Straddle a saddle

Horse-riding holidays are growing in popularity, and now there's one to suit every level of ability. JASPER WINNhas some ideas for fantastic breaks around the world

HORSES ARE LIKE cars, really. Or perhaps it’s the other way around. Whatever, whether you’re talking four wheels or four legs you can find every take on holiday transport, from real clunkers through to all-terrainers, luxury saloons, utility pick-ups and family runabouts. Oh, and whether it’s nags or jalopies you’re into, if you’ve got the money you can get ones that go stupidly fast.

Riding holidays are growing in popularity, as specialist operators around the world tune their horse trips to specific segments of the market, from beginners to born-in-the-saddle types. As with hiring a car abroad, though, you need to know what you’re signing up for in a horse holiday, and make sure it’s what suits you and your riding ability. Sure, in theory riding is as simple as keeping a horse between you and the ground, but some trips require real experience to handle finely tuned blood horses, while on other rides you might never get out of a trot, or even into one.

Every good horse trip has the ability to deliver a unique experience that can slow life down even as you speed into a canter. Horsepeople across the globe, whether Argentinian gauchos, Canadian cowboys or Berber tribesmen, enjoy sharing their world with visitors; as well as that, straddle a saddle and you can reach wilderness areas that would otherwise take a long, sweaty hike on two legs to reach. And from horseback you’ll see more wildlife, experience more highs – and, sometimes, lows – feel more weather and appreciate life more than you ever will from inside a car.

Where beginners can get started

For groups of mixed riding ability, or families where only some members are comfortable on a horse, choose a fixed-base centre with plenty of other activities.

The Camargue is France’s cowboy country, where lance-wielding men on tough white horses herd quick- tempered black cattle across the marshes. In May the festival of Saintes-Maries-de- la-Mer attracts Gypsies from all over Europe, and there are horse games in the town. But the Camargue gets crowded, so for a relaxing stay base your group in Lucille and Jacques Bon’s luxurious traditional manor farm, Le Mas de Peint. Jacques, an ebullient guide

to the region, can provide horses for beginners and intermediate riders to explore the extensive farmlands and the marshes; the more experienced can help round up cattle. Out of the saddle there are beaches, the Mas’s own famed restaurant, the nearby town of Arles, and cycling and walking trails to enjoy. Contact Zara’s Planet (01-4407477, zarasplanet.ie)

Sweden in winter, above the Arctic Circle, is the venue for a multi-activity holiday based around Icelandic horses and snow. Though small, these animals are strong and ideal for mixed-ability groups; they’re easy for beginners to ride yet still fun for the more experienced, especially when you tölt – or move in the horses’ extra-smooth fifth gear. You’ll also try your hand at dog-sledging, ice fishing and snowmobiling, as well as learning how to lasso reindeer from local Sami herders. Watch out for enormous wild elk – and for the Northern Lights, which you’ve a good chance of seeing here. Saunas are an important part of the local culture, and one night is spent in the luxury of the nearby Ice Hotel. Contact In the Saddle (00-44-1299- 272997, inthesaddle.com)

Canada’s Anchor D, in the Rockies, allows keen equestrians with children too young to ride to go on a wilderness camping trip together. The rides are accompanied by a horse- drawn chuck wagon that, with advance arrangement, can take a child or two and a non-riding adult as passengers. The riders will be on good horses under western saddles, navigating trails rising into the mountains to reach high pastures where they’ll rejoin the wagon for cowboy cooking, a blazing fire and a song or two before sleeping the nights under canvas. Or get away from family commitments altogether on the ranch’s annual Women’s Western Wilderness Weekender. For experienced riders, the Anchor D also offers challenging seven-day mountain trail rides. Contact Zara’s Planet (details as above)

Horseback adventures that will suit a can-do spirit

Adventure on horseback doesn’t always require a lot of experience in the saddle. Sometimes it’s as much about stamina, reasonable fitness and a can-do attitude.

The Irish, including the famed Durack family, from Galway, opened up much of the Australian outback on long cattle droves in search of new pastures. Work on stations – farms, yes, but some the size of a small Irish county – is often still horse-powered, even today, for checking stock or mustering cattle. Leconfield Jackaroo Jillaroo School, in Kootingal, New South Wales, has a five-day course in station work, including horsemanship, fencing, butchering, whip-cracking and other outback skills.

Owner Tim Skerrett reckons to get even beginners riding competently by the end of the week. As an outback experience the school is memorable in itself, but for the tough and keen there is then a chance to get paid station work through Leconfield’s contacts. Contact Leconfield (00-61-2-67694328, leconfield.com)

The vast wilderness areas of Iceland, with their unbridged rivers, hills and glaciers, are still best reached by horse. Iceland's horses – they're as small as ponies, but their stamina and strength ensure they're always given honorary horse status – have been the island's transport system for 1,000 years. This is where Diarmuid Gavin rode in a recent episode of No Frontiers, exploring a landscape of geysers, volcanic cones and awe-inspiring wilderness from the saddle. To up the adventure level, the tough can join the annual autumn sheep and horse gatherings, but expect long days, Irish weather and hard-core partying. The horses have a smooth gait and are ridden in normal saddles and bridles, to make life a bit more comfortable. Contact Zara's Planet (01-4407477, zarasplanet.ie)

Chile's Torres del Paine National Park, at the tip of Patagonia, is one of the world's most striking and rugged destinations (above). Blue Green Adventures has been running tough horse trips for years, camping out or staying in basic refugiosto allow riders to visit the park's glaciers, lakes and mountains. For fit but less experienced riders, and even for adventurous families, it now offers stays at the atmospheric Estancia Tercera Barranca, a working sheep farm that is an ideal base for day rides in the park, or even overnight camping trips, as well as kayaking, hiking and fishing. This is big country, with some of the continent's most impressive peaks as backdrop, and there are guanaco – slender llamas – as well as condor and puma to look out for. Try your hand, too, at cowboying, rounding up horses and throwing lassos with your dashing and hospitable baqueanos, or guides. Contact Blue Green Adventures (00-56-61-410009, bluegreenadventures.com)

Let the horses do the hard work

Horses can be the key to reaching some spectacular wildernesses without having to resort to foot-slogging.

In the north of Argentinian Patagonia, Jane Williams leads competent riders out from her family estancia on a two- country frontier-adventure camping trip into the Andes. Riding gaucho-style on local saddles covered in sheepskins – they’ll also be part of your bed for the night – you move fast across the gently rising lands, then climb into the mountain range before crossing the Andes over a high pass into Chile. There you’ll take several days to ride more slowly down the steep Andean valleys (right). You’ll pass volcanoes, see condor, ride through monkey-puzzle forests and feast on steaks and local wines. Williams also provides riding and fishing stays at the – more comfortable – estancia, and occasionally leads three- week horse expeditions for the fully riding fit who are ready to test their stamina to the full. Contact Last Frontiers, 00-44- 1296-653000, lastfrontiers.com

Ladakh, in the Indian Himalayas, is often referred to as Little Tibet. On this trip the small mountain ponies are all about the getting there rather than the riding experience. Between the rugged terrain and the altitude, the pace is slow, allowing even fit non-riders to get in the saddle for the first time. The wilderness experience is enhanced by luggage and camp equipment accompanying you on pack ponies. The rewards are in following mountain trails, descending gorges and crossing numerous rivers where it’s the horses, not you, that get their feet wet. You’ll camp in pristine wilderness, meet local herders and visit remote monasteries and temples, and there’s an opportunity to coincide with the monastic festival at Lamayuru. Contact Unicorn Trails, 00-44-1767-600606, unicorntrails.com

Long, fast days in the saddle

A growing number of horse-holiday companies are targeting experienced riders, offering well-schooled horses for long and often fast days in the saddle.

Andalusia, in Spain, is famed for horses. In the unspoilt Sierra Aracena, Nick and Hermione Tudor lead either a week of day rides from their tranquil, self-sufficient finca or three-day round trips, staying in small hotels in dazzling white villages among wooded hills. Hermione breeds and schools the Andaluz horses, which are ridden Spanish-style – the origin of western riding. The responsiveness of the horses, from on-the-spot canter through to ground-eating acceleration, demands experienced riders with light hands, but the rewards are long days across flower-filled meadows and through chestnut forests, broken by picnics in oak groves or stops for chilled sherry in village bars. Contact Finca El Moro (Aracena, Spain, 00-34-959-501079, fincaelmoro.com)

Zambia, in southern Africa, provides little-known country for former event rider Steven Rufus to run his rides. Having guided horse safaris in Botswana and South Africa, he has now established his stables on the Shiwa Ng’andu Estate. Good horses need to be matched by good riders when riding among game at speed, and Rufus’s rides are for those comfortable at all paces over uneven country. The estate is home to herds of zebra, antelope and wildebeest, rather than the less horse-friendly big five, allowing the dressage-schooled horses to carry you right in among the animals (above). Accommodation is in colonial comfort in the period main house or the nearby farmhouse, and there are game drives, fishing and bush walks for out-of-saddle time. Contact Zara’s Planet (01-4407477, zarasplanet.ie)

The mountains and deserts of Morocco can be argued for as the cradle of cowboy horsemanship: Berber horses, bits and saddles were carried into Spain from north Africa and, centuries later, taken on to the New World by the conquistadores. The arid lands of the Middle Atlas Mountains and the pre-Sahara still produce swift, hardy horses (below) – and provide amazing riding for the experienced and fit. Expect long, fast, challenging days, especially when in the expanses of sand around the Tafilalet, but a horse is the only way to experience traditional and rural Morocco far off the tourist trail. Nights under canvas are mixed with stays in hotels. Contact Ride World Wide (00-44-1837-82544, rideworldwide.com)