Moolmanshoek - South Africa

Charlotte who has been on 6 In The Saddle rides. Lovely horses and some challenging riding in a wonderful location | The riding was wonderful but I found it much more challenging than other rides I have done in recent years - in Sicily and Portugal - and the steep ascents and descents were physically more tiring than I had anticipated. The horses are incredibly sure footed and a pleasure to ride but two horses had falls while we were there, one on a descent and one on a canter, which was slightly unnerving.

The guides (especially Lindy), back up guides and grooms were all fantastic. Lindy was the best ride guide I have ever ridden with.

I am not sure why but on several of the ITS holidays I have done I have been initially paired with a slower horse and then “upgraded” later in the week. I am not sure if this is because I am a bit diffident about riding experience when I arrive, but in Los Alamos, Portugal and at Moolmanshoek I have been given a really lovely horse by the end of the week. I appreciate they need to test and assess riders as the week goes by but that has been a bit frustrating!

[ITS replies: Thank you very much for your constructive feedback, which we are following up with the ride operator. As I understand it, the falls involved the back-up guide who was training a younger, less experienced horse.]

Do you have any comments about the accommodation and food?

Our room was very cold initially and took about two days to warm up, and the hot water broke down too. Not sure it was quite as “Luxury” as I was expecting!

The food and catering, and all the staff involved, were superb.

How could we improve the quality of pre-holiday information that we send?

No improvement needed, thank you

How could we improve the way we handled your booking and payment?

None

Do you have any other feedback for us?

Overall a fantastic holiday - one or two quibbles as above - but I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to others. I might just add that it is not easy riding though!