Novice Riders & Lessons
Novice Riders. Learning more about horses, riding and horsemanship.
At The Hideout Lodge & Guest Ranch we want to be a riding destination that all levels of riders from around the world can enjoy. Every year we welcome friends, family, partners, riding buddies and girlfriends who enjoy traveling together but have different riding levels. At The Hideout you will find a program that will satisfy all riding levels.
Novice or less experienced riders can ride together with their more experienced friends or family. On these rides we will adapt the riding level to the least experienced member of the group. Other days you can split up.
The novice riders can join rides with other novice riders, and the more advanced riders can join other groups and rides.
We strive to ensure that none of our guests feel bored or unsafe on their rides
Each year a growing number of guests from the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, Brazil and around the world come to The Hideout to learn the basics of riding and horsemanship and learn how to ride and how to handle horses the “right” way while enjoying this beautiful country and region on horseback.
You will learn there is the technical side to how to ride a horse and there is the horsemanship side of horseback riding, which is understanding how horses think, react, feel and communicate.
Groundwork, AH Horsemanship and Playing at Liberty Clinic
During most weeks of the season guests can attend one of Marijn’s clinics. Marijn is one of our owners, and her clinics are growing in popularity each year.
Both long-time experienced riders and riders new to horses are all taking away learnings from her clinics which are included in your stay at The Hideout.
Some guests wish to improve their riding skills so they can continue riding with confidence once they are back home.
That said The Hideout is not a clinic or training center, we are a guest ranch and riding destination focused on riding and horsemanship.
Helmets are Required for Children 14 Years of Age and Under
The Hideout Lodge & Guest Ranch offers a fun and safe riding experience. Our safety program requires all children 14 years of age and under to wear riding helmets.
Advanced, Intermediate and Novice Riders
Almost weekly we see friends, families, or couples, some of whom are novices, intermediate and advanced riders. We make sure they all have a great ranch vacation.
We have a string of horses that are bombproof and are the ideal beginner’s horses, and we also have many horses that provide safe and exciting rides for the more experienced riders.
During your stay at The Hideout, you will have the opportunity to experience different horses and not ride the same horse every day, depending on the availability of multiple horses that suit your riding skills.
Riding lessons are not part of our package. However, if you want to improve, our wranglers will be very happy to give you many pointers and instructions while riding out on the trails.
We make a difference between “understanding the horse” and “the technical ability to ride a horse”.
Understanding the basics of horsemanship will make you feel more comfortable being on and around the horse. This will enhance the learning environment and riding experience. It also makes it much more fun.
“It is refreshing to find a place where there is so much “girl power” among wranglers, management and owners. All these women and girls have such interesting stories to share and are so well-travelled”. – Hideout Guest
“Every ride felt safe, fun, interesting and memorable, whether you’re a beginner or experienced rider. And throughout the week, observing the other, more experienced riders and wranglers, I learned in a nice way that if these horses do not respond the way I wanted them to respond, it was not the horse, it was me. All these horses are well trained and if you know how to ride, they respond accordingly. This was a humiliating and incredible learning experience. Especially adding to this attending Marijn’s horsemanship clinic. I wish I would have learned and understood these things earlier.” – Hideout Guest
