This is a luxurious facility with top-notch horse care.
Pros: All stalls and turnout areas have Nelson automatic waterers that ensure that water stays clean, fresh, and unfrozen. There are two nice wash stalls with rubber matts. Many stalls are oversized, and none are smaller than 12" x 12". Rubber matts cover all the stalls and aisles. The indoor arena is large enough and very well lit. All footing is excellent and well maintained. It is never, ever dusty. They have beautiful jumps and cross country fences (if you can afford to use them-- see below). The heated tack room includes a leather sofa, dining table, refrigerator, coffee maker, microwave, two saddle and bridle racks per horse, a flat-screen tv with access to surveillance video, sink with hot water, and tack cleaning racks. They also have bathroom facilities, a laundry room, and a grain room, which are all heated in the winter. Board includes blanket changing services, hay, and grain, but only if you use one of the three types of grain they feed. They produce their own hay (both first and second cut) and it is very high in quality. They feed hay four times per day and grain twice. Turnout areas range between .5 and 1 acre, most are grassy, and your horse can be turned out alone or in small groups. The current staff provides excellent horse care and communication with boarders. At owner's request, they will put boots and blankets on before turnout and take them off when the horses come inside, they will administer medications and hold horses for the vet, and they also keep track of farrier schedules and keep boarders apprised of supplement levels, etc. It is an extremely well run facility.
Cons: Board is extremely expensive ($790 to $850 per month depending on length of stay), and boarders are charged extra for things like trailer parking and other services. They also add farm fees into the bills for clinics, dentist etc., and if they don't feed the grain you use, be prepared to buy it yourself. There are no trees and no shelters in the turnout areas, which means that no shade is available to the horses in the summer and they get whipped by the wind in the winter (although staff is good about bringing horses inside when weather gets extreme). They do not rotate their pastures. Also, no jumping is allowed unless you are in a lesson with the barn's approved trainer (to the tune of $75 for a 45 minute lesson). No other trainers are permitted on the premises unless they are there for a clinic with her approval. Trails are limited and very close to the highway, but you can ride around the edge of the hay field or on the dirt roads.
Overall, this would be a five star barn if there were shelters in the turnout areas and they gave boarders the freedom to jump outside of lessons. (If you want to jump, it will cost you an extra $200- $300 per month for the privilege of one 45 minute practice session each week.) The trainer seems to have her students in a state of dependency where they are convinced that they could damage their progress by jumping without supervision. Plus, there are surveillance cameras over the arenas, so being sneaky about it could be tricky. read more
