Trail Riding
We specialise in personal trail rides for both beginners and experienced riders, allowing just you and your family or friends to ride out with us on our well-trained, responsive horses to experience bush riding in one of Australia’s finest landscapes. Every trail ride is planned to suit your individual requirements, from time, duration, route and horses so you can enjoy the perfect horseback adventure.
This makes trail riding at Yarramba a unique experience – and being an establishment that excels in training horses, it’s not surprising that our trail riding horses are of superb quality and variety, from fit, strong and well trained horses that experienced riders are proud to ride, to safe, reliable mounts ideal for nervous beginners and children to gain confidence and improve their skills on.
People who enjoy trail riding say that too often they are given horses that are too used to having their own way, horses that can only go out following each other nose-to-tail in a pre-specified order, or horses that race off as soon as they start to head for home. We maintain a high standard of training with all our horses to ensure that these situations are avoided, and by improving the riders’ understanding of the horses and the skills to control them. When we are out on rides, we like our horses to have a free fast ground-covering walk on a loose rein (not dawdling, then deciding to break gait and catch up). At the trot we like to alternate between a soft, slow sitting trot (a Western jog) and encouraging the horses to lengthen their strides for a rising trot.
As well as many visitors to the Snowy Mountains region, many of our trail riding clients are riders who have regular lessons in Canberra, Jindabyne or Sydney. They enjoy coming to Yarramba to practise their skills in a bush setting on a personalised trail ride, with as much riding and horsemanship tuition along the way as they desire. They find that building a fortnightly or monthly bush ride into their routine is a great complement to their riding school lessons and gives them a chance to enjoy a much-needed break from the stress of city life.
All our clients love that there’s always something to see at our yards – horses going to and from their paddocks, Mark doing ‘Join Up’ with one of the horses, the regular shoeing which we do here ourselves, or one of the young horses being gently de-sensitized to rugs, bags, saddles, bridles, floats and so on. Children especially enjoy being able to walk around the yards to meet the horses, watching them roll in the round yard after a ride, seeing how they are saddled up or their rugs put on.
Costs
We offer great value, with one-to-one tuition costing only $50 for the first hour, and each subsequent hour only $35... Riders can combine lesson time with trail riding. Prices for riding lessons and trail rides are the same scale.
Cost per person for individual (one-to-one) lessons/trail rides:
- One hour: $50
- Two hours: $85
- Three hours: $120
- Four hours: $155
- Full day (six hours): $210
For friends or couples wishing to share lesson and trail riding time, we offer a discount, with the first hour being charged at $45 per person, and each subsequent hour only $30 per person:
Cost per person for shared lessons/trail rides:
- One hour: $45
- Two hours: $75
- Three hours: $105
- Four hours: $135
- Full day (six hours): $180
Payment Details: 50% deposit is required to confirm booking…
Please Note: Deposits are not refundable however if a cancellation is necessary, it should be made at least 2 days prior to the date of the trail ride; (or 7 days prior to the date on public holidays). Deposit is then transferable for a period of 6 months for a rescheduled trail ride.
If transferring cash via net-bank, please enter your name so that your deposit can be identified. After transfer please send email to inform us of your deposit. We will send return email confirming the transaction… For bank details please phone (02) 6453 7204 or email: info@yarramba.com.au
Instruction as part of every trail ride
Yarramba has an extremely high emphasis on safety. Introductory tuition is always given to riders in our arena before going out, giving inexperienced riders the opportunity to learn how to have basic control of the horse, how to walk and trot the horse, give direction and stop.
This is very unusual for trail riding establishments – all too often people are taken trail riding with no instruction given whatsoever, which means people also miss out on the opportunity to learn how to interact and control the horse for themselves.
Experienced riders appreciate being able to have a few minutes in the arena to familiarize themselves with their horse and saddle being going out into the bush.
Groundwork, riding and natural horsemanship lessons
Trail rides can also be combined with one or two hours of groundwork, riding or natural horsemanship skills in our arena, suitable either for nervous beginners right through to advanced riders wanting to work on lateral control, flying changes and rollbacks.
We’re happy to organise any combination of lesson/trail riding time for you – please call us to discuss your requirements.
Testimonials
“Thank you Yarramba! This was my first time visiting the area and I really enjoyed myself. Rosemary took me on a half day ride. The horses are clearly very well looked after and Rosemary is a great host and riding companion. It was fun to have a bit of tuition mixed with a really enjoyable trail ride. I enjoyed seeing the kangaroos and herds of wild goats! I look forward to coming back one day.”
Nick Ladd, Northern Territory, June 2006
“Thank you to Rosemary who made me feel comfortable on my first time trail ride… It was a great experience that enabled me to learn some new techniques, soak in the great views and meet some wonderful new friends (horses and humans alike). Thank you Yarramba, I will be back!”
Bethany, Canberra, June 2006
Yarramba in the Manly Times - 11 May 2006
Debra Solomon included a great review of trail riding at Yarramba in her Manly Times article about the local area. Please click here to read the article in PDF format.