Arrived at their location for a much anticipated horse ride.....we are all "semi-experienced" riders and were lured by a nice website that mentioned Mustangs and group rides and experienced guides, etc....not so much...
Upon our arrival we were a little apprehensive at the appearance of the place but it's a horse operation so we walked inside. Once inside we were bombarded with postings of placards and e-mails and other postings of an extreme political nature......whatever your politics are, if you are running a business, perhaps you would keep that sort of diatribe to your office......if not I hope others have the gumption to do what we should have....run away!!!
After a brief transaction to pay for our ride, we were told that the wrangler was out on a ride still and would be back "soon"...so we looked around.......BAD IDEA!! The living conditions and the conditions of the horses on this property were deplorable!! Many animals were CLEARLY undernourished and had obvious untreated wounds....the fences around the "pasture" area were all topped with barbed wire(?) and there was zero evidence that the horses waste was being managed......
At this point we were skeptical that we wanted to ride these horses mostly out of sympathy for the animals and not wanting to put an underfed horses through a long ride......This was not a problem though because when we approached the area where the horses were waiting for us along with the Wrangler (and an assistant wrangler - who was smoking in the tack-up area...a real no-no for those who know proper horse care), the Wrangler questioned our need/desire to ride for the length of time we reserved.....clearly we didn't know what we were capable of and he knew better....or he was tired from his previous ride and wanted a shorter day of it.
All in all, we got our money back, said adios and left this horrid place in our rear view mirror....I suggest that you not even make the trip to their location...but if you do...."I told you so"......
Réponse de l'hôte
Oct 2013
We have owned this beautiful property overlooking the lake for 25 years very successfully, having been doing horseback rides for 23 years with no problems to either our visitors or our horses. This person was here approx. 15 mins. and made an unfair assessment. Evidently he doesn't know anything about western horse ranches who all use barb wire in their fencing for various reasons. Yes, we had one mare who was showing some hip as she had a filly in April at age 23, almost unheard of. The filly took a lot of nourishment from her, but the mare eats very well. She was our 2nd horse and we love her, so will keep her until she expires. Horses bite each other, therefore, the untreated wounds he must have been referring to. This is definitely not a Kentucky Bluegrass horse racing facility as he may be accustomed to. Everyone loves our horses and have been told that our ride is the very best in the entire area and we have so much repeat business every year. I don't know why someone would take the time to make such a false review and try to ruin someone's good standing business.