Activities

Vaulting and induction to horse riding

(from the age of 4)

Equestrian vaulting is a discipline that puts together gymnastics and equitation .

In a typical lesson, lasting 2 hours, children deal with floor exercises, attempts on the vaulting horse, and then on the horse itself, led by the instructor with a longe (a sort of long rope).

This specific mix of activities is ideal for absolute beginners of any equestrian discipline, since they can learn how to approach horse in a safe way, how to brush and saddle it, they can train all muscles and gain self-confidence and balance on horse's back. The basic skills of a good rider!

Furthermore, vaulting is a team discipline, very good to socialize and learn cooperation. Expert athletes help beginners do the first exercises, so you can join the lessons anytime, without worrying about your own ability!

Individual and group riding lessons

(from the age of 6)

Donkey Ranch staff will guide you in the fascinating world of horse riding, from first steps to the control of the three horse gaits.

Children will test themselves with dressage and groundwork fundamentals, gimkanas and pony games. Adults, instead, will learn how to be confident enough to enjoy amazing horse-back trips in the country.

The duration of each lesson is about 1 hour, including the teaching of horse management: how to warm up before the lesson, how to cool down after the work, etc.

Riding lessons have multiple purposes, not limited to the rider's technical preparation: we would like all riders to learn as much as possible about horse's needs and how to respect it, and to consider it as a friend and a companion in adventure!

Horse-back trips and trekking

(from the age of 14)

Riding centre surroundings offer plenty of possibilities to immerse in free nature with our favourite pets.

Our Ride Escorts will accompany members into pleasant trips, adjusting the difficulty level on the skills of each rider.

Once you have learnt how to guide and control your horse, taking part to riding lessons, it will be exciting and relaxing to explore the countryside in the different seasons.

The paths develop into nice woods, vineyards and lawns, with some chance to speed up the gait.

Among the places to visit near here, we can ride to the Romanesque "Madonna della Neve" church in Castell'Alfero, the house ("Ciabot") where the popular mask Gianduja used to live, and the deconsecrated St. Andrew's church in Valmanera.

At Donkey Ranch we take care of your horse as we do with ours. Since we live here 24 hours a day, we can look after our animals frequently and feed them in a better way.

Since we have plenty of space, primarily we offer accomodation in paddocks with an awning and an automatic drinking trough: this solution allows horses to live permanently outside, among their counterparts, free to move, run, lay down, roll over anytime they like, being more calm and relaxed. But we also provide a more "classical" service, bringing your horse to the paddock in the daytime and taking it back to the stable at night, where it will find a straw or wood shavings bedding and an automatic drinking trough.

During certain periods, it is also possible to make use of pastures, to add fresh grass to horse's nutrition.

Members who own a horse can use all the centre's facilities, such as:

a heated club house with bar
a changing room with shower and personal lockers
a saddle room to store their own equipment
two riding grounds (45x30 m and 40x20 m)
a round pen (16 m diameter)
a 400-m-long training track, ideal to improve your horse's stamina

... and lots of enthusiast people like you!

Parties

Do you want to celebrate your birthday or an anniversary surrounded by the nature and the animals?

Donkey Ranch will provide you gazebos, tables, chairs, a barbecue, two playgrounds for children, and all the support you need to set up the area with garlands and balloons.

We offer all the children a first riding experience with ponies or horses, or other guided activities with donkeys too (upon request).

Bring your favourite party food and beverages, and let us do the rest!

Educational activities for schools and groups

From April to October we organize instructive days for children and other people interested in the horses' and donkeys' world (on reservation).

Activities for schools
Schools may choose to reserve one or more educational days, to let the pupils learn about donkeys' and horses' traits and needs, up to trying personally to take care of them under our supervision.

As an alternative, we can activate a promotional sport project, with a series of activities to approach horse riding.

Activities for groups

Associations, groups of friends, families... Anyone can reserve their educational day at Donkey Ranch, to satisfy their curiosity about donkeys and horses, and spend some hours in the farmer's shoes!

It's been quite a long way since we were born in 2016, and there's a long road ahead! We work hard every day to offer our members better services and new exciting activities.

Here are some of our plans for the future:

expand the training track
install a covering over the 40x20 m riding ground
develop the Animal Assisted Interventions with donkeys
organize touristic and promotional events, of course with our animals
create a little guidebook of horse riding routes around here, to help our members have beautiful trips.

Stay tuned for all updates!

IMPORTANT - Only members who are up to date with the payment of the membership fee are admitted to the activities . The membership fee provides an insurance with injuries and third part liability guarantees. Educational activities can be offered to non-member people: in this case, a commercial invoice will be issued. About horse-back trips, please note that Italian regulations don't allow children younger than 14 years old to lead an animal out of private areas (in this case: the riding centre), so we will not accompany children out of our properties.

Activities

Horse riding

Stable

Educational activities

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