Has anyone taken the Waipi'o Valley horseback riding tour offered by Na'alapa Stables? I saw it mentioned briefly at Konaweb, but they don't keep old posts there and there are no current reviews.

It looks like an interesting tour and a neat way to get into the valley without needing a 4WD.

Mr. Sequin & I did it in September 2003. Very nice ride and well done. Guides were nice and informative. The area had been suffering a drought so most of the waterfalls were not flowing, but it was still worthwhile. Gentle horses.
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Itook the Waipio on Horseback trip, http://www.hawaiiactivityworld.com/bigisland/horsebackriding/ and mentioned it on KonaWeb.

I rode "Pono" and had a great time. I took the kaamaina discount but it appears the link above offers a similar discount.

The last 8 photos from the following site below show some of the scenery from the ride. http://randy.welfley.us/photos-hawaii-2006may.htm

That is me on the right-hand horse. What a way to work my pic into a Flyertalk forum :-)

These hosres were quite tame. If you loosen the reigns, they drop their heads and eat, thus we were keeping a slight tension of them for the photo. Close observers will note I had two t-shirts on (see the sleves?) We were concerned it could be damp and cool down there. It wasn't really, but better to be prepared.

Note that the ride is a photography event more than anything, so there are ample stops for photos and so on.

This trip is by 4WD into the valley and not a ride along the rim of the valley. Thus, the most you could fall is what, 4 feet? :)

Thank you both! Looks like we're sold on this one. Is it better to take the morning or afternoon ride? We're not morning people even with the timezone change, so the afternoon would be better for us....but if the morning offers a better experience, then we would do that instead.

As the valley is far from me (I am a few hours away), we opted for an afternoon ride so that we could have a leisurely drive up there and have lunch before the ride. That allowed us a malasada at Tex's and time to grab a t-shirt at the store next to Tex's for extra warmth. I probably didn't need the shirt, but I wore it anyway.

Since our ride was along the valley floor, we got to ride down the winding road in a 4-wheel drive vehicle. I can tell you that after that ride, I have decided that I will NOT use my own 4-WD to drive down on my own! :)

I would think the afternoon ride would be fine but there could be a greater chance of rain in the afternoon, as usually is the case in the tropics. We did the morning ride, but we made sure to leave the hotel early enough to have time to stop and get malasadas at Tex's drive in. :D Gotta' keep priorities straight!

I agree that the drive to the valley floor in the 4WD van certainly reinforced the rental car fleet policy of forbidding driving their cars into the valley!

One more question that came to mind...was the trailride just walking through the valley, or was there galloping/cantoring?

...This trip is by 4WD into the valley and not a ride along the rim of the valley. Thus, the most you could fall is what, 4 feet? :)

There are a few points with drop offs near the road, but it is not a very scary drive, so long as your brakes are in good condition. It's pretty fun on a bike, up & down, especially when some locals start cheering for you near the top.