I have been participating in clinics at Rusty Bar for several years now. I always come away with…read morenew knowledge that helps me with training my horses. Kathy's concern for safety is always a priority and she is always willing to share her knowledge and expertise. Her facility is well cared for and clean. I highly recommend!

I signed up for the Unforgettable Riding Experience at Rusty Bar Ranch this past spring, and it was…read moreamazing! I was a bit nervous, having little to no prior experience. We started inside on Sheena the Wonder Horse. I have to say, the state-of-the-art simulator really helps to get comfortable in a number of ways. After that, it was on to the arena & Valentine, a real horse Rusty Bar Ranch owner and trainer, Kathy really knows horses & also cares about them. She was such a kind & patient teacher. I felt totally comfortable & at ease. She teaches at every level, depending on the student. I'm clearly a beginner & if you've been on the fence about horseback riding, I highly recommend this experience. You're NEVER to old to learn something new! Go to the website & sign up. It was definitely an unforgettable experience for me.

Once again, I came to Legend's to get the knowledge and skill I needed. Jerome and his staff were…read moreincredible working with me and my horse! Ground manners were the problem. They are a problem no more! My horse and I know what to do and how to do---and most importantly, why. Everyone here is friendly, knowledgeable and takes the time to be thorough. Thank you! Thank you!

Beautiful experience! Jerome and his wife were kind, patient, and clearly loved the animals. During…read moreour trail he shared stories and the scenic surroundings made the ride feel safe and personal. Overall I felt peaceful and taken care of. I am grateful for the companionship of both horse and nature. If you want a beautiful and soulful way to reconnect with the outdoors, this trail ride is simply unforgettable!

Best place I've taken my daughter to learn how to ride. It's a nice little place with a good…read moreindoor/outdoor arena. The indoor part has a viewing room that's insulated and heated and has several comfy chairs. My daughter is 6 and started riding with Colby and Jericho, two very nice and well tempered small horses. Maddie is an excellent instructor! My daughter does better with firm instruction and Maddie definitely does a great job of teaching young ones. I absolutely recommend this place for learning to ride. Plus they have a blue heeler named Harley who is supe friendly.

I have been riding at Klearmont Farms for about 10 months now and it has been a wonderful…read moreexperience. Kim Pratt is the trainer and she does a wonderful job at taking care of all of the horses. You can tell that she loves her horses and she is deliberate and thoughtful in the care that she gives them. She has been showing in the Northwest for over 30 years and for over 25 years has trained horses and taught children. Klearmont Farms is primarily a hunter/jumper barn and we have riders who do both. She also teaches dressage if you would like a background in dressage. I started riding at this barn for two reasons. One is there is not a lot of riding options in the Lakewood area and most importantly when I walked into the barn the first time to check it out almost everyone I ran into said hi. I was greeted and introduced to almost everyone in the first 10 minutes and everyone was genuinely friendly and since then I have made some wonderful friends. I find that it can be difficult to find a friendly barn that within just a few short months you feel like family. My first 7 months, I did not own a horse and took lessons on her string of school horses. Not once did I ever ride a horse that was not well behaved and able to teach me. I am jumping 2'9" and a lot of barns do not have horses that will jump up that high on schooling horses, but hers were able to. She also has a couple of great beginner school horses that are perfect for the first time rider as young as five. I now have my own little chestnut Thoroughbred at her barn and she has taken wonderful care of him. He gets turned out 6 days a week and fed 3 times a day. The stalls are in good condition and are modified so even the craftiest horses can't get out. The property is fenced in so that if a horse does get loose they are safe. There are two arenas, one larger outdoor arena and a smaller indoor arena, both are large enough to jump in with good footing that is drug everyday. They back up right against Fort Lewis so there are awesome trails that you can spend almost all day on for those days that riding in the arena just isn't good enough. Riding is an expensive sport, but I looked all around the area and found that Klearmont Farms charged the lower end for board and lessons. The best deal is to by your lessons at the beginning of the month for the whole month because that is the when they are the cheapest. I try to take two lessons a week because that is what I have found makes me improve the fastest, but there are all different levels at the barn and many only take one lesson a week. Overall, I have loved my time at Klearmont Farms and am so glad that I chose to ride there. It is a wonderful barn with great people and lot of learning. Perfect for the beginner and advanced rider.

Four Star Farm is a horse farm, that caters to kids horse lessons, specializing in dressage. They…read morealso offer Equine Assisted Therapy. What I like about this place, is that it teaches kids how to take care of a horse. You don't just put your kid on a horse, slap the horses rump, and tell the kid to hold on. Kids are expected to clean out the stall of the horse they ride, they need to brush the the horse down, clean its hooves, etc. My wife joined a ladies riding group on Sundays. They have ponies and horses of all sizes. They also do dressage and do jumping! They might be the same thing, but I am new to horse terminology, so don't judge me! I like going there to help out just to be around the horses. When I am having a bad day, the horses sense it, cheer me up! I highly recommend this farm.

Every single place has its pros and cons though Four Star Farm is just constant cons. Let's start…read morewith the cleanliness of this facility. The cleanliness of everything surround this place is just plain gross, for example, the Moldy hay the owner refuses to get rid of since she spent money on it, therefore she has to use it. The grain as well has rats living in there plus it's moldy due to her buildings falling apart and leaking. The stalls on the other hand sometimes don't get done for days maybe weeks on end depending on whether kids come out to clean them or not. Another key thing is there is basically a ton of junk not used or that have no use on this property that just sits and rusts, which can hurt a horse if they got out. The other thing they have going for them is the violation of Child Labor laws. The violation of labor laws includes younger kids cleaning around 24 stalls or more depending on what the owner wants to be done (kids being around 5 or younger maybe 12 or older). All the considered 'older girls' didn't get paid during any of the time they took to 'teach' these kids which were about 4 or more hours of work depending on how long each of the kids stayed. Basically, we were glorified baby sitters that didn't get paid or have a choice to help with these kids. We were also forced to give these kids lessons even though we had paid for a 'lesson' which we never got, the Owner had threatened to not let you ride if you didn't do any of the work or give lessons you couldn't ride. The third thing has to be the amount of disorganization she had during all of this. The lessons were insanely disorganized due to the fact that we had so many kids and no trainer, so all the kids have learned our bad habits let alone we had no room in our already pretty big arena for almost 9 horses. Along with many parents and kiddos did not sign the waiver or at least the Owner never made sure it was signed at the time of the 'lesson' plus when they were riding not every kid was on a suited horse for there weight and height which led to a lot of horses becoming lame. She also held summer camps which consisted of around a week of riding a horse, learning how to do things involving horses, though many of them have never even touched, sat, or have even seen a horse before. The week of camp was terrible 14 kids or more broken up into different groups doing activities these kids didn't want to do along with the counselors which were just us older girls not getting paid and again being glorified baby sitters whilst teaching these kids how to ride and 'be safe around horses,' while none of us knew how actually be safe around a horse. One of the last things has to be the amount of neglect and strain put on these horses. A lot of these horses either had riders that were too big, tack that didn't fit properly, food fed to them that was moldy, many of the horses lower on the pecking order became insanely skinny and the Owner didn't care. The Owner refused to call the vet for several horses that were colicing & she was just going to let them die. In fact, she let a 20-year-old horse die of colic along with the person who decided to stay the night and ignore the signs of colic, then waking up the next morning to him dying. The Owner had done the same thing with a miniature horse saying she would watch him overnight even though they also had visible signs of colic. She, the Owner had decided to do this procedure on a horse who had a side bone, she had a not so good vet come on out, pull out the pain nerves in her front legs, waited for them to heal after 2 weeks then put a rider on her and jumped around 5 feet with her having little to no work previously. Though that procedure made her permanently lame since she can't feel her legs any longer due to those nerves bein gone. The Last and final topic has to be the amount of drama that goes on around here. Since there is no trainer out there ever we girls and I mean literally all girls would ride after giving a lesson the Owner forced us to do or else we didn't ride that day. Going back to no trainer since there was no trainer to give the 'older' girls a lesson it became full-blown chaos and everyone started to get on everyone's back on things which meant a ton of gossip of how each girl was riding. The Owner didn't shut this down when her attention was brought to the situation instead she just sat there and ignored it along with her picking a favorite than her herself deciding to talk crap about the older girls as well.

Can honestly say I've enjoyed boarding here for the past year and am happy to stay many years to…read morecome. I appreciate the current Board of Governors and the FLRC as a whole for not tolerating drama. The amenities are nice! The trails are endless! The Arena is huge! The paddocks are green and full! Friends to ride with! Happy to be apart of this facility for sure.

If I could give this boarding facility a zero rating I would this place is Not worth the stress of…read moreboarding here it is a very hostile environment and not family friendly. They don't follow the rules they have in their SOP and if you have any some questions or concerns you have to email them even if it's a small question example: is the sky blue ? And careful they will write you a warning without telling you and treat you like trash this place is a waste of time and money for a boarding facility that just takes your money and then will boot you out after 90 days (probation period) I'm glad we left there to many snowflakes and Karen's if you don't kiss their butts they will boot you out. If you're wanting a place to have fun and enjoy your horse and make friends this place isn't it. Not family friendly