Horseback Riding any recommendations?

[cricket958]

We are sailing on the Conquest from New Orleans (Ports of Call - Montego Bay, Grand Cayman and Cozumel). My teenage kids want to go horseback riding on the beach. Any recommendations on the best port of call to do this? Did you book yourself (who did you use) or book with Carnival? Thanks,

[treasure4two]

We are sailing on the Conquest from New Orleans (Ports of Call - Montego Bay, Grand Cayman and Cozumel). My teenage kids want to go horseback riding on the beach. Any recommendations on the best port of call to do this? Did you book yourself (who did you use) or book with Carnival? Thanks,

 

I am not a good one to ask because I fell off the horse(had not riden in 40 years-doing it for my hubby) in Arubu, but my husband did it on the beach in Cozemel through Carnival and had a great time and got a great picture!! It will be fun wherever you do it!!

[Tcas1]

We're going while in Cozumel at Mr. Sanchos. $25 per person. This is something special for DD

[mzloolue]

If you decide you want to ride horses please do two things.

 

1. Buy health insurance.

If you break something you will be missing the boat.

 

2. Make sure that the horses are in good condition and sufficiently feed.

Also make sure that they are not being asked to work too hard in the heat.

 

I have seen some horses that are rented to tourists that are obviously not properly fed.

Some in St Maarten that looked really really seriously bad tied out in the hot sun in August with no shade.

If horses are tied in the sun, please walk away as it is a big clue that they are not being properly cared for.

Also notice if the horses have access to drinking water.

If you see sores on the horse, please do not pay to abuse him further.

If his feet look ragged or too long or too worn then walk away.

 

I also noticed in May that some carriage tour horses in nassau were not in good condition.

It makes me angry to see people walk up to a carriage pulled by a horse that needs feeding and pay money to have it haul their fat butts around in the heat.

I also saw a horse in nassau that was limping badly in the front being trotted hard and fast on the paved street.

It made me feel kind of sick.

 

If tourists do not pay to further abuse already abused animals, then the people renting them will not stay in business.

 

If the animals are not in good shape, then don't rent them.

Pass by and wait for someone who actually feeds their horses and do business with them.

 

I know that in some places it must be very expensive to feed horses as obviously all the feed must be imported.

 

And if you don't know enough to know if the animal is underfed or otherwise abused then just stay away from them and definitely do not ride.

[lovestocruise19]

My DH and I took a horseback riding on the beach excursion in Grand Cayman. We booked through Carnival. It was my very first time ever on a horse! DH had been on horses before. These horses seemed healthy and well trained. We walked in a line down the beach and then the guides were nice enough to take pictures (with your OWN cameras) of every single person on the tour. I thought that that was a nice touch.

 

Apparently the beach we went to wasn't the exact beach that the excursion is usually from. The week before they had storms and apparently that beach was a mess, so they had us on this alternative beach. Here are the pictures they took of us with our own camera:

 

 

 

 

[MMOMOM]

We are sailing on the Conquest from New Orleans (Ports of Call - Montego Bay, Grand Cayman and Cozumel). My teenage kids want to go horseback riding on the beach. Any recommendations on the best port of call to do this? Did you book yourself (who did you use) or book with Carnival? Thanks,

 

You can book thru Carnival ... it's 'Chukka' that is the tour company. We did it with HAL on their private island .... only got to ride the horses along the beach and not swim in the water with them tho because by the time our tour time came, the water had roughed up and they said it wasn't safe. So, while on the Oasis last spring, we did it in Falmouth, Jamaica ... same tour company and got to do the 'swimming' with them in the water .... it was FABULOUS!!! What a kick!! All the horses are trained in Jamaica and they are either x-polo or x-racing horses and are very well cared for and trained. The company sends the same horses over to Half Moon Cay where we did it the first time. I highly recommend it. They do it out of Ocho Rios as well .... we're thinking of doing it again is was so much fun! My husband got a groin injury so we may not be able to, but I'm hoping it's healed in time because I REALLY want to do it again. I would imagine you can book it out of Montego Bay as well, but don't know for sure. All I know is the guides are wonderful ... taking all kinds of pictures for you ... telling you Jamaica history ... the history of the tour company, etc. They are a top notch operation. Hope you do it and have fun!!:)

[MMOMOM]

Just another note after reading the other posts .... these horses ARE well cared for ... they don't even work every day .... they have rest time are well fed and watered and as I previously said, well trained ... as is the staff ... both in Half Moon Cay (they are from the Jamaica Ranch) and in Jamaica. It's $99 per person .... they pick you up at the ship and you ride to the ranch where you are saddled up and matched to a horse ... they do that very well (all levels really can do this ... we are not experienced horseriders) ... then you ride through the beautiful Jamaica countryside ending up at the beach. There you get off ... the horses are unsaddled and the water saddles put on and you go into the water for a swim with them!! The guides are with you the whole time and take pictures, etc. Then we re-saddle up and take a shorter route back to the ranch where the van is and drive back to the ship. It's great!! This is a new computer that doesn't have my pictures loaded yet, or I would put some up ... but check out the excursion thru Carnival ... or just Chukka ... they have alot of pictures, etc. Have fun!!:)

[suza12]

We're going while in Cozumel at Mr. Sanchos. $25 per person. This is something special for DD

 

 

We took the entire family to Mr. Sanchos and had a great time.

[mzloolue]

We took the entire family to Mr. Sanchos and had a great time.

 

Do you have photos of the horses at Mr Sanchos?

 

The horses pictured above look well cared for.

Their feet look good.

The bridles don't fit well.

And check out the expression on the face of the pinto in the last photo, ouch!

But they have definitely been eating well and to horses eating is the most important thing in life.

[Winterstale]

Horse owner weighing in :D The horses pictured look very healthy and - now here is a real rarity for rental strings - CLEAN! The horse's mouth is open due to the fact that the young girl has a very tight rein on the horse and the bit has a port which will tip into the roof of the horse's mouth when the shank (the reins are attached to the shanks on either side of the bit) is pulled on.

 

The other really important thing in the pics? Everybody has a helmet on. I have been riding and competing since I was 9 - I do not ever get on my horse without my helmet.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Be safe ...

[lovestocruise19]

Eh, the horse looks like he was chewing and is in the middle of a big chew. You can see a lot of foam in his mouth. The muscling on their topside is good so these guys seem well-conditioned for carrying their passengers. I've seen worse on kids' gymkhana horses in the states.

 

DH wants to go on a trail ride on some upcoming cruise. He's only ridden one other time in his life, so I'm going to look around for something, probably on the Legend next year.

 

She probably was chewing in this photo! Before we left she was eating trees and when we stopped she was eating some more! Kinda freaked me out when she bent to eat since it was my first time on a horse!

[lovestocruise19]

Horse owner weighing in :D The horses pictured look very healthy and - now here is a real rarity for rental strings - CLEAN! The horse's mouth is open due to the fact that the young girl has a very tight rein on the horse and the bit has a port which will tip into the roof of the horse's mouth when the shank (the reins are attached to the shanks on either side of the bit) is pulled on.

 

The other really important thing in the pics? Everybody has a helmet on. I have been riding and competing since I was 9 - I do not ever get on my horse without my helmet.

 

So is that ok? The guides kept telling me that I wasn't holding the reins tight enough! I was afraid I'd hurt her!

[mzloolue]

So is that ok? The guides kept telling me that I wasn't holding the reins tight enough! I was afraid I'd hurt her![/quot

 

It was not your fault.

 

To me it looks like a jointed snaffle.

A jointed snaffle can be a pretty severe bit when the reins are tight.

I see that there is also a curb chain.

Also the bit is too low in the horse's mouth.

So the bit is putting pressure on his tongue.

 

I would have adjusted the bridle so that the bit was higher in the horses mouth and I would have put a bar across the shanks of the bit and a leather curb strap.

 

The bit on the other horse was hanging too low in it's mouth too.

 

Others may disagree with me, but I have been working with horses for over 40 years.

But a person could work with horses for hundreds of years, if we could live that long, and still be learning.

 

Anyway, these horses are in good condition.

I would like to see the ones at Mr Sanchos.

I saw some in Cozumel that did not look too good.

But so far all the carriage ponies I have seen in Cozumel have looked ok.

The skinny horse and the lame horse in Nassau were sad.

Especially since the horse was being pushed to trot faster and faster on the pavement. ouch

Hey, it's their country and if they want to take care of their animals in a not so good way then it is their business, but when Americans are getting off a Carnival ship and paying money to further abuse the animals, then talking about it on here is a good thing.

There are a lot of abused horses here in the good ole usa too.

[green eyed lady]

We just did the beach hb riding in Grand Cayman. Booked on our own with Pampered Ponies. We paid extra for the swim ride. It was ok but I wouldn't recommend it. Not worth the money IMO. Not to mention I think it was way too hot to be sitting on a horse for any length of time. I would have been much happier swimming with the stingrays :eek:

 

On the other hand, we did the beach/swim ride a few years ago in Jamaica and loved it! Booked it thru Royal, but I don't know who the company was.

[cricket958]

Thanks everyone for your comments. You definitely gave me lots to think about.