WARNING: DO NOT GO HERE!
That is the short 'review'. Now let me explain why I am taking the time to tell people to take their business elsewhere.
My ten year old daughter wanted horseback riding lessons for her birthday. My wife found this place online and saw they did birthday parties where everyone gets to ride and have a lesson. Seemed like a good idea so we did it.
Birthday party was fine. The owner, 'Miss Ann' seemed a bit gruff and not the friendliest type but we thought well, maybe that's just how 'horse people' are. After the party we inquired about lessons and decided to continue with lessons every 1-2 weeks for both our ten year old as well as our thirteen year old daughter.
Sometimes the lessons were fine, sometimes they were disorganized and overbooked so our daughters would not have the best lesson. We would write it off and not think too much of it.
What we did notice is 'Miss Ann' and her gruff and unfriendly manner was not just limited to her but many of her trainers as well. Our kids would occasionally say that one of the trainers was 'being pretty mean' during a lesson. Now let me make something perfectly clear - we are NOT coddling helicopter parents. We are strict and usually will tell our kids to just toughen up a bit and deal with. So when they would make these occasional remarks about the trainers or 'Miss Ann' being snappy or yelling at them we would tell them that's just the way people are some times and they probably need to be a little tough on kids because horses can be dangerous.
So all that being said, there are still lines or boundaries you do not cross as a paid professional trainer in any sport or discipline. Last week 'Miss Ann' crossed that line.
Our thirteen year old daughter is no snowflake. She has broken bones, amassed numerous scars with barely a tear and is largely unfazed by 'hurt feelings'. So when she finished a lesson and literally burst into tears, for her, it's highly unusual. Here's what happened:
First thing that day is they screwed up and overbooked so there were too many people, too many horses and not enough room. Our thirteen year old was riding inside the stable and attempting to maneuver around the overly crowded area with other people and their horses (and a bunch of dogs). Well, she got a little too close to 'Miss Ann' (about three feet) as she stood there talking to someone and said, "If you step on my foot I'm gonna make you get off your horse, you understand?" As she said this she literally jabbed the horse in the neck with a pen to make it jerk its head away from her. Then, when she got too close again (because of the overcrowding) 'Miss Ann' made her stop the horse and then proceeded to call her irresponsible, accused her of not trying hard enough and then like a scolding parent made her apologize with the whole, "What do you say?" routine. Sorry, but that is not her job as a paid horse trainer. To make things worse, she was berating her in front of 15 or so other people. One of the lovely things she said in her scold session was, "I going to slap your horse so he takes off running and throws you off!" I'm all for being firm and strict but a humiliating rant in front of a group of people AND threatening to do something that could get her seriously hurt to 'teach her a lesson' is 100% unacceptable and over the line. The reason she was having trouble navigating and controlling the horse was because it was too crowded because of 'Miss Ann's' failure in organizing and booking.
But no, even that wasn't enough. A bit later, 'Miss Ann' AGAIN stopped her when she got too close and started in with, "What did I tell you? Are you a smart girl? Do you have a brain? Well it's not looking like it."
Really? We are paying for this? Yeah, not anymore.
Then the final nail on this hay filled coffin, was from one of the moody trainers who was barking some trot orders she was having difficulty following. The wonderful input she got from that was, "If you're not going to trot when I say trot then you need to get off the horse."
Oh yeah, good times!
Don't take just our word for it. Read through some of the reviews here on Yelp and you will see various mentions of the training being fine if 'the trainers are in a good mood' that day. Or the one review where a trainer aggressively yanks on a student's helmet and says, "You like that? That feel good? That's how your horse feels!" Normally I would write that stuff off as one lame or cranky trainer here and there but now we know that unprofessional demeaning morale comes top down from the owner herself - 'Miss Ann'.
So do yourself and your kids a favor, pay a little extra and go somewhere that doesn't have an owner that is clearly burnt out and been doing it too long. 'Miss Ann' needs to pack it up and do something different in life because, berating, insulting and even threatening children who are trying to learn how to ride is a clear sign it's time to move on.
Take your business elsewhere folks. read more