I am here to leave an honest review to manage expectations. The experience was average, but borderline poor. This is coming from my parents and I who have horseback rode many times in beautiful locations, so it’s hard for us not to compare to past experiences:
Dislikes:
-We paid for 1.5hr ride, rode for just over an hour. This was the biggest disappointment! It’s a lot of money to not get what you pay for.
- Did a big loop out in the desert/ranch land for most of it, looking at the same scenery. Landscape was overall flat. Points of interest included the Out of Africa Wildlife Park from afar, their zip line towers, a jail, and the highway. We just feel the location wasn’t utilized well- The area is gorgeous and vast, we could have at least gone out farther.
-The last 25 minutes or so was basically circling close to the ranch, in an area that is mostly sand, some short trees, and there is ranch-garbage (for lack of a better word) scattered around like wood scraps and metal poles laying in the middle of the path.
-Pictures: the guide Keys asked if we wanted pictures so we said yes. He did not rearrange us at all for single pictures or group pictures (we were two groups of 3), he just took pictures as he rode past us in single file line (example provided). Would’ve been nice if it was more personable. Pictures were rushed, even though there was plenty of time.
-Nose-to-tail ride. But pretty much all companies out in the area are.
-Overall the ride was shorter than expected, half was next to the highway, and it and seemed like we were doing circles to use up the time.
Likes:
-The guide was very friendly and had fun stories to tell. Pointed out points of interest, made us laugh, paid attention to us.
-The other animals! You can feed/pet/look at pigs, goats, horses, baby horses, chickens, a turkey. On the ride, we passed cattle, donkeys with personality, even buffalo with some babies. That was our favorite part.
-Views of the mountains in the distance were very pretty.
-Horses were overall well trained and good tempered. We rode Bam Bam, Brandy, and Speckles.
I suggest this ride if you haven’t been horseback riding before, are looking for a very casual easy ride, if you are a family with kids, and/or you’re just looking to get on a horse and be outside.