Horseback Riding in Stuttgart

Horse­back rid­ing is a pop­u­lar activ­i­ty in Ger­many. You have plen­ty of options in the Stuttgart area, whether you want to take the kids for a pony ride, enroll in begin­ner class­es, or join a rid­ing club. There are also spe­cial events in Stuttgart focused on hors­es and riding!

Fun for the Whole Family

Lots of kids go through a phase of being fas­ci­nat­ed by hors­es and ponies. You can delight them with­out hav­ing to do much upfront invest­ment by tak­ing them out for a pony ride at or enrolling them in rid­ing lessons at a local school like Pony­hof Mueller, which spe­cial­izes in teach­ing chil­dren. Most begin­ner class­es only require that kids wear long pants and close-toed shoes. Ponies, tack, and hel­mets are provided!

If you have kids of dif­fer­ent ages, or if you’re also inter­est­ed in learn­ing to ride, there are many schools that offer class­es for mul­ti­ple ages. For exam­ple, Son­nen­hof offers rid­ing lessons for kids, teens, and adults. They also offer horse­back rid­ing camps for kids, with options for half-day, full-day, and overnight stays dur­ing school hol­i­days. That’s win-win for work­ing par­ents with horse-crazy kids!

Cer­tain spe­cial­ized schools also offer lessons for both kids and adults as well as sleep­over rid­ing camps. Islandpferde Stuttgart has only Ice­landic hors­es and offers three les­son terms per year as well as hol­i­day camps. West­ern Joyride Waib­lin­gen focus­es sole­ly on West­ern-style rid­ing and offers week­end trips as well as camps dur­ing school vacations.

For those inter­est­ed in learn­ing nat­ur­al rid­ing and dis­cov­er­ing how to com­mu­ni­cate more clear­ly with their mounts, local horse whis­per­er Lisa Peters offers spe­cial work­shops and indi­vid­ual training.

Riding Clubs

Most rid­ing in the Stuttgart area is done through local rid­ing clubs. In gen­er­al, you’ll need to pay a one-time reg­is­tra­tion fee as well as annu­al club mem­ber­ship dues. Mem­bers are also usu­al­ly expect­ed to con­tribute sev­er­al hours of vol­un­teer labor through­out the year. Lessons come at an addi­tion­al cost, but there are gen­er­al­ly bar­gain pass­es or dis­counts avail­able for batch­es of lessons.

There are far too many clubs in the area to offer an exhaus­tive list, but you can start by check­ing out the Stuttgarter Reit- und Fahrvere­in e.V., the Reit-und Fahrvere­in e.V. Fell­bach, the Reit- und Fahrvere­in Lein­felden-Ech­ter­din­gen e.V., the Reit- und Fahrvere­in Schön­buch e.V., and the Reit­er­vere­in Sin­delfin­gen e.V., all of which offer a vari­ety of class­es and hors­es to learn on. Search your own local­i­ty plus “Reitvere­in” to find one near you!

Events

There are a vari­ety of dif­fer­ent events in the Stuttgart area that may inter­est eques­tri­an enthusiasts.

The Leon­berg­er Pfer­de­markt, a five-day event which takes place every year in Feb­ru­ary, began as a horse mar­ket in 1684. These days it includes not only tra­di­tion­al horse trad­ing but also com­pe­ti­tions and shows, train­ing sem­i­nars and eques­tri­an sci­ence lec­tures, night­ly par­ties, and a cul­mi­nat­ing parade.

The Reit­sportmesse, or rid­ing trade fair, typ­i­cal­ly takes place in Octo­ber or Novem­ber in the Stuttgart Messe by the air­port. The fair offers an oppor­tu­ni­ty to get to know local clubs, learn about new tech­niques, pur­chase rid­ing cloth­ing and acces­sories, and more.

The Stuttgart Ger­man Mas­ters is an inter­na­tion­al eques­tri­an tour­na­ment gen­er­al­ly held in Novem­ber at the Hanns-Mar­tin-Schley­er-Halle. Spec­ta­tors watch as elite rid­ers from all over the world com­pete in dres­sage, jump­ing, vault­ing and team driving.