Last spring I decided I'd like to learn how to ride English style on a horse. Living in England…read moremade this goal quite a bit easier and after extensive research I headed to Cornwall so I could not only learn how to ride English style but so I could do it by the sea. After taking my first riding lessons and hacks with Newton, I would highly recommend them. They start you off indoors to get you comfortable with walking, trotting, cantering and generally manoeuvring the horse. From there you go on hacks in the outdoors (I especially loved these) in all types of terrain including the beach (there's something really amazing about racing toward the ocean on the back of a galloping horse!) No need to bring your own hat as Newton has them available in a wide range of sizes and you can pick them up before your ride. The horses at Newton appear happy and well-cared for. As well, the instructors are patient and have a good sense about riders abilities, whether they're three or sixty five years old (I saw the whole range of ages whilst I was there.) As a less experienced rider, I felt very well taken care of at Newton.

lovely staff and generally good ponies. My LO goes to saturday club and her riding has improved a…read morelot However they DO push the kids and mine has fallen off five times in as many months.

Barguse is a lovely stables me and my sister have been going there for 2 years now and the staff…read moreand horses are lovely and I have progresses so much since joining anyone would be lucky to go there.

Utterly traumatic I…read moreknew that this place was dodgy by the first minute I came in horses were kicking and unhappily trying to come out of their stables and in return all the guide did was scream at them. When we started going onto the trail one of the other horses got spooked by a man coughing and started galloping with a girl with no riding experience on his back the guide did nothing but scoff "he is a bit naughty today" at this point it is safe to say alarm bells were already ringing in my head. However the real moment of tragedy came only a few moments later and will probably give me ptsd for the rest of my life. The same horse got spooked by a cyclist passing and started galloping again this time the girl could not control the horse and it came hurtling towards my horse throwing the girl off and she was screaming for help my horse then became spooked and as much as I tried I had no way of stopping it from shoving me off. I hit the ground hitting my back leaving me winded and gasping or air my whole body burned and my clothes were completely ripped and the guide had the heart to say "it is the cyclists fault." I would recommend to no one who is wishing to come back happy. The staff were completely unprofessional: when the horse got spooked instead of helping they ran away scared, the horses were horribly trained getting scared at any movement and the staff seemed incapable of understanding our lack of experience of galloping horses putting both our mental and physical health at risk. Nobody should have to experience this.

This riding school is in the perfect location to provide rides around the picturesque village of…read moreWembury and its surroundings. The riding school offers group and private lessons and also hacks around the local area. There are horses and classes suited to every size, shape and skill level of rider with care taken to ensure that you are allocated the right horse for your particular needs. This riding school also offers various levels of livery service ranging from a complete service to a D I Y service. Prices are a little high but compare quite favourably with other similar places around Devon. I believe they also specialise in hacking for disabled riders.

I have been visiting Penhalwyn once a year for the past five years or so, I was more impressed as a…read moreyoung child but now I realise the downsides of this so called riding school. I would definitely agree with a previous review that the horses appear poorly kept as they are far too often made to go out on the road for tourists and over the years I've seen many issues with grumpy and inattentive volunteers/staff, disobedient horses, people falling off or otherwise having bad experiences. The routes of the hour long treks are pleasant but once you've been on a couple of these, you've really seen all the surrounding areas have to offer. Overall I'd recommend this place as a one off if you're looking for something to do out of boredom but otherwise, it's a bit of a poor show. If I remember correctly it's not the cheapest of activities either.