Review: Provo Ponies Tour

Riding horses in the Ocean, it’s real life. 

As told in, Our time in Turks & Caicos, the Provo Ponies Tour was one of my top things to do in Turks & Caicos.

It was also mentioned that it was a bucket list thing of mine. Yes, when I was 10 years old I put “ride a horse in the ocean” on my bucket list. It had always looked so magical.

And it was. It was magical and I am not sure how else to describe it.

Provo Ponies Tour Review

Imagine yourself, on a pony, given specific to you on a hot, breezy day. This is Provo Ponies Tour. Your horse is, kind of, given to you based on personality but also based on weight, which you will give ahead of time.

The smaller ponies are called “Grand Turk Ponies”. They are from the Grand Turk Island and were wild before being “broke” in that people could ride. The bigger horses were from all over the Turks & Caicos Islands and range in size.

Provo Ponies was started by one women, Camille, as a rescue. She noticed seven horses were starving and offered to take the horses and given them food and shelter. After they fully recovered, she realize they had so much potential and that they loved to ride. Provo Ponies was then started. Camille has purchased and saved over 30 horses, all horses who were once starving, abused or needed extra TLC. They were all trained and nursed back to health and all have a healthy lifestyle with purpose today.

Hearing the story while riding was amazing, these horses were in good hands. To read more of the story, visit Provo Ponies About.

Provo Ponies Tour

The cost of the Provo Ponies Tour was $120 USD, this included the 1 hour ride and taxi to and from the ranch. If you don’t want to pay for the taxi, it’s $110 USD. This was a great price for the experience you’re about to take.

Once to the ranch a member of the team will pick out each horse for you, they will go off weight and personality. They don’t want to give you a stubborn horse if you can’t handle it and vice versa. They would ask a few questions, throw out a few jokes and now you have a horse

Patches

My horse was Patches. I called him out from the patches on his butt before they even told me his name or that it was going to be my horse. I guess it was meant to be. Once you have your horse they also tell you a little bit about him and where he came from. Patches is a Grand Turk Pony and rescued in 2005 and joined Provo Ponies in 2012. He loves the water and smiles when his hooves hit the ocean. He was a great horse that day, but at times would get jealous when he saw other horses eating trees.

Service

The service that was provided was awesome. The team members were personable and made you feel welcome. Once you received your horse they did one by one walk through on how to control your horse and the history of your specific horse. This made riding the horses of Provo Ponies a kid friendly activity for families in Turks & Caicos.

This knowledge made you feel like you have known the horse for awhile and created a quick bond.

The number of guides vary depending on how many people are in your group.

The team members were also quick to volunteer as your photographers to make sure we got the best pictures.

Environment

Provo Ponies Tour is on the Eastern portion of Providenciales, Turks & Caicos. It is particularly close to long beach.

The ranch looked like any other ranch. Stables for the horses, a meeting location and a house on the ranch. Each horse had their own stable with a roof to protect them from the elements (sun, hurricanes) and also a huge ring in the middle so they can run around daily.

Horses

Before riding animals I always make sure it is humane. The horses were in great shape, they didn’t look deconditioned or malnourished. The minute we got back to the ranch the saddles were taken off, they were given food and water and sprayed down with a hose then brushed.

This made me feel even better about the Provo Ponies Tour. They really care about their horses and taking care of them.

Truthfully though, the horses looked like they loved the water. Some didn’t want to leave the water, some had to be guided out with a rope, others would splash around in the water, I felt they were genuinely just as happy to be there as we were.

Another wonderful thing I heard was that all horses and ranch survived the Hurricane. The worse was the power outage and the debris, but everyone lived.

On Our Way

Now that we have our horse, know the history we’re good to go! It takes about 15 minutes, along a quiet dirt road and trails, to get to Long Beach. Once to Long Beach we are allowed to enter the water.

The horses will enter the water all the way up to your hips. See the Tips below. You will continue to walk down in the water for about 20 minutes then come all the way back.

This was my favorite part; Seeing the excitement of the horses and the beautiful, crystal clear water. I couldn’t stop smiling with patches. We were both so excited to be there.

Tips

  • Wear water shoes, they will get wet
  • They also suggest to wear shoes with straps, as you have better leverage in the water
  • Bring extra pair of shorts to change into afterwards
  • Bring only your phone for pictures, some horses are known to sit in the water and fully submerge you, bringing your nice camera could get ruined
  • They will give you waterproof fanny pack to protect your phone
  • Wear a hat and sunscreen, you’re not protected from the hot sun
  • They have water at the ranch that you can have before and after
  • Leave all other belongings at your hotel, don’t want them to get wet

Provo Ponies’ Dogs would also trot along

This was a bucket list item, I mean look at the pictures. I would HIGHLY suggest this tour.

Even if you aren’t a huge fan of horses and are nervous, they have horses that fit that personality. One of my girlfriends got that horse and it went really well. 

The Provo Ponies Tour was beautiful, entertaining, humbling and all around a good time. 

Auteur/Autrice

  • Salut, je m'appelle Alexis et j'ai 35 ans. Je suis un passionné de voyage et je partage mes aventures sur mon blog depuis maintenant plusieurs années. Mes destinations préférées sont celles qui sortent des sentiers battus et qui offrent une immersion dans la culture locale. J'aime aussi beaucoup les voyages en solo, qui me permettent de me déconnecter du monde et de me recentrer sur moi-même. En dehors de mes voyages, j'aime aussi beaucoup la randonnée et le camping, et j'essaie de passer autant de temps que possible dans la nature.