When you are on a backpack holiday it is more challenging to arrange things. That's what for you pay for the travel agencies. Someone does the job for you.
Because we arrange our holidays on our own my first thing was to find a ranch on Crete. The second one was to solve out was there any nearby where we were going to stay. The third and biggest case was to find a ranch where they treat animals right and customers have been happy. It turn out a bit difficult because there was only few recommendations, evaluations, articles, reviews or anything about the ranches on Crete. I neither knew anyone who had been on a horse ride on Crete.
I found also Zoraida's Horse Riding ranch on the internet. It started to seem out the most promising one. I went through the pictures I found on web and few evaluations about the place. At the end I also changed several e-mails with Kristy who owns and runs the ranch. I could praise her character, kindness, service etc. a lot. But at the end it doesn't matter. It doesn't count how nice you are as person if you treat your animals wrong to make money with them. That's why I praise Kristy's knowledge, wisdom, experience and tenderness with all the animals, not only with horses. She really treats her animals right and natural way.
When I finally met Kristy (we had also transport service) without animals I immediately knew she was honest and lovable person who took care of many things. At the ranch I was happy to see how well the animals were taken care of. All she had told me was true. I like her ranch because on the tourist season the horses work but after it they go on a pasture over the winter. They live in pack both on ranch & pasture and are able to follow their natural behavior. Kristy has the same old horses for years so there is no tension between the animals nor people. Of course some grow too old and young ones come in but she adapts them all to the changes with care and time.They know their horses and their horses know them so they all form out a great working team to offer safe experience also for tourists. That's all you need to know to book your ride!
We also had mini-safari to Kournas Lake. It was a wonderful ride through the pastures, groves, villages, paths and over the hills up to the mountain until I got terrified. I first saw the Kournas Lake below us when got over the last hill. It seemed to be right there, for about 20 meters down hill. Then I understood all the boats, houses and streets were so tiny. We were really high! The view was stunning and a bit too steep for me! I hardly dared to look down! I am not afraid of high places but I am not used to so sharp and radical views. I am from Finland; the land of thousand lakes and swamps!
We really enjoyed both rides and our time at the ranch. This is a place where you can go even with smaller children. I can recommend Kristy's ranch Zoraida's Horse Riding for very one; beginners and advanced riders too. (Beach rides are not for beginners because it happens on public beach.) Just book it all beforehand and remember to be honest with your riding skills; in that way they can arrange it all best for you. I for example informed Kristy about our riding skills and experience and physical size so they can choose the horses better for us. But I also told about our wishes and what we do expect so that they can face our needs as well as possible. And of course we followed all the safety instructions we were given.
