I am honestly shocked at the good reviews for this place. From start to finish, this was the worst possible horse back riding experience I have ever been on.
First, they have us meet at the bottom of a hill so we can “shuttle” up the mountain together. The “shuttle” is actually everyone’s own vehicle driving along in a caravan, which is totally understandable given COVID concerns - the problem is that to get to the farm you will now need to drive your own vehicle up a mile long off-road trail that is steep and rocky. Needless to say, when we rented a 2-door sedan for the weekend, we didn’t expect to take it off road. They need to change their parking instructions on the details page and let people know they’ll be driving their own cars up the mountain.
After parking our car, we get out and notice the completely run down “farm” filled with very malnourished, sad animals. A few dogs were locked away in a cage and one dog, that didn’t look well, tied up to a tree. It was so sad to see how dirty and not well taken care of the animals looked. It was also filled with skinny cats - if the cats were properly fixed, the cat population wouldn’t be so out of hand.
Their bathrooms are porta potties, which I did not enter so I don’t know if they were clean or not.
Our departure time was set for 8:15, we didn’t get on our horses and start our tour until 9:30. The horses were all dirty and not well kept at all. It had been very rainy the past few days, but these horses did not look well bathed or taken care of, regardless of the rain.
Now for the actual tour - I would not recommend it to amateur riders. The terrain was very bumpy and very steep. There were so many holes everywhere, my horse slipped in them a few times. They will also gallop whether you like it or not.
At the end they give you the option to let them “run” which is such a bad idea. A lady fell off of her horse as it was running and I have a feeling that happens more often than not. Even if you say no to the running, you better be ready for your horse to trot anyway, because it’s absolutely going to. By the end of the trip, my horse was so exhausted and hot - I hope he wasn’t forced to do another tour that day.
There were so many things wrong with this tour - I could go on and on. Maybe it’s the animal lover in me and seeing how bad the animals looked that left a bad taste in my mouth, but man, it was rough. I would not recommend this tour to anyone. It seems maybe they should sell some of their ATVs so they can properly take care of their animals? Just a thought.