Stone Island horse ride

[luv2vacation]

Do you have to book a tour to ride horses on Stone Island or can you just rent one when you get there? Also, are the horses well cared for? I could never contribute to the mistreatment of the horses. I have seen some poor skinny horses used for riding in other places and I couldn't imagine riding them and adding to their misery. Thanks.

[jjb415]

Try this thread, it has quite a lot of information:

 

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=943146&highlight=randi

[genevieve7000]

We rode with Randi"s Happy Horses www.randishappyhorses.com in December and it was a great excursion! l had read a thread about it before our recent Sapphire Princess Cruise and the glowing reviews sold me. She does sell out; she told us she gets a lot of same day requests, but she is usually sold out as she only has so many horses. The day we were in port, there was an RC ship, too and she was totally booked with cruisers from the two lines.

 

The ride was about 90 minutes, which was plenty! We got gorgeous pictures of our family riding on the beach. After the ride you go to the beach and have lunch at Victor's. Lunches at Victor's are HUGE. Our two kids shared a quesadilla platter and DH and I shared a huge platter of delicious grilled mahi mahi that was amazingly fresh. Plenty of time to hang at the beach, kids rented a boogie board..........we drank a few beers and watched them. Beers and lunch were a total bargain. This was a perfect day! Our 11 and 8 year old loved it as much as we did. You don't need to be an experienced rider, they will match the horses based on your experience. This was one of our favorite excursions ever!

[bobnsofi]

we have not ridden horses on stone island, but if we wanted to, we would just show up without a reservation. Long day and folks only ride for a short time, so they will fit you in, even if it's crowded. We were there in the afternoon with 2 ships in port, and there was hardly anyone around the beach (morning was likely more crowded)

 

 

Stone Island water taxi Pier (and stone island beach below)

 

[lacrossemitch]

We have booked with Randi's Happy Horses for next Wednesday. I will let you know how full the reservations were. From everything I have heard on this site from others, the horses are well cared for.

[luv2vacation]

Thanks for the replies. I think Randi offers a good deal but I really don't want to book in advance. I prefer to go on my own schedule. I was just wondering if it were possible to decide to ride at the last minute.

 

bobnsofi - I love all the pictures you post on this site. They are very helpful!