Horse Riding at Glenworth Valley in Peats Ridge, NSW

Spent an amazing Saturday horse riding through Glenworth Valley on a very cold and wet Sydney day.

I haven’t ridden a horse for many years, in-fact the last I rode was back in 2009 when I rode through the incredible New Zealand Alps in Queenstown with my late mother.

Of course, I am no expert horse rider, so I felt a little nervous to hop on a horse, as I always rode with my late mum who was an expert horse rider and always boosted my confidence and riding ability when I had very little experience.

Mum had been riding horses since she was a very young girl. She absolutely loved horses and we lived on a horse ranch (of sorts) for nearly six years. Five acres and twelves horse, it was a fun childhood, though my brother thought otherwise and was bored most days.

I loved living with horses and watching my mother break in a young horse, even assist a horse in giving birth was fairly awe inspiring growing up with. We did so many amazing things and I learned so much about horses from my mum. And of course forming some incredible relationships with some of the best personalities (being the horses that is).

So, when the opportunity came for me to join my nephew on a horse ride for his belated birthday present, I was pretty excited, but also very nervous too. As I had only ever ridden a horse with my mum and never not.

It didn’t take long for the small amount of horse riding skills I had been taught by my mother to kick on after a few minutes on the horse. And of course, having a very easy horse who was simply enjoying the casual ride also helped with the experience.

Her name was Brandy and she was the mother of horses, which was so appropriate. All through the ride she would either wait for other horses in the group to catch up or without any assistance would ride up ahead of the ground to check in on the other horses up front and make sure everything was okay.

She responded well to my commands when needed, but most of all, she was just a comfortable ride, as I leisurely sat back and enjoyed a quiet ride through the incredible landscape of Glenworth Valley.

The ride in total is around two and half hours and so worth the money, which is around $95 pp which is a complete bargain if you ask me. Both the guides and the horses are amazing and well natured.

So no matter the riding experience level you have, from beginner to advanced, no horses gallop back to camp unless instructed to and they all know the track pretty well too, so no chance of getting lost. Which is more for the free-range horse ride (the un guided version).