Alpe d'Huez Activity Review: 7th August 2009
Always on the lookout for new activities to try, I found myself horse riding this week in Alpe d’Huez. For many people – especially the outdoors types – this wouldn’t have been a particularly big deal. However, as mentioned before when I attempted mountain biking, I grew up in deepest darkest South East London, where the only horse you’d see was the clotheshorse on washing day. But I felt pretty confident about the whole thing; after all you just sit there and hold the reins, right?
On arrival at the stables, which are on the road up to Lac Besson, I started to think I’d made a bit of a mistake. The French aren’t always known for their health and safety legislation of small businesses like this and we weren’t given any instructions, despite explaining it was my first time on a horse. We were issued with helmets and ushered into the ring to be allocated horses. Thankfully we’d opted for the hour-long group ride, along with ten other amateurs and three guides from the school.
The Boyfriend was quick to volunteer himself for the first horse; an old, docile beast who looked on the verge of retirement, gazing out through disinterested eyes. I took the second, who was described as calm and forgiving. Brilliant! But once I’d clambered onto his back – watching some of the others for the right technique – I started to think I hadn’t understood the description correctly.
My horse loved to heckle the others, making them neigh and back-up alarmingly fast. We were told off a few times and I started to curse myself for failing to be completely fluent in French equestrian terminology.
Once we got started though, my fears were allayed. It turns out that my horse was all mouth and no trousers. Well they do say that horses resemble their riders. Within a few minutes of leaving the stables, I’d affectionately named him Pig Face, as he was far more interested in stopping to chew the grass and flowers than keep up with the group. From my place at the back, I had a great view of the other horses and the scenery though.
We took the footpath up towards the lakes and made a circuit close to Lac Besson. Thankfully our two horses remained calm the entire time, which is more than could be said for us. Over recent weeks I’ve become very used to being strapped into a harness, with the climbing and via ferratas, so it felt very odd to be perched on the horse with nothing but my inner thighs and hands to hold me steady. But once I got used to the sensation of being at the mercy of a horse, I did start to relax and enjoy myself.
I’m only 5’4” so being high on a horse gave me a totally different perspective of the mountains. The added height also made it scarier when the horse occasionally slipped on the path or decided to head-off at a tangent down a steep slope. But the guides were great and kept an eye on all the horses. There were a couple of instances of the other horses got spooked and reared-up, but the riders coped well and the horses were thoroughly good-natured. Unless you’re a competent rider, I’d say it’s best to play-down your experience to ensure you get gentle horses like ours.
Before this horse-riding experience, I was desperate to go on the overnight adventure from Les Deux Alpes which includes two days’ riding and sleeping out under the stars. Now I’ve discovered I’ll need a little more practice before I attempt that one! It took my legs a day or two to recover and I think I’d want to guarantee the same horse before setting off again.
Horse riding in Alpe d’Huez and Les Deux Alpes costs 20€ per hour and you can choose sessions of one hour, three hours or more. Both stables are family businesses and you’ll need to go along in person to book, with payment taken in advance.
