Full Day Horsemanship Experience

Taihape, New Zealand – Great location - show map

Season: 1st November-31st May

Riding Ability: Beginner-Advanced

A full day horsemanship adventure, experiencing communication and connection with your horse. Combining a morning horsemanship session with the opportunity in the afternoon to take your newfound knowledge on a ride through the rural landscape around River Valley.

Duration: Full Day

$315

PER PERSON

Start time

10AM

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It is the Horses gift to connect us with Heaven and our Footsteps

Before booking a ride we recommend you check your riding ability using our guide below:

Beginner – reasonably confident riding a horse at a walk, a rising trot, and learning to canter.

Intermediate – confident and in control on a moving horse at all paces outside an arena, but not riding regularly.

Strong intermediate – an intermediate rider who is currently riding regularly (outside an arena) and is comfortable in the saddle for at least six hours per day.

Advanced – a frequent rider who is very fit, has an independent seat and soft hands, and is confident on a forward-moving horse at all paces over rough and variable ground on open terrain.

Conditions:

Minimum Age 13 Years
Maximum weight 100kg.
This ride is not suitable for first time riders
Lunch is provided

Everything you can Imagine is Real

This day is your day to explore those things you have wanted to experience with horses. Our guides will help you to the best of their knowledge with what you want to learn. Maybe you have a horse at home doing something that you don’t like, and you don’t quite know how to change that. Or perhaps you always dreamed of owning your own horse, but it just seems too hard to know where to start. Or maybe you just dream of riding over the hills and far away, but you would love a little more confidence to do that?

There is no secret so close as that between a Rider and his horse

So here is where you begin. To start with, you are building a trusting relationship between you and your horse. It does not matter if you are new to horses or they have been a part of your life forever. You will begin at the level you need to be working at with the horse you have for the day. It is preferred that this part of the day initiates the partnership with you and your horse and is carried out on the ground before you ride. It is amazing what your horse can show you when you observe from this position before you hop in the saddle.

No one can teach riding so well as a horse

You might like to spend the rest of the morning gaining more trust and communication with your horse while working on the ground. Or maybe you are up for a ride before lunch, using the skills you have built together on the ground, transferred to the saddle. Lunch is either at River Valley Lodge or a picnic lunch.

Your horse, like yourself, will need time to process what you have done together during the morning, so lunch is an excellent time for this.

Every moment is a fresh beginning

In the afternoon, you might like to revisit the groundwork you did with your horse in the morning before you ride. It is wise to know that your horse will be finding his way back with you in that moment and will want to connect with you, but he may be thinking about something entirely different after lunch than what you are. He could still be thinking about lunch! Horses love lunch!

Once you and your horse have established the same playing field, this leaves the afternoon free to ride out and put everything you have done together into action. You will be riding bitless and freestyle without a care in the world, your mind tuned to your horse. Or you might just want to explore more with your horse on the ground. You choose 😊

What is Natural Horsemanship?

Natural Horsemanship is about the partnership between horse and human. At River Valley Stables, our guides have spent time building this connection with the horses and working with them in a way that makes our horses feel good about their work. It is this connection between you and your horse that makes River Valley Stables unique.

What is freestyle riding?

Freestyle is a centred style of riding. It is not English or Western but has many similarities to both these disciplines. Riding freestyle encourages you to connect with your horse through focus, feel, balance and timing. It’s an incredible feeling when you have that connection together.

Alternatively search for other suitable horse trekking adventures here

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