Choosing Which Horse Ride To Book

Chapman Valley Horse Riding offers a wide range of horse rides for all ages and levels of horse riding experience, so it can be hard to choose which ride is best suited to your needs. We have written the below guide to help you with your decision, however please feel free to contact our friendly team to discuss individual needs. Once you have selected your ride you can click the above “Book now” to check availability in real time and immediately confirm your ride.

Beginners

We recommend the 3 hr sessions for adult beginners, as it allows enough time for you to get to know your horse and practise your newly found horse riding skills, but isn’t so long that you’re too sore afterwards! The two hour trail ride caters for all levels of rider, and in most cases our guides can separate the group if some wish to ride faster while others are happy at a leisurely walk.

Families

Our 2 hour ride (1 hr in the saddle) is perfect for horse riding with young children. We recommend this ride for parents who are riding with children aged 5yo-13yo as young children can get bored when riding for 2 hours. The 2 hour ride is ridden at a walking pace only, and our guides will hand-lead (walk beside) children under 10yo (or older if necessary) to increase the level of safety and enjoyment for your little ones. Please note the minimum age for the 1 hour trail ride is 5 years old.

Very Nervous Riders

Having some feelings of nervousness is completely normal, especially if it’s your first time riding a horse. Most people are nervous when first mounting the horse, but after just 5-10minutes in the saddle you start to relax and feel more in control. For those with extremely high levels of nervousness though (e.g prone to panic attacks, previous bad experiences etc), sometimes 2 hours in the saddle can be a bit too much to handle first up, so it may be best to start off with the 2 hour session (1 hr in the saddle). Our guides can walk beside and even hand-lead your horse for as long as you like, or until you feel confident enough to take the reins for yourself.

Adventurous Beginners

For those with a moderate level of fitness wanting something a little more challenging and the opportunity to learn even more as they ride we recommend the Half Day (4 Hour) trail ride. This is perfect for those who really want to perfect the rising trot, as often the 3 hour ride is not quite long enough to master this faster and very challenging speed.

Moderate and Experienced Riders

Whilst the 3 hour caters for all levels of experience, the 3 hour ride can go by far too quickly for moderate and experienced riders with only a couple of opportunities for a trot or canter. Therefore for those wanting to really get their trotting and cantering fix we recommend either the Half Day (4 hours) or Full Day (6 hours) rides, depending on how much time you have in your schedule. These rides are similar in that we travel further ‘out the back’ of the property, and also offers many more opportunities for faster rides. Those who are very experienced with horses (confident with trotting and cantering on uneven ground in a group of horses) may be interested in our Experienced Rides.

Non-English Speaking Riders

Riders of all walks of life are most welcome to visit us and ride with us. Due to the complex nature of horse riding our guides are constantly giving important advice to our riders to improve their riding and to ensure their safety. Because of this we have found that for visitors who do not speak English it is far too dangerous for them to ride unassisted as sometimes there is not enough time for our advice to be interpreted – and things can often get lost in translation. Therefore our guides will lead their horse and our international visitors can sit back, relax and enjoy the ride whilst taking in the scenery. We recommend the 2 hour sessions (1 hr in the saddle) for this.