Mid - Atlantic Horse Trails.

PÁTIO Ecolodge - Faial Island. The Azores Horse-Lovers Paradise.

The place where Trail-Riders, Nature and Island-Enthusiasts from all over the world are coming together.

PÁTIO Ecolodge, the home of our Lusitano and Cruzado Portuguese Horses. They are living the whole year outside on evergreen meadows.

This is the place to enjoy country and island life.

From the Ecolodge you have an endless view over the Atlantic Ocean, to gently sloping hills and to the 2,350 m high volcano of Pico. Quite close you see the neighbor islands of São Jorge and Graciosa.

365 days of endless Island Horse Adventures.

PÁTIO Horse Team.

  • Diogo (Azores) 🇵🇹 🇺🇸

    HORSE MANAGER & PARTNER

    Since the beginning in the team, he is the man who manage all topics around the horses, guides and riders. Whenever possible he guides our guest on trails.

  • Dianne (Germany) 🇩🇪 🇺🇸

    GUIDE (LONG TRAILS)

    150 km around the island she is guiding safe and with a good portion of humor our riding guests. She is the specialist for Long-Trails.

  • Rosan (Nepal) 🇳🇵🇺🇸

    GUIDE (MEDIUM & SHORT TRAILS)

    Passionated Horse Lover from Nepal. He guides experienced and unexperienced Riders safe on the island. Also a great farrier.

  • Diogo III (Azores) 🇵🇹 🇺🇸

    GUIDE (MEDIUM / SHORT TRAILS)

    Happy to show riders his home island. Also he takes care about all our horses, feeding and cleaning all paddocks and meadows.

  • Diogo II (Azores) 🇵🇹 🇺🇸

    STABLEHAND

    Calm and relaxed he is in charge for the well-being of our horses. Very experienced trailer-driver.

PÁTIO HORSES

  • THE PÁTIO HERD.

    Our 30 horses are living in their herd the whole year around at the meadows and the free barn of PÁTIO. With 5 years they start their career as trail horse. We are breeding ourself a relaxed, well balanced and persistent trail horse. The hierarchy is already clarified on the meadow and won't be clarified during the trail.

The PÁTIO Horse Equipment.

The Saddle.

Our most important piece of equipment is the Trail-Saddle. We only use the First Class Trekker-Saddle from the Italian saddlery Prestige.

Seating, safety and correct fit are without comparison. All saddles are equipped with a Prestige saddle bag for personal stuff and tension belts for your coat.

The Snaffles.

Depending on the experience of the trail horse we use different snaffles. The most common is the jumping curb or double broken snaffles.

The Riding Helmet.

We always ask you to wear a riding helmet. We are providing a choice of different helmets in different sizes. Best is always to bring your own helmet that you are used to wear.

“I love to see the big smile in the face of our riders coming back to our Ecolodge after a trail.”

— Victor (Owner) —