El Salobre Horse Riding — Local services in San Bartolomé de Tirajana

Came to visit here after reading a lot of positive reviews. Unfortunately we were very let down. Despite a lot of people saying it’s great for beginners, we found the opposite.

I have no experience horse riding whilst my partner has over 10 years experience and we both received the same level of instruction from Helen: barely anything. We were told enough to stop and go and pretty much nothing in regard to safety of ourselves or our horses. I was given Luther, a large horse that was so numb to any instruction it simply wouldn’t move with a hard kick. I was instructed to either boot the horse at full strength or use the crop they handed me - again I’ve never ridden a horse, never mind used a whip, and am pretty sure that shouldn’t be normal routine to tell a beginner. My partner was given a horse, Kabul, that they deemed suitable for an advanced rider.

She was told he was capable of galloping but what she wasn’t told was that he was new to the yard, had an extremely high temperament and was known by the riders there to be a nightmare. We found all of this out from their resident driver later, not from any of the staff. Unfortunately this resulted in my gf being thrown during a gallop before which she was told ‘once the horse starts the gallop he will not stop no matter what you do’. This shouldn’t be the case for any horse used in a riding school for customers/tourists, no matter the level the experience. I understand that some horses get excited on trails, especially when they have a routine and recognise certain parts as their cue to trot/canter/gallop, but you should be able to stop the horse, or at least expect a horse which is trained well enough not to buck/bronc their rider off. The instructor Helen then asked my girlfriend if she pulled the reins when she started the gallop up the hill, which she did not as she was expecting some excitement and would never pull on the reins needlessly to upset the horse. However, pulling on the reins to slow down shouldn’t prompt such a reaction from the horse regardless. They can be unpredictable, but this one was clearly poorly trained. She had been told the horse will jump when it starts the gallop, but not that it would misbehave to such an extent that it would endanger her or that the particular horse she’s riding has a reputation for misbehaving. Again, the guides/horse riders at the farm gave little to no instruction or indication that this horse would endanger her. She’s dealt with unpredictable horses before, but had expected a riding school horse given for this trail, to gallop without incident and not to throw her off to this extent. Another advanced rider on the same trail had seen my girlfriend get thrown off quite dramatically and opted out of the gallop afterwards. It is clear that these horses are not properly trained or suited for the gallop part of the trail.

Another disappointment was the trail itself. Yes, the views were pretty, however 2 hours of riding on steep, rocky unforgiving terrain on bored, overworked horses that could barely find their footing was not an ideal first taste of a riding experience and overall not worth €50-€60. I would not recommend El Salobre to anyone, beginner or otherwise, until they start to care more for the animals and focus on providing a fun and even a little informative experience instead of relying on the natural scenery to bring...

Mixed experience on 1hour trip. No-one noted our names, and there was no paperwork at all, or safety talk about horses, or checks on our helmets. We were asked if we'd ridden before, we said that my daughters are both beginners. One was put on Tinka, who was very fidgety and fretful in the arena where we got on the horses. He was pawing at the ground, moving backwards and in random ways, not at all controllable, and all very frightening for a new rider. After several scary minutes (without supervision) she burst into tears and decided to get off. I don't blame her at all, that horse looked like he was panicking too. While the staff tried to calm them both, the leader kept calling the horse by the wrong name, which further reduced any confidence. The ride would have been terrifying for her but was fine although the leader was on her phone most of the time and both staff stayed at the front, barely checking on us at the back of the group. When we got back, I asked for a refund for my daughter, but this was refused, with the leader saying that the horse would have been fine when we left; she would not accept that the rider couldn't know that and was traumatised by then: that horse was not suitable for a beginner. A beginner needs a calm horse, not one who looks ready for a gallop and confidence is everything. She hadn't offered a different horse or any solution other than a leading rope, but the horse seemed ready to throw my daughter off. No one seemed to care about her experience at all. Other notes: There were no hand washing facilities at the end, my other daughter had very uneven stirrups (the leader only shortened one, didn't check them properly) and mine had to be wrapped to make them shorter. Young girl tried her best but leader was more concerned with taking money and bookings, not riders, how could she tell me that Tinka would be fine if she used the wrong horse name? Arena needs shade. Disappointing....

So unfortunately this place didn't meaet my expectations. Last week I booked the 2 hour experience for me and my daughter. We arrived at the venue early as we've previously ridden before in Cyprus and the uk. People arrived late, so we became late to start. After mounting the horses my daughter was abit upset after initially being excited. I understand the staff were busy but rushed trying to carry on with the experience due yo our group being so large. When we were exiting the arena 2 of the horses played up. Titanic carried ok walking backwards and walked into the wall knocking another horse w, whilst pink flower went to bite another horse. This camototion resulted in my daughter becoming really upset. They took us off the horses said they had to go as they were running late and left us with a poor older who spoke no English. As the 2 ladies who could speak very good English went on the excursion. I asked for a taxi the gentleman didn't understand so took us to the next town and left us. This was abit scary. Never theless I contact this company, requesting if we could back and try when they were less busy. I had no response and they claim to have given me options. Which they didn't but had given refunds I felt I would have the same experience. Clearly not. Initially as they had some bad reviews they seemed to handle them well. Clearly, not this time. Hence I'm writing this review.

I only recently recieved money back after raising it with barclaycard as you were unwilling to co-operate with the company i purchased the tickets from. Thank you responding...