Meanwhile, back on the ranch

Some mornings are defined pretty much by singular events, most times simple things. Take a look for instance at one of my peacocks. He’s just had his morning feed, well after the rest of the farm birds have left for their property stroll, and he has no intention of pecking after bugs nor green shoots.

It was a pretty wet night for him setting there high in his tree in last nights thunderstorm, and now he’s just waiting for the morning sun to break out over the trees.
Just looking at him preen makes me feel a bit better about things.
Yeh! May the sun always shine.

It has been quite awhile since I’ve had the time to update this page - however the excuses I could give really aren’t worth putting in print.

Here’s the drift on some aspects of the farm life.

We still have six horses at the Looking Out Stables, but our oldest mare Madonna had to be euthanised. She’s given up her stall to Nutsy, our new Number Six.
Nutsy is not a racehorse. He may have had a grandfather who may have lived near to a racetrack, but that’s about as close as I can make it. He’s a bit short when seen standing near to our other horses, but what he lacks in height he certainly makes up in character.

Looking Out Riding Stables are a small operation catering to holiday riders, novice riders, and persons wanting to get into that particular frame of mind that comes from doing something active. The owners are Kay (bosslady) and Bertrand (me).

We have six horses now, some young, some not so young, but all quite capable of doing what we ask of them during our treks. Our geldings are named Indian, Ferry, Kampai, and Little Man. The mares are Smoochin and Madonna.

We do basically two kinds of horseback ride - The hillside rides and the ride to the beaches. Tobago does not offer wide open spaces for miles and miles of trekking so we sort of retrace the steps of the old farm roads, or walk along those trails where plantation owners rode to survey their estates.

Our hiIlside rides are about two hours long, covering close to five km and wanders along ridges, it offers views of the Scarborough harbor, and of both east and west coastlines.

The beach rides are great for the horse rider who can hold a canter, would like to swim with the horses and may want to explore both the StoneHaven and Turtle Beaches. This ride takes most of the morning. You will be picked up at 7.00 AM and you’ll be back in your room at 11.30 or so.

We have been taking out hacks for well on to seven years now, almost daily as it were. We think we can offer good hacks to almost anyone, but there are some situations where we harbor reservations. These situations are mainly in respect to heavy persons, and to unprepared kids.

Our horses can handle persons who weigh under 13.5 stone / 189lbs / 85kg as the case may be. Kids who can ride are welcome. Kids who love horses, and who have spent time near horses, but cannot ride are welcome too.

Due to our limited capacity, few horses, and unwillingness to handle stress, we usually only take out rides in groups of four and less. An ideal group would be a family of four who rides (never happens)

More likely if two people are on holiday in Tobago and they call us, we take out those two alone. This makes for a pretty fun time. Yes, all our rides include a mounted guide. If you are located anywhere within 20 kms we come to pick you up, and we take you back at the end of the hack too.

We do have a minimum of two persons per hack, so if it’s you alone wanting to ride, please call us well in advance so we can create a pair. All bookings must be pre-arranged. We never take a ride for the same day.

The basics
We have helmets, but you are required to dress suitably. Typically long trousers with a tee-shirt and tennis shoes are adequate.

Cash payment is required. The hill ride is $55.US - The beach ride is $80. US

Points to consider
We do not have a liability insurance coverage for riders who come to us. You may want to enquire from your travel insurers whether or not you are covered for this activity.
We consider ourselves and our horses fairly experienced in doing what we do. We try to spend a fair amount of time pairing rider to horses. As such our ‘event’ count is very low, and almost never involves novices.

We welcome visitors to the farm who just want to see our horses before considering a booking - Call us for directions.

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| Contact us

| Ph: 1 868 639 4008

| Cell: 1 868 682 2408

| Email: horses@pobox.com

| ask for Kay or Bertrand
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Every website has a bit of a content problem. It could be a matter of not enough stuff, not enough good stuff, or too much stuff of the wrong ’stuff’?

Here at the Looking Out Stables we DO have a fair amount of the good stuff -ask anyone who keeps horses. We grow lettuce with ours though. Anyway, enough of this er.. er stuff. Here’s my point.

We who do it, keep a website for any number of reasons, to heighten awareness, to blow trumpets, to raise money, to make lots of money, or to kill time - Your guess about it is fine for now.

I think this website must be dedicated to our farm, to our island, and to let folks who may want do the same thing, know that our way of life is a fun thing indeed. You see good folk, we are farmers. We keep animals, we plant things, and when we can stay awake at the end of the day, we watch CNN, BBC, and Al Jazira in awe.

“I’ll tell you about the farm” (if you have a few minutes) he said. And thus begins this site….