Forest, countryside, shoreline
There are three of them and they arrive in that order. Not a climb, not an endurance ride — just an hour that changes its surface three times, which turns out to be plenty.
Pine forest
The trail opens under pines, on soft sandy track with roots and dry scrub at the edges. It is the shaded part of the hour and the quietest one: hooves on sand make very little noise, and most of what you hear is the group and the trees.
It is also where a first-time rider settles. The trees narrow the world to the trail ahead, the group rides close together, and the horse in front is doing most of the thinking for the horse behind it.
Open countryside
The pines give out into open ground behind Side: farmland, scrub and enough width to see the whole group at once with sky above it. After the closed-in trail, that openness is the change you feel rather than the one you were told about.
If a faster stretch is going to be offered at all, this is the kind of ground where it happens — to riders who can show the guide they know what they are doing, where conditions allow. It is the guide's call, never assumed and never pushed on anyone.
Shoreline
The last surface is sand with the Mediterranean alongside. The horses walk it, and can go into the shallows where the conditions on the day allow; the pace stays a walk throughout. It is the stretch worth keeping a hand free for.
It is a working beach rather than an empty one — hire boats on their moorings, a jet-ski pontoon, swimmers in the water. Worth knowing before you picture it, and part of why the group stays close together here instead of spreading out.
Three surfaces, and no fourth
The ride stays on forest track, open ground and sand from beginning to end, and it stays at a walk. There is no climbing in it and nothing technical, which is the whole reason a rider who has never sat on a horse can do the same hour as one who has.
- Surfaces, in order: forest sand and track, open ground, beach sand
- Pace: a relaxed walk, with the guide leading from the front
- Saddle time: about 1 hour, inside about 3 hours from your hotel and back again
The exact line the ride takes can change on the day for weather, ground conditions, safety, the horses' welfare or what the group can handle. The three surfaces are the constant; the path across them is not.
Ready to ride?
One ride to book, three to request, hotel transfer included, nothing charged online.
1-Hour Side Horse Safari €40 per rider Book the horse safari