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Last Update: 06 Aug 2010

Riding Holidays | Missouri

Missouri is one of the ‘Great Plains’ States in the Midwest of the USA. It is situated between eight other States including Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, and Arkansas. Horse riding is very popular and there are quite a few ranches offering Dude ranch vacations in Missouri, or riding holidays at resort ranches in Missouri. These ranch holidays mainly provide western riding holidays with daily trail rides into the surrounding hills and across river valleys. A few ranches specialise in natural horsemanship and here guests are able to work with horses on the ground as well as riding, learning different handling techniques.

There are horse riding stables throughout Missouri participating in all riding disciplines, from dressage, show jumping and eventing, to polo, endurance riding and western reining. Many Missouri equestrian establishments offer English riding lessons and allow visitors who are staying in the nearby area to book individual riding lessons or hacks.

Missouri has its own breed of horse, called the Missouri Fox Trotter. This horse breed was developed by farmers in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri, wishing to have a comfortable riding horse, surefooted and able to cope with the steep terrain. The Missouri Fox Trotter was produced by crossing bloodlines from American Saddlebreds, Standardbreds, Tennessee Walkers, Arabs, Morgans and Thoroughbreds. It is famous for its unique ‘Fox Trot’, a four beat diagonal gait which is not high stepping like some other gaited breeds and is very comfortable for the rider. Missouri Fox Trotters also have good stamina and a kind temperament, making them an ideal trail riding horse.

The Ozark Mountains in the east of the State are a great destination for a Missouri trail riding holiday. Explore seemingly endless highland forest trails on horseback and enjoy wildlife viewing, riding past pretty rivers and meadows. These mountains are also known for their limestone caves and sinkholes. Central and western Missouri are covered by the Great Plains, huge fertile prairies, known for agricultural crop farming and livestock raising, not to mention all the horse farms! The great Missouri and Mississippi rivers run through the middle of the State.

We are always looking for new riding destinations and regularly update the information on this site. If you have information about horse riding or trail rides in Missouri please do contact us.

Getting to Missouri is easy with international airports in Kansas city and St. Louis. Missouri has a temperate continental climate with warm humid summers and very cold winters, often with snow.