Elizabeth (this is their first In The Saddle holiday) Fabulous | The riding was fabulous with the good mix of walk trot and canter. The beach ride was really great and our guide Miguel was professional and good fun always making sure the horses were well cared for.

Ira who has been on 4 In The Saddle rides. Bottlenose trail - Brilliant holiday, well organised and fabulous riding | Yes as described.

Jacqueline who has been on 6 In The Saddle rides. Bottlenose Trail Portugal - A brilliant week of horse riding, scenery, guiding support and fun with friends | Exceeded expectations. I was concerned that it wouldn’t be enough riding as we had chosen a trail of 4-6 hours per day. But actually it was more than enough time in the saddle. Must be getting older! Scenery more varied and remote than expected. I don’t think we met anyone on the whole trail and only very little roadwork connection tracks with some spectacular views.

[In The Saddle replies: We really appreciate your feedback and are so pleased that your holiday exceeded your expectations.]

Louisa (this is their first In The Saddle holiday) Holiday of a lifetime! | Had the best week in Portugal with Miguel and Anwar. My first riding holiday and it certainly lived up to what I’d been hoping it would be! I travelled solo but met an incredible group of people and felt at home straight away.
The horses were all incredibly well cared for and fit.
We rode through some beautiful scenery, on a variety of tracks and terrain finishing off with the incredible gallop on the beach on our final day at sunrise.
There were long days in the saddle, usually averaging 4-5 hours with a break for a lovely bbq lunch in the middle while the horses were fed, watered and rested. The longest day was 6.5 hours. You therefore definitely need to be riding fit for this one to fully enjoy it!

[In The Saddle replies: Thank you for taking the time to review your holiday. We are so pleased that you enjoyed it].

Bridie who has been on 14 In The Saddle rides. Bottlenose Trail Portugal - Trial Ride | Yes that's right...trial not trail!
Long hours in the saddle with long trots and even longer canters. I had worried about my fitness level as I hadn't been riding as much as usual due to my aged horse. However my prep, a few weekly lessons a local stable, turned out to be an adequate top up. Sadly some of the other riders didn't do so well and suffered with pain and saddle sores. Make sure to take advice from ITS and be as ride fit as you can be. Then you can enjoy the whole experience and beautiful scenery... along with the challenge of approx 170 km on horseback.
The horses knew their jobs and were totally professional. Quiet, easy but on the whole very willing.

Lucia (this is their first In The Saddle holiday) Just amazing!! | The riding was demanding for someone not adequately trained but always very pleasant and fun.
We had a lot of walking in beautiful landscape, long canters and amazing beach riding were the horses were very excited about!
I really liked how we were taking care of them, un-tacking them during lunch time and made them have a well deserved break.
Miguel the guide tries always to rotate them to don’t over work them and during the night they are kept in the field together.

David who has been on 8 In The Saddle rides. Good horses in forests and hill | Very long canters over flat terrain - quite demanding

Hanne Tang Koch (this is their first In The Saddle holiday) The horses were well taken care of, well-schooled and in good health. Lovely horses who know their job and are happy with it.

Linda who has been on 15 In The Saddle rides. The Amazing Dolphin Trail | More than met my expectations, the canters were so long and controlled as were the trots loved all of it, the horses are strong and very fit

Wendy who has been on 7 In The Saddle rides. long. long canters ! | this ride offers long.long canters along forest and dirt tracks . There are also lots of very long trots too !
in addition to the tracks there are climbs up and down the hills with some lovely views
The horses are very sure footed, reliable and willing, a real joy to ride .

Ann who has been on 5 In The Saddle rides. Superb experience | Yes more than, I was worried it wouldn't be fast enough for my husband who has a 'need for speed' but there were plenty of long collected canters on sandy tracks and we all rode forward going sweet tempered fit horses who were well schooled and cared for.
[Becky from the In The Saddle replies: We are so pleased to hear you enjoyed the riding on this holiday.]

Janet who has been on 9 In The Saddle rides. Portugal Alentejo Trails - Fabulous | Excellent

Ashley (this is their first In The Saddle holiday) Wonderful Holiday in Portugal | Excellent

Mary (this is their first In The Saddle holiday) Brilliant | The rides were perfect for me after I got used to the horse which was kind and very safe and sure footed.

who has been on In The Saddle rides. Fantastic Holiday in the sun | My horse was not what I’m used to riding and needed kicking on quite a lot but he was very well behaved and responsive so I just switched off at the back of the group most of the time rather than giving him a hard time.

Lesley who has been on 9 In The Saddle rides. The whole holiday was brilliant, riding, horses,guides,accommodation,food,weather,swimming pools,dolphin trip. | Always a hard question to answer as you never know what to expect. Each day was different enjoyed by all of us. I think we were all expecting to be able to have more of a gallop on the beach but fully appreciated that the sand was far too deep and testing to only have a few short bursts. The horses welfare far more important and it was lovely to ride as the sun rose and hear the Atlantic waves crashing on the beach.

Lindy who has been on 9 In The Saddle rides. Dolphin Trail - Wonderful | We , The Mane-iacs are a group of 8/10 ladies in age group 50-73 yrs, who have been with In the Saddle on 9 riding holidays. Portugal rates very high....... couldn’t fault anything. The horses were good, interesting terrain and accommodation excellent. We were blessed with good weather too. Miguel was a super guide and Dennis was a good backup. They really looked after us. Thank you.

Rosemary who has been on 7 In The Saddle rides. Great Ride | The trail provided different scenery every day. The horses were mainly forward going but extremely disciplined and a pleasure to ride. Highlights were the half day dolphin watching and the beach ride although due to the tide we couldn’t have a good gallop. This day was clearly a highlight for the horses as well as they were expecting a gallop too.
Miguel and Dennis looked after us brilliantly albeit with military precision.
Long days in the saddle so there was no slacking but the lunch time stops provided great food and ambience.

Jane who has been on 4 In The Saddle rides. Dolphin Trail, Grandola, Portugal - Fab food, accommodation, horses, weather, guides and trails | Excellent

Gwen Elizabeth Mawson who has been on 9 In The Saddle rides. Portugal Alentejo - Fabulous Portugal experience | All round excellent week, only thing would have been nice would if we could have had canters through open places, not just tracks.

Caroline who has been on 9 In The Saddle rides. Amazing holiday, wonderful horses, beautiful country lots of fun! | Excellent

Julie (this is their first In The Saddle holiday) Wonderful Experience | It was quite demanding & some on the holiday struggled. Perhaps a day off instead of 1/2 day could be an optional choice as the trip to the fishing village could of been for a day.

Nellie who has been on 4 In The Saddle rides. Amazing experience | The horses were extremely fit and well looked after.
The riding was amazing. Very comfortable saddles and the horses were very well mannered and responsive.

Jockey123 who has been on 12 In The Saddle rides. Enjoyable ride | This ride was an enjoyable mix of terrains and countryside, looking particularly lovely in late Spring. I'm also into birding and hearing and seeing birds that are rare in UK was an added pleasure- even if Miguel, our guide, called everything that was not a stork a sparrow. It was also good to have more than one night at some locations so we didn't spend every morning re-packing. The weather was unseasonable hot and keeping adequately hydrated was an issue when their saddlebag only provided space for a single 500ml bottle.

Bregje who has been on 3 In The Saddle rides. Good hotels, especially Verdemar, our last place where we stayed. Great food, best BBQ at lunch, fantastic horse!!! | My horse was the best, loved him! Fantastic match!