Best Beach Riding Spots Around the World
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Horseback riding on beaches has enormous appeal. Hard packed sand provides a wonderful flat surface for horses to move out at full speed with no danger of holes. Few things in life are more exhilarating than a brisk gallop on the beach next to the ocean with the waves breaking beside you, the salt spray flying and the horses full of exuberance. Over the years Equitours has found a number of places around the world where one can ride for miles on totally undeveloped beaches.
Of course there are things to watch out for on the beach as well. If the sand is not hard packed, it can be very tiring for the horses and can strain tendons. Then too there are the tides and in places like Ireland one really has to watch out for as the water can rush in at terrific speed and the fluctuations are enormous between high and low tide. Some beaches at high tide can become impassable so riders must pay attention to the tide tables.
The rides we offer all last for a week and they include the chance to see the hinterland as well as the beaches and the ocean. Here are some of the rides we recommend which include exciting beach riding:
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Beach Riding in Mozambique
Beach Riding in Spain
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COSTA RICA
The Rain Forest Adventure Ride is the closest place we have where one can enjoy exhilarating beach riding on truly unspoiled beaches. On this adventure you can also ride in the rain forest, go kayaking or snorkeling in the ocean and take an alligator boat safari in the jungle. It is a fine trip for families.
Beach Riding in Australia
AUSTRALIA
Boomerang Trail
– The Boomerang Trail offers experienced riders some fast riding on a secluded beach with Arabian horses as well as rides in the interior on long, winding tracks in the forest. You will see wallabies and kangaroos as well as exotic birds.
Sunshine Coast
– This coastal inn to inn ride has some of the best beach riding in the world on Australia’s famed Sunshine Coast. The inns are very comfortable and the food is excellent.
NEW ZEALAND – The trip takes place in a part of New Zealand which has a very temperate climate and one can ride there all year. There is a 30 mile deserted seashore where one can gallop to one’s heart’s content.
CALIFORNIA – The Redwood Coast Ride in California has a ten mile stretch of beach which provides a wonderful place for long canters on Arabian and Arabian cross endurance horses. It will take you through the magnificent redwood forests and to popular resort towns on the coast.
IRELAND
Beach Riding in Ireland
Atlantic Coast Trail in County Sligo takes guests through some of the most lovely and historic parts of Ireland. There is splendid beach riding as well as trails inland through pine forests and over mountains.
Beaches, Dunes and Trails is an unguided ride where you take a map and find your own way to a different inn each night. You look after your own horses and it is only for adventurous, experienced horse people.
Dingle Peninsula Trail traverses a most picturesque part of Ireland along beaches and into the interior. Dingle itself is a very lively tourist town with night clubs, restaurants, boutiques and art galleries.
Donegal from the Saddle is based in the quaint little town of Dunfanaghy on the remote coast of extreme northwest Ireland. It provides all the riding on deserted beaches that anyone could wish.
Beach Riding in Spain
SPAIN
The Catalonia Coast Ride follows on horseback the wild shore of the Mediterranean just south of the French border. In some places there are wide open beaches and in others dramatic cliffs come close to the ocean so that you have sweeping views of the sea and the mountains.
Beach Riding in Spain
The Dali Coast Ride, home of the famous artist, provided him and many other painters with the inspirational beauty of this part of the coast. You will visit several coastal villages and have some fine gallops along the beaches.
The Mediterranean Trail has some fast riding both on the beach and on trails in the interior. There are long hours in the saddle with many trots, canters and gallops.
AFRICA
Beach Riding in Mozambique
The Mozambique Horse Safari probably offers the most beach riding of any Equitours ride and it also affords a chance to actually go swimming with your horse if you are so inclined. One can ride not only on the beaches of the mainland, but also on Benguerra Island where a herd of horses is also at your disposal. The owners of this refuge for horses saved over a hundred of them from Zimbabwe at the risk of their lives when that country’s economy fell apart under the ruthless dictatorship of Mugabe.
The Zululand Coast Safari takes you through a UNESCO World Heritage Area. The coastline here was so designated because of the tremendous variety of landscape contrasts and wildlife habitats. Riders will see not only beaches and sand, but elephant, rhino, antelope and many other kinds of game.
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