Horse riding at Glenworth Valley: Four girls, four horses, and a morning of brave

This winter school holidays in Sydney, I took on a challenge: three weeks of activities, fully planned, for my five-year-old daughter. I'm documenting the ones worth sharing; the honest experience, the practical details, and what each day quietly built in her. This post: horse riding at Glenworth Valley, one of the standout mornings of our entire holidays.

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It was a misty, on-and-off rainy winter morning, the kind that would ruin some outings and improve others. This one, it improved. Four kindergarten girls, four gentle horses, and a valley that felt properly adventurous under low cloud.

We booked the kids' horse riding program at Glenworth Valley through their website, quick and easy, $145, running from 8:15am to noon. The valley is only a thirty-minute drive from Sydney, which still surprises me; it feels much further away, in the best sense.

The morning itself

The program is listed for ages five to seven, and our group was four girls, all around five and six. Parents can simply drop off and collect at noon, two families did exactly that. We stayed, partly because we wanted to, and I'm glad we did, though the girls would have been in excellent hands either way.

Those hands belonged to Annette, and she was the highlight of the day. Glitter on her cheeks, a wonderfully colourful outfit, and the energy of a children's entertainer who happens to also be a horse owner, you can see both the passion for the animals and the genuine love of working with children. It felt like having a performer all to ourselves.

The structure was thoughtful. First, the girls met the horses: Mexico, Bernie, Eclipse and Boots, all calm and clearly chosen for small riders. Then came the safety briefing, and this is where I started paying close attention. Annette didn't just cover the rules; no screaming, no running, walk calmly, communicate with your horse. She spent real time on kindness: that these horses aren't rides, they're animals to be acknowledged and treated gently. The girls absorbed it.

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And then, faster than I expected, they were up. All four of them, onto the horses with barely a hesitation, riding within minutes. They walked their rounds in the training area, learned the right way to dismount, and broke for morning tea, which they had on their own, chatting away, having their small independent moment while we kept our distance.

The second half was where the magic layered in. The girls were given paints and glitter and decorated their horses, creativity, connection with the animal, and pure delight in one activity. The horses looked ridiculous and beautiful. They fed them carrots. And then came the finale: trotting. Watching a five-year-old trot a horse around a paddock, grinning, is something I'd recommend to anyone.

They finished with certificates, ice cream, and because we couldn't resist, soft toy horses to take home. Penelope's horse was Mexico, so her soft toy is Mexico now too.

What I noticed

When I asked Penelope about her day, her answer was immediate: "I went riding really fast."

That sentence is doing more work than it looks like. A few hours earlier, these were girls approaching very large animals with appropriately wide eyes. What happened in between was a small, complete arc: feel the fear, listen to the instructions, understand that you're responsible for something, how you move, how you speak, how you treat the animal, and then do the thing anyway. By the trotting round, the fear had been fully converted into pride.

The other thing I keep thinking about is friendship. Penelope came with her best friend, and watching them narrate the experience to each other all morning was a reminder that children's joy compounds in company. The same morning alone would have been lovely. Together, it was a story they'll tell each other for months.

The practical notes

• Cost: $145 per child, booked directly through the Glenworth Valley website
• Time: 8:15am–12:00pm
• Ages: Listed 5–7; our kindie group of five- and six-year-olds was perfectly suited
• Location: About 30 minutes' drive from Sydney
• Drop-off: Yes — parents can leave and return at noon, or stay and watch
• Weather: Winter mist and drizzle didn't diminish anything; if anything it added atmosphere. Dress them warm.
• Value: Genuinely well priced for Sydney. For comparison, a beginner half-day school holiday camp at MC Equestrian in Terrey Hills (ages 5–11) runs $295 per day, and a one-day camp at Sydney Hills horse riding centre (9am–3pm) is $230. At $145 for a morning this rich, Glenworth Valley holds up very well.

Highly recommended. I drove home with my heart full.

Field notes from a mother who believes the holidays are never just holidays.

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