and the streets full of not just Furgans but Hummers, Porshes, Ferraris. The nouveau rich - mining being one rich industry.
Yet step outside Ulaanbaatar 10 miles and the road ends, no more tarmac, just sand. So the Hummers go round and round the city, as there's nowhere else to drive.
Modern technology is there - all the herdsmen had mobile phones and as soon as we neared a township, out came the phone to catch up with their email and text their mates.
Gers in the middle of the desert had solar panels and satellite dishes to run the television from (120 channels as they get Mongolian, Russian, Chinese, Kazakh tv as well as the CNN/MTV type stuff).
All in all, a fascinating holiday in a wondrous place. I came home half a stone lighter ("looking gaunt, I hardly recognised you" said my husband) and pleased that I saw Mongolia at last. It felt to me like a country on the cusp of change and modernisation, and I'm sure if I went back in 10 years' time, it wouldn't be the same.
Fantastic people we met on the holiday too, both Kazakhs (ethnic minority Kazakhs live in Altai region of Mongolia) and Mongolians.
Go if you can!