Carmen’s Riding School is a small horse riding school situated on the Loop Head Peninsula in County Clare. It opened in 2011 and moved to new premises in  2014.

Carmen, who is running the riding school, has been around horses since she was thirteen years old. Since she always liked working with children as well as horses, she trained as a social worker and worked with children and teenagers with special needs and with challenging behaviours. To combine both, Carmen’s Riding School came to life. To branch out further, Carmen recently also obtained a diploma in Equine Assisted Learning. She speaks both english and german.

Carmen puts an emphasis on understanding the horses and ponies and putting them first. You’ll learn how to communicate with horses through body language and energy. At the start of the riding lessons, there is always a bit of ground work done with the horses, to connect with them before getting up.

All levels are welcome at the riding school. Apart from general lessons, Carmen works with customers with special needs, nervous riders, people on the autistic spectrum and anyone who needs help dealing with difficult situations in their lives or wants to work on their self esteem.

Bareback riding and riding on saddle pads are very popular with the customers at the riding school. All the horses are ridden with bitless bridles to make the lessons as comfortable as possible for them.

Carmen believes in keeping her horses and ponies as natural as possible. They all live together in a herd, in a yard, with access to an open fronted shed all year round. During the summer months, they also have access to the fields. For playtime or just to relax, they can access the sand ring. 

The riding school offers:

– private and group riding lessons for children, teenagers and adults

– horse riding for people with special and additional needs

– pony camps for beginners and natural horsemanship camps for more advanced riders

– natural horsemanship lessons

– Equine Assisted Learning sessions

To book, or if you want to know more, just ring or email or contact Carmen or book on hopoti.