Mackenzie Alpine Horses — Local services in South Island

we wanted to explore the beautiful surrounding on the back of the horses and chose the company. my husband had never sat on a horse, i am an experienced rider. we therefore chose the two hour ride which turned out to be just the right one.

the positive:

the views were spectacular, the horses seemed healthy, it was a great experience to get to see the landscape from a different angle. the basics of horse back riding were explained well and were enough to "survive" the two hour ride. Also they seemed to chose the horses due to the abilities of the rider. with us was only one more person and the guide so that we were 4 in total. a great small group.

the negative:

when we arrived, I actively went to the guide and said hello. We are speaking of a relatively small immediate surrounding, only the two of us, and from the company a girl and the guide. Feeling welcome was not given.

We started the tour and surely due to the fact that we all rode behind each other, there was not too much talking, which we knew upfront. But this does not justify that the guide (apart from a short time at the beginning) took out her mobile phone quite often. I our eyes she should have looked back a bit more from time to time instead. My husband and the other woman were both absolute beginners. Due to the sometimes rough paths the horses sometimes tripped a bit and when hearing this, i would have expected her to double check a bit more often if all are okay and feel good, even if it was out of curtesy.

when we reached an amazing lookout we would have hoped to stop for a moment and take some pictures, or even the guide to take some pictures of us as some other travellers experienced.

When back there was no "thank you for chosing us", no good bye, the guide passed us on her way to her car and left without a word.

summary: we are happy to have made this experience, but we can not confirm all the good feedback we have...

I really loved the horse trekking during my stay at new zealand. The horses were all so docile and tame with their little quirks but they are such great animals. They are also well taken care of with shiny fur coats and round bellies. The horses were really good at climbing up and downhill with us on their backs and they were easy to steer and move, in fact most of them moved automatically and we didnt even have to tell them to stop or move, they would do it themselves. Totally safe and fun for beginners like myself.

I personally got to ride on jeff while my husband got to ride on tommy. Both horses are great, jeff was so friendly and tame, tommy was great with my husband and he does stop a little sometimes to enjoy being outside but a little kick gets them going. They are really awesome! The view was also superb, the place where the horses trekked up was so scenic and beautiful. I would definitely do this again if i get to travel to new zealand next time. Would recommend this to everyone, do support them as this also gives the horses a good retirement job since they were all ex racing horses, this can help to support the horses as well. Love the horses and the scenic view and the great guides! Felt that the 1hr lake ride was too short, would definitely go for the longer...

We surprised our sister Eerika (pink hair) for her 40th birthday on a horse trekk today and, OMG did it exceed our expectations or what!!💯

The birthday girl did not want to do the trekk as soon as she saw the "horse trekking" sign, but as soon as we got on our horses (Bobby, Boss & Master Rob), she was sold & LOVED it, just as much as we did, thanks to Natalie & Kayla who made the set up easy & more comfortable for our girl.

Special mention & THANK YOU to NATALIE who is the BEST guide we could've asked for!!🫶🏽 God definitely blessed us today so that we could have Natalie all to ourselves, and man, were we GRATEFUL!! #TYJ🙌🏾

Natalie's knowledge of our surroundings, her experiences, AMAZING love for horses & just her beautiful spirit just exuded throughout the whole trekk, not to mention her great sense of humour!🥰 Thank you for our new word for our manz.. Yum Yum "NOODLES"!!😜🤣

@Sarah & @Summer, you definitely made the right choice in hiring Natalie!! 💯🤜🏾🤛🏾 My sisters and I collectively agree that Natalie needs a pay rise!😉😁

Appreciate you Nat, and see you again when we bring all our manz.. or not!🤭😂

God Bless!🙌🏾 Rose, Breezy...