horse riding tour | The Hidden Thimble

[better-reviews]

Capturing Magical Moments

With Cappadocia being utterly magical, I wanted to make sure I captured a photo of that magic. I somehow got it stuck in my head that this magical photo needed to involve a horse, probably because Cappadocia is known as ‘the land of beautiful horses.’ I was thinking the only way I’d be able to get a photo of myself on – or with – a horse was to do one of Cappadocia’s many horseback riding tours. But even then, I was worried if there would be enough time to capture the perfect photo while on the tour – not to mention, find someone patient enough to take some photos of me during their tour.

Long story short, It was all looking a little bit dismal until I checked into Cave Hotel Saksagan and got talking to the owner. He mentioned that Cappadica Ranch not only did horse riding tours, but also offered a private Horseback Photoshoot Session.

I repeat, a private Horseback Photoshoot Session!! Could this be any more perfect? I was immediately sold.

The Experience

The photoshoot session began with free pick up service from my hotel – already a great start. Upon arrival, I was invited inside and offered a Turkish Coffee, while the Aktas brothers asked me about what I was looking for in terms of photos. I already had some inspiration shots on me which I shared and the brothers also had some examples of previous work they could recreate for me.

Next it was time to pick my horse. Because my outfit was dark, I decided to go with a white horse. I was also able to dress him and chose red and black accents to match my outfit. Once ready, we rode out into the beautiful landscape of Cappadocia and picked a spot for the shoot.

One aspect I really liked was that Cappadocia Ranch gives you the choice of bringing your own photographer, or they can provide this service for you. This is great for Instagrammers, because it means you can use your own camera and photographer – something some other photoshoot services didn’t allow (i.e. in Pamukkale). In my case I was traveling solo, and the staff were happy to help and even learnt how to use my DSLR for the shoot!

I was really happy with the length of time the photoshoot session went for and the staff did not make me feel rushed. In fact, I had to cut the session short because I had another tour to attend!

To finish, I was dropped back off to my hotel.

Professionalism

Even though I’m a blogger, I am EXTREMELY awkward in front of the camera, so if you have this fear going through your mind as you read this, you don’t need to worry. The Aktas Brothers were extremely professional in directing me how to interact with the horse and also instructing me to do some poses, which really got rid of any awkwardness.

I’m not going to lie though, working with an animal is quite difficult and a little scary – particularly if you’re not use to working with horses – they are big animals! But the staff are all well experienced and skilled in equestrianism so they were always there to help and instruct me, creating a smooth experience overall.

I will add a note that the staff are not professional photographers, however I was very happy with my photos.

Cappadocia Ranch Review — The Aktas Brothers

Customer Service

The Aktas Brothers were very welcoming, friendly and enthusiastic. I really appreciated that the team checked with me continually to make sure I was happy with the photos and to get feedback. I really felt like they wanted to do a great job and by the end, they had taken just under 500 photos! As mentioned above, they are not professional photographers but I admired the effort they went to to make sure I had some good shots.

To give you an idea, I was left with about 40 great photos (which is really good!) – all in focus, where the horse and I were facing the camera nicely. I have picked my favourite 10 to showcase in this blog post and also two bloopers (see below), so you can see what I mean in terms of the difficulty in getting a good photo – sometimes the horse just wouldn’t have it! haha

Cappadocia Ranch Review - Horse Riding in Cappadocia Bloopers

Bloopers!

Value for Money

The online price for this session is 50 euros which equals to just under $80 AUD. This is pretty expensive for me as a budget-traveler and also quite expensive when compared to Turkish currency. However, it was the best paid experience I did during my time in Cappadocia and I am very happy with my photos. I would do it again and also highly recommend the experience to anyone else that wants to create beautiful memories in Cappadocia!