Bethesda resident Darley Newman is the host of a new travel series on PBS, “Equitrekking.” The show premieres on Channel 32 in D.C. beginning May 11.

How did the show come about?

I love horses and I love to travel. I was in New York working in television and realized I wanted to do something I love on a daily basis. I put a pilot together and put it on a small satellite network. I took that show to Mexico, and it ended up doing well so they sent it national.

How’d you develop your love of horses?

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I started riding when I was 7 at camp. I grew up in South Carolina and always loved horses; it’s something that gets in your blood.

What are some of the best places you visited for the show?

Ireland has to be there at the top. The beaches, the lush green countryside. On the Hawaii episode, we got to ride into the crater of a volcano, and that’s something I’d never seen before.

What have you learned about horses from the show?

Different things all the time. I was just in Quebec, where we rode horses through the snow. It was almost like wading through water. I thought, “Can horses do that?” I’m constantly surprised everywhere we go; horses are so much stronger than people give them credit for.

Did you run into any hassles with the horses while filming?

It’s never smooth sailing, but that’s part of the adventure. In Colorado, we did a ride in the San Juan Mountains ... but we had a hailstorm at the top of the mountain. In Hawaii, when filming on the Big Island, we encountered an earthquake and a hurricane. There was a wildfire at a ranch we visited and a tsunami watch; I didn’t know what was going on. But we got through it.