To begin, if I could give Chase Farms no stars or a zero rating, I would. Where do I begin?
My daughter started riding at Chase Farms approx. 5 years ago, and she really enjoyed it and wanted to do more immediately. She started with weekly lessons, and payments while we waited to see how she enjoyed more riding. Soon after, she was riding continuously each week and month. This is honestly when the problems began... It was brought up to us by friends that had a child going there, that they were paying less for the same lessons and days that we were. When we brought this up to management, we were informed that the monthly rate was less, but we were paying the higher "as you go" rate, because they assumed that we enjoyed that more. First of all, our daughter had been riding on an identical schedule for over a year at least, so that did not make any sense, as we were not sporadically all over the calendar. Second, who in their right mind would prefer to pay more, or deliberately pay more for what others were paying less for. The monthly payment option WAS NEVER brought to our attention, or recommended by anyone.
Next, we ended by buying a saddle which was recommended and found for our daughter from one of the instructors at the time. Also, this instructor always pushed leasing a horse. Didn't see the benefit in leasing. When that instructor left, instantly that saddle wouldn't work for her, and she needed a new one. (Someone that knows nothing about saddles, riding etc. took the "professionals" word for it.) The current saddle was used by a couple different people/riders to see if it was a good fit for them, without asking first. My daughter's name plate on the saddle went missing during the sale. When reaching out, they gave me every excuse under the sun as to where it was. Come to find out they weren't where they said they were, and were misplaced. Lisa ended up buying new name plates for my daughter.
Fast forward to buying a new saddle that the barn thought would be a good fit for my daughter. My daughter worked at the barn (days varied) and would get a working lesson out of it. However, she would work 5-6 hour days, and stated a couple times that the YOUNG girls that were teaching the lessons, sometimes wouldn't let her break because it was so busy, and she would be the only one getting the horses ready. Eventually, we ended up leasing a horse because my daughter enjoyed it so much and we were told that it's the next step for all riders. However, there isn't ANY benefit in leasing a horse other than that your rider is supposed to be guaranteed to ride that horse during shows, and one of the two lessons each week. For the price, it isn't worth it, especially when you start seeing all the additional fees that are never explained clearly prior to leasing.
My experience with Chase Farms is the communication is terrible, you have YOUNG unexperienced girls teaching lessons often at times with no adult super vision. Additionally, these "instructors" don't know how to teach some of the skill sets that your child may already be riding at, or beyond. Oh and, the owner will never reach out to you with a concern directly, only through the staff. I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone. Their communications, operations, and follow-up are horrible. Honestly, there have been a ton of other little to large issues, but I am beyond frustrated and don't feel like taking anymore time to explain how under-prepared and underwhelming this place has been. Look elsewhere! read more
