Esperanza Riding Company — Attraction in Isla de Vieques

My daughter, 10 yr old granddaughter, and I booked the sunset ride with the Esperanza Riding Company. We took the ferry to Vieques and a taxi out to their facility. We were greeted warmly upon arrival (by both dog and humans:) and were given well fitting helmets (required for guests), and a place to safely store our stuff during our ride. The forms you fill out when you book had already given the staff ideas about level of experience with horses, your size and weight, so as to help determine a good equine/human match. Elizabeth did the best tutoring on the basics of, and safety in, horseback riding that my daughter and I had ever seen before a trail ride (they also called out gentle guidance during the ride if needed). My granddaughter was having second thoughts as we waited to ride and Chloe(?) came right over and talked her through her anxieties in a very sweet way. Once on the horse & with further encouragement before the start she was as happy to be on her horse as the rest of us. My daughter works in Equine medicine for the U of MN and always scrutinizes the condition and care of the horses on these trail rides. Her well trained eye found the horses to be very well cared for, content, and well trained. This is not always (or sadly, even sometimes) true on many trail rides. These horses are obviously well loved. Even the novice riders in our group enjoyed a great ride. The ride itself was incredibly beautiful, with views that couldn't be better, and a beach ride portion that added a spark of excitement to the trip. The timing for sunset made it magical. Esperanzas Riding Company has a very special place there on Vieques, and now a similar place in our hearts. Thank you ERC for this...

If you’re not a white tourist, beware. I was very excited for this experience but when I called, the person who answered couldn’t speak Spanish and asked me to speak English.

When we got to the place we realized it was owned by non-locals. One of the women there told my friend that she had to figure out how to fit her hair in her helmet in a condescending tone, then spent the rest of the time grabbing and moving her hair around without asking. I noticed that there weren’t any comments made to everyone else wearing their helmets above their forehead, but it was a big enough problem to put hands on my friend. If you’re Black with natural hair, you’re very likely to end up with her hands on you in the name of safety. When we left and looked up the company‘s reviews, I also saw that at least one of the pages on their website doesn’t spell Vieques correctly either.

As a native, I try to give non-natives the benefit of the doubt, but this experience reaffirms why I’m weary of Americans moving to the island. Not bothering to learn to speak the language, misspelling the name of the island, and being condescending to anyone who isn’t a white tourist is part of the gentrification of the island that makes us natives weary of outsiders taking up land & charging people to explore an island that isn’t theirs while the locals suffer and aren’t thought about by those moving there. The oldest reviews for the company are from over 4 years ago, so not being able to communicate with people from the island at this point is unacceptable.

The company’s only saving grace is the one sole Puerto Rican employee who led the tour and was the only reason we had a good time since he was as warm as every other Puerto Rican &...

I'm always hesitant to ride in tourist locations because it can be hard to know how well animals are treated. I read the reviews and found no mention of anything, which is partially encouraging, but i wanted to add more details here for other customers. The horses live in a gigantic pasture, as a herd of 40, this pasture is hilly and parts of it is forested which mean they can get cover. Grass is plentiful. There are only two time slots available for rides, 8AM and 4PM, which indicates that a horse would not work more than two rides of 1 to 2h maximum, with a max of 6 days per week. The team indicated that each horse had its own schedule, depending on health/age condition and other factors, so it is likely that the "niños" are far from overworked. Horses who "work" are fed extra mash. From what I could see, the herd is very well taken care of, as much as a herd in a gigantic pasture can be. One horse is apparently 32 and still looks well. The tack is also taken good care of, I had a bit of a wow moment when I got in the trailer to put my stuff there and looked around. My only small hesitation would be on the bits that are used : they seemed a bit strong to my taste, especially with such level headed horses and with many beginer riders that may have a stronger hand than needed but I'd say the owners know best here, and I kept my hands light.

Overall, I had an absolutely lovely ride through various beaches, forest trails, a river bed and the pasture. My guide Kei was also super lovely, took a ton of pictures and told me a bit about my horse Mani's back story. As a somewhat knowledgeable horse person, I can completely recommend this place to riders of all...