Katie who has been on 5 In The Saddle rides. Amazing holiday, stunning Arab horses, incredible country, super lovely hosts | The holiday was incredible. We were so well looked after by Maria, Katerina and Vasco. The horses were beautiful and all forward going. The landscape was open, with no gates or hedges. The food was out of this world.

Michelle who has been on 3 In The Saddle rides. Fantastic, far exceeded expectations in every possible way | Excellent

Emma who has been on 3 In The Saddle rides. Awesome in all respects | Maria and Vasko were brilliant guides and I felt in incredibly safe hands with them. The horses were clearly much loved and well looked after. They were responsive, but well behaved and we all agreed our mounts had been fun to ride. The terrain was a wonderful mix of forests, meadows and farmland and the views were simply wonderful. We had lots of opportunities for canters. Picnic lunches were incredible and always in beautiful spots.
I felt I had a lot of saddle time, which was perfect, but we also fitted in plenty of very interesting cultural / scenic visits which really gave me a rounded experience.
The week was incredibly well organised with Maria and Vasko guiding and Katerina providing seamless back up with logistics; we really wanted for nothing and the team was always striving to meet every need.

[Abbie from ITS replies: We are so pleased that you enjoyed your adventure in Bulgaria. Many thanks for your lovely review].

Gaynor who has been on 3 In The Saddle rides. Fantastic holiday, perfect guides and horses | Excellent

Robert who has been on 3 In The Saddle rides. Fantastic experience all round! | Very well schooled horses - especially when cantering in open fields where all of them went at a steady pace and did not try to race!

Helle who has been on 5 In The Saddle rides. Kingdom of Thracians | The classification of 'experience level' for this ride includes 'Intermediate', however the riding involved a lot of long gallops in open spaces so the level should be intermediate plus and above. All the riders in our group - we were seven in total - were intermediate +/ experienced riders so we had a great time.
[In The Saddle - thank you for your feedback and for your assessment of the riding ability required for this holiday.

Caroline (this is their first In The Saddle holiday) Perfect mix of riding, culture and relaxation | I travelled with my daughter and each year we do a riding trip somewhere. This exceeded our expectations. The horses were beautifully trained and Maria had perfectly matched us to our steeds! The riding was interesting and with varied paces across beautiful terrain. Tack was comfortable and it was quite a luxury to not have to tack up, groom etc each day, although we could have helped if we wished to!

Annie (this is their first In The Saddle holiday) Fast canters, beautiful scenery, amazing guides! | This riding holiday was my second ever riding holiday, and wow did it deliver! Really well taken care of in advance by Lucy we were ready for our trip by October. When we arrived we were greeted by the super friendly and charming Vasko who took our group from the airport to the first guest accommodation of the stay.

On the second way Vasko took us all to the riding stables and where we were met by Maria our guide. Everyone was carefully assigned their horse for the week and we were given good instructions. We set off into the Bulgarian countryside ready for our adventure.

The week offered lots of fast canters, long trots and beautiful walks through endless Bulgarian countryside (no fences!). Kept safe, well guided by Maria we enjoyed every second on our well cared for and trained mounts.

Lunches were exceptional with Vasko and Monica setting up a full picnic every day with amazing Bulgarian cuisine - lots of salads, vegetables and lovely dishes. We did not go a second of the without being taken care of!

Each evening Vasko joined us for dinners where we were entertained with stories of the horse transportation business and Bulgarian culture and customs.

Everyone was so accommodating and welcoming, all the accommodation was clean and tidy and every meal amazing! I had the week of my life, the only downside was not being able to bring my horse home with me 🙂

Jess who has been on 3 In The Saddle rides. Fantastic Trip | The riding exceeded expectations and the terrain was perfect for long canters and gallops. They dealt with a lame horse well too.

Jan (this is their first In The Saddle holiday) Great riding in beautiful landscapes | The riding and the horse I was assigned did absolutely meet my expectations (10/10). As this was the first time I sat in a saddle after a years break, I was a bit nervous when starting this riding holiday. But, I was matched with the perfect horse (Makarov) who was impeccable, absolutely reliable but still forward going. The riding itself was the perfect mix of walks, trots and canter on great open fields. A minor point I could mention is that the guide horse was rather slow. In the canter this resulted in us sometimes falling back to trot as we tried to stay behind the guide horse. Towards the end of the week my back was increasingly unhappy about that. But this is a minor detail that does not take anything away from the amazing riding I've had!

Mari (this is their first In The Saddle holiday) We had an incredible horse riding holiday in Bulgaria! The horses were fabulous, well taken care of, and had been carefully chosen for us (thanks to Katerina!), making them a perfect match. The riding experience was amazing, led mainly by Maria (who was very experienced and a great guide) with a good mix of pace that allowed us to fully enjoy the beautiful views of the Bulgarian countryside.

Jacqui who has been on 7 In The Saddle rides. Great riding with lovely horses and super hosts | Great riding countryside, super horses and hosts were very friendly helpful, making sure tack was ok for me (first trip back after recovering from a back injury). Lots of cantering on the later days, through beautiful meadows and fields.

Gail who has been on 9 In The Saddle rides. Absolutely Fantastic | The whole holiday was amazing. The horses were great - like whippets, small and fast.

The family team that looked after us were brilliant. And I have a special mention for the brother Vasko who was an amazing host. Nothing was too much trouble and he went the extra mile making sure we were all happy and looked after.

The riding and terrain was great with lots of fast and long gallops. The hotels and food was also good. Vasko's picnics being the BEST!

I would definitely recommend this riding holiday.

Céleste (this is their first In The Saddle holiday) Truly amazing | If you want to be treated like royalty, this is the tour to book along with Kingdom of the Thracians! The guides and supporting staff have truly exceptional service - I wasn't even allowed to carry my own luggage! The food is sublime. Whether it be lunch or dinner, a hot meal is always served!

You can expect to have lunch with a table while the horses graze beside you. The staff were all entertaining and easy to talk to. Unfortunately due to the wet weather, we weren't able to do all the gallops that were promised but the team was quick to offer us different options. The team did everything in their power for us to enjoy ourselves.

Side note: most of the guests were in their 20's so being fit is a must if you want to keep up! Would highly recommend brushing up on lessons before heading out on this tour to enjoy the most out of it.

Neil who has been on 24 In The Saddle rides. Excellent riding and great hosts | The riding was excellent, lots of long canters and more trot than you often get on a riding holiday.

The horses were all fit and forward-going, but still calm and sensible.

Tabea (this is their first In The Saddle holiday) amazing | Good

Giselle who has been on 18 In The Saddle rides. BULGARIA Balkan Rides - Devetaki Plateau (Prvate Ride) | Met and exceeded expectations. Bulgaria is a marvellously open country- no gates or fences. No permission needed to cross farmland. This and the generally level terrain allowed for lots of long fast canters. The horses were excellent and our hosts take great care in looking after them and their welfare as they did for our comfort and well being

Delphine (this is their first In The Saddle holiday) A perfect week | Excellent

Berit who has been on 15 In The Saddle rides. Good | My horse had problems with the bridle, nodding his head constantly. On the last day the guide admitted that they needed to try with another bridle for him. Would have been nice if this was dealt with earlier.

In general , the Riding was great! Well aligned group of horses and felt safe all the time. Many long canters but always controlled.

The guide and the hosting family (with all services, lunches, dealing with horses etc) was great! Perfect english knowledge and did their best to please our needs:)

Orsi who has been on 7 In The Saddle rides. Great value for money, lovely scenery | The scenery was beautiful. I didn’t find the riding very challenging and perhaps a bit too slow for my taste, but of course I appreciate the terrain wasn’t always suitable for canters. Based on the description I’d say I expected a more challenging and faster ride, but overall I was still happy with my trip and enjoyed my week here. I did wish we left a bit earlier in the day- often we didn’t get on the horses until 11am-ish, which meant that we rode in the hottest part of the day.

Alison who has been on 2 In The Saddle rides. A good riding experience | These are working horses and as such were fit and well cared for with the odd knock here and there. My horse suffered from heat stroke one lunchtime and the crew were on it immediately and soon had everything under control. I was impressed by their efficiency in dealing with the issue - this is about the 14th trip I've done so I've seen it all before and have owned horses for more that 40 years so I accept that different countries have differing standards.
This was a good team and they looked after us well.

Chris who has been on 19 In The Saddle rides. One 100% Perfect | Excellent