Why Worldwide Horse Safaris

We’re horse safari and travel specialists

We’re not your average travel agency. Our team are riders, travel addicts and always seeking out new adventures, and horse riding holidays are what we spend our days talking about. We’ve spent more than a decade working in equestrian travel, building relationships with riding operators, exploring destinations and learning what makes a riding holiday genuinely worth travelling for.

That experience gives us a very different perspective from a general travel agent who happens to sell riding holidays. We know that riders care about things that might never make it into a standard holiday description. What are the horses actually like? How much riding will you really do? Are the canters long and open, or is the pace mostly walking and trotting? How challenging is the terrain? How are the horses cared for? Who are the guides? And does the experience really suit your riding level?

We know the questions to ask because we’re riders too. Our job isn’t to sell you a holiday simply because there is availability. It’s to help you find a riding holiday you’ll love, come home talking about and, ideally, start plotting your next one before you’ve even unpacked.

We know what makes a great riding holiday

A beautiful destination is a good starting point, but it’s only one part of the equation. A truly great riding holiday comes down to the whole experience: exceptional horses, good horse care, knowledgeable guides, worthwhile riding, the right accommodation, a sense of place and an itinerary that delivers what you were hoping for.

We look at all of that when we recommend a ride. We want to know whether you’ll spend long days in the saddle or have plenty of time to explore beyond the horses. We want to understand the pace, the terrain, the group sizes and the kind of riding you can expect. We also think about the things that don’t always make it onto a booking page, such as whether the horses are carefully matched to their riders and whether the guides genuinely understand both the horses and the environment.

Because not every ride suits every rider. A confident rider looking for long days, technical terrain and exhilarating canters may be disappointed by a gentle countryside escape, while someone looking for a relaxed riding holiday could find the wrong expedition completely overwhelming.

That’s why we ask questions before we recommend anything. We want to know your riding level, your confidence, your bucket list and what you actually want to get out of the trip. Getting it right the first time is what makes you come back for more.

We can offer impartial, unbiased and knowledgeable advice across a wide range of horse experiences

You can absolutely book a riding holiday directly with an operator. If you already know exactly where you want to go and which ride you want, there’s nothing wrong with doing that. But what if you’re not sure?

What if you’ve found three beautiful rides in three different countries and have no idea which one is actually going to suit you? Or you’ve fallen in love with a photograph of galloping across a beach, only to discover that the trip is far more demanding than you expected? This is where having a specialist in your corner makes a real difference.

We call every single client because we want to understand what you’re looking for before recommending anything. We’ll talk about your riding experience, confidence, travel plans, bucket-list dreams and the sort of holiday you enjoy. If your first choice isn’t quite right, we’ll tell you and suggest an alternative. Sometimes that means recommending a completely different destination.

We’re also genuinely impartial. We don’t push one ride over another because it pays us more, and we’re not trying to fill every available space. Our advice only works if you trust it. We’d rather tell you that a ride isn’t right for you than send you somewhere you won’t enjoy.

We offer a price match guarantee

Here’s something we think every rider should know: booking through Worldwide Horse Safaris costs no more than booking direct with the operator or any other agency.

We offer a price match guarantee, so whether you book the trip through us or go directly to the operator, you pay the same price. You don’t pay extra for our advice, our experience or the time we spend helping you choose.

What you get instead is a team of specialists who have actually ridden the trips, checked the horses and built relationships with the people running them. We can compare different riding holidays, explain the differences between them and point you towards the one that makes the most sense for your riding level, your interests and your idea of the perfect trip.

And we don’t disappear once you’ve made your decision. We’re here to help with the planning, answer questions before you travel and provide 24/7 support while you’re away. We can also help combine different riding holidays or destinations into one bigger adventure, something that can be particularly useful when you’ve travelled a long way and want to make the most of your time.

Horse Care is a Priority

We could have the most spectacular destinations in the world on our website, but if we weren’t happy with how the horses were cared for, the ride wouldn’t make our collection.

Horse welfare is one of the first things we look at when choosing the operators we work with. We want to understand how the horses live when they aren’t working, how often they are ridden and rested, what they are fed, how their tack is managed and what veterinary, dental, farrier and other care they receive. We also pay close attention to how horses are matched with riders, because the right partnership can make a huge difference to both horse and human.

We don’t rely on photographs or a good-looking website to tell us that the horses are well cared for. Wherever possible, we visit the operators ourselves, spend time with the horses and see how things work on the ground. We ask questions and look beyond the polished version of an operation that you might see online.

We’ve built our portfolio around people who care about their horses as much as we do. That means you can enjoy your riding holiday knowing that the horses carrying you are being properly looked after, not simply treated as part of the experience.

We’ve curated the best worldwide horse safaris

There are thousands of horse riding holidays around the world. We don’t want to sell you all of them.

Instead, we’ve spent years building a collection of our favourites: riding holidays that offer something special, whether that’s exceptional horses, spectacular landscapes, brilliant guiding, beautiful accommodation, fantastic riding or simply an atmosphere that makes you wish the week would never end.

Our portfolio ranges from luxury château stays and vineyard riding in Europe to mountain expeditions in South America, coastal adventures, cultural riding holidays and more adventurous point-to-point trails. Some are all about the riding, while others combine wonderful days in the saddle with food, wine, culture, relaxation or time to explore.

What connects them is that they have met our standards. We don’t add a ride just because it’s in a popular destination or because it photographs well on Instagram. We want to know what makes it different, who it is best suited to and whether we would genuinely recommend it to one of our own friends.

We’ve also developed relationships with operators that have led to unique riding holidays available through us, as well as the ability to combine different trips and destinations to create something completely bespoke.

Our collection may be smaller than some of the bigger online booking platforms. That’s deliberate. We’d rather offer you our favourites than make you choose from a thousand holidays we don’t know well enough to recommend.

We know the people behind the rides

There’s a big difference between knowing what a riding holiday says on paper and knowing what it’s actually like.

We know the people behind our rides. We know the operators, guides and teams who make these experiences happen, and we build relationships with them rather than simply sending an email when someone wants to book. Where possible, we visit the operations ourselves and return regularly so our knowledge stays current.

And we know the horses. Between our team, we’ve ridden around 90% of the trips in our worldwide portfolio, including all of Africa and most of South America. That first-hand experience means we can tell you things that don’t necessarily appear in a brochure. Which horses love a good canter. Which rides involve long days in the saddle. Where the terrain is more challenging than the photographs suggest. Which trips are ideal for a confident intermediate rider and which really do require more experience.

That knowledge is particularly valuable when you’re choosing between several seemingly similar riding holidays. We can tell you what makes them different, not simply repeat what their websites say.

And because we keep talking to the people on the ground, our knowledge doesn’t stop once we’ve ridden a trip. We’re constantly learning, checking, revisiting and discovering new places worth adding to our collection.

We’re riders, just like you

Ultimately, this is probably the biggest reason we understand what you’re looking for: we get it because we’re riders too.

We know the excitement of meeting your horse for the first time in a completely new part of the world. We know the anticipation of heading out on the first morning, the joy of a great canter when the conditions are perfect and the slightly ridiculous attachment you can develop to a horse after only a few days together. We also know that riders can be wonderfully particular about what makes a holiday special.

Some want to spend as much time in the saddle as possible. Others want beautiful scenery, great food and a few hours riding each day. Some dream of mountains, others beaches, vineyards, forests or vast open landscapes. Some want a serious riding adventure, while others want a little luxury waiting at the end of the trail.

That’s why we don’t believe in matching people to holidays based on a riding level alone. We want to know what makes your ideal riding holiday. What’s on your bucket list? What kind of horses do you enjoy? How much riding is enough? What are you hoping to feel when you come home?

We’re here because we love this stuff too. We love horses, we love riding and we love discovering places from the saddle. And after more than a decade of doing this, we’ve learnt that the best riding holidays have a habit of creating a slightly dangerous problem: