Yarrabin News November 2022. Annie has sold Yarrabin to a new owner, so people can go to stay there still but there is no horse riding any more. Annie does still offer horse agistment in the area, see her Yarrabin Equine Park social media pages on Instagram and Facebook.
If you are a horse-loving Sydney family or are thinking of learning to ride, do check out beautiful Yarrabin Horse Riding, a slice of country heaven just over the Blue Mountains between Oberon and Bathurst.
Yarrabin is a large rural property which offers trail rides, riding lessons, school holiday camps for kids aged 10 – 17 years and a restful rural retreat, far from the madding crowds.
Children aged eight years and over can do the trail rides which are paced to suit beginners and more experienced riders too. Absolute beginner riders do need to book a lesson prior to the trail ride; very sensible.
Visitors can come just to do a trail ride or can stay at the property in a variety of room types, see below. If you would like to plan a stay, do think about coming mid-week as the Central West is very busy at the moment and weekends are booked out well ahead. Yarrabin is not open to families in school holidays as they are busy with the school holiday camps.
Casual trail rides are offered during some weekends as well as mid-week.
Once a month Yarrabin offers adults-only weekend stays too, these also book up quickly.
Do check the website, details below to see all the package options for stays and for casual trail rides.
School Holiday Horse Riding Camps
All kids from aged 10 – 17 are welcome at the five days camps which run from Monday – Friday. The horses deserve the weekend off after their busy weeks, as do the staff. You do need to book these well ahead, there are many return visitors who book up spots quickly.
Yarrabin Horse Riding – Trail Riding
There are 20 school horses at Yarrabin plus around another 30 mares and foals and horses which are agisted on the property.
Riding hats are always worn and these are provided, boots can also be provided if necessary.
There are over 2500 acres which can be traversed so even if you do several trail rides, you will never get bored of the beautiful countryside.
Yarrabin Horse Riding History
Annie who runs Yarrabin was actually brought up on the property as a child. Her parents owned it and they were the ones who started Australia’s first dude ranch. They did later sell, Annie lived away and raised her children. Then she bought Yarrabin back in 2000 and she has been running it ever since.
Yarrabin Horse Riding Accommodation + Facilities
Yarrabin offers both self-catered and catered options. There are eight hotel-style rooms, with a main queen bed ,and then bunk rooms. Up to 34 people can stay on-site, in normal times. All eight rooms have en suites, reverse cycle AC and balconies. There is a central homestead with a large lounge room, TV room, the dining room and a huge separate games room. There’s also a large verandah on the homestead.
Book At Yarrabin
I would highly recommend having a good look around the Yarrabin website and then having a chat to Annie to discuss your family or group’s needs.
Phone: 02 6337 5712
Address: 3253 Beaconsfield Road, O’Connell, NSW 2795
Getting To Yarrabin
Yarrabin is about 200km west of the Sydney CBD, 150km west of Penrith, a 3 – 3.5 hours drive from the city, about 2 – 2.5 hours from Penrith. It is just 24 km from Bathurst, an easy 20 minute drive, Oberon is around 25 minutes away.
My visit to Yarrabin was just for a trail ride and a chat to Annie. Big thanks to Annie for hosting me and being such good company. I know that I would love to have a horse riding retreat here, but how to persuade my teenage twins that horse riding is for them? They did love pony rides in Sydney when they were little but now they have become all teenagerey and are not keen. Perhaps I can find another friend to enjoy a country escape with.
I will leave you with a very short 22-second clip of us riding through the ghost gums, we saw kangaroos there and echidnas and many birds are also seen, it was heavenly.
PS If you enjoyed this article you might also like one on Pony Parties in Sydney.
Find more family-friendly things to do in and around Bathurst on this post.
For other horse riding around the Blue Mountains information, check out Blue Mountains With Kids.
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