This has been our experience boarding for the past 11 months at the Blancos' facility in Sacramento, Beach Lakes Stables, and I strongly recommend staying away.
Our horse wasn't fed consistently, and we frequently had to come out at night to feed her grain ourselves because the staff wasn't doing it regularly. Turnout is advertised, but in reality, there was no pasture access at all during the winter, and the only "turnout" offered was about 30 minutes in the arena three days a week--often cut short whenever another boarder wanted to ride, at which point our horse was immediately put away. The hay quality was poor, and on two separate occasions, our mare had colic scares after staff put her in a stall without water. Staff repeatedly refused to clean or refill water buckets, saying we don't take care of them because we have an automatic watering system, which they knew was broken and had on order. Really?
Basic care and safety were also a problem. Some horses' stalls were not mucked because workers were "afraid" of the horses, so those animals just stood in filth. Pastures were not maintained--only lightly mucked, with no real pasture management. There was a fire on the property, and management never contacted the boarders. A huge oak branch, which we had asked them to remove for months, finally fell in the middle of the night, injuring horses and contributing to laminitis and colic issues. Management still did not notify us or proactively check on our horse.
The facility itself feels neglected and unsafe. River rats get into the lockers during the winter and destroy equipment and supplies, and nothing meaningful has been done to address it. Cross ties were unusable for months because the chains were broken and not repaired. At the same time, the owners were posting about new business lines and quietly increasing board rates on the website without directly notifying boarders of the price hikes.
The owners' business ethics and behavior are major red flags. Public news coverage shows that Paul Blanco's Good Car Company admitted to hundreds of thousands of violations of California consumer protection and false advertising laws and is now banned from auto sales in the state. (https://kmph.com/news/local/paul-blancos-good-car-company-admits-to-unlawful-practices-670000-state-violations) That history alone is enough to make you think twice after the fire in the main house (an Airbnb). When the owners first arrived from Texas, they openly bragged that they had insurance and didn't care about the house; about a week later, they were suddenly posting about how heartbroken they were that their "family home" had burned down, glossing over the fact that the ranch house had been used as an Airbnb for several years while they lived out of state. On-site, the Blancos show up unannounced, yell at boarders about how "broke" they are, and insist we pay more so they don't have to spend their own money on their property. Consumers should carefully question the legitimacy of every comment, post, and statement they make. Meanwhile, Putu Blanco walks around taking selfies with horses and using them for her personal Instagram content without ever asking permission from the owners.
Whenever boarders try to give feedback or raise safety concerns, the response is to yell, dismiss us as "negative," and deny any responsibility. Between the inconsistent feeding, water, and turnout issues, poor maintenance, repeated safety problems, and deeply questionable business practices, this is the worst boarding experience we have ever had. One star only because zero is not an option. read more
