Local guides who learned to ride before they could read, international instructors, and the grooms who know every pony by name.
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A ride is only as good as the person leading it. Ours are Sumbanese, born on the island they show you, and they learned horsemanship in the fields and festivals of their own villages rather than in a school.
Around them sits a team of more than twenty-five: riding instructors trained at equestrian facilities in Australia and Europe, grooms who have handled Sandalwood ponies since childhood, and an operations desk that has your transfer arranged before your flight lands.
Every guest deals with all four, usually without noticing three of them.
Sumbanese horsemen · English speaking
They lead every ride and double as cultural interpreters. Our head guide has over twenty years on Sumba's terrain. Each holds first aid certification and knows the trails, tides and weather in a way no map conveys.
International certification
Certified professionals with experience at equestrian facilities in Australia, Europe and Southeast Asia. They handle first lessons, technique work, and the assessment that matches you to the right horse.
Grooms · nutritionist · consulting vet
Sumbanese handlers who have worked with Sandalwood ponies since childhood, supported by a consulting veterinarian who runs monthly health checks and maintains vaccination schedules.
Transfers · stays · special requests
Logistics, airport transfers, equipment, accommodation partnerships and dietary requirements. If you are riding for a honeymoon, a shoot or a corporate group, this is the desk that arranges it.
Local knowledge is the qualification we cannot teach. Everything else is a programme.
200+ hours
Over two hundred hours of supervised riding instruction before a guide leads a group unaccompanied.
Renewed annually
Current first aid and CPR certification for all guides; lead guides add wilderness first response for remote trails.
All front-of-house
Fluent English for safety briefings and cultural interpretation. Bahasa Indonesia and Sumbanese dialects come as standard.
Before every village route
Protocol training agreed with the villages we visit, covering photography, dress and what is not open to guests.
Ratios and rotations are the part of a riding operation guests never see and always feel.
Yes. All guides hold current first aid and CPR certification, and lead guides are trained in wilderness first response for remote trail situations. First aid equipment is carried on every ride.
All riding guides and front-of-house staff speak English fluently. Many also speak Bahasa Indonesia, and several speak the Sumbanese dialects used in the villages we visit. Other languages can sometimes be arranged with notice.
Yes, and returning guests often do. Tell us when you enquire and we will do our best, though availability during peak season and the guide's rest rotation come first.
You are welcome to. Message us to arrange a time — we would rather you met the horses and the grooms first than booked on the strength of photographs.
Come to the stable, meet the team and the ponies, and decide from there.
