I got a jumping horse, (named Russian) which is not used to going out the trail. Before going out, I flatwork Russian for about 10 minutes in the arena and Russian was a really steady boy while walking and trotting.
When we hit the trail, I gave Russian the clue to go canter. He started off with slow canter and within very short time he transition into fast canter and I couldn’t slow him down.
Russian kept fast cantering for the next couple of minutes and eventually transition into galloping while going down hill. Yeeeeehar! (Well, it was actually steadier than I thought it will be)
The only problem was, I couldn’t slow him down and I felt fairly uncomfortable riding a horse that I couldn’t control.
Eventually at a very sharp turn, Russian was fast cantering into left while my body momentum was still going forward. I felt down on my right side and knock my head. I could tell I almost lost my conscious as the world was spinning when I hit the ground. I laid on the mud for a couple of minutes before Din came to my rescue.
Din and I exchanged horses. I got back on to horse back and ride back to the arena. At this point I could feel I lost a bit of my balance because my hand and leg coordination was out of sync.
Back into arena, I flatwork Russian again for another 45 minutes. The objective for doing this is to make sure I find back my balance and confidence on horse back before calling it a day.
It’s been a while since my last fall from a horse. The good thing about falling down is we always get to stand back up on our own and remember to stay humble no matter how much one has been riding.
GoPro mounted on Aina's helmet and video edited by Ili.
It has been 9 months since I met Amirul, Aina and the family in Paya Indah Wetlands. I did not get their contact and have never seen them since. It was a pleasant surprise to see you guys again last weekend!
It was pretty early in the morning (7.45 A.M.) when I got there. The arena was rather quiet.
We got our horses and started off by warming up the horses in the arena.
Wasted no time, we head out to our ride!
It was really shaky while taking a photo on the horse back.
Rusdi, our trail lead was leading the trail. We took a break half way in. (Well… Aina and Hanim were hiding behind the tree.)
It was my first time riding Magoo. Back in arena in the morning, Magoo was a little lazy boy. It took me a lot of energy to get him to trot and his trot was choppy. But once I got him warm up, he cantered like a champion in the trail. It fact, his trot was fast enough to overtake the other horses!
His trot got much more steady when we were in the trail. Most importantly I had a really good time with Magoo!
The trail took us about 1 hour. It was especially fun when we were cantering together in the small path. It was quite an amazing scene sitting on the horse to see each other cantering.
Back to stable, we could see many students were training in the arena.
Doing good riders!
If you are interested to ride in MAEPS, feel free to contact En. Faud (+60 19-277 0449) to find out more.
Last Sunday, I have a trail ride with ESARBukit Beruntung. This time we went out in a group of 4 riders. Boy (ESAR operator), Abang Iskandar, his son Opie and myself.
Trail Ride @ ESAR Bukit Beruntung
Abang Iskandar is a very seasoned rider. He has been training endurance horses and riders for a decade and he even ride 120km himself!
Opie is a really talented kid. He is only 9 years old and he is already a solid rider. Abang Iskandar put Opie on horses as early as age of 2! In fact, he wasn’t riding for fun; he was helping his dad to train a new horse.
The 2 horses Abang Iskandar and Opie riding have been together for a long time. They always stick together even in the trail. Lizaz, the horse that I was riding seemed a little tired, probably was exhausted from previous day training.
You can see the video that we first canter our way to the entrance of the trail. Then, we spent most of our time cantering in the trail. Although it was a lot of slow canter, it was pretty satisfying.
It took about 1 hour to complete the trail, across 17 KM. The outride fee was RM120.
Please contact Boy (018-918 8871) if you would like to do a similar trail ride with ESAR Bukit Beruntung. You can also find out more about Empayar Sunnah Archery and Riding Club in the previous post with more details.
You can check out Empayar Sunnah Archery and Riding Club Facebook page for more updated activities. In the Facebook page, the location will point you to their paddock where the training happens. The following map points you to their stable, which is about 200 meter away from each other.
Unit Ekuin UPM is the stable for University Putra Malaysia, located in Serdang, Selangor.
Unit Ekuin UPM sits on 4 hectares of land. It consists of two stables that can comfortably home 47 horses. There is a 150 ft x 20 ft sand paddock of international standard. The most exciting part is the riding trail that run across a 160-hectare grazing field, with a 30 km riding track in the farm area.
There is a round paddock for students to develop their basic riding skills.
The student in his 3rd lesson practice trotting without holding reins.
The bigger paddock for students to practice trot, canter and various riding activities.
A big white board for scheduling the horses activity.
I went there on a Sunday morning. Haji Kordi is the trail leader for Sunday; while Mr. Azmi is the trail leader for Saturday.
The groomer helped me to get my horse ready. We chatted a little on preparing the horse. I got a beautiful horse name Bucky.
Naughty Bucky likes to bite. Sometimes biting people when they go near him. The staff put a small warning signboard on his stable to warn people that Bucky might bite.
I brought Bucky into the big paddock to warm up. Perhaps Bucky has been serving as school horse for far too long, he was not very responsive to the my leg, sound and even light tap with whip.
Later I found out that Bucky is one of those difficult horses to ride in Unit Ekuin UPM, especially inside paddock. However, he does follow another horse that is in front of him to trot and canter. So I guess Bucky is more likely to be a follower horse.
In the paddock, Haji Kordi adjusts the stirrup for me. Thanks Haji!
We have a round of warm up in the paddock. There is another student practicing in the big paddock. I took the opportunity to get Bucky to walk behind the student’s horse while she trots so that Bucky starts trotting 😛
Lt Kol Fakharuzi, a retired army (with his private horse, I Told You in Unit Ekuin UPM) gathered us in the paddock to give us a short briefing after the warm up.
This is the first time I had a briefing before heading out to trail ride. He told us the do’s and don’ts while in the trail. He even put us into a sequence labelled us as Rider 1, 2, 3, 4 and reminded us not to cut queue. It sounded exactly like when I was serving in National Service.
Shortly after the briefing, we head out to the entrance of the trail.
Trail Ride in Unit Ekuin UPM
Haji Kordi leads the way. He was riding on Arjuna, an elegant Arabian. A breed that dominates endurance riding. However Arjuna was a little scared in the trail as I noticed he abruptly avoids objects on the ground and stopped several times while trotting. It takes a skillful horseman like Haji Kordi to handle Arjuna.
We passed by a lake in UPM. The highway on the right is SILK highway, the highway where I occasionally drive by to notice the wide hilly field in UPM.
Haji Kordi trots on the really clean trail and I follow behind.
Haji Kordi opens gate for us that leads us deeper into the trail.
Haji Kordi trots into an uneven narrow path to get into the hill.
We canter our way up the hill. Yeeehar~
I overtake Haji Kordi while cantering up, then Lt Kol Fakharuzi overtake me on his I Told You. It was amazingly fun racing on the hill!
Gazing down the wide green field from the hill. I’m guessing that is the highest point in UPM. It was a little hazy on the Sunday morning else the view is going to be more magnificent.
Back on the track. I was able to canter on this clear path.
Overall Experience
The trail in UPM has a few highlights. The top of the hill where we canter up is one, where we can appreciate the far reach greenery. There is a deer farm and a cow farm along the trail as well.
The trail in UPM is clean and flat. Not a lot of trees which means we did not have to avoid tree branches all the time. We could do a good mix of trotting and some canter. Well, actually there were a lot of clear path where we could canter however Haji Kordi was leading the trail ride trotting most of the time as we have one rider falling behind.
UPM claims to have a track of 30 km however our ride was only slightly more than 8 km. If you are a more serious rider looking for something more challenging, you might feel like just getting started and then whoops… you are back to stable already.
Back to Stable
Arjuna, the gray Arabian is taking a rest to dry his sweat.
The groomer, instructor and Lt Kol Fakharuzi are chilling out in front of the stable.
Other Information
The list of activity offered by Unit Ekuin UPM and the fee are published in their webpage. Have fun!
It’s been almost 2 months since I last ride in Paya Indah Wetlands, Dengkil.
This time I got Negro (again), the black mighty horse. Athirah booked Langkaputra for me. Unfortunately Langkaputra has its shoes removed and yet to put back. The only horses with their shoes on are Negro and Kate.
Nazirul (Naz) was my trail ride guide. He is a passionate young horseman. He has been playing with horse riding since young age. It is pretty pleasant to talk to Naz. We talked about horses in the stable and also some of Naz’s education background.
Naz got Kate and I got Negro. We head out to our trail ride at 8.30AM.
Trail Ride @ Paya Indah Wetlands, Dengkil
The view at the entrance of the trail.
Trail entrance view at Paya Indah Wetlands.
Slightly after the trail ride entrance, we walk through a short stretch palm oil trees to warm up the horses.
Further into the trail entrance.
I like part of the trail as it is surrounded by peaceful lakes. The ground is covered by dried brown leaves. We can see long stretch of green ahead of us. It feels like the scene in Korean drama.
Dried leaves all over trail path.
Naz leads the way trotting to get the horses hotter.
Naz cantering.
Naz makes a turn so we could get deeper into the trail.
Naz making a turn.
As the place name Paya Indah Wetlands suggests, this place is surrounded by both big and small lakes. In retrospective, I image it will be a really peaceful time if I stop by to appreciate the calmness of water by the lake. Perhaps that’s exactly what I should do the next time I come again.
Peaceful lake view.
We walk on big open ground in the trail.
Open ground.
Another lake in the trail. This lake definitely looks deeper than all the other lakes.
Deep lake.
While we were walking through the trail, Kate suddenly stopped walking. Usually that means the horse is answering the call of nature. Naz was checking Kate’s back to see if she is doing her business. However, this time she is not. For some reason, Kate just decided to stand there for a little while.
Is Kate answering call of nature?
Naz asks me to go ahead cantering as there is long straight path ahead. Naz is giving me direction where should I make a turn when we get to the junction.
Naz explaining, make a left turn at the junction.
The junction that Naz mentioned earlier. Go straight ahead is to go back to stable. Turn left to get deeper into the trail.
The junction to go back to stable or go further in.
Along the trail, we saw an abandoned boat.
An abandoned boat at the side.
At the end of our trail, we make a u-turn to go back.
Making u-turn at the end of trail.
The short grasses and wide flat ground give a sense of peacefulness.
Peaceful view.
This is a typical view you can find throughout the trail.
Typical view in the trail.
Back to stable
On our way back, we walked passed tar road. There were some cyclists cycling at Paya Indah Wetlands.
Cyclists drop by to visit.
There were also some kids with their parents. There were screaming “Horse! Horse!” in excitement from far. I slowly walked Negro near them for them to see the horse up close. Ironically, when I walked near them, they were afraid to get closer to the horse and hide behind their parents. I asked if they (the parents) want to take a photo and they politely rejected. I wonder if the parents were scared too. Hey, it is a horse, not a T. Rex, ROAR! 😀
Kate is munching grasses on the ground.
Kate is having breakfast!
Negro having a feast! He has been eating non stop since the last 15 minutes. Now you know where does the phrase “eat like a horse” come from!
Negro is doing his horse thing… Eat!
Trail Ride Experience in Paya Indah Wetlands.
The last time I got Negro, I was having a little difficulty to ride his canter. This time, his canter was pretty easy to ride.
Naz said he has been doing some training with Negro. He trains Negro to canter in a small circle to make his canter less bumpy. This might be the reason; or perhaps since the last ride, I got more used to Negro’s big stride; or maybe a little of both.
Generally it was fairly relax ride in Paya Indah Wetlands. The trail is clean. There are plenty of long stretch of flat ground to canter. In short, this trail is nice and easy to ride. If you are new to trail ride, this trail is highly recommended.
If you want to do a similar trail ride in Paya Indah Wetlands, please contact the lovely administrator, Athirah (014-5189147) to arrange a time slot for you.
Empayar Sunnah Archery and Riding Club (ESAR) is located in Bukit Beruntung, about 45KM north of KL city center.
Few shop lots are renovated to be the stable. The stable set up is pretty new. The stable is also surprisingly clean. Although not huge, the stable currently comfortably homed 4 horses for riding school and a few more horses for private owners.
Empayar Sunnah Archery and Riding Club stable
The Horses
Some of the horses in Empayar Sunnah Archery and Riding Club stable.
I have been in contact with Boy before visiting, one of the founders in Empayar Sunnah Archery and Riding Club. Boy has a really tough look, but once he starts talking to you, you will agree that he is extremely friendly and chatty. I did not have a bored moment throughout my trail ride with Boy.
Boy introduced me to another partner running the stable, Muhammad. Muhammad is a Level 1 Coach. It is quiet rare to meet horse riding coach certified as Level 1 Coach in Malaysia. Being Level 1 certified is one of the more credible qualification for horse riding coaches. Muhammad definitely has the right skill set to run the stable.
Trail Ride @ Empayar Sunnah Archery and Riding Club
We head out to our trail ride at 8.45AM. Boy was riding Faraz. I was riding Lizaz, a very interesting horse that will start cantering very quickly. Here is the video from our trail ride:
There are a couple of very steep uphill slopes for us to canter up. The horses will automatically canter up when they see an uphill slope.
Canter up steep uphill.
While we were walking, Boy kept me company by sharing his experience in this trail. He always has a big smile on his face.
Boy kept me company while walking.
Whenever there is uphill slope, there will be a downhill slope. This is one of the short downhill slope where the horses like to canter down.
Downhill slope
Boy leads the way cantering on open ground!
Boy leads on cantering.
Boy signals me to turn right on the junction.
Boy signals turn right.
We canter around the hill that we would go up later on. This section of the trail offers more greenery to cool the eyes.
Canter around hill.
Boy explaining each direction is which part of town around Bukit Beruntung. I have to say Boy is the best trail guide I have ever met so far.
Boy explains directions from the hill.
Another view on top of the hill.
Daniel on Lizaz.
We slowly walk down the hill. Boy’s horse (Faraz) is a little afraid of going downhill. I got Lizaz to lead the way walking down.
Lizaz leads the way going down.
We walk passed narrow path with little beautiful flowers on the sides.
Walk passed narrow path.
There are also a lot of areas with green in the open ground. The morning sun made the photo looks more yellowish than it really is.
Green view.
Vegetable Farm @ Bukit Beruntung
We slowly canter passed a vegetable farm.
Slow canter pass vegetable farm.
We canter passed more farm path.
Farm path.
We walked into vegetable farm area to check out the farm up close.
Inside vegetable farm.
Boy has experience farming before venturing into the world of equestrian. He is familiar with various plants. He was passionately explaining different type of plant to me.
Boy explains type of vegetable.
We exit the farm after a short break from cantering.
Take a turn to exit farm
Back into Trail
We get back into the green.
Get back into green.
This is another place where we canter down. Cantering down is a really amazing experience. The horse moves really fast yet you do not really feel the bumpiness like when you canter on ground. It felt like you slide down through the slope with amazing speed.
Fast canter down.
We met some kids doing jungle trekking in the trail.
Kids in the trail
Boy shared with me some of his horses training experience while we walked out. He claimed the horses he trained does not require riders to use whip. The horses are really responsive to riders’ clue by just using body and legs.
Boy explains how he trains horses.
Boy get back on Faraz after he came down picking up my whip. Thanks Boy!
Boy gets back on horse.
On our way going out of the trail.
On our way get out of the trail.
Boy explained to me the importance of going trail ride with the riders with equivalent riding level. If there is a greener rider in the group and the rest of the group is more seasoned, the greener rider might slow down the rest of the group. In this ride, although I only spent 45 minutes in the trail, I had plenty of satisfying canter time.
Boy explains riding level.
Here is an area that will be filled with half feet of water height during rainy season. Since this spot has rather flat ground, it is also safe to canter here. Imagine cantering on water! It will be like a pond with shallow water. The horses will start playing water and sometimes even lying down at this spot. Unfortunately during my visit, Bukit Beruntung did not have much rain hence the dry ground.
The pond area was dry.
I asked Boy to inform me the next time Bukit Beruntung has a lot of rain. I will definitely be back to canter on water!
Overall Trail Experience
We completed our trail ride in slightly more than 1 hour. It is a huge track but we completed it in relatively short amount of time. Largely because we spent a lot of time cantering.
Generally, the trail has wide even ground but not lacking of slopes for uphill canter and downhill canter. The trail is one of the most satisfying trails I ever had. Best part is, Boy adjusts his riding speed according to the rider’s’ ability to ride to gain the most rewarding experience.
I go riding every weekend. Sometimes I get muscular pain and sometimes I don’t. This outride track is one of those that gave me a bad muscle stiffness from shoulder till lower back. It took me a few days to recover. It is one of those tracks that are pretty challenging to canter. Of course, if you prefer to have a smoother trail ride, you can always opt to walk and trot in the trail.
Back to Stable
Here are few more photos in the stable. Decorations in the stable.
In the stable, Muhammad proudly display his Level 1 Coach certification. Below it, the schedule for horse riding activities.
And of course, you can give the horses a carrot treat for just RM1 😉
The gears are organized neatly in the office.
Student having riding lesson in the arena.
Here are some of the activities Empayar Sunnah Archery and Riding Club (ESAR) offers. This is by far the most affordable fee you can find in town.
The affordable fee does not compromise on your riding experience at all. You get well trained horses and great coaches. It is definitely the most value for money riding school I have seen so far.
The stable and the paddock is a bit of distance from each other.
Please contact Boy (018-918 8871) if you are visiting Empayar Sunnah Archery and Riding Club (ESAR).
You can also follow Empayar Sunnah Archery and Riding Club Facebook page. In the Facebook page, the location will point you to their paddock where the training happens. The following map points you to their stable, which is about 200 meter away from each other.
Yup! Another trail ride video – this time I was at Gombak Horse Riding Club. My ride was joined by Irene van Eldik, a very experience rider from Netherlands and Suki Low, another experience rider born in Malaysia and grew up in Netherlands.
When I arrived Gombak Horse Riding Club, it was about 8.10AM. Irene and Dick were already waiting. I called Jai to wake him up telling him we were already there. Suki arrived shortly after. (Dick did not join us riding)
Suki was putting on her gears.
Sharil (and Jai) helped us to prepare the horses for our trail ride. Irene got her horse first, but she decided to change her horse later.
Suki (left) and Irene (right) exchanged horses.
Suki and Irene put on a big smile on their face posing on their horses.
Suki on Sofia, Irene on Ray (also known as Express)
We have a round of warm up before heading out.
I got my horse, Timing. A beautiful and tall horse with long legs. He is a model among horses. And boy, his canter is really fast and smooth! In fact, he is the fastest cantering horse I have ever ridden. According to Sharil, he was an ex-racer which probably explained his fantastic canter.
As I have the “honour” to get the most energetic horse, during the ride I have to intentionally stay behind instead of leading in front so that Timing will not get overly excited.
Daniel on Timing
There is a dog in the arena. His name is Jockey. Jockey followed us out for our trail ride, which made the whole ride much more lively!
We brought our horses out of riding school through the main road. It was about 500 meter down the road before we hit the trail entrance.
Trail entrance.
We got plenty of straight path to trot while riding in. However, it is not a very good place to canter as the trail is covered by little stones and turning slightly downward.
Irene turned back with a thumb up to check if I’m okay (how thoughtful!)
Thumbs up!The first round of canter going up a slope.
The end of our first round of canter where you can see the trail going downward.
End of first round of canter
There were a lot of steep downhill.
Walking down slowly.
As usual, there will be a lot of leaves and branches along the trail. You either avoid it like Irene did or crash it through using your body… and probably leave some scars on your face and neck (which I heroically did few weeks back).
Avoid leaves
Looking at the degree Irene and Suki bending down their body, you can definitely guess how steep the uphill trail is. It is time like this that reminds us how powerful horses are!
Jai, our escorter stopped by to make sure we are doing alright.
Look, Jockey is leading in front!Hey Jockey! You tired yet?
There are a few spots with bamboo. It was similar to the scene when I was visiting a shrine in Kyoto, Japan. Except that this time I’m on a horse!
Irene got stuck when Ray decided to stop to have a snack (munching leaves).
Ray munching leaves.
We had to carefully walk down this slope. On our way back, this slope gave us pretty good length for a long canter.
As my poor Timing has been following Ray and Sofia the whole journey. It is time to unleash Timing’s suppressed energy to run wild!
Unleash the power! (Video at 1.37 min)
While cantering, I could hear Irene was following closely behind. I’m sure Ray and her had a good time cantering behind Timing. (Yeeeeehar!)
After the long canter, we took a short break before going downhill. Irene was explaining to me how Ray gave her a canter plus an “extra canter” a moment back.
While Suki was busy taking photos with Sofia.
Irene was leading on our way back. Suki caught up to walk passed me.
And… Anytime is a good time to talk!
Irene and Suki chatting on horses.Cantering on our way back.
On our way back, we could see across some mountains.
Now it’s Sofia’s time to munch some grass on the ground.
Sofia munching grass
The hungry Sofia was reluctant to move and fell behind. She was barely moving and probably mumbling “I want food… I want food…”. Irene and I decided to overtake Suki. Sorry buddy!
Here is another very steep downhill slope. Jockey catch up with us to show us the way. We were walking down carefully.
A view from Suki’s horse on our way back.
One selfie before leaving.
On our way out leaving the trail, Jai helped us to snap a few more photos.
Generally it was a pretty good ride. The trail took us 2 hours to complete. We spent a lot of time walking slowly downward but that later gave us very good room to canter back up. This trip is really fun thanks to Irene, Suki, Jai and Jockey making this ride so much lively!
If you want to do a similar outride, feel free to contact Mr. Sharil from Gombak Horse Riding Club.
Paya Indah Wetlands, Dengkil by MM2020HorseAdventure is open for business!
https://vimeo.com/174629776
I went Paya Indah Wetlands, Dengkil for trail ride in the morning. I was greeted by Athirah from MM2020HorseAdventure office.
When I arrived, I got my horse, the gigantic Negro. I brought Negro to the arena to do some warm up for about 15 minutes before we head out. Negro is one of the most challenging horses I have ever ridden. He is a really muscular horse. His canter is fast and his stride is huge.
One of the frequent riders, Amirul was helping out as the guide to bring us riding into the trail.
The track in Paya Indah Wetlands, Dengkil has plenty of trees surrounded by peaceful lakes. It might be a little too plain if you like variety of view while you ride.
The original route was blocked by fallen branches. We did a detour to bypass the blocked route.
The whole trail took us about 1.5 hour. Generally, it was a good mixture of trot and canter throughout our ride.
Dengkil is sitting right next to Putrajaya Equestrian Park. If you request for an escorted hacking session, the following is the place you will be riding at.
On that day I went out with Wan (the instructor), Athirah (administrator for riding school) and her friend. I was about 10 minutes late but they were kind enough to wait for me.
In the following you can see we ride through some pretty breathe-taking views. We ride inside a palm oil field and we were also riding along a lake.
This is a video of riding inside the riding school field. My instructor (Wan) get me to canter for a round in school before heading out to the park located next to the riding school. We used the sandy track to head out, which is a much smoother ride when horse canter on sandy track.
This is a video of us riding in the park next to Putrajaya Equestrian Park. The whole track is about 3KM (a rough estimation). It takes about 20-30 minutes if you canter all the way. It will be 40-50 minutes if you trot or walk occasionally. You can see from the following video, the track is pretty clear so it’s possible for you to canter all the way in the track. There will be some 90° degree sharp corner (like the one in the beginning of the video) so it might be a good idea to trot over instead of cantering.
There is a playground (accessible by public) right next to this park. The following is a video of us walking through the playground
