What We Love About Riding in Wales
You don’t need a passport for this.
What we’ve learned after decades in the saddle in Mid-Wales — and why the most extraordinary riding holiday of your life might be closer than you think.
Somewhere along the way, we got a collective idea into our heads that a truly exceptional riding holiday involves a long-haul flight, an unfamiliar currency and a language barrier. Andalusia, perhaps. The Camargue. Montana.
And those places are wonderful. We’d never tell you otherwise.
But we’ve been running riding holidays out of Mid-Wales since 1989. And what over thirty-five years in the saddle on these hills has taught us is this: you can have the riding holiday of your life without ever leaving Britain. You just need to know where to go.
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The landscape that changes how you think about riding
There’s a moment that happens to almost every rider who comes to Mid-Wales for the first time. You crest a ridge — somewhere in the Cambrian Mountains, or out on the Radnor Hills — and the land opens up in every direction. No roads. No pylons. No sound except the wind and your horse’s breathing.
It tends to stop people in their tracks.
Wales is one of the last places in Europe where you can ride genuinely wild, remote terrain without a six-hour flight to get there. The trail network we’ve built over three decades passes through ancient drovers’ roads, unmarked green lanes, open moorland and quiet river valleys — tracks that have carried travellers for centuries, and that still feel, somehow, like a secret.
Our flagship Border to Coast trail covers 100 miles across Wales — from our base in the Wye Valley on the Welsh/English border all the way to the sands of the Dovey Estuary on Cardigan Bay. It’s a real expedition. The kind you’d expect to find in a travel magazine filed under “extraordinary journeys.”
This is not sightseeing from a saddle. This is genuine travel — moving through the land at the pace the land was meant to be experienced, staying overnight at small country inns and farmhouses, waking up to a different view every morning.
2. Why Wales is different from anywhere else you’ve ridden
Riding holidays abroad are often built around the destination. The scenery does the work, and the riding itself is secondary — a pleasant vehicle for experiencing a beautiful place.
In Wales, the riding is the destination. Here’s what that actually means, day to day on trail:
Ancient trails that go somewhere
Scale that earns its name
Horses that know the land
Our horses have ridden these trails for years. They’re fit, friendly, and genuinely happy on trail — and that confidence is contagious. Within a day, you find yourself trusting them completely.
The end-of-day feeling is unmatched
Traffic-free, genuinely
(Almost) No roads to cross. Just green lanes, open hills, and the particular silence that only exists when you’re far enough from everything else.In Wales, you’re not visiting a landscape. You’re moving through it — at the pace it was always meant to be experienced.
3. The belief we’re gently pushing back on
Here’s what we think is happening when people book riding holidays abroad: we’ve been told, for a long time, that the further you travel, the more meaningful the experience will be.
There’s something seductive about that idea. But it’s also, at least when it comes to riding, not really true.
What makes a riding holiday exceptional is not the air miles. It’s the quality of the horses. The wildness of the terrain. The sense of genuine freedom. The people you’re with. The rhythm of days spent entirely outdoors, moving through the world at four miles an hour.
All of that — all of it — exists in Mid-Wales. It’s been here for centuries, quietly waiting.
4. How a Freerein holiday actually works
We keep things deliberately simple. You browse and pick one of our trail riding holiday packages or just tell us what you want — how long, how challenging, whether you want a guide or the freedom of self-guided riding — and we build the trip around that. We arrange the accommodation, move your luggage between stops, and hand you a route pack at the start of each day.
Everything from two to eight days. All abilities, from complete beginners through to very experienced riders. Groups, pairs, solo riders, families. With or without a guide, at set departure dates or whenever you decide.
Here’s a flavour of what’s possible:
Our Flagship Trail: Border to Coast (Guided)
Six days, 100 miles. Guided, departure at set dates (see dates here)
From the Wye Valley to the sands of Cardigan Bay. Wales, crossed on horseback.
6 days · All terrain · Confident riders
A Mid-Wales Classic: The Red Kite Trail (Self-Guided)
Six days through the heart of Mid-Wales, steeped in history dating back to the 1st Century.
6 days · 70 miles · Wild & remote
Self-Guided Freedom
Your Own Bespoke Trail! Hire Your Own Guide
Choose your own riding companions, your own pace, your own dates. Pick your favourite trail, hire a Freerein guide just for you and whoever you bring with you… A dream riding holiday with all the flexibility, with the added reassurance of having your own guide!
2–7 days · Bespoke · Any dates & ability
First Time on Trail (or on horseback!): Learn to Ride
Never ridden? Our Learn To Ride holidays begin in the hills, not an arena. The best possible introduction.
3 days · For complete beginners and novice · Guided
We’ve spent thirty-five years watching people arrive at our yard slightly sceptical, and leave already planning their return. It happens almost every time.
The hills have a way of doing that.
Ready to find out for yourself?
The riding holiday you’ve been imagining is here.
Browse our trails, choose your dates, and let us handle everything else. Or simply get in touch — we’re always happy to help you figure out the right trip.
