At 37% growth, online travel sales in 2003 were becoming a leading resource for researching trips, just as U.S. President George W. Bush, proclaiming August 26 as Women’s Equality Day declared, “Women’s accomplishments have made America better and stronger.”

Stacey AdamsIt was perfect timing for an equestrienne entrepreneur to approach to a very tall wall and throw her heart over with trust that the rest would follow.

That’s when Hudson Valley, New York horsewoman Stacey Adams, 36, took the reins to a woman-founded agency called Active Riding Trips and dedicated herself to offering the best slow travel and eco-friendly adventures in the world, from the best possible perspective: Between a horse’s ears.

“I was recruited from a Fortune 200 company to work in travel," said Adams. "That became the springboard to my business, partnering with operators I’d come to know and love. When the founder of a privately owned travel company retired, it was the perfect time to give it a go and people reached out to encourage me.”

Now she adds, “Social media has been a total game changer. We Zoom or WhatsApp clients, share live feed videos, share our horses and wanderlust.”

Active Riding Trips began with 73 domestic and international riding trips. 

Today it is a premier provider of more than a hundred curated equestrian experiential vacations to nearly two-dozen countries, including new horseback riding experiences, from the luxurious to the gritty, in Australia.

On June 4, Active Riding Trips is among the showcased prizes for TV game show classic, The Price Is Right.

It has also appeared in Forbes, and on Active Travel Adventures with Kit Parks, and Horses in the Morning.

The desire to travel slower and better (78% of travelers want trips that support local communities) has led Active Riding Trips to work with hosts like True Ranch Collection, whose properties rank #2 and #8 on the 2025 USA TODAY list of the ten best dude ranches in America, and where Old West pop-up ranch experiences drive proceeds for preserving ranches on the National Register of Historic Places.

“Equestrians,” says Stacey, “are an amazing community.”

Clearing – fault-free - the lofty bars of expectation horse lovers are wont to set differentiates Active Riding Trips from other travel businesses.

To Stacey, it is “essential” to personally inspect (and re-inspect) every trip location to assure that the highest standards in amenities, services, and comfort are met. “And we stand by that.”

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