Riding Holidays and Weight Limit

[Keith_Beef]

That should have read most of the time I'm between 90kg and 95kg.

 

[dotty1]

I have been to The White Stallion Ranch in Arizona twice.....they don't have a weight limit and have some enormous horses for the larger person. They cater perfectly for novices with slower rides or lessons, as well as fast rides for experienced riders. The accommodation and food is fantastic.
When I as there an older man came to stay, he had never ridden but always wanted to be a cowboy!!!, he had a ball and was charging around the arena chasing cattle after a few days!!!.....his horse knew exactly what to do and looked after him.

 

[Orangehorse]

I went with Free Rein and there were some larger horses, as well as the normal Welsh Cob types.

Free Rein do beginners holidays too.

 

[Kat]

Mules can often carry more weight, my husband and I rode Mules in the USA and had an excellent time (we were both experienced riders but they were set up for novices too). My husband is tall and though not overweight is over the weight limit for many riding schools here. They thought his weight was no issue and he was actually on one of the smaller lighter built mules.

 

[Junebug44]

Wow - what a lot of great suggestions. Western riding at a ranch does appeal and would be a levelling factor for us as I am very inexperienced in a Western saddle. Am sure hub would enjoy the cowboy idea.. Weirdly, though I do prefer good old wind and rain to blazing heat so probably not for a summer holiday!

 

[HollyWoozle]

There is a western ranch in Hungary called El Bronco Ranch which is very affordable and you could go for just a taster weekend with cheap flights to Budapest. Just a thought if you wanted to try a bit of western before committing to a US ranch visit (White Stallion is cool though, not been but people always love it!).

 

[GirlFriday]

That should have read most of the time I'm between 90kg and 95kg.

There are plenty of people who are perfectly healthy weights for their height etc who there are very few horses to carry all day/as beginners. Yes, people used to do it years ago but people were smaller and (some) horses expendable/not expected to last for other reasons. But the good news is elephants can play polo

 

[GirlFriday]

Hopefully any riding holidays organised by a British based company will have been inspected thoroughly as suitable. I have spoken to some organisers and they said they have visited some places as potential destinations and arrived, taken a look round and driven off again, as there undoubtedly some very bad practices.

I have had holidays in America, Italy and France and the horses have always been looked after very well - not always what we are used to, but they were certainly up to the job and gave everyone a great holiday.

The best thing is to have a short list and then contact the organiser and have a good chat about what you are looking for and for their opinion and hopefuly speak to someone who has been there, and then read the feedback.

As far as I'm aware there is no restriction on a UK company selling holidays to overseas destinations that do not meet UK legal minimum requirements, let alone best practise. For example you could until recently, find plenty of UK places selling tickets to cetacean attractions which would not meet UK welfare standards (we don't ban whales and dolphins in captivity here - but the UK standards make it uneconomic to have any!), the bull runs and so forth.

Agree with the rest of the advice. Although would add that it can be fun to visit horsey areas without a whole horsey holiday. You probably wouldn't choose to ride that much in the UK so why waste flights etc on doing it? That way you can book a few hours without committing to something you can't see in advance/incapacitating hubby! You can usually book more hours once you arrive as you'll be available during the working day in off-peak times

 

[Keith_Beef]

There are plenty of people who are perfectly healthy weights for their height etc who there are very few horses to carry all day/as beginners. Yes, people used to do it years ago but people were smaller and (some) horses expendable/not expected to last for other reasons. But the good news is elephants can play polo

I agree with you about the horses, but my thought is that a place that advertises treks for inexperienced adult riders should be able to organise itself, especially if people are booking more than a couple of months in advance, to have horses to suit.

But I admit, I've never been on a trek with more than four hours in the saddle at a stretch. The longest was probably when I took my other half, a total novice who has practically no empathy with anything on four legs, Western riding through the forest of western Pennsylvania. Mostly at a walk, sections of trotting for a hundred or two hundred yards. You could have put a sack of potatoes in the saddle, and it would have stayed in place.

But here is France, an all-day ride is usually around three hours in the morning, then before we riders get to eat we unsaddle the horses, fasten them to a high line, brush them and check their hooves, then water and feed them. When possible they are on grass for this (but once, they were in a horrible stinky little paddock lent to us by a riding centre we stopped off at). There's about an hour and a half to two hour break, then get the tack back on and off for another three to four hour stretch in the afternoon.

I ride out with horseholidaysfrance.com. The owner, Anna, has a couple of her own horses and then rents horses from the many stables in town, suited to the rider's size and experience. She organises half day, full day and themed three days outings. She can organise trips of longer duration and more or less any circuit you want. A few times she's contacted me about weekend beach rides in Normandy, but I don't have time for that at the moment.

I'm surprised to learn that elephants can play polo... but if the horses are up to carrying them...