I made a kissing sound while simultaneously hitting my leg against the side of the horse’s body and suddenly suddenly the horse just started running.
A few seconds later, the horse was galloping across an open field in the middle of Costa Rica, ona cliff side near to the Sarapiquí River.
I expected it to feel unstable and terrifying, but strangely, the faster the horse went, the smoother the ride felt. It almost felt like the horse was gliding just above the ground.
Horseback riding in Sarapiquí ended up being one of my favorite adventure activities from my Costa Rica trip.
I did the tour at Hacienda Pozo Azul while staying at a nearby eco lodge in the Río Cuarto area. It was my first proper horseback ride since I was a child, so I was basically starting from scratch.
The guides taught us how to control the horses before we entered the trail, and within a short time I was riding through rainforest, crossing muddy trails, climbing hills and eventually galloping through open fields. I was shocked by how responsive these horses were to every command and physical movement I made.
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Where I went Horseback Riding in Costa Rica
I stayed at an eco lodge in the Rio Cuarto area, a place called Hotel Del Bosque. I looked for adventure activities near me first and this location came up. Hacienda Pozo Azul is the name of the rainforest lodge. It offers other activities as well such as, whitewater rafting, hiking tours, canopy tours. rappel tours, a restaurant and hotel rooms if you want to stay here.
This area is so crazy and teeming with life; as soon as you enter the lodge area you can look up and you see sloths in the trees, birds of all colors, poison dart frogs all about. You hear monkeys in the forest nearby while at the same time everything is slightly muted by the rapids rolling down the river.
There is also accommodation and a restaurant, so you could technically stay there and do several activities without constantly traveling back and forth. That convenience was one of the reasons I liked the area so much.
Instead of driving somewhere just to ride horses for a couple of hours, the entire property felt built around outdoor adventure.
Meeting the Horses and our guide
A short walk from the main building and lobby area is the horse pasture. There is a ringed area to gather all the horses and for visitors to get accustomed to them and to learn how to do horseback riding. This was my first time doing proper horseback riding since I was a child. Each of the horses had a unique name given to them due to a unique feature. So, the black and white one was called pepper, while the largest was called “Trabador”, which means worker in English.
The stable hand, who’s in charge of the horses and who also conducted this entire tour with another guy, used this time to train us how to command the horses. It was really fun learning all the different commands and seeing how accurately responsive the horses are to the slightest movement and sound. It was as if I was playing a video game. I pull the reigns back the horse stops, I tilt it left or right the horse turns in that direction, I make a clicking noise and tap my legs together around the horse and it goes faster. Incredible.
So, we set off on this horseback adventure starting off from the eco lodge and first have to cross a large canopy bridge. There were 7 of us and we all had to basically walk in a straight line to not take up the entire carriage way.
Starting the horseback riding adventure
One of the first things we had to do was cross a large bridge. Because we were traveling as a group, everyone basically stayed in a straight line instead of spreading across the road.
The first part of the ride went along roads for around 10 minutes before we eventually turned away from them and started heading into more forested areas. That was when the ride started feeling much more like the rainforest horseback adventure I had imagined.
At some points in the beginning I truly felt like i was going to fall over and I’ll have to push against the saddle with my arms to keep balanced. But after about 15 minutes or so, I lost that fear and it was pretty comfortable till the end.
Riding through the rainforest
I was excited to get into the forest, because it made me feel immersed in the old time ways and I felt like I was in a video game or something. There were sections of forest for about 20 minutes then back onto open fields, then more forests again and so on.
One minute we were surrounded by trees and vegetation, and a little while later we would ride into a large open field. There were also streams and rivers on this trail. Sometimes the horses would stop and lower their heads to drink.
Other times they would simply decide that a patch of grass looked interesting and start eating while we were supposed to be moving.
It was funny because no matter how trained they were, they were still horses with their own personalities.
Learning to ride up and down hills
The trail wasn’t at all flat. There were sections of hills and mounds in deep mud that we had to trek through. The guide taught us how to lean our bodies to make it easier for the horses to go uphill and downhill. When the horse went uphill, we leaned forward and when it went downhill, we leaned backward. I’m a heavy guy, so I tried my best to help the horse out as much as possible. This helps distribute the weight.
I visited Costa Rica in November, so the ground was wet and muddy all over. Some sections of the trail looked difficult enough that I wouldn’t have wanted to walk through them myself. But, the horses didn’t seem bothered at all. They somehow knew exactly where to put their feet. Almost as if they did this tour trail hundreds of other times before.
They stepped around holes, over branches, through mud and across uneven sections of the trail without hesitation.
Galloping through the open fields
While some people with us were scared to ride faster than a crawl, I loved when the horse would gallop. The most exciting part of the ride were when we rode through large open fields.
Once the guides were comfortable with us and we had enough space, we could make the horses actually run. This was where I finally got to experience what it felt like to gallop.
At first I thought faster would mean more unstable and I’d probably fall off. I imagined bouncing around uncontrollably and feeling like I was about to fall off. But it was actually the opposite. When the horse starts to run, it glides without bouncing up and down. It felt like the horse was gliding across the field.
This was easily the most adrenaline-pumping part of the horseback ride for me.
How much did it cost
This journey all cost a total of $57 USD per person. There are also combos you can do for the day of all the activities offered.
What to wear for horseback riding in Sarapiqui
I will recommend wearing any long sleeved top and long pants with regular hiking or running shoes. Jeans is perfectly fine for pants. If you ever come down from the horse at all it might be really wet and muddy so if you don’t want to ruin your good shoes you can just wear some boots or water shoes that can easily rinse off after. On the trail you’re going to be brushing by some twigs and branches sometimes that can scrape you up good. So any clothing that covers you up is fine. They will also give you a helmet to wear which is mandatory.
Where is Sarapiqui located
Sarapiquí is in northwestern Costa Rica and is the largest area in the Heredia province. The main town, Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí, is about 86 kilometers from San José, Costa Rica’s capital. That’s roughly a two-hour drive heading north and a bit east from the Central Valley. Sarapiquí is also close to La Fortuna, a popular tourist spot near the Arenal Volcano, just 74 kilometers away, or about an hour’s drive.
The Horseback riding rainforest adventure was an incredible experience from start to finish! The staff at Hacienda Pozo Azul were absolutely wonderful, knowledgeable, friendly, fun, and always attentive to both riders and horses. Their playfulness and willingness to teach made it really fun and easy to do. The horses were fantastic as well. They were well-trained, responsive, and they weren’t scary to ride. Every moment was memorable, from riding to the sounds of nature in the morning to having a relaxing lunch afterwards. It was the perfect blend of excitement and relaxation. I can’t recommend this tour enough.
