Just back, Horseback riding Excursion in MR (Cabo) on our own
So we are back from our WONDERful MR cruise. (Sailed March 13) I’ll do a trip report prob but a lot of people were interested in excursions “on your own” so thought I’d give our experience.
Our family consists of myself (the Mom), my husband, my Son who just turned 6 and is in Kindergarten and my 11 year old daughter.
My kids really, really wanted to go horseback riding on the cruise. Disney has an offering but you have to be 12. That left out my 11 year old and certainly my 6 year old.
I researched and found http://www.cabosanlucastours.net/Horseback-Riding.htm which is Cabo San Lucas Tours by Johann & Sandra. They are a 3rd party broker. I booked through their website and prepaid with credit card.
The actual tour operator listed on our ticket said “Amigo Tours” and that was the name on the van that picked us up.
In short...We enjoyed the horseback riding in Cabo and would recommend it to others. We were a little nervous waiting for someone from Amigo to show up to pick us up and take us to the ranch. They were only 7 minutes late but being a worry wart…it was a stressful 7 minutes. Once retrieved, we were in a nice, late model, air conditioned van. We didn’t pay for a private ride but as it turned out…we were the only 4 on our ride.
The ride we picked was Trails of Baja. The price was 31.50 each (Adult or child)
Paste of official description below:
TRAILS OF THE BAJA
Experience a real working Mexican Rancho in Cabo San Lucas! In addition to horses, you can also meet the llamas, goats, chickens and other critters than call the ranch home. Your expert cowboy guide will match you with the right horse for you, and teach you how to mount and ride the horse.
Ride your healthy, well-trained horse from the ranch down through the arroyo seco (dry riverbed) where you will see various cacti like in an old Western film. Runs: Every Day
Start Times: Every Hour between 9:00 AM and Sunset
Duration: 1 Hour
Includes:
• 1 hour horseback riding tour
• Pick-up and Drop-off from cruise ship
• English Speaking Tour Guide
• Bottled Water
Be warned...the ranch is FAR from glamorous nor the surroundings. If you are looking for an "elegant" ride this isn't for you. It was a short ride to the “ranch.” I’d say, the ranch was cute for the kids. A big dog came and greeted us along with some hens. My kids liked that.
It was a dusty ‘Ol place very near the marina. Again, not impressive to look at…but we weren’t there for glamour…we were there to be Cowboys! LOL.
They matched us up to horses. My 11 year old and I are fairly experienced riders. I had a horse named Coyote and DD had a white horse named Paloma. Paloma was very pretty with braids in her hair. My DH got a horse named Superman. DS, who just turned 6, had Margarita, a very tame horse, and the guide rode with us and held DS's horse's reigns.
I was concerned about my 6 year old on his own horse, but the guide was very much “on top of it.” He rode right next to my son or in front of him and held my son’s horse reigns at all times. My son LOVED, LOVED it. Felt like such a big boy.
The whole family had a blast. DO wear long pants. Lots of brush and cactus with the potenial to scrape you up. (We came out fine. )
The guide was accommodating and the whole staff was very friendly. We rode down some trails and across a rode down to the beach. The guide stopped and took pictures of us all with the Wonder in the background behind us. We then left the beach and rode around the property, trails of the ranch. We rode for a full hour....around the cactus filled trails. At first we were in a line…kind of tail to tail. Once the guide realized that DD and I "knew what we were doing" (We are from Texas after all. Ha Ha) he allowed us to go ahead of the group and gallop and trot…and kind of do our own thing, and then we’d turn the horses around and come back and stay with the group. I very much appreciate his flexibility. Galloping with the wind in my hair was amazing.
After the hour ride…and it was a full hour…we dismounted the horses. Took pictures with our horses…and were encouraged to look around the ranch at all the “Critters.” M DD got a kick out of holding a goat in her arms….great picture! Also, a Mama horse had a 10 day old foal, so we enjoyed admiring her.
Again, not the prettiest of surroundings (This wasn’t a beach ride except for very briefly) but a very good value ($31.50 including round trip transport….what a steal) and it was a very memorable day!! Glad we did it. Very satisfied. My DD says it was her favorite excursion we did. (And we did 3 GREAT excursions…Whale Watching from a Pirate ship (also in Cabo) and a great All Inclusive in PV. (I’ll write about those later.)
We did tip 10%. The guide was great.
The ride back to the dock was also included and the van driver was very friendly and spoke perfect English. The vehicle was cold and very clean and late model... We also all recv'd free bottles of water in the van.
He dropped us off, right where they picked us up…by the marina near the Shopping.
Any questions, let me know.
An hour was perfect for us. Any more would have been ‘too much’ for my son and Husband. As it was, my DH was sore for a couple of days. The rest of us were fine.
I'm guessing this was the Buccaneer Queen? We did that excursion and had a great time!!!! Highly recommended. I'll keep an eye out for that report as I'd like to share a couple of things on that if you don't mind 
Had a great time and saw lots of whales with their babies. What a gorgeous ship!
but i've booked nothing yet. was your itinerary that had you in cabo 2 days... if so, did you do the horseback riding in the heat in the afternoon, was it okay?? thank you so much!!
