Kate Pilcher, Author at Globetrotting
Baroque Horse Festival at Kryal Castle, Leigh Creek, Victoria, Australia - images with permission of Kryal Castle - Globetrotting horse riding holidays

Baroque Horse Festival

The Baroque Horse festival is a two-day event that occurs annually in the small town of Leigh Creek in Victoria, Australia, at Kryal Castle. Being based in a castle (a rarity in Australia!), this medieval festival is definitely one to behold! The festival celebrates the noble equine breeds from the Baroque period. Which breeds are […]

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Horse Riding Holiday Etiquette - Globetrotting horse riding holidays

Horse Riding Holiday Etiquette

It may sound strange, but there is a unspoken code among riders on the trail that will stand you in good stead on your next horse riding adventure. Whether you’re a beginner rider or just haven’t ridden out as part of a group for a while, you may not be aware of the etiquette that […]

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The Calgary Stampede - image by steve estvanik/Shutterstock.com - Globetrotting horse riding holidays

The Calgary Stampede

Is it a rodeo? An exhibition? A festival? Or all three? More than just midway rides, bucking broncos and fireworks, the Calgary Stampede is a ten day celebration of Western heritage. It’s a gathering place for horse enthusiasts from all over the world – hosting, educating and entertaining over a million visitors each year. Known […]

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Horse Breed: Gypsy Horse - image by AnetaZabranska/Shutterstock.com - Globetrotting horse riding holidays

Horse Breed: Gypsy Horse

Name of breed: Gypsy Horse (also called the Gypsy Cob, Gypsy Vanner, Irish Cob, Romany Tinker and Traditional Cob) Origin: Great Britain and Ireland Breed origin: The Gypsy Horse was originally bred by Irish Travellers and Great Britain’s Romani Travellers to pull the wagons in which they lived and travelled. These wagons, often known as […]

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Horse Breed: Selle Français - image by Alain Laurioux via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) - Globetrotting horse riding holidays

Horse Breed: Selle Français

Name of breed: Selle Français, also known as the Cheval de Selle Français Country of origin: France Breed origin: Like most warmblood horse breeds, the Selle Français was developed with a diverse mixture of bloodlines. In the 19th century, Norman breeders imported Thoroughbreds and Norfolk Trotters, crossing them with their native stock (now known as […]

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Horse Breed: American Curly - image by SunnyMoon/Shutterstock.com - Globetrotting horse riding holidays

Horse Breed: Curly

Name of breed: Curly, also known as the Bashkir Curly or the American Curly Country of origin: North America Breed origin: The origins of the Curly horse are a mystery, with many theories but no clear answers. When the Curly started to gain recognition as a breed in the 20th century, it was called the […]

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Horse Breed: Exmoor Pony - photo by Paul Steven/Shutterstock.com - Globetrotting horse riding holidays

Horse Breed: Exmoor Pony

Name of breed: Exmoor Pony (also known as the Celtic pony) Country of origin: United Kingdom Breed origin: Horses have been present in Britain since 700,000 BC and fossil remains have been found in the area of Exmoor dating back to about 50,000 BC. Some people claim the Exmoor pony has been purebred since the […]

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Horse Breed: Kabarda - photo by Alexia Khruscheva/Shutterstock.com - Globetrotting horse riding holidays

Horse Breed: Kabarda

Name of breed: Kabarda, or Kabardin Country of origin: Former USSR (Russia and Georgia) Breed origin: The Kabarda horse has been known for at least 500 years, but its origins are quite possibly as old as the Hittite civilisation, which existed from – wait for it – 1680 to 1178 BC! The mountain tribesmen in […]

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Horse Breed: Akhal-Teke - photo by Artur Baboev on Wikimedia Commons - Globetrotting horse riding holidays

Horse Breed: Akhal-Teke

Name of breed: Akhal-Teke Country of origin: Turkmenistan Breed origin: One of the oldest living breeds of horse, the precise ancestry of the Akhal-Teke is difficult to trace. The breed is very similar to, and possibly the direct descendant of an ancient horse known as the Turkoman, or Nisaean, horse. This horse was one of […]

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best-compact-cameras-for-horse-riding-holidays

Best Compact Cameras for a Horse Riding Holiday

So you’ve signed up for a horse riding holiday and you’re wanting to buy or upgrade your camera to make sure you capture every single moment from dusk to dawn. Yes, you could just take your smartphone, but there are a few drawbacks with this option. Smartphones are not ideal for photography on a moving […]

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Horse Breed: Arabian - image via Aislinn Brander on Pixabay - Globetrotting horse riding holidays

Horse Breed: Arabian

Name of breed: Arabian, or Arab Country of origin: This is a much-disputed point! There are arguments to support the breed’s development in northern Syria, southern Turkey, the Piedmont region in northern Italy, the Fertile Crescent running from Iraq to the coast of Egypt, and southwestern Arabia. Breed origin: The prototype for the modern Arabian […]

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Bill the Bastard - image via The War Horse Memorial - Globetrotting horse riding holidays

Bill the Bastard

Bill the Bastard was a big, fiery, cranky chestnut gelding famous for his buck… but he was one of Australia’s greatest war horses and became a legend, famed for his incredible stamina and for saving many soldiers’ lives. An Australian-bred Waler, Bill earned his not-so-illustrious nickname thanks to his incredible bucks, unseating rider after rider. […]

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Horse Breed: Riwoche

Name of breed: Riwoche Country of origin: Tibet Breed origin: The Riwoche is a small, dun-coloured horse that lives in the Riwoqê County of northeastern Tibet. The breed first came to international attention in 1995, when a group of European explorers led by the French ethnologist Michel Peissel discovered Riwoche horses in an isolated valley […]

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Horse Breed: Rocky Mountain Horse - photo by Abbey Rocky Mountain Horses - Globetrotting horse riding holidays

Horse Breed: Rocky Mountain Horse

Name of breed: Rocky Mountain Horse Country of origin: United States of America. Breed origin: Despite its name, the Rocky Mountain Horse didn’t develop in the Rocky Mountains, but in the Appalachian Mountains in the state of Kentucky. According to legend, sometime around the late 19th or early 20th century, an anonymous traveller from the […]

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The Horse in Motion

Did you know that the first ever motion picture featured a horse and rider? In 1873, Leland Stanford, horse breeder and founder of Stanford University, commissioned Eadweard Muybridge to photograph his prized trotter, Occident. In doing so, Stanford wanted to settle a long-disputed question: does a horse have all four hooves off the ground at […]

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Horse Breed: Marwari - Globetrotting horse riding holidays

Horse Breed: Marwari

Name of breed: Marwari, or Malani Country of origin: India, specifically the Marwar (or Jodhpur) region Breed origin: Although there is some controversy surrounding the origins of the Marwari breed, its ancestors are generally believed to have been native Indian war horses, Arabians and Turkomans (today’s Akhal-Tekes), possibly with some Mongol influence as well. The […]

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Craig's Hut & High Country Ride, Victoria, Australia - Globetrotting horse riding holidays

Saddle Up: Erica Neumann’s Craig’s Hut & High Country Ride

Get ready, globetrotters, you’re in for a real treat! The wonderfully talented Erica Neumann kept a journal of her horse riding holiday in the Victorian High Country of Australia and very kindly allowed us to share it with you all! Honestly, Erica’s in-depth account of this trip is perfect – I couldn’t have written it […]

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Horse Breed: Norman Cob

Name of breed: Norman Cob Country of origin: France Breed origin: The Norman Cob is named after the French region of Normandy where it was first developed. A light draught horse, it descends from the now-extinct Carrossier Normand, or Norman horse. The Carrossier Normand was a strong, hardy, big-boned horse with fantastic stamina and a […]

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Horse Breed: Lusitano - image by Olga_i/Shutterstock.com - Globetrotting horse riding holidays

Horse Breed: Lusitano

Name of breed: Lusitano, also called the Pure Blood Lusitano or Puro Sangue Lusitano (PSL). Country of origin: Portugal Breed origin: The Iberian Peninsula, which now sits within Spain and Portugal, has been populated with horses since 20-30,000 BC. Known as Iberian horses, they were influenced by horses from many other parts of the world as civilisations […]

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Horse Breed: Comtois - image by cynoclub/Shutterstock.com - Globetrotting horse riding holidays

Horse Breed: Comtois

Name of breed: Comtois. Country of origin: France. Breed origin: The Comtois breed comes from the Jura Mountains on the French-Swiss border. In the 4th century, the Burgundians of northern Germany introduced a heavy type of horse known as the ‘German Breed’ to the French regions of Jura and Franche-Comte. Here they mixed with oriental […]

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Horse Breed: Oldenburg - photo by Olaf Kosinsky on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) (cropped; colours & contrast enhanced from original) - Globetrotting horse riding holidays

Horse Breed: Oldenburg

Name of breed: Oldenburg (also known as Oldenburger) Country of origin: Germany Breed origin: The Oldenburg is a warmblood breed that can be traced back to the 17th century in the German provinces of Oldenburg and East Friesland. Count Johan XVI of Oldenburg took a keen interest in horse breeding, producing fine war horses to […]

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