There’s nothing better than being able to go on holiday and still do the thing you love most, especially if that thing is horse riding. Luckily, there are some incredible riding holidays that you can experience that will take you to far-flung destinations and exotic locations. Here’s a roundup of some of the most exciting horse-riding holidays and holiday destinations in the world.

Explore the Beauty of the Camargue

The Camargue region in the South of France is renowned for being a place of natural beauty and one of the most popular European destinations for equestrians, no doubt due to the wild horses that roam through the heather here. Riding holiday specialists In the Saddle (www.inthesaddle.com) run a marvelous seven-night trail-riding holiday, which begins in Marseille before heading to the ancient village of Lauris where you’ll meet your equine companion. The trail itself takes you across the delta with its pink flamingos, through plenty of fortified medieval villages, traverses the Alpilles mountains and ends deep in Provence and the Rhône Valley.

Experience Rural Rajasthan

Whether as a riding holiday or not, India is one of the most exotic destinations that we are lucky enough to be able to visit, but the experience is even more special when done so on horseback. Exploring the deserts of Rajasthan from the saddle sounds like a dream come true for any rider with an adventurous spirit, and thanks to Wix Squared (www.wixsquared.com), it can be a reality.

The company runs a seven-night itinerary, which is tailor-made to suit different riding abilities. You can expect to spend at least three days on a riding safari in Rajasthan, traveling via the local horse breed Marwari and discovering this fascinating part of the country.

Read more: The World’s Most Exciting Horse-Riding Holidays

by SoaringRaven

No one really knows how these old hobby horses got here, but the herd keeps growing.

On a small slice of wide-open pasture in the town of Lincoln, Massachusetts, broken-down rocking horses, plastic ponies and other assorted horse toys have been holding court. As if by magic, ponies have been proliferating along this winding country road, resulting in the peculiar “Ponyhenge”.

The plastic and metal horses started arriving anonymously sometime in 2010, with the placement of a lone hobby horse along picturesque Old Sudbury Road, about 15 miles west of Boston. How and why the rusty little fellow appeared is a mystery, even to Lincolnites who’ve been around a while. One story has the first horse hanging around after a kids’ short-lived lemonade stand, another that he was left over from a Christmas display.

Read more: Ponyhenge

by Kurt Schlosser

We’ve seen his lucky cowboy boots kicked up against the side of a Blue Origin crew capsule, and now Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has actually hopped aboard another mode of transportation to show off his Western chops.

Bezos was captured on New Year’s Eve in Aspen, Colo., riding a horse into a Western apparel store called Kemo Sabe. In a short video on Instagram, the shop said, “Now that’s how you make an entrance!” before adding that the world’s richest person “looked pretty damn good on a horse.”

Read more: Buckaroo Bezos: Amazon CEO Looks Giddy as He Rides Horse into Western Store in Colorado

by J. Keeler Johnson

The letter was dated Aug. 29, 1919, and signed with a plain, unassuming signature. No mention was made of the writer’s rank as a colonel in the U.S. Army, or of his decorated service during World War I. To the contrary, on that day, the man who would eventually gain lasting fame as Gen. George S. Patton was unconcerned with his own status and more concerned with that of the five young Thoroughbreds he was seeking to register with The Jockey Club.

For the majority of Americans, Patton is most recognizable as a key commander of the U.S. Army throughout World War II, where he played a major role in leading troops to reclaim France and Germany. But among horse people, Patton is equally recognized for his lifelong love of equines. Besides playing polo, Patton spent much of his military career in the cavalry branch of the U.S. Army and played a key role in the famous rescue of the Lipizzaner breed during World War II, an event detailed in the bestselling book “The Perfect Horse” by Elizabeth Letts and featured in the 1963 Walt Disney film “Miracle of the White Stallions.”

Patton’s love for horses literally extended to the end of his life. When the general fractured his spine in an ultimately fatal car collision at the end of 1945, “The Perfect Horse” details that Patton’s initial concern was whether he would recover sufficiently to ride again. When he passed away less than two weeks later, his funeral honored him with a ceremonial riderless horse carrying Patton’s saddle and boots.

Read more: Gen. George S. Patton: Thoroughbred Breeder?

Get ready to saddle up, Westchester and Fairfield. With the Old Salem Farm Spring Horse Shows having taken place this May in North Salem, horse enthusiasts and local residents alike had the chance to experience one of the region's premier equestrian events.

Equally as exciting as the on-field competition was the host venue; Old Salem Farm sits on 120 manicured riding acres and contains a 67-stall barn, complete with luxury accommodations. Old Salem Farm hosts shows throughout the year, including the American Gold Cup in September, which is also sponsored by Douglas Elliman Real Estate. The shows offer a uniquely Westchester viewing experience.

Looking for your own home on the range, but prefer to stay in the New York area? Elliman is currently showcasing several equestrian properties that allow owners the chance to kick up dirt during the day without sacrificing magnificence at night.

Read more: Head To The Country With These Equestrian Estates

by Melinda Folse

No matter how much we “Battle of the Bulge” veterans lament the extra pounds that plague us, the flip side of this problem is also one that has also been around for as long as anyone can remember. I know it’s hard to imagine for those of us who tend to fret about excess ballast, but there is another extreme of body image woes that are just as destructive to self-concept, both in and out of the saddle.

Despite the alarming statistics on obesity brought to us by our friends at the Center for Disease Control, an equally legitimate concern comes from society’s superficial obsession with being thin. Ironically, this extreme of body image issues—the obsession with “lightness”—is also a longtime resident in the horse world among jockeys whose livelihoods depend on a tiny profile, as well in show rings in disciplines whose traditions demand a willowy build. Eating disorders, starvation, and all the health-related illnesses that tend to arise from long-term deprivation of essential nutrients are not news to those in these worlds.

And now, even as obesity has continued its upward spiral for more than three consecutive decades, this mentality has filtered down to prey upon a growing number of girls and women feeling an ugly new pressure to be “show thin.” The barn, which for most of us is a no-makeup, bad-hair-day safety zone, has become, for some, a place of socially-driven body scrutiny, negative comparisons, and body angst that is spawning self-loathing, eating disorders, and self-esteem issues that can last a lifetime. Beyond the anxieties we all share over whether our riding breeches make our buttocks look like, as my grandmother used to say, “two pigs fighting under a blanket” (just try to get that dressing room image out of your mind. I challenge you), this is a real problem, and it’s hurting people.

Read more: “Show Thin”: Battling Sizism in the Horse Industry

By Dominique Barbier and Keron Psillas, Photographs by Keron Psillas.

I heard the name Mestre Nuno Oliveira in 1991, when I rode in my first clinic with Dominique Barbier. As the years passed and the clinics became more or less frequent, my knowledge of French classical dressage expanded, as did the mystique around the name Nuno Oliveira.

I read Reflections on Equestrian Art and then moved on to texts from de La Guérinière, The Duke of Newcastle, Baucher, and others. All the time I was working to understand how to apply these principles to my limited ability with my own horses.

In my mind’s eye I would even try to envision what it must have been like to be tucked away in Portugal, at the edge of the European continent, and yet, have the world coming to you to watch, to ride, to learn. I was imagining and dreaming of a Lusitano that would make my struggles to achieve lightness disappear.

Many years would pass until a fairytale-brought-to-life had me living in Portugal. I was still a dedicated student of Dominique and Debra Barbier’s teaching, visiting them often in California, and by this time (2011), I was also traveling to Brazil, Europe, and all over the United States to photograph (and sometimes even ride!) Lusitanos.

Living in Portugal has given me a much more nuanced understanding of the impact of Mestre Oliveira’s teaching. He is discussed, of course, around the lunch and dinner tables of riders, breeders, and aficionados of dressage and the Lusitano horse. These discussions go on for hours!

As the years pass there are fewer students alive, but I am lucky to be able to hear the stories first-hand. A few will argue that Oliveira’s legacy is being lost. And then the majority will speak up and disagree. My voice is added at that time.

Read more: Nuno Oliveira: A Man Possessed

By Richard N. Velotta / Las Vegas Review-Journal

It must be rodeo season in Las Vegas. Operators of the 1,000-room Plaza in Las Vegas made a bid to reclaim downtown’s western heritage Tuesday by officially opening Core Arena, downtown’s first permanent outdoor equestrian center.

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman and 2017’s 13th-ranked rodeo cowboy Matt Shiozawa presided over a ribbon-cutting event for the facility opening two days before the start of the 10-day 2018 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo at the Thomas & Mack Center and a day before a downtown hoedown on Fremont Street.

The new facility will feature two outdoor arenas for roping practice and exercise during NFR. After the rodeo concludes, the Plaza’s equestrian center will become the city’s newest outdoor event venue which operators say will diversify the downtown experience and attract more business and people downtown year-round.

Read more: Permanent Equestrian Center Opens in Downtown Las Vegas

by Madeleine Aggeler

Earlier this week, the world received this small blessing: Liam Neeson said that on the set of his new Coen Brothers movie, The Ballad of Buster Scurggs, one of the sweet, majestic horses actors remembered him from the set of a previous movie.

“I play a traveling impresario. We filmed in New Mexico. The odd thing is the horse who pulls my wagon knew me,” he told the crowd at the New York Film Festival, according to Cindy Sherman at “Page Six.”

“You won’t believe it. I’m saying this horse knew me. He actually remembered me from another Western we made a while back.”

How did Neeson know the horse, presumably a very good boy, remembered him? “He whinnied when he saw me, and pawed the ground.” Ah.

Shortly after “Page Six” published the story, Russell Crowe chimed in on Twitter, saying that he’s had two horses remember him over the course of his acting career — George and Rusty — whom he describes as “lifelong friends”.

Read more: Talking to an Expert About Liam Neeson’s Horse Friend