Liz who has been on 3 In The Saddle rides. Relaxing riding in beautiful mountain scenery | Well behaved and willing horses who are loved and well cared for. The riding was mainly at a steady pace due to the mountain terrain and stony tracks. The guides were extremely attentive and helpful and made sure everyone was safe and happy.

Lyndsey who has been on 2 In The Saddle rides. Excellent all inclusive experience | I only booked to ride once due to health issues. Judith the riding instructor was excellent. She took the time to understand my abilities and selected both the right horse and 2 hour riding pace to allow me to thoroughly enjoy being back in the saddle. I cant thank her enough for her kindness. Despite working hard in mountainous terrain I felt that the horses were well cared for and given every consideration for their well being.

Fiona who has been on 6 In The Saddle rides. Picturesque and comfy | I enjoyed my week here. Riding a little more sedate than I would usually go for, but this is due to the terrain which is hard and stony with lots of ups and downs in the valley hills. The views are spectacular! I loved my gorgeous horse , Eros, who has such a wise generous soul. The rooms were lovely, don’t think I’ve ever had such a comfy bed and pillows on a riding holiday. Good food and wine and a lovely pool.

Amanda who has been on 3 In The Saddle rides. Wonderful | I enjoyed the riding and the horses were fanstastic as were the guides, Marianne, Judith and Iris. I did get a touch of vertigo riding up the switchbacks on both the restaurant ride and cave ride which went quite high with some steep drops off the side but the guides were excellent at helping me through this.
[Olwen from In The Saddle replies - we are so pleased you enjoyed the riding in Crete]

Nicola (this is their first In The Saddle holiday) Relaxing, amazing food and views | The two ladies teaching my daughter further riding skills were excellent. They were really friendly and positive and encouraging too.

My daughter and me were also able to organise a short hack together with the guide, which was a fabulous experience. [In The Saddle replies: Thank you for your lovely feedback. We are pleased to hear how much you enjoyed your family holiday in Crete.]

Sara (this is their first In The Saddle holiday) Excellent

Susan who has been on 6 In The Saddle rides. Great location with beautiful scenery | The horse I had for the majority of the time was wonderful - really willing, responsive and a pleasure to ride. The scenery was fantastic and the views were stunning at times.

However, this is my fifth holiday with In The Saddle and sadly this is the first time that I have come away feeling I wouldn't go back. This is due to having riders who were not even close to having sufficient competence to do the panorama rides. On the last day in particular, I had been looking forward to the ride to Kera. It was abundantly clear when watching a young couple mount in the arena, that they were not experienced riders! There was no assessment in the arena prior to going out and their riding was not nearly up to it (the guide it seemed was not empowered to refuse to take them). This made for a fairly fractious day - the rest of us were relieved to get everyone back safe, as it was potentially quite dangerous.

[In The Saddle replies: Thank you for taking the time to provide your feedback, and for speaking with me over the phone. We have spoken with the ride operator who has told us she would not normally have non-hotel guests riding with residents. On this occasion, the people who joined you stated they were experienced riders of at least 10 years and one had their own horse. With the planned ride to Kera being a steady one, and with the hotels trusted horses, she felt this would be safe.]

Guy who has been on 3 In The Saddle rides. Fantastic experience, hopefully to be repeated. | Being a relatively new rider compared to some, it was an experience to suddenly be cantering over quite hard, shailly trails. In this case it might be worth suggesting protective eyewear to prevent any injuries occurring from stones being kicked up. After that concern all the rides were excellent in different ways. A slightly better description of the terrain might also be appropriate, as one ride included a 20 min walk on a steep downhill leading the horses, it was unsafe to ride down! Again, wearing normal riding boots for this wasn’t the best, especially when you notice your guide is wearing walking boots.

Yvonne who has been on 4 In The Saddle rides. The riding was sufficiently varied to maintain interest each day given the local terrain
It would have been better to have been told which ride we were going on the day before rather than find this out on the morning
This is an observation rather than a criticism as every aspect of the riding was excellent.

Elaine who has been on 4 In The Saddle rides. Enjoyable and not too strenuous riding holiday | I went with a friend and chose this ride as we wanted a slower paced riding holiday based in one place rather than the trail rides we had previously been on. Our hosts Sabine who managed the stable part of the business and Manolis who oversaw the catering , etc. could not do enough to make our holiday and others who were there very enjoyable. The accommodation was good. I think I ate my body weight in food ! All of which was delicious. My horse La Boriosa was well matched with what I had asked for. She was such a delight to ride. A couple of people on the ride wanted to change their horse and there was no issue at all. Our guide Judith was very attentive and could not do enough to help people prepare and saddle up the horses before the ride and untack after we returned. Nothing was rushed. You can join the holiday on any day of the week which meant some of our fellow riders were changing during our week's stay.
The riding was on hard tracks but we knew this before we went. We still had trots and canters. [In The Saddle replies: Thank you for your wonderful feedback. We are so pleased you enjoyed your time at Velani.]

Lyndsey who has been on 3 In The Saddle rides. Amazing riding experience! | There was a wide range of well cared for, nice natured horses to ride. I was paired with a forward going mare named Zoi, who was an excellent match for me. There were differing abilities on the ride- if you don't like to canter then do not go as you will spoil some of the riding for more capable people. The terrain is tough at points but this makes it all the more fun, none of it was unsafe and I felt secure at all times. The horses are trained so well in their environment. We loved every second and will be back!

Lowri who has been on 4 In The Saddle rides. A con-Crete holiday | A great variety of pocket rocket ponies and horses. All horses knew their job and looked after me well. I was able to canter and film at the same time. There was a variety of paces and scenery on each trip. Loved how we were able to groom the horses and get to know them before riding.

Kate (this is their first In The Saddle holiday) Wonderful family riding holiday! | Our instructors were great, very knowledgable and very hard working. They matched our lessons and hacks to our experience which was varied, and were happy to accommodate any requests to switch horses or add on extra lessons or hacks throughout the week.

Tammy who has been on 2 In The Saddle rides. Very good | Excellent

Sally (this is their first In The Saddle holiday) Awesome | I had the most enjoyable time at the Velani. My room was spotless and beautiful, the owners, Manolis and Sabine, were very hospitable and accommodating, along with the staff, servers, guides, and the food was incredibly good.

The horses were so well behaved and the riding trails in the mountains were simply gorgeous.

I just can't say enough about what a great time I had during my stay there.

Jess (this is their first In The Saddle holiday) Good

Holly (this is their first In The Saddle holiday) Amazing! | The riding was brilliant. Personally for our first riding holiday the amount of hours were great. 2.5 - 4 hours was ideal. The terrain was very different to what we are used to In UK (which we were told) so it made for a very different riding experience. We had more canters than we were expecting which was great. There were some very long fast canters which involved lots of turns and tree ducking which was absolutely thrilling.

Tine (this is their first In The Saddle holiday) It has generally been a fantastic holiday, with good horses, good experiences and nice people - both the hosts and the other guests.
However, there was a lack of information from the hosts about which rides we were going on the different days and which horse you had on the days (I have had 5 different horses in 6 days). You only got the information when you stood in the stable in the morning - so it was difficult to plan accordingly.

Helen (this is their first In The Saddle holiday) Mountain tracks and Olive Groves | My hosts catered for my request to mix longer and shorter rides which meant I was able to enjoy my holiday without getting too sore.

Barak who has been on 2 In The Saddle rides. Perfect! | Everything was perfect - the scenic location, the clean and elegant rooms, the gourmet meals by the amazing chef Manolis, and of course - the rides, which were suited to our preferences, with beautiful views and fun canters with good-natured and forward-going horses!

Even more, I would like to thank the people that made this vacation so enjoyable: starting from the professional organisation and detailed communication by Louis, through Sabine at Velani, who did her best to answer every need and fit the rides (and the horses) to our desires, kind Nikko at the gourmet restaurant of Manolis, and finally - dear Andrea, my and my daughter's guide at all the rides, who was extremely kind and professional, and led us safely to rides that were exciting and fun!
My daughter and I are already checking the calendar to book the next vacation with In the Saddle!

Penny (this is their first In The Saddle holiday) Best holiday ever !!! | Brilliant two hour rides and a great 30 min lesson.

Great to learn about our surroundings as we rode and to be surrounded with such a lush and beautiful place.

I had imagined there would be more kids and there wasn’t much of the mounted games etc. but that didn’t matter as T came out on the two hour rides with me which was great 🙂

Jane (this is their first In The Saddle holiday) Relaxed and excellent | Excellent

Sophie (this is their first In The Saddle holiday) Brilliant memorable week of riding in the Cretan mountains | I had a wonderful week at Velani and everything was as I'd hoped for. Amazing scenery, sunny weather, and a sure-footed and responsive horse which was a pleasure to ride. We got some good stretches of canter in most of the rides, although the terrain is very hard and rocky so there was a lot of walking too - good opportunity to look around and take photos though. The horses know their job and I enjoyed the riding a lot. [ITS replies: thank you for lovely feedback. We are so pleased you enjoyed your stay!]

Liz who has been on 9 In The Saddle rides. A great time - again! | I was able to ride the lovely Mangas - as I did last year. Sabine was very accommodating in arranging four lessons for me as well as the Sunny rides.

Verne who has been on 31 In The Saddle rides. A wonderful return trip | we knew what to expect as this was a return trip
Liz was happy to be reunited with the same horse from last year (Olympia), I was happy on Poseidon...

Sophie who has been on 4 In The Saddle rides. Lovely relaxing countryside break | Great fun, loved the new horse Zoi

Sally who has been on 3 In The Saddle rides. A wonderful riding oasis in the Crete mountains | I think the riding experience exceeded my expectations, the main reason being the spectacular countryside. I hadn't expected us to climb so high and each ride managed to have it's own identity. I loved my horse, truly Spanish and fun to ride. I also liked that we were a smaller group, between 4 and 6 people. It was a good group dynamic.

Sophie who has been on 4 In The Saddle rides. The perfect relaxing break | Excellent

Vanessa who has been on 9 In The Saddle rides. Fabulous location and excellent horses | We were extremely impressed with the equestrian centre at Velanie, the yard was organised, clean and with good facilities. The staff (Vladimir and Julia) were extremely helpful and patient. We were expected to help prepare our horses and, as it was some time since we have done this for ourselves, we needed some help. Both Vlad and Julia were happy to show us what to do and careful to check everything was in order before anyone mounted. They clearly loved all the horses and made sure their welfare was always the priority.

We were both very happy with our horses and when we were allocated less interesting horses on one of the days, the situation was quickly rectified following a chat with the team.

The riding was on fairly hard and narrow tracks which limited freedom a little but this had already been explained before we went so we knew what to expect. However, the scenery and the overall experience made up for these limitations and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Liz who has been on 9 In The Saddle rides. Fabulous - again! I’ll be back - again. | I rode the wonderful Mangas who suited me completely. Willing, able and with a great temperament. I also had three lessons on him in the open air ménage - with a great view down to mountain.

I am not able tack up the horses but this was done very willingly for me.

I was on the Sunny Rides programme which proved suitable and fun for an experienced rider of advancing (advanced!) years.

Olaug who has been on 13 In The Saddle rides. Ride, food, relax. Hospitality. Lovely hotel, room/food. | Excellent

Grethe who has been on 7 In The Saddle rides. Wonderful | A good selection of horses in a changing landscape.
Did different rides everyday and enjoyed the variety this offered.