This week’s letter is T. If you missed last week’s Friday Feature, take a look at Stud Hand.
Tourism with regards to horses can come in many forms. Chances are it’ll combine two things: horses and a chance to learn more about the location they’re in.
You may find you get to explore a particular country or town on horseback as the form of tourism, perhaps shown areas that only the locals know about or you may find that the focus is on a particular breed of horse or discipline that you can learn about only in that area.
Because it can be varied, skills of those working in the horse tourism field may differ. Some skills required in any field could include:
- knowledge of horse health and care
- mucking out boxes, picking up paddocks/fields
- dealing with people
- local knowledge
- horse riding skills or horse handling skills
I have adored horse tourism in the form of trail rides in Ireland, Australia and South Africa; visiting many horse related museums in France and Ireland and of course studying at the Irish National Stud where you can learn horses in another country whilst also working at a property that teaches others about thoroughbred breeding and racing. I dream of one day visiting Machu Picchu on horseback.
For some posts that relate to this topic on Equus-Blog, take a look at:
- Horse Tourism in Australia
- La Sagesse
- Living Horse Museum
- Machu Picchu
- Mixing Horses, Travel and Vacations
- Travel With Your Horse
- Wild Coast, South Africa
“We gaze upon their quiet beauty, their natural elegance, and we are captivated. They see us softly, in gentle light… rewarding human companionship with strength, grace and intelligence. As they run through arenas and open fields, past mountains and seas, moving like the wind toward heaven, we travel with them, if only in our hearts.” – Author unknown
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Any thoughts on how long a trail ride needs to be and with what characteristics to be attractive for horse riding tourism?
Hi Angus!
I can answer only from personal experience and desires – I loved a trail I went on in South Africa where we rode a couple of hours, stopped at a local pub for lunch and hitched the horses to a tree whilst eating overlooking the beach, then rode home again! It was lovely.
With regards to attractive characteristics – I guess that depends on if there are places to show off in your area, areas to stop and enjoy a meal or drink or ride in the water or forms of history to stop in on?