Long riding/multi day treks

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warthog

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Is there anyone that does long riding, multi day treks?

I am thinking about doing it not as a holiday but solo with a friend and horses.
Would be great to get some advice.
Does anyone know where it can be done? Both in uk and Europe.
 
There's a regular poster who literally works in this industry and I cannot remember who they are right now, sure someone will come along to help me!
 
Thanks for the tag @Tiddlypom and @teapot ☺️

@warthog I run an agency selling riding holidays, mostly guided so not quite what you’re after, but there are a few unguided options which two of you can book. They provide the horses and the logistics, maps etc. The ones I know of are in France and Crete, feel free to DM me if those might be of interest.

Otherwise you could look at Free Rein in Wales who offer unguided options.
 
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There's a company inPerthshire that does training weekends on how to do this. I haven't been but I'll find the site in a mo. I think you can take your own horse or use theirs. They cover setting up camp, corralling the horses etc
(I'm presuming you meant taking your own horse, not on theirs? If on theirs Highlands trekking and trail riding go the length of Glen Affric, camping for a week.)
 
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I wouldn’t recommend Free Rein any more. I had a very poor experience with them in 2024, my second ride with them, and heard absolutely zilch from them afterwards. No sniff of even a partial refund despite having to cut my two day ride short part way through the first morning. £600 gone.
 
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He's a very acquired taste, an unreconstructed Aussie who won't be for everyone, but Be Professional Look Cool on FB (no idea where the name came from!) shows an ethical horse-centred approach to long riding and offers training in southern Germany if you fancy a trip. He has some good free stuff on YouTube.
 
There are quite a few out there now in the UK - an EGB rider near us (on the N York Moors) offers 4 day, 100 mile guided trips with your own horse. They get rave reviews and I think are booked up for this year, but she takes a waiting list.

Bei Facebook anmelden

Melde dich bei Facebook an, um dich mit deinen Freunden, deiner Familie und Personen, die du kennst, zu verbinden und Inhalte zu teilen.
www.facebook.com www.facebook.com

A useful group to join (assuming you use social media - apologies if not) - is Saddle Tramping UK on Facebook. It's a nice friendly group and people like the lady I described above post on it. So it might help you find something suitable in your area.

Bei Facebook anmelden

Melde dich bei Facebook an, um dich mit deinen Freunden, deiner Familie und Personen, die du kennst, zu verbinden und Inhalte zu teilen.
www.facebook.com www.facebook.com

There are several multi day trails out there that you can look up online, download the maps, and book the accommodation yourself. I've been involved with setting up a new one on the N York Moors (https://www.saintaelredspilgrimtrail.com/about-3) and I wrote a blog back in September when I tested it out (https://www.saintaelredspilgrimtrail.com/blog/categories/horse-trail).

The Mary Townley Loop might also be worth a look as I think there are B&Bs well spaced out on that route - there definitely used to be a few of them that worked together to market the trail. There's an old H&H thread on it here https://forums.horseandhound.co.uk/threads/mary-townley-loop.626385/

The Perthshire one looks fantastic, I'd love to do it but don't fancy towing my little trailer all the way up there....I'd be exhausted before I even got on a horse!

PS Personally I think the guy mentioned in the above post is a grade A k**b, but that's not to say he doesn't have some useful suggestions 😆 He must be doing something right to cover the distance he has!
 
I don’t know if you got anywhere with this…?

Has anyone done a multi-day trip to stay at Mar Lodge? Near Braemar/ Balmoral?

I’ve also wanted to do a multi-day trip (before the midges arrive): I know the routes well from Hill Walking & skiing and there are some amazing old cattle droving roads around here that are normally covered in snow at this time of year.
 
greasedweasel said:
Make your own decision on this one but I can confirm she’s not well thought of locally.
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I heard the same.

There’s a different business doing multi-day trips that’s had its license revoked by Highland Council, they have set up in Perthshire and continue
to trek on our paths.

We found this outfit setting up camp in the ponies’ field. Thank god we did turf them out because they infected another local yard with strangles.
 
sbloom said:
He's a very acquired taste, an unreconstructed Aussie who won't be for everyone, but Be Professional Look Cool on FB (no idea where the name came from!) shows an ethical horse-centred approach to long riding and offers training in southern Germany if you fancy a trip. He has some good free stuff on YouTube.
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He's definitely not for everyone! Loves being vile about UK riders, horsemanship, etc etc. I stopped following once I realized quite where some of his values sit but some of the content is interesting. I think there are equally knowledgeable people who are better tbh. ETA that in spite of his constant assertions of near perfection in saddle making/fitting terms, the horses do seem to have issues. I think he has some interesting stuff but he's hard to stomach or trust for me!
 
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Do people shoe their horses for or use boots?
What kind of problems do you anticipate - pulling a shoe? boots rubbing?
 
i’m
WrongLeg said:
I heard the same.

There’s a different business doing multi-day trips that’s had its license revoked by Highland Council, they have set up in Perthshire and continue
to trek on our paths.

We found this outfit setting up camp in the ponies’ field. Thank god we did turf them out because they infected another local yard with strangles.
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Sorry…they are now licensed in Aberdeenshire not Perthshire.

See Friskimagic 27 Jan 2019 - she seems to be their neighbour.

I looked at Trip Advisor & their website - it seems that they now employ an experienced trek leader.

The bad reviews seem to date from 2014 - 2018: and recent reviews are good.
🤷‍♂️
 
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WrongLeg said:
I don’t know if you got anywhere with this…?

Has anyone done a multi-day trip to stay at Mar Lodge? Near Braemar/ Balmoral?

I’ve also wanted to do a multi-day trip (before the midges arrive): I know the routes well from Hill Walking & skiing and there are some amazing old cattle droving roads around here that are normally covered in snow at this time of year.
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Have you read Claire Aldritt’s two books about ‘dobbineering’ in Scotland? She also did a zoom night for endurance gb a couple of weeks ago that’s worth a listen.
 
rhino said:
Have you read Claire Aldritt’s two books about ‘dobbineering’ in Scotland? She also did a zoom night for endurance gb a couple of weeks ago that’s worth a listen.
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I haven’t - thanks for this.

She was on my radar, I think using telescopic fishing poles as a corral was her idea.
 
Even if you are not planning a transcontinental ride, The Long Riders Guild has some interesting articles.

Does the BHS still do Bed and Breakfast for Horses?

People who have done long rides in the UK generally try to contact the BHS Bridleways person in every county and discuss the route they are thinking of taking to get some up to the minute local knowledge.
 
rhino said:
Have you read Claire Aldritt’s two books about ‘dobbineering’ in Scotland? She also did a zoom night for endurance gb a couple of weeks ago that’s worth a listen.
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An unforecasted turn in the weather - and the bogs are exactly the things that have put me off - I can’t say that Claire Aldritt’s changed my mind about these.
The last stag pony that my family had (1960s) died in a bog. I always do a recce on a bike to plan a route through the bogs where the old pony paths have grown over.
Stories of people dying of exposure in bad weather are like time immemorial- Claire was really lucky to be near enough shelter for the horses & herself, a snowy blizzard in June is not unknown here.
 
I have done three FreeRein holidays - they were excellent. I did the guided rides including the Border to Coast across Wales, but if you have ridden with them once on a guided ride you can then book to do a self-guided ride using their horses (the horses know the routes.)

The Border to Coast was a journey and quite tiring at times and the accommodation varied between basic to luxurious. (I talked to Will, the original founder and taxi driver for one stop, and he said that finding accommodation is now a problem as the series of farm B & Bs don't exist any more as most have gone into self catering, so it means using hotels now.)

They are a very slick operation, everything is well organised. But it is a holiday, not a treck.
 
Not Free Rein. How good a company is shows up when things go wrong.

Had a great experience first time in 2023 and a disastrous one second time in 2024.

Rejected first horse as she had a sore back, and as it turned out also very sore and inflamed skin on he hind legs which she objected to being handled on to pick out her feet.

Second horse was a grand type but she was kicked from behind without any provocation by another Free Rein horse a few miles into the first morning. The other horse carted her rider up along the road from a distance away to boot my horse 😳. My horse got very upset, and while I tried my best to settle her, I had to bail a few miles later before she decked me. The guide was no help at all.

Not a hint of an apology or any partial refund from my £600. Have since heard that this is not unexpected from FR.
 
WrongLeg said:
I don’t know if you got anywhere with this…?

Has anyone done a multi-day trip to stay at Mar Lodge? Near Braemar/ Balmoral?

I’ve also wanted to do a multi-day trip (before the midges arrive): I know the routes well from Hill Walking & skiing and there are some amazing old cattle droving roads around here that are normally covered in snow at this time of year.
Click to expand...

No, but Highlands Unbridled do this route from their base in Ballogie, Aberdeenshire. Doable, but I wouldnt ride anything remotely skinny legged over that terrain 😂

HU have also had a complete turnaround since their move from the Highlands 👍
 
mossycup said:
No, but Highlands Unbridled do this route from their base in Ballogie, Aberdeenshire. Doable, but I wouldnt ride anything remotely skinny legged over that terrain 😂

HU have also had a complete turnaround since their move from the Highlands 👍
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Highlands Unbridled still don’t actually inform the landowner that they are trekking through as per Scottish Outdoor Access Code: I have to check their website to make sure to avoid them out hacking.

At least they now find places to camp with permission - but people keep their horses well away.

Yes, your right about skinny legged off path, but on the path is fine.

The Cairngorms have exceptionally well maintained paths, many old cattle droving roads. We do intentionally make the hill paths rough at beginning sections- to put off any walkers who are unprepared. There are old pony paths around these if you know the ground well, (many of these are sadly growing over because of the Deer Massacre on a Grand Scale).

I grew up keeping thoroughbreds/ thoroughbred X here and we were fine on path - but always avoided off path. With a Highland I can get through really rough ground/ my mare jumps ditches/ will canter through deep heather jumping over tree stumps.
 
warthog said:
Is there anyone that does long riding, multi day treks?

I am thinking about doing it not as a holiday but solo with a friend and horses.
Would be great to get some advice.
Does anyone know where it can be done? Both in uk and Europe.
Click to expand...
I went on a Bridle Rides holiday years ago (circa 2003) to Rutland, think we started off in Oakham??? I was 5 stone lighter and 24 yrs younger but I found it with physically and mentally exhausting. On this one we went on around Rutland water it was a massive loop, consisting of bridlepaths through wood, common land and housing estates and a lot of walking along a long, long, so very long, roman road that ran parallel to one of the giant reservoirs which was very boring! We parked up and chucked our luggage in our room and took off on our horses on the ready prepared route.

There's nothing that can prepare you for eight hours a day in the saddle trying to understand ambiguous route instructions like turn left at the oak tree, or by heading for the pylon behind the giant field of corn it, it doesn't mean try and walk through the middle of it! My horse was relatively fit but there was a fair bit of road riding, there was a lot of getting on and off for bridlepath gates that wouldn't open from horseback and we encountered various obstacles along the way like wooden bridges, steep slopes and a bridlepath through a field of young bullocks that gathered round my friends horse out of curiosity and left her horse in a tail spin.

There was a broken saddlebag and lost phone again both my friends problems, the lost phone meant retracing our steps by about two miles back to the pub where she'd left it on the picnic bench whilst we ate our lunch! So mentally draining. In a funny way I did enjoy our adventure and I loved the B&B they put us up in. My friend was someone I reguarly hacked out with so knew we'd have a good laugh.m and we certainly did!

Her friend was meant to be going with her but had broken her leg so I took her place for free!

The first day was 17 miles and the second was 22.5 but we never got that far as my friends horse went lame and we had to go home! I can't say I was that upset tbh. I was really exhausted at the end of day one and wasn't looking forward to an extra 5.5 miles on top of the 17 which we'd covered the day before!

TIPS: I was so saddle sore, and my s.i ached like crazy so take lots of talc and a really good seat saver. Get off for regular leg stretches and loosen your girth to give your horse a breather. Because it was August it was very hot so invest in a saddlebags with a couple of water bottles as you get very thirsty although inevitably this will mean jumping off for a wee too!

As the crow flies our mileage would have been about ten miles the first day but by the time you've gone here, there and everywhere you can add on a lot more mileage.

I was a regular hacker and also did about 8 fun rides a year so I thought I'd be fine but my predominant memory was of overwhelming tiredness although the sun makes me very tired too as I'm fair skinned.
 
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