Saddle-up for adventure

THIS week I am focusing on potential holidays for horse and pony lovers after hearing a wonderful account of some memorable adventures undertaken by Yulia Frolova.
 
Yulia currently keeps her horse Dream at Shakhoora Riding Stables. Inspired by her father’s friend who has a passion for parachute jumping in different countries, our horsewoman decided she had a lot of catching up to do.

She was set to travel for several weeks, due to work and personal reasons, so decided to start her own collection of rides and kick start her own travel list with five countries and five different horses.

The United Arab Emirates came first as a business trip left her one spare day. Yulia hoofed it down to the Dubai Polo Club for a lesson.
 
Whilst Yulia is an ardent rider she is used to dressage and show jumping – in her words ‘polo comes from another planet’!
 
For a start there are four reins (double bridles – pelhams or gags are usually used) and you must keep all these in your left hand along with your whip, the mallet in the right hand.
 
Out goes the line from ear, hip and ankle as you have to pull your legs forward. In order to turn your horse you have to completely turn in the saddle so you can see his tail, and it’s OK to kick your horse and bend forward and squeeze with your knees.

Yulia found polo ponies the most honest and accepting horses she had ever ridden. If you need your polo pony to go forward, just move your right hand forward, to stop, pull it to your face, if you pull to your stomach the horse will go backwards. It appears they will not only do whatever you ask them to do, but they will help you too!

Yulia’s horse Jasmin was also constantly turning to the direction of the ball. However, Yulia found the worst part of playing polo was the mallet. It’s not only very heavy also it’s impossible to hit the ball, at least on the first few attempts.

Yulia’s instructor Steven explained everything in detail so after half a dozen tries she managed to touch the ball and it moved almost six inches!

Trying the same in a canter is much harder although much more fun. However, the next day she paid the price with muscles that she previously never knew existed feeling very sore.

Yulia’s next port of call was the Ukraine, her birthplace and somewhere she had never ridden before.

Horse riding is not too popular in Ukraine and Yulia only found five places to ride. She chose Rancho Bolivar because it was the closest to Kiev, the location of her business meeting. It was located in the middle of a small forest. In fact Bolivar was more a hotel and restaurant, than a rancho, but they boasted two stables for livery and horse hire.

The place was popular and Yulia discovered it only had one horse left to ride called Twix. Initially she had to demonstrate she was competent in the saddle, before being allowed to go out into the forest.
 
Twix started out unlike his name, not being very sweet at all, head shaking and napping he tried his best to dislodge Yulia.
 
Not one to give up easily, Yulia persisted and eventually after a good 20 minutes, Twix decided he would behave and put in some lovely movements enabling Yulia to gain permission to ride in the countryside.

Riding amongst the trees in spring was simply stunning. The weather was cool, the air fresh and she was surrounded by luscious greenery, a wonderful end after a challenging start.

Off now to Kazakhstan. Despite it having a nomadic history there were surprisingly not that many places to ride.
Yulia is familiar with the various riding places on offer and her favourite is Uzhet, on the north border of Kazakhstan’s biggest city and former capital Almaty. There are three stables with around 100 horses.
 
This time, accompanied by another horse-loving friend, Yulia was able to ride her favourite, an Altai horse called Baursak.

Baursak means doughnut, and he is very sweet. He looks like a miniaturised copy of the famous Bogatyr horses, featuring the same massive neck, huge hoofs and thick legs.

Paying for an hour’s hack, the pair went off out into the fields, crossing a river which was a huge amount of fun especially for the horses, making their way through a small canyon before arriving into endless fields and hills. 
Many of the hills are artificial, created thousands of years ago as burial mounds for Scythian warriors. These skilled riders and great warriors were nomad tribes and their monuments are now part of the beautiful landscape.

Back from business trips to Bahrain, and Yulia’s own horse Dream, who was less than pleased she had been globe-trotting on other horses, made sure she knew it. She behaved very badly, a bit like a resentful teenager, at a weekend show jumping event.
 
Yulia admitted that having ridden different horses and being absent from her own for so many weeks, she had almost forgotten how to jump. Dream, unlike the polo pony, was certainly not going to help. After just getting a clear in the beginner’s class, he flatly refused to jump anything else. The pair is now back to the schooling paddock.
 
Next up, Yulia and her husband went off on holiday to Jordan and took a two-day riding trip to Wadi Rum.
 
This is the same place that Fran and the Dilmun ladies discovered in 2010.
 
They visited the Rum Horse Stables which boasts 20 horses, all initially used for endurance before moving them onto hacking as they get older.  

Yulia had a lovely horse named Najeem. Her husband, immediately forgetting his horse’s name, renamed it Foxy due to its red colouring and cunning character! 

They went riding for seven hours a day starting at 8am with a break for lunch and a midday nap, before riding till sunset. In the evening they stayed at the ‘Under a thousand stars hotel’ in the middle of the desert in sleeping bags.
At the end of this trip, Yulia said it was her best horse riding experience ever.

In The Saddle is a company that specialises in riding holidays all over the world, from ranches in the US, beach and mountain rides in Europe, horseback safaris in Africa and riding expedition to remote and unexplored parts of the world.
 
Visit www.inthesaddle.com for more details.

*Send your equine news to helen2blake@hotmail.com

Twin Palms Riding Centre, tomorrow – Pony Camp
Twin Palms Riding Centre will hold the second of its popular Pony Camps for children aged five to 11, running from 9am to 1pm, including lunch. It’s an ideal way for your pony-mad child to spend their Easter holidays. Contact the stables on 39566809 or email: twin.palms.riding.centre@hotmail.com or find them on Facebook – Twin Palms Riding Centre Page for more information.

Friday– Show Jumping
Twin Palms Riding Centre will hold a Show Jumping event starting at 9am. There will be three classes, Class 1: 70/80cms one round and if clear, immediately into jump off, Class 2: 80/100cms Speed Class, Class 3: up to 120cms – one round with timed jump-off to follow.  Spectators are welcome.

Shakhoora Riding Stables Friday, April, 20 – Dressage
The stables will be holding the last of this season’s dressage events on Friday morning and will follow it with a final Show Jumping event on April 27.

The Dilmun Riding Stables, Friday, April, 20 – Show Jumping
The Dilmun Riding Stables will host the final in this season’s In-House Show Jumping League events. Time of start to be confirmed.