Athletic Riding in Greece

Horse riding in the Greek world used to be exclusively taught at the equestrian training centre located in Goudi, until 1931 when, in fact, a group of friends and “hippophiles” together with some military officers, founded the Hellenic Riding Club (EIO) in an estate in Holargos.

After the war in the 1950s, the Hellenic Riding Club moved to the area of Paradeisos Amarousiou where it is still located today.

In 1961 another group of friends moved their horses from Paradeisos Amarousiou to the area of Gerakas in Attica by literally riding them there (which can help us gain a better understanding of how those areas looked like back then) and founded the Equestrian Club of Athens (IOA). We thus had the first two equestrian clubs in Greece which, along with the initial training centre in Goudi, became the first three equestrian hotspots in Athens.

Since then, horse riding in Greece has been growing constantly. It was first hosted by the Hellenic Athletic Federation (SEGAS), and it was not until 1990 that it acquired its own federation with its first president Freddy Serpieri, greatly benefiting the sport.

PS. Today we have many private facilities and around 75 clubs recognised by the Hellenic Equestrian Federation.
Registered in the Federation’s records are about 2,500 athletes and 800 horses.

In addition to the organized clubs, there are numerous smaller and larger sports facilities all over Greece for the purpose of learning equitation, recreational riding, outdoor riding etc.