DefinitelyDressage.com

Hello all! Long time lurker but I find myself in need of some recommendations!

My father (the bestest dad of all dads) has offered to pay for me to take a riding vacation in Ireland. My mom will be coming with me. Has anyone gone to Ireland to ride and can give me some ideas for my horsie vacation?

Ideally I'd love to spend time jumping cross country. I wouldn't mind some trails but I figure if I'm going to go, I might as well get some education out of it. I have a mare that I event at Novice/Training level so I'm pretty comfortable over fences and at speed. That being said, my mom is more of a novice rider. She has ridden for most of her life but hasn't ridden much lately. I doubt that she'd be all that enthusiastic about jumping so I'm hoping to find a location that will cater to both of our skill levels.

Crossing my fingers for a wealth of information. TIA!!

Devils Glen in Wicklow has cross country jumping and horses for various levels of riders. I think it's simply devils glen equestrian but if you have trouble finding it let me know and I'll find the numbers for you. I enjoyed riding there.

I also enjoyed the beach riding at Donegal Equestruan center. Donegal is in Northern Ireland and it's a very different kind of riding adventure.

the other part of the country that had lovely riding views was in the south west. I'll look that one up when I have time.

but if you want to do the cross country riding Devils Glen seems like one you should explore. if you have opportunity to ride with a hunt, that will curl you hair but probably be too much for your Mom. Dartfield ( you can Google) does fox hunting holidays with the Galway Blazers.

I have personally ridden with all of these at various times and had a good experience. I brought my niece with me to Donegal and she was over horsed despite me asking for a very quiet horse for her. I have a couple I don't recommend so if you choose something drop me private messageb and I'll steer you clear of negative experiences. ( I'm an Irish expat and my Mom and brothers live in Ireland so I used to visit there almost annually. I give dressage instruction when I'm there so I can write off expenses as business, and if course enjoy riding experiences where and when I can ). I try to visit different parts of the county to teach and ride every trip.

just a warning, Ireland still have a lot of limits in place due to Covid, so make sure you have flexible booking or that they are even open at all.

I highly recommend equitours for ease of booking riding holidays. Did so for trip to Spain in 2017

Way, way, way back in the day, a friend of mine went to Castle Leslie and had a blast, but this was at least 20 years ago.