QUINTA DA TERÇA

Gostei muito de estar com os animais e do passeio, certamente para se repetir :)

Our family had such a great experience at Quinta da Terca! We went out for a 2 hour ride with Bruno, who was amazingly knowledgeable about the ecology of the island and all things animal/plant/terrain related. He was a perfect guide and made us all feel very comfortable on our horses.

The horses are all beautifully taken care of at the farm and were excellent for our family’s intermediate riding abilities.

Can’t say enough good things about this place! Highly recommend as a half day adventure on Sao Miguel, it was one of the highlights of our trip.

This is a remarkable place. While solo traveling, I was blessed to meet the incredible guide Bruno, Christina, and the team. I cannot recommend Quinta de Terca enough! I have written a full story about my experience below, but in short:
Quinta da Terca is safe, kind to the horses (and animals in general, they have adorable rescue dogs), and the staff is observant, compassionate, and otherwise incredible.
You simply must go!

Full story:
I emailed Christina about a full-day ride last minute because my hotel recommended their tours. There was space for me to join, but I took some wrong turns (there are a lot of roundabouts on the island) on the way there, and I arrived late. Even though they were waiting for me, they did not make me feel rushed. They thoroughly checked to ensure I was comfortable and safe riding on the horse. Unfortunately, I hadn’t ridden a horse in a long time and REALLY overestimated my own abilities, so at that point, we decided it was best if I didn’t go forward with the full-day ride. Even though I was late and wrong about my working experience level, Quinta de Terca was remarkably accommodating and kind about the situation and told me that I could go on a shorter ride around the area with Bruno, and let me choose between a 1, 2, or 3-hour ride.

As a solo female traveler, I usually would avoid an extended tour with one male guide, but I felt safe and went ahead and did a 3-hour ride with Bruno—an AMAZING guide. He is knowledgeable and observant. He can tell you so much about the local plants and could quickly tell how comfortable I was while walking/trotting/galloping on the horse. He checked in often to ensure I was always comfortable and safe. Once, he even double-checked to see if when I said I was doing “great,” I meant emotionally or physically on the horse. He cared so much about my experience.

Then, at the end of the ride, I realized that I had failed to secure my passport holder, which I was using as my only wallet, and had lost it during the ride. This was a big deal because it had all my cards and cash, and I was staying on the island alone. None of my friends or family were even on the same continent, let alone the same country as me, so losing this put me in an immediate emergency situation.

Bruno, Christina, and the other Quinta da Terca staff were, once again, incredibly kind about my own MASSIVE mistake. FAR BEYOND that, they actually spent hours helping me look for it, charge my phone, call multiple police stations to ask if it had been turned in (because I don’t speak any Portuguese), and ensure I safely returned to where I was staying that night.

They were all unbelievably kind and patient with me and never made me feel like a burden, even though I was constantly making SIGNIFICANT mistakes that took up their time. I cannot imagine how difficult my situation must've been for them. My mom was worried and called Christina multiple times, and still the Quinta da Terca team was concerned about making ME feel better. At one point, Christina even told me to go cuddle with the horses for my nerves, and later, Bruno told me about his experience solo traveling and how he lost his phone on a ride once.

There really isn’t enough room to write about what an incredible place this is and how excellent the Quinta da Terca team is. I am blessed to have met them. Please go, and when you do, make sure you have pockets that zip up!

My family of 4, including girls age 8,10, went there for the horse 2 hour tour and we had an amazing time. Our guides, Bruno and Ricardo were both the kindest, with a lot of experience and patience, they do everything with smiles and love for the horses and culture. Bruno explained everything to us, from the types of wild flowers to the mountains that we were seeing during the tour, they both speaks perfect English as well. We were first time horse riders and Without a doubt wont be the last horse riding experience, we look forward to coming back during our next trip!

Amazing experience, with lovely persons and beautiful horses