Owned by famous director Frances Ford Coppola, Blancaneaux Lodge is a beautiful, Hollywood-esque resort in the Mountain Pine Ridge Reserve in Belize. The horses are wonderful here and though the forest has been decimated by a beetle in recent years, there are some beautiful natural swimming holes and waterfalls to which you may ride.

The resort is eco-friendly. The Privassion River provides hydroelectric power to the resort. Fruits, vegetables and flowers are grown in a beautiful organic garden. There are two restaurants from which to choose. One has Guatemalan food and the other has Italian. Horses are born and raised at the lodge. They found that they were not able to get the type of horses that they wanted in Belize so have started to breed horses here at the stables themselves. In Belize, the Mennonite community uses a lot of horses and Belizeans do too. When the rainy season comes, many dirt roads turn to mud, so horses, not cars, are used to get around.

We headed out with Eddie on a ride to Big Rock Falls. These waterfalls are beautiful and secluded. After a long ride there, we tied up our horses and hiked down to the falls to swim in the cool waters.

Learn more about Equitrekking on PBS and the Equitrekking episodes on DVD and learn about exceptional equestrian vacations at EquitrekkingTravel.com.