One thing was certain: My youngest daughter was not coming back from Hawaii without riding a horse.

Horseback rides were one option I reeled off when listing possible activities at Turtle Bay, and once she got the idea in her head, she didn’t let it go. She told strangers about it; she talked about it on the plane and every day after that. I was going to have to come through.

Luckily, Turtle Bay maintains an expansive stable. Guests can book group or private rides on trails that follow the property’s gorgeous shoreline. It’s also the site of a weekly luau that pays homage to Hawaii’s ranching and cowboy, or paniolo, history. 

For the kid, I booked the Pony Ride Experience, a $55, 30-minute activity that includes the chance to meet and groom a pony, then take a short, guided ride on the beach trail.

Long pants and closed-toed shoes are recommended; the stables provided us with a kid-sized helmet. Then our guide introduced us to the gentle pony Lili and gave us tips on how to care for her. My daughter, who had looked forward to this moment for weeks, got a little shy, but she gently brushed Lili, combed her mane, patted and talked to her and eventually gave her a full-on neck hug. Lili, who has probably been hugged by hundreds of keikis, took it in stride.

The pony experience maxes out at age 6, and since my daughter is on the older end, our guide let her ride Buster, a smaller-but-still-big horse. Once they were off, her grin stretched from one side of the helmet to the other. It faded when she tried to feed Buster a post-ride carrot, but in her defense, horses’ teeth do look big, even to grown-ups.

For kids ages 7 and up, a two-hour, $275 Horsemanship 101 class goes further, letting them practice basic skills in a riding pen. I fear this activity may result in my kid begging for lessons or a horse of her own (but hey, my parents never bought me a horse, either!). But maybe we’ll take the chance next time we’re back on Oahu. 

Source: Read Full Article