Travels on Horseback

When Kathryn Davies founded Travels on Horseback in 2007, she wanted it to be a trail-riding experience with a twist. In contrast to the ubiquitous group trail holiday, Kathryn offers intermediate and experienced riders the unique experience of enjoying a custom-built expedition across miles of countryside, encompassing woodland, field and beach. The spine of the Quantock Hills, running for about 15 miles north-west from Taunton to the coast of Quantoxhead on the Bristol Channel form the majority of the backdrop for the experience. They offer a fantastic riding environment; first because they are located in the principal designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England, and second because the whole Area is open-access countryside. This means that it is possible to cross heather-covered plains, grassy slopes, verdant forests and bluebell woods without worrying about either traffic or rights of way.

The great thing about Travels on Horseback is that riders have free reign over all aspects of their experience. You can go it alone (with a route clearly marked by Kathryn on an Ordnance Survey map), or you can take Kathryn with you as a guide. You can either bring your own horse, or ride one of the five in the Travels on Horseback herd.  There is also complete autonomy in terms of the length of the trip; Kathryn will arrange anything from an hour’s hack (for £40) up to a week’s trek, with horses carrying your luggage in saddle-bags. The longer rides offer guests the opportunity to experience a true trail-riding adventure, spending the days exploring the Quantocks, and the nights in hand-picked local accommodation. There is also flexibility as regards pit-stops; Kathryn knows all the best places to stop for a pub lunch en route, but is also happy to arrange picnics instead.

Helpfully, Kathryn offers a pick-up service for all of her guests, so I met her at Taunton train station (remarkably under one-and-a-half hours from Paddington). After catching and grooming the horses (Kathryn is keen to provide as holistic an experience as possible, which includes pre and post ride horsecare), with assistance from the stable-hand, Sophie, we set off on our three hour hack.  I was, to be frank, initially trepidatious about the whole enterprise. I had not ridden for over four years, and most of my childhood and adolescent experiences had been on riding school ponies, not thoroughbreds, as some of Kathryn’s horses are. As it turned out, these fears were completely allayed, both by Kathryn’s calm, clear guidance, and Victor, a stoic Welsh pony of 14.2 hands. He was a delight to ride; keen, but not overeager, responsive to the reins, and did not spook once.

As we travelled across fields and through woods, with a particulalry exhiliarating gallop up what Kathryn has christened ‘Jane Austen Hill’, turf flying under hoof, she explains the guiding aims of the business. An underlining principle is her stress upon preserving the environment and helping the local economy, for instance by keeping transportation to an absolute minimum (and patronising local guesthouses en route)  Moreover, having worked in a high-powered job in London for some years, she is acquainted with the kinds of pressures that city-dwellers face, and has designed her holidays in order to provide them with a form of total refreshment and escape. Interestingly, although her client demographic is highly variegated (including mothers and daughters, siblings and groups of friends), 20 percent of her clientele are currently lawyers (so she must have got something right for the legal eagles!) but there is no particular hypothesis as to why this is the case.

I felt thoroughly invigorated after my three hour ride, and it has certainly whet my appetite for the full experience.

www.travelsonhorseback.com

47 Farringdon
North Petherton, Bridgwater, Somerset TA6 6PF
01278 438 794