Horseback Riding in the Ocean?

[IRMO12HD]

I'm hoping to try this in St Maarten when I'm there in December.  I communicated with Lucky Stables about arranging a ride on my own, but they indicated that it would be best to book it through the cruise ship (which I've already done).  I would appreciate any comments from those who have done this before, or are planning on it in the future.  

[shutterbug63]

We have done this and will never do it again if it includes swimming the horses in the ocean.  We did an independent excursion.  Long story short, the person guiding our tour led a group of 8 people with varying experience levels  as far as riding a horse into the ocean for a swim without asking if everyone was comfortable with it. One person in our party who was behind us was riding a horse that got buffeted by the waves.  That horse panicked, fell, and ran out of the ocean to the beach. The person riding that horse had fallen off but had a foot still stuck in the stirrup and was dragged 75 feet along the beach upside down. Thankfully, they had us wear helmets.  Looked like they suffered serious injuries to their arm and possibly their leg.

 

Long story short, I am an experienced rider  and I've never seen a ride conducted in such unsafe conditions.  I should have realized this from the get go when the person leading the ride was wearing Crocs and shorts.

 

[IRMO12HD]

On 6/1/2021 at 4:08 AM, shutterbug63 said:

We have done this and will never do it again if it includes swimming the horses in the ocean.  We did an independent excursion.  Long story short, the person guiding our tour led a group of 8 people with varying experience levels  as far as riding a horse into the ocean for a swim without asking if everyone was comfortable with it. One person in our party who was behind us was riding a horse that got buffeted by the waves.  That horse panicked, fell, and ran out of the ocean to the beach. The person riding that horse had fallen off but had a foot still stuck in the stirrup and was dragged 75 feet along the beach upside down. Thankfully, they had us wear helmets.  Looked like they suffered serious injuries to their arm and possibly their leg.

 

Long story short, I am an experienced rider  and I've never seen a ride conducted in such unsafe conditions.  I should have realized this from the get go when the person leading the ride was wearing Crocs and shorts.

 

Wow, how scary!  Thanks for the feedback, @shutterbug63.  I assume this was with Lucky Stables?

[shutterbug63]

On 6/6/2021 at 12:15 AM, IRMO12HD said:

Wow, how scary!  Thanks for the feedback, @shutterbug63.  I assume this was with Lucky Stables?

I believe so. It was a while back, but I think that's the outfit we did it with.

 

It was very frightening.   My son (he was pretty young at the time) was less disturbed than I was, though. I think that's because I'd ridden horses for so long that I really realized how seriously hurt that person could have been.

[meab]

On 5/16/2021 at 4:39 PM, IRMO12HD said:

I'm hoping to try this in St Maarten when I'm there in December.  I communicated with Lucky Stables about arranging a ride on my own, but they indicated that it would be best to book it through the cruise ship (which I've already done).  I would appreciate any comments from those who have done this before, or are planning on it in the future.  

I know this is an old post, but I'm curious if you ended up doing the horseback ride and how it was.

 

I'm considering it for an upcoming trip; I contacted them and they also referred me back to a ship-sponsored excursion (which I'm typically not a big fan of).

[IRMO12HD]

On 9/10/2022 at 9:29 AM, meab said:

I know this is an old post, but I'm curious if you ended up doing the horseback ride and how it was.

 

I'm considering it for an upcoming trip; I contacted them and they also referred me back to a ship-sponsored excursion (which I'm typically not a big fan of).

@meabMy daughter (26) and I did do the horseback ride, and enjoyed it!  It was a scenic bus ride to the stable, and we had a quick safety briefing, were fitted with helmets and asked about comfort levels with horses, and then matched up with our mounts!  The horses appeared happy and healthy; they obviously knew the route to be traveled, and weren't barn sour at all.  It was a pretty leisurely ride (at a walk) around the peninsula, then we stopped at the stable to drop anything we didn't want to get wet and headed into the water.  It was (again) at a walk, but it obviously perked the horses up -- and cooled them off. Of course, at the end were the offered photo packages -- but I openly carried my GoPro and took videos with it and they had no problem with that at all. It's always been a dream of mine to ride a horse along a beach / in the ocean, and this particular shore excursion checked all the boxes.  Would I do it again?  Possibly, if it meant a lot to whomever I was with, but probably not as an individual, since I've "checked it off my list."  It was worth it to me though.

[roupa]

I just commented about this…see the question about needing long pants on horseback excursion 

[Elaine5715]

There is/was an outfit that does horse rides on the beach right by the cruise port.  The horse is led so you really just sit.  

Edited October 28, 2022 by Elaine5715

[IRMO12HD]

On 10/24/2022 at 7:54 PM, roupa said:

I just commented about this…see the question about needing long pants on horseback excursion 

@roupaI'm sorry; I missed your comment and now can't see it.  For this particular excursion, we did not need (and would not have wanted) long pants.  The saddles were comfortable enough and I didn't encounter any discomfort wearing shorts.  Hope this helps.