I will start by saying that the trail ride itself was wonderful--our guide, Brooklyn, was amazing. She was very competent in her job and her level of comfort and knowledge of horses was evident. She helped turn around our experience. With that said, I've removed two stars because of how disorganized and unprofessional the staff were at check-in. Read on...
We arrived a little early for our 11:30 ride. We checked in, then waited next to the counter after signing our waivers. The same employees who'd helped check us in then buzzed around the shop made small talk with us while we waited. Finally, after 20 minutes of waiting, we asked them how much longer it would be. The employees (the same ones who helped us check-in and then chatted with us) had no idea what we were talking about!
We told them that, uh, we'd been signed in and were waiting for our ride. Turns out, after we checked-in they were supposed to give us a map to the stables and tell us to walk up the road for our ride... but that had never happened! At this point, it was 11:50 and our group departed without us. All because the incompetent employees couldn't do their jobs and communicate to us and to their colleagues at the stables.
To make matters worse, these same shop employees tried to blame the folks at the stables for letting the 11:30 group depart without us. But it had nothing to do with that--how would the stable team know we'd checked in if the staff at the counter didn't communicate that to them!
Brooklyn made it right though, she quickly prepared two horses for us and led us on a wonderful trail ride with beautiful views of the Tetons, then down to the river. The ride itself was incredible and we really enjoyed ourselves.
Operational leadership and a culture of accountability are gravely needed at that gift shop/check-in area. We saw the same staff be cold and unaccommodating to a family who arrived for check-in an hour early, and I had an employee tell me that people needed to (and I quote) "learn how to f*cking fold the shirts back after they look at them" and then a moment later that she was going to "sweep the sh*t out of the floor". I wasn't offended by the language, but felt it was unprofessional to speak to a customer in such a casual way, especially after dropping the ball with our check-in.
In summation, thank you to Brooklyn for making our trail ride the highlight of our trip. To the staff in the check-in area: You totally suck.