Latest News and Special Offers - 24th May 13
Booking now for Winter Breaks
Check out the Horse & Hound review of our fabulous 5* Luxury Lipizzaners venue, the Posthotel Achenkirch. Dressage Editor, Alice Collins, enjoys some expert dressage tuition, but also finds time to experience the amazing spa facilities.
If you are on your own, or riding with a friend, you may like to join one of our tours for solo travellers:. These promise to be great fun, sociable weeks.
We have a special offer on African Safaris if you book before end 2012, £100 off the listed price.
Ride to Machu Picchu, Peru
**National Geographic Adventure - "World's 25 Best New Trips' 2009** National Geographic Traveler - "Top 50 Tours of a Lifetime**
Ride on one of these beautiful Quarter horses, staying in luxury lodges along the way. Discover the Incas the comfortable way, away from the crowds. Great company and stunning scenery as you ride over the Andes through a high altitude pass between two sacred mountains, over the Salkantay Glacier, passing through 15 different bio-zones. Enjoy this breathtaking 7 - day trip and experience culture, adventure, and the mysticism Machu Picchu. For intermediate to experienced riders. Extend your stay with a few days in Cusco, the vibrant ancient Inca capital.
This is a trip for people who want an amazing adventure, in a spectacular location, but don't want to 'rough it'.
Read an in-depth article in the excellent Local Rider Magazine which includes lots of photos by the editor (who personally went on the trip) and includes lots of information about the Incas, local traditions and a separate piece about the magical Inca city of Cusco (where our ride start and finish). Read the full article here
Responsible tourism: The Riding Company is proud to be associated with Yanapana Peru, the charity founded by the owner of the Machu Picchu riding centre, which is striving to reduce poverty along the Salkantay route to Machu Picchu (where the lodges are situated) , through sustainable community development. Get in touch to find out ways in which you too can be a part of this during your trip. See a video about the various projects: http://www.greenlivingproject.com/south-america-projects/mountain-lodges-of-peru/
Machu Picchu Lodge to Lodge Program More details
'Peru leaves me with amazing recollections; It’s a land of extremes, from Glacial Mountain Passes to Rain Forest and Amazon Tributaries. With local coffee growers and villages living in very primitive conditions, Inca ruins scattered across the hundreds of Inca Trails, which spread throughout all the mountains of this truly memorable country. But perhaps the most remarkable memories of all were the Horses we rode - to my mind more amazing than Machu Picchu itself.' Stephen and Jeanette
Big 5 Safari on Horseback
Philip and Gerti look forward to welcoming you to their private game reserve in South Africa, one of the few places in the world where you can see cheetahs, elephants, lions and other wildlife if their natural environment from the back of a horse. Together they operate highly professional fast paced horse safaris with luxury eco-lodge accommodation. Small groups of just 7 riders. Experienced riders only.
This is a perfect trip if you are on your own and want to join in a fun group of good experienced riders. Price £2520 per person including food, accommodation, riding but not flights and transfers (these can be arranged on your behalf). Fly to Johannesburg. More details
Riding Company Safari Week .We have a special offer on African Safaris for 2012, £100 off the listed price if booked by Dec 31. No single supplement if happy to share a room. Shared transfers
Book soon as it's filling up fast! The Riding Company are pleased to offer £100 off all 2012 safari prices if booked before end of December.
NEW!! Gerti gives flatwork lessons to prepare you for going on safari: How do you make a horse stand in front of a lion without running away? Learn how to gain your horses trust. During the mornings you have theoretical or practical lessons in the riding arena or on the cross country course, then ride out in the afternoons with the chance of seeing the Big Five from horseback. The aim of this course is to learn the methods of riding your horse in a supple, submissive and relaxed manner. Gerti teaches according to the German Training Scale, which starts with rhythm, looseness and works towards riding the horse on the bit. We want you to understand how to have fun with your horse whatever you do: dressage, showjumping, eventing or just enjoy your horse as a lovely hack. Each group is between 4-7 people all following the same itinerary. Good riding skills are essential. The aim of this course is to learn the methods of riding your horse in a supple, submissive and relaxed manner that this might be a nice way of introducing horse safaris to people that are a bit nervous about the idea of animals and horses and riding in the bush. Available from June-September.
Andrea Moffatt from Horse & Rider magazine has just returned from a visit to Wait A Little and describes her first encounter with a lion
'It is the horses that first alert you to the presence of lions. ..(My mount) Joe took a sharp intake of air, nostrils flared and I could feel his heart beating harder. The horses were all alert now, ears pricked, moving slowly, we were close. Breathing quietly is so hard when you concentrate on it, especially when at the sight of a magnificent male lion, all you want to do is squeal with delight or fear or both. The lion shook his full, thick mane defiantly and yawned, displaying a fine set of incisors, a reminder of why he ruled the bush. Then he rose to his feet making every hair on the back of my neck stand up and I gasped at his sheer size. Our courageous horses stood their ground and the lion turned and walked off into the bush, no doubt to find a more private sleeping spot....
The hot afternoons were spent dozing, dipping in the infinity pool and sitting on the platform overlooking the river watching the hippos cooling off in the heat of the day, partially submerged and occasionally coming up for air, nostrils flared gasping a huge intake of air or yawning a wide-mouthed hippo yawn exposing ivory canines and a powerful jaw. We felt like we had stumbled across a piece of heaven. ...'
Read the full article: Horse & Rider magazine.
Polo holidays
Combine learning to play this exciting game with a few days in Buenos Aires.
La Sofia: First rate comfort in this Estancia run by a charming young German-Argentine couple.The polo club has two polofields always in perfect condition and they can guarantee play every day, throughout the year! Stick & Ball in the mornings after a hearty breakfast then polo games of 4 to 6 chukkers in the afternoons. For experienced players, polo tours are offered where you have the opportunity to play in numerous other clubs in the area. Although beginners are taught (you will be thrown in at the deep end and will most likely play your first chukkas on your very first day!) there is a lot to offer the experienced polo player here and there is a lot to do for accompanying non-riders. Owner, Marcos Antin, is a professional Argentine polo player and has worked in many polo schools around the world before setting up on his own with his polo-playing wife Silke. More details
4 days, 3 nights at La Sofia with full board and activities like daily trailriding, daily free shuttle to San Antonio de Areco to get into gaucho tradition, and one polo class for beginners … from £481 per person (Standard double room, double use, limited number of places available). We can arrange the rest of your stay, to learn polo or visit Buenos Aires. Get in touch for details.
The Riding Company Blog
Check out our Riding Company Blog. Here we will keep you up to date you with all the latest news and hot tips from the equestrian world. We will also be featuring some special holidays offers and details of our regular competitions. Latest features have been on Sicily, Vienna and the Lipizzaners, winter riding in powder snow in Austria and Ossy the rescue horse in Spain, adopted by our Tarifa Beach hotel. Anna and Penny are our bloggers and they would be delighted to hear any of your comments and suggestions.
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