Please excuse my helmet-less head. On a bigger trip, I got to see a friend that had moved and had a cutting barn. Holy crap was that a wild ride. She put me on one of her baby sitter horse and said give him his face and hang on 
. Something like this will really give you some feedback with the zero to gallop to stop to spin to gallop again. I had a blast!
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Well Iād say if you canāt actually gallop, or more accurately immediately react to danger and GTFO of there by any means necessary, youāre a liability on that ride. They require highly proficient riders because if a rider canāt drop everything and gallop out of danger, they might become dead. And Africa is not one of the safest continents in the world, so the chance of that happening seems relatively highā¦
But hey! At least according to their website āWe rely on Global Rescue to assist our clients.ā meaning they have had reason to medevac people out of danger in the past. HAH! Iāve never been on a ride that boasted such need, so perhaps this isnāt the ride for you, as @Willesdon says.
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Itās certainly sobering to think about getting seriously injured in a developing country. Itās hard enough in our own back country where you could be 3 or 4 hours from a community medical center and 8 from a proper regional hospital, but there are RCMP and helicopters around.
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I think this trip is booked unitl at least 2025. That would give me two years to up my game. I got the horse up to a hand gallop this last week and I had no issues although I realize I would have quite away to go to be up to the level that would make this trip enjoyable. I have trained in 3 day eventing and currently working with a highly rated dressage trainer. I feel like my stickability is quite good and my balance (according to my trainer) is very good. Their are a lot of things to consider beyond just the riding but it might be worth the risk. Still very much on the fence on this trip
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I have been on just one pony-trekking adventure, and it was to ride up through the Drakensberg mountains from South Africa into Lesotho. Iāve also been on game watches by car in national parks in South Africa and Namibia. So I havenāt had any direct experience with the particular company the article refers to or done that specific kind of ride. Iāll just make a couple of observations based on the experiences I have had.
From the description in the article, my take is that the ride is not only for experienced riders but for riders who have a lot of experience riding in the open, over rough terrain, at least occasionally at considerable speed, in company with other horses, and with large wild animals (as well as snakes) suddenly appearing. Riding at a gallop in a well-manicured field or on a clear, mostly level trail would not be adequate preparation.
For the right person (i.e., brave) with the right experience, that ride sounds like a blast. (Me personally? Iām nowhere near brave enough, and Iām not sure about my background experiences being suitable).
If you really want to do it, Iād recommend (as another poster has) that you go on a different, less technically tricky ride with the same company first and see how it goes. If you like the outfit and the horses, and you get a chance to have a candid discussion with the people who lead the rides, youād have a much better idea of what you might be signing up for.
Have fun and be safe!
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Old cowboy advice: āYou can ride as fast as he can runā.
Itās really the corners of an arena that make for trouble at a gallop. In the open, youāre mostly OK, because you really can ride as fast as he can run.
I met a woman on a riding vacation who had been on a safari ride a month or so previously. We were on a polite, week long Spanish trail ride through the mountains. She said that she didnāt enjoy her African experience as she had lost confidence in her riding skill after being chased by a cheetah.
Try before you buy.
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If she rode away from the cheetah I would think that would give me some confidence! I wouldnāt want to put that to the test!
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when i was at golden gate park i used to gallop on Baker Beach. The wonderful thing there was that if you wanted to slow down all you had to do was ride into the waterā¦deeper and deeperā¦
If you are riding a once-feral horse, donāt count on an embankment to slow your mustangā¦sheāll go right up a 10 foot cliff face!
I like to hunker down and play race horse rider on 2pt if thereās a saddle
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Iāve ridden a flat out gallop exactly once, and it was actually exhausting (and Iām a pretty fit person). It was on a friendās horse, at the beach and I ended up having to pull up a little early as I didnāt feel I could maintain the core tightness to stay balanced lol.
Iāve only ever ridden my mare at a hand gallop, mainly due to lack of space to really let her go. She is FAST even at 22.
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If it is a mountain they end up cantering on the spot due to gravity.
it was more of a lunging-scramble-crawl, a muscular ascentā¦ i managed to stay on somehow
It really depends on the horse you are on. I had a freebe who raced for many years, big chestnut. Other people in my barn were afraid to ride him. He didnāt like a lot of pressure but for some unknown reason I really trusted him and just used balance to control him.
Two of us on ex racers decided to have a gallop around the outside of a corn field. When we came into to the last turn both horses leaned in and gave it an all out. At the end of the field we just released the pressure on the rains and the horses both slowed down.
I would not have had the nerve to do that on any other horse. Loved that horse. Lost him due to nerve damage in his shoulder when he got his leg stuck in a pile of sand and pulled back. After that he frequently fell down and no longer safe to ride.
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So anyhow I stumbled upon an Instagram account with video of lions attacking and killing zebra. It takes a while. The zebra look so much like horses, indeed they are very similar in size to my first hony. And you know that took all the fun out of the idea of doing a safari on horseback. Riding the horses right into the prey zone. I mean we have cougar here but they donāt usually attack a 14 hand equine and we donāt have condensed populations to go watch. They sneak around alone at night. And bear dont usually attack horses.
In one of the videos the lion was basically holding down the zebra and chewing off itās face so even if it got free it would be crippled prey.
This is why you need to be a good rider on safari. Notice how the fallen rider is all alone? They didnāt even know heād fallen off.
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OMG. Ride at a hard gallop on rough terrain as part of a herd of horses bolting from a running lion, changing directions, going through marsh, and if you fall off the lion comes after you instead. Nope. Not doing any mounted safaris.
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Yeahā¦ I thought it looked like a good time until I saw that lion. No thanks!
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If I could Iād choose Ireland for a riding vacation.
Africa is right out. Not to mention the various civil conflicts there, sitting on a prey animal, Iād feel like a piece of cheese on a cracker. No thanks.
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Those safaris are dangerous even if not on a prey animal, as we are prey animals as well.
I remember a post on Facebook. A woman went on safari to celebrate graduating as a vet. As such you would think she would have some nouse about animals.
She was killed by an elephant.
We do pack trips in grizz country and this is exactly how I feel sometimes lol
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