Hey all! I’m headed to Scotland for a week in May/June, and it’d be fun to ride over there. I do lower-level eventing, but I’ll also be with 3 friends who love horses but aren’t riders. I’m hoping for an experience that’ll be able to accommodate both of us, either together or on separate rides. My friends will stick to the small group walk/trot trail ride variety. I’d be cool with that, too, but I’d love to canter through a field and jump a couple of logs 
Anything out there for us?
Google is your friend. Try “horseback riding holidays in Scotland” to get a bunch of riding centers. If you have not gone on riding holidays before, be aware that they come in two types. There is a stationary rides where everyone stays in one place and rides each day. Then there is the point-to-point kind of rides where each day you ride to a new location (your luggage is brought to wherever you stay at night.) My experience with rides in Europe is that there isn’t a choice of a walk/trot ride and a more advanced ride. Maybe on a stationary ride, but I only ran into that arrangement at US dude ranches.
So keeping in mind that you have 3 non-riders, my question is how much to do you value their friendship? Most non-riders are not up to riding 4 or 5 hours for multiple days in a row over terrain. So how unless these 3 friends are really desperate to ride and are willing to take some lessons beforehand (for self preservation), then don’t make them ride unless they really want to do it. Some programs so have non-riding programs; others do not. Please don’t put your desires to ride ahead of their comfort and safety. I have seen some real disasters on riding holidays where we get an experienced rider trying to make others in their party “like” doing it. Give them the option to do something else. Just go and do it on your own. It is fun, but knowing how to ride is going to matter.
Hey Ironwood! Thank you so much for the response. To clarify, I’m looking for a trail ride, just a couple hours I’ve looked online and found places like Wilder Ways, which would suit our needs. Wanted to reach out on COTH for any personal recommendations.
Much, much harder to find. Try Googling Riding Centers in Scotland.
If it is only for a few hours, be nice to your friends and just go yourself. I suspect you’ll be happier riding at the level you can ride without being worried about people who can barely trot.
For what you’re looking for, search “pony trekking” and your destination. That’s more what we would call “trail riding “.
Have fun! Scotland is my all-time favorite trip.
The Gleneagles golf resort in Perthshire might offer rides to non-guests. I did a working student stint for BHS exams there in the 90’s, and during that time I led many lovely trail rides.
A friend and I did two rides while in Scotland in 2013. The first ride was near Oban, and was really neat. We did some lovely hacking, saw lots of countryside, highland coos, and also hacked around Castle Stalker (as features in Monty Python - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Stalker) at low tide. By the time we crossed back at the end of the ride, the tide was coming back in. Was a really neat experience, though I am having trouble finding the name of the farm we visited. I’m fairly certain it was Lettershuna Riding Academy from google maps, which now appears to be closed. Achnalarig Riding Stables seems to be nearby and has good reviews. Would be worth chatting with them - hacking around Castle Stalker was such a neat thing, and my friend and I still reminisce about it!
The second was north of Inverness. It was through Highlands Unbridled (https://www.highlandsunbridled.com/). Looking at their website now, they seemed to have moved locations. The ride we did had two highlights - galloping along the beach, and some beautiful castle views. I recall that we didn’t like it quite as much as the one near Oban, though cantering alongside the surf seals is a memory that sticks with me!
We also looked into a third place but ran out of time. It was near Aberdeen and seemed quite nice. It was called Hayfield Equiworld Club.
All of the above were definitely hacking/trail riding, and could accommodate various skill levels. There did not seem to be a jumping option, and frankly…while they horses were quite nice, they were hacking types, not sporthorse types. We did not find any place that had hacking and jumping. Certainly taking a jumping lesson in a ring woudl have been possible at some other facilities, but we figured this was an opportunity to do something different.
My friend, Amy Finch, just wrote a great piece about riding in Scotland that ran in the Boston Globe travel section on Sunday, December 29th. I’m sure it will come up if you Google it. She loves the outfit she rode with.
Definitely check out this place!! I had a really fun experience with them. They’re not perfectly organized because it’s run by students but the ride is so beautiful. I did the half day ride intermediate ride and we got to do a good amount of trot/canter in open fields
These trips may fit all of your group, those that can’t ride and the advanced riders:
https://www.visitouterhebrides.co.uk…s/horse-riding
They say those rides along the sea are lovely.
While there, maybe take another trip to visit Fingal’s Cave.
Highland Horse Fun in Kingussie might accommodate all the riding levels. True story, the little hotel we stayed in had a curtain that wouldn’t stay closed, management wasn’t super helpful, and there were no stores open. So I walked to the barn and “borrowed” duct tape from them. They even scared up a few pins for me.
Definitely look into riding around Loch Ness, though, that would be awesome! Man, I love Scotland. Enjoy, enjoy.
Scotland is sparsely populated and travel times can be long on small roads.
If you look up the British Horse Society website you will find a section ‘where to ride’. This will list all BHS approved riding centres in Scotland. That will give you a starting point. It should be easy to find somewhere to hack for a couple of hours, possibly just walk and trot with your friends.
When I was in Scotland in 2017, I did a ride at Seacliff Stables in North Berwick - https://www.seacliffstables.co.uk/. I seem to recall it was only a 1 hour ride, but a lot of fun, and it included a canter along the beach. It was definitely suited to non-beginner riders (they asked me if I could canter prior to the ride).
Your non-horsey friends may want to visit the beach (it is open to the public, although I think there is small fee), or visit the Scottish Seabird Centre or the local pub (both of which I believe are close by) while you ride.
Shout out to Thomas, http://www.floddenedgefarmequestriancentre.com/, a longtime Cother before being banned.
Sadly they can no longer provide outings.
This would be great if you are planning to visit the islands, but if you were staying on the mainland be aware that the outer hebrides are a flight/five hour ferry journey away.
If you are in the UK a while, the islands are beautiful but the inner hebrides might be a more practical option in terms of timing - being much closer to the mainland.
If you’re in the Highlands, my friends and I rode with Glen Tanar Equestrian Center.
We did a two day trek across Cairngorns National Park which was FABULOUS but definitely not for inexperienced riders.
However, they could certainly arrange a leisurely 1 hr hack for your friends and take you out for something more exciting - there’s stunning ancient forests and moors which we galloped through, rivers to ford, etc.
Nice horses, too - we rode a few very fun Fjord horses, which they breed there, and my trainer ended up on a VERY fancy event horse.
http://www.glentanarriding.co.uk/
https://www.glentanar.co.uk/estate-activities/horse-riding
https://www.pressreader.com/uk/scottish-field/20140901/286525861127678
Whereabouts in Scotland are you planning on going? Highlands unbridled and Highland horse fun are both good northern options. There used to be great pony trekking at Pitlochry (Blair Castle) but I think they’ve stopped.
More centrally the ‘Scottish Equestrian Hotel’ does a good range of rides. I’m Borders based and would recommend either Ian Stark Equestrian Centre or Kimmerston (ok technically it’s on the wrong side of the border though they do fab beach rides and you often end up in Scotland anyway).
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