Empayar Sunnah Archery & Riding (ESAR) at Bukit Beruntung has always been my favourite track to ride. I especially like their challenging track and my chatty guide, Boy. Last Sunday I went there with Suki.
We got there about 8.30AM. Wasted no time, we mounted on to our horses. Suki got Love. Her name is Love because she has a love mark on her head. Love is a lovely Anglo-Arabian.
While I mounted on Joker who is a tall retired horse from police force. He is like the model among the horses.
We got ready at the back of the stable and ready to head off to the trail.
On our way heading to the trail. We were cantering on the grass.
We were walking slowly at the entrance. In front of me is a Abang who recently started riding. This is his first time going for an outride.
Here is where the track started to get exciting. We arrived to a little slope where we (I mean the horses) have to climb up. The horses will automatically canter up. All we had to do were to bend a little forward to lighten the seat.
Then the horses can trot freely at the open field.
We cantered deeper into the greener part of the trail.
Since this is the first time Abang going for outride, he got tired quickly. Suki and I overtook him to meet boy in front.
Boy was waiting for us in front of a junction.
We walked passed the tall grasses. As always, Boy is happy to explain to us where does each trail will lead us to.
This is one of my favourite spot in this trail. It is a long straight path where I could canter without much worry about the path condition.
We took a turn and move into another farm path. This is also another favourite of mine – thanks the beautiful scenery. Tall coconut trees in front, variety of vegetables at both side and straight clear path ahead of us. This is also a path where some horses can get into galloping!
I was doing slow canter at this point. Suki overtook me with fast canter.
We make 2 loops in this path. On another loop, Boy was galloping with his horse, Faraz. It was as if he just bounce by. He overtook me and got out of sight in less than 5 seconds!
We ended the trail by dropping by the pond. The pond was not fill with deep water but it was good enough for Lizaz, Love, Joker and Faraz to get a drink… and have some fun playing water. The Faraz and Love got a little cozy on the water and decided to take a bath! They lied down on the water and got Suki and Boy wet. Too bad we didn’t get to take any of their embarrassing photos!
We head back to the stable after a satisfying ride.
Empayar Sunnah Archery & Riding – Daniel & Suki
Further Details
If you would like to do a similar outride, please drop by Empayar Sunnah Archery & Riding (ESAR) at Bukit Beruntung. The outride fee is affordably at RM120 per session. Please contact Boy (018-918 8871) to schedule your ride. Check out my other trail riding experience with Empayar Sunnah Archery & Riding (ESAR) at Bukit Beruntung here and here.
MAEPS (Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang) is located in Serdang, approximately 30KM from KL city center.
I went to MAEPS for a ride on Kolonel Fakharuzi’s recommendation whom I met in Unit Ekuin UPM few weeks back. He is one of the guys who helping running the stable operation in MAEPS. Last week, he was out of town so he got his partner, En. Faud to take care of my riding arrangement.
MAEPS is a massively huge place. The stable in MAEPS takes a little effort to find. Make sure you check out the map at the end of the article to get there easily.
After circling around for 10 minutes and asking 3 different people, I finally arrived the stable.
Stable in MAEPS
There was a stable management course going on. The staff was explaining the importance of horseshoe the participants.
This handsome young man is Aziq, son of En. Faud. Aziq brought me out for the trail ride later on. Aziq is only 17 years old but he is already a solid rider. He has been riding for many years. He is now actively training for endurance competition and he even trains horses for other private owners.
I got my horse, Rohill for my trail ride. Although Rohill is a schooling horse, he is surprisingly responsive. I could easily pop him into trot and canter without using a whip. With a whip, a light tap on his shoulder will get him to canter really fast.
I brought Rohill into the arena to warm up while waiting for Aziq to get ready. The arena is pretty big to the point there are another 2 smaller circles within the big arena for other riders to train.
Riding in MAEPS arena
I was trotting and cantering in the arena for about 15 minutes to warm up Rohill.
Shortly after, Aziq and I left the arena to head to the trail.
Trail at MAEPS
Here is a video of my ride inside the arena and at the trail.
We walked on tar road and passed by a pineapple farm.
Aziq got back up on his horse after he got down to open the gate to trail entrance.
We started trotting at the entrance of the trail.
One thing you can be assured is to get a good view of greenery and wide clear sky in MAEPS.
The trail has swallow trace.
You can also spot a lot of trees along the trail although they are not big enough to provide shade.
There are plenty of hilly path where you can canter up comfortably.
Overall Riding Experience
The track in MAEPS is not particularly long. If you are new to trail riding, this will definitely be a good start. I spent most of the time trotting. I did not get a lot of chance to canter because there are plenty of turns I was not familiar with. Once you are familiar with the turns, it will be a really good place to test your cantering skill. Also, we took the shorter trail because the night before was raining hence we could not go to another trail which is supposed to be more challenging. I will definitely go back for another ride to try out another trail. The fee is affordably at RM80/hour.
If you want to ride in MAEPS, feel free to call up En. Faud (019-2770449)
Vistapolo Equestrian is located in Kota Kemuning, Shah Alam, approximately 40km from KL city center.
I typically go for a trail ride on Sunday morning because the traffic is super clear. It took me less than 1 hour to arrive Vistapolo Equestrian from Kajang.
The Stable in Vistapolo Equestrian
The stable in Vistapolo Equestrian is surprisingly big. The stable operation is built on top of a big piece of land. There are enough boxes to home 40 horses, although currently they only have 18 horses in the stable for various activities.
Vistapolo Equestrian StableHorses in Vistapolo Equestrian Stable
When I arrived, Fendi came to greet me and got me to wait for a while, while he prepares the horses.
Fendi preparing Ashante, a beautiful white horse although might get scared easily.
Another groomer was preparing my horse, Lym, a solid endurance horse which has completed 80KM.
Lym is one of the best horses I have ridden so far. He is super responsive to my signal. I didn’t even need to carry a whip during the trail ride. One light touch on the leg will get him into trotting. Releasing the reins a little and few more kisses sound will get him into slow canter. From there, all I have to do is to hold him back from cantering too fast. Totally awesome horse!
Trail Ride
Here is a trail ride video with Fendi.
Another groomer, Doha followed us along on a bike. He asked for my phone to capture some really fantastic video and photos along our ride. Thanks Doha!
We head out to the trail passing a long stretch of tar road. Of course we try to walk on grass whenever possible.
The entrance of the trail.
We passed by a lake on our way in.
Fendi trotting in front and I followed closely behind.
We make an entry to the long stretch of red earth path.
I shifted gear into canter to overtake Fendi. Yeeeeeehar~
From there on, it is a fairly long stretch of path for me to canter on. If you are into cantering, this is the best place I have visited so far for cantering. I probably spent 10-15 minutes non stop cantering on this path.
We took a break to let the horses walk. In this stretch of the path, I have a good long chat with Fendi on endurance competition.
We move on to canter on the remaining path
At the end of this path we passed by RimBayu project by IJM.
RimBayu project by IJM
After that we walked along a tar road to get back to stable
Back to Stable
We head back to stable in about 1 hour time.
Kak Nuri walking her horse.
Kak Nuri from Vistapolo Equestrian
The hospitality of Vistapolo Equestrian totally impressed me. The staffs even brought nasi lemak and drinks for the riders. This is the first stable I have encountered that serve refreshment. Although the refreshment doesn’t cost a lot of money, it’s the thought that counts!
Kak Nuri was cutting cake for me. Thanks Kak Nuri!
This stable really gives a sense of belonging with the warm hospitality.
The horses took a shower after the trail ride.
Further Details
These are the activities offered by Vistapolo Equestrian.
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!
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.
