Experience iconic New York City sights on a private horse-drawn carriage ride through Central Park and Fifth Avenue’s twinkling lights while your driver provides an educational narrative.
Bronx Equestrian Center can be found at Pelham Bay Park and provides lessons, trail rides, and horse care activities during summer camp.
New York Equestrian Center
New York City offers several horseback riding opportunities for children and adults alike. Multiple stables provide lessons, guided trail rides and grooming services, and therapeutic services to accommodate riders with disabilities – prices typically vary, but most are affordable.
The New York Equestrian Center (NYEC) is an upscale full-service equestrian facility that provides riding lessons and horse training in a relaxed atmosphere. NYEC instructors are experienced and certified across various disciplines; classes may be scheduled individually, or group lessons can be arranged – private lessons are recommended for beginners, but semi-private and group options are also available.
This farm is dedicated to strengthening the human-horse bond, offering quality programs for students of every age and ability. Their staff – including trainers Audrey Feldman, Courtney Clark, Dina Surace, Morgan Dalkhe, and barn manager/office manager Mary Houston – strive to create an open atmosphere.
Stables offers English and Western riding lessons year-round in their indoor and outdoor arenas and provides programs for children and adults, including an English/Western summer camp for children aged 5-15 with daily riding lessons.
At this beautiful facility in Westchester County, private and group riding lessons are offered in an indoor ring and the trails of Forest Park. Lessons take place inside the indoor circle and outdoors along Forest Park trails, where several horses reside at this facility that specializes in private and group classes for riders of all ages and birthday parties, carriage rides, and pony rides.
Rockaway Equestrian Centre provides an ideal escape from city life, offering expansive grounds and a huge barn to make this exceptional destination. Their instructors are highly qualified horseback riding teachers dedicated to developing all levels of students riding horses.
This equestrian center is well-renowned for its expert instructors and friendly horses and for offering an abundance of activities to their students. They also host many special events throughout the year.
Jamaica Bay Riding Academy
Since the 1970s, this family-operated horse riding center has allowed visitors to hop aboard and gallop down local paths. Situated within Gateway National Wildlife Preserve and provides trail rides through wooded trails and along beachfront areas, lessons, boarding, and summer camp sessions are also offered here. Additionally, there is an outdoor arena measuring 160x325ft with an indoor ring for practice sessions.
Jake Danza owns and maintains 80 horses at this facility in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park stables, including Silver Palace. They are trained for show and trail riding under his supervision, with a 3.5-mile bridle path available to riders for use by them. Events hosted at this facility include birthday party pony rides, equestrian competitions, and pony birthday parties for birthday celebrations or competitions.
Maria is a graduate student at Molloy College who has competed in USEF horse shows since she was five. Her passion for riding extends into helping young riders meet their potential within this sport; Maria is also an experienced instructor offering instruction for various levels of riding students.
At this Westchester facility, guests can take private and group lessons and visit the farm to watch horse shows or buy and sell horses. Summer camps and birthday party options are also offered at reasonable rates – prices vary, and credit cards are accepted here.
This family-run stable sits on an idyllic 400-acre tract of wooded trails and beachfront land. Open for over three decades, they serve students of all ages and skill levels with experienced instructors in an Olympic-sized dressage arena, full tack shop, lounge area, and an Olympic-sized dressage arena for dressage competition.
This equestrian center’s owner has over two decades of experience, and the American Riding Instructor Association has granted them accreditation. They offer both English and Western riding lessons year-round with private and group lessons priced by the hour – training includes horsemanship training! In addition, horse sales, boarding services, and birthday party packages are also provided here.
GallopNYC
GallopNYC is a nonprofit that employs horsemanship to empower children and adults living with autism, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Their therapeutic riding lessons offer life-changing benefits for each rider and are conducted by PATH International certified instructors assisted by volunteers; classes focus on developing riding and ground skills to build independence, confidence, coordination, strength, and flexibility.
Regular riding sessions help riders form emotional connections with horses while learning to communicate, connect, focus, behave, and live life to its fullest. Riders also develop a greater sense of self-worth and gain the ability to overcome challenges more easily. GallopNYC also offers therapeutic riding scholarships for children and adults with disabilities participating in its programs.
The organization boasts four locations in New York City – two in Brooklyn and two in Queens. They host an annual horse show using both their horses and those from other stables; additionally, they run a hippotherapy program and collaborate with mental health professionals. They welcome volunteers to assist with tasks like leading them and helping riders get on and off.
Noah, an inquisitive nine-year-old with an affinity for horses, has been taking riding lessons with GallopNYC for almost one year. At his first lesson, he tried to bolt from Leslie Lewis’ PATH International certified instruction, but she managed to convince him otherwise, and step by step, his confidence has grown while on horseback.
GallopNYC offers programs to benefit children and adults with disabilities, including hippotherapy, an equestrian team, and veterans’ leadership programs. Each year, they host an on-site horse show for students to showcase their talent and summer camps and volunteer opportunities for adults. Potential riders must undergo ground and saddle physical assessments to qualify for GallopNYC classes.
Van Cortlandt Park Stables
Van Cortlandt Park Stables are a historic horse stable located in the Bronx. Offering guided group trail rides and private lessons for people aged 13+ for an additional fee, 30-minute lessons cost $90 with reduced prices available to children under 13 (riding can start as young as $25). Accessed from Manhattan via subway train #11, they also host Mosholu Golf Learning Center, which was named after Jacobus Van Cortlandt, who owned this land back in the 18th century.
Riverdale Equestrian Center (REC) oversees Riverdale Park’s equestrian facilities, but new concessionaires are taking over with an ambitious neighborhood-centric plan. Scott Tarter and Elizabeth have signed a 10-year agreement with the city to run REC; their goal is to expand lessons and pony rides for children while investing $250,000 into improvements—housing two Parks Police horses as well as providing after-school programs and summer camps—something Riverdale Equestrian Center had long struggled to offer.
Flying Manes Therapeutic Riding Center, a Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International (PATH) member center, provides horseback riding lessons and activities for people with physical, cognitive, and emotional challenges such as autism. Flying Manes prioritizes core values such as safety, respect, recognition, independence, and growth within its 21-acre facility in Van Cortlandt Park, with indoor and outdoor arenas and direct access to trails within this park.
GallopNYC offers seven-day-a-week group and private trail rides for riders over 13 years of age; private lessons cost $90 per person. GallopNYC operates two facilities in New York – Prospect Park and Van Cortlandt Park – providing services such as Hippotherapy (equine-assisted therapy for people with disabilities) and therapeutic riding programs to people suffering from mental illness or developmental disability.
