Beginners & Children

As well as experienced riders, we also take beginners and children.

Beginners

You do not have to be an experienced rider to enjoy a riding holiday here at West Steart Farm. We are more than happy to take bookings from inexperienced or complete beginner riders.

Our Dales Ponies are very experienced at taking beginner riders out on through the forests, quiet lanes and tracks of the local countryside. You can also improve your riding with lessons in our riding arena.

Why not see if you can learn to ride in a week? The majority of complete beginners can progress to feeling competent enough to canter through the fields by the end of a weeks programme here at West Steart Farm on our lovely Dales ponies, something that could take months attempted once weekly at your local riding school. There’s something to be said when taking on a new skill, to just immerse yourself in it to get yourself established and with Zana’s effective and knowledgeable instruction and understanding that she has with her Dales, you’ll be giving yourself the kind of start that the celebrity dancers get on strictly come dancing working with their professionals only you’ll be learning your skills with a horse whilst on a holiday! You don’t even have to remember to pack the “radox” because it will be there waiting for you next to the lovely deep bath provided.

During your stay, if you decide you have done enough riding, you can simply enjoy the accommodation and food, whilst exploring the many places to see and things to do that this part of Devon has to offer.

Children

You do not have to be an adult to enjoy a riding holiday here at West Steart Farm. We take children too because we know children also enjoy riding horses when on holiday!

We do not provide formal childcare, because our aim is to provide the best environment for children and that includes being with their parents on the riding holiday. Parents don’t have to ride out with their children if they just want to relax or sightsee, but the deal is that as soon as the children are back off the horses, they are under parental supervision once again, they’ll be just bursting to share all their experiences with the ones they love most anyway. We can serve dinner at around 6.00pm during family breaks to stop the younger ones getting tired. Parents can choose to eat with their children or just be on hand to help serve to suit their own children’s needs, whilst enjoying a glass of wine when keeping an eye on the proceedings and then join the rest of the adults later if preferred.