We had heard horror stories of how some horses were treated badly and were undernourished, so we warily booked this trip, in complete readiness to cancel if we found the horses were not treated well upon delivery.
The front desk called us when the horses were ready, and upon showing up, we were a little surprised. I was expecting a good-size horse, but these were very short and stocky horses. They were not undernourished, but my feet were only 2 feet off the ground when I got on.
We took a trail that went up on the outside of the primary forest. Our guide didn’t speak English, so we had to make do with the little Spanish we knew. We did OK, but if you don’t know any Spanish, you will need to make sure your guide does. The trip was interesting, but not very adventurous.
Most of what we saw was wide, open spaces cleared by logging and farming. We went around the edges of the forest so we could see and hear the animals, but only saw some birds, nests, and cattle. Unfortunately, being a preserve, they do not allow the horses into the primary forest.
We crossed some pretty shaky bridges and that was very exciting, but all in all, I would recommend taking a guided walking tour of the forest rather than a horseback ride.
Of note, however, was a wonderful swimming hole where we passed with about 50 Costa Ricans. It was on the dirt road, off the main road, and east of the lodge. Though we didn’t stop, it looked like a wonderful place to get in the water and mingle with the locals.
The ride was of a good length, and we did stop and let the horses rest for about 20 minutes.
I would recommend this for families with children, as the horses were well behaved and pretty gentle to ride.