4 Days Fantastic Horse Riding Holiday in Exmoor National Park, UK

Facilities

Day 1

Arrive and be welcomed at around 4 p.m. with a welcome tea and cake. If you arrive earlier, you are welcome to wander around the horse yard and meet the horses, and if available, you can mount and take a horse around the arena (especially important for unsure riders). Cathy will show you to your room and outline your itinerary for you on your arrival and discuss your riding experience.

The evening meal is available in the local village of Porlock within walking distance, Porlock Weir or the town of Minehead where there are numerous different places to eat. Most places sell a selection of vegetarian food, however, it is difficult to find vegetarian and gluten-free!

Day 2

Breakfast will be in the farmhouse between 8:30 to 9 a.m. then going round to The Yard for 10 a.m. to ride out with Hayley or Jess up the hills, through the woods, to the moor. These rides will take you over North Hill, to Selworthy Beacon or Webbers Post, Ley Hill, Cloutsham, or Grabbist Hill above Minehead. The rides are approximately 10 miles and may involve long trots and canters over the moors, as well as river work and ice cream breaks!

Return back to the yard for a light lunch of sandwiches with the afternoon Gentle Horse and Rider Workshop with Cathy or Hayley in the arena, close contact work, leading gently, asking your horse, free schooling, and horse agility. You will have the evening to yourself.

Day 3

After breakfast, make your way round to the yards and meet up with your horses. If you would like to help bring them in, then you are very welcome, for grooming and tacking up. Your second ride will be in a very different area of habitat and views, generally over Webbers Post, with views across Exmoor and north to Selworthy.

The afternoon will be free for your exploration of Exmoor either by car or on foot and relax in the garden with a book. If you wish, you may also watch the afternoon flying display in the summer months at 2 p.m. with no extra charge.

Day 4

Your final ride for further exploration of the hills on a totally different route to the other two rides, up above Selworthy and beyond to the South West Coast Path. Again, amazing views south to further Exmoor and Dartmoor and north to South Wales over the Bristol Channel. Spectacular!

On return to the farmhouse, you will enjoy your final lunch, then you are free to return home or move onward with your exploration of the wonderful SW England peninsular.

Horses

The horses are professionals and are all barefoot, some are bitless and others prefer to ride with a bit for comfort and assurance. The horses you may ride are:

• Archie - 17.1 hands, Irish Sports Horse, 17 years of age.
• Tom - 16.2 hands, Clydesdale, 9 years of age, ideal for the more nervous rider or "weight carrier".
• Theo - 15 hands, Cob, new to the yard, chunky but amazing ride and a good "weight carrier".
• Danny - 14.2 hands, Arab x Cob, a little fast at times but great for a good understanding rider.
• Ryan - 15 years old, Appaloosa Warmblood with a great personality and good for intermediate riders with positive energy.
• Paps - A real schoolmaster, an excellent lead horse, and client horse but requires a positive hand and leg.
• Juta - The main lead mare. That says it all really. Small, compact, and amazingly willing. Appaloose "Spot" by name.
• Flo - Will be following along shortly, currently three years of age but hopefully willing and ready by the summer of 2020 for rides for competent youngsters.

• 3 half-day horse rides over Exmoor, National Trust Honicote Estate, North Hill, Ley Hill, Webbers Post, and surroundings of Porlock Vale.
• 1 Gentle Horse and Rider Workshop (Alternative: Holistic Self Selection Applied Zoopharmocognosy Workshop also available. Shiatsu Workshop is also available at an additional cost of 25 GBP)

During this horse riding holiday, you will ride over the moors and woods surrounding Porlock Vale. Exmoor Riding is situated just one mile from Porlock and five miles west of Minehead in England, UK. Exmoor Riding has access to hundreds of miles of off-road riding through woodland and over moorland, with spectacular views of the sea and across the moor of Somerset and Devon.

Exmoor Riding is situated in the sheltered Porlock Vale, nestled at the foot of North Hill with the sea to the northwest and surrounded by glorious riding country all around. The terrain is quite challenging in places and the horses are kept working fit to cope with this. Exmoor Riding is in the heart of the National Trust Holnicote Estate, originally developed as a hunting estate, but now

leaving an amazing tapestry of trails and tracks for riding.

This too is within the Exmoor National Park, renowned for some of the best riding country in the world. Several takeaways, pubs, and restaurants are a short walk away in the delightful village of Porlock with menus to suit every dietary requirement.

Distances

• Bridgwater, 30 miles
• Minehead (the nearest town), 5 miles
• Porlock (the nearest village), 1 mile
• Taunton, 30 miles

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During this holiday, you will be served breakfasts and light sandwich lunches. Exmoor Riding's dining room is a beautiful spacious room with 15th-century fireplace, 17th-century windows, 18th-century slate skirtings, and beams believed to have been recycled from shipwrecks off the coast.

A full English or Continental breakfast is served daily for your enjoyment to set you off on your day, including fruit juice, selection of cereals, fresh fruit, yogurt, cooked breakfast consisting of bacon, sausage, egg cooked in any way, tomato and mushrooms, white or brown toast, croissant and homemade marmalade, and honey from the surrounding fields.

• Exmoor Half Day Owl and Bird of Prey Experience - 100 GBP for two
• Gentle Connection Riding Lessons - 40 GBP for one/60 GBP for two
• Wildlife Safaris
• Exmoor Adventures
• Miles upon miles of walks
• Beautiful walks to the coast and beyond

• 3 half days of riding
• Gentle Horse and Rider workshop
• Optional 1-hour Gentle Connection Riding Lesson on Day 1
• 3 nights accommodation
• Daily breakfast and lunch

• Evening meals (Plenty of places to eat great food in the local village of Porlock one mile from the farmhouse; an easy walking or driving distance.)
• Airfare
• Airport transfers

Recommended Airports

• A reservation requires a deposit of 50% of the total price.
• The deposit is non-refundable, if the booking is cancelled.
• The rest of the payment should be paid on departure.