I would've sued this place but it wouldn't be worth my time. I specifically told this gal I CANNOT RIDE A HORSE PROPERLY AND NEED ONE ON ONE TRAINING. I let her know and she let me loose with a lesson horse but never told me if I was doing anything right. After four lessons, with zero input, I regretfully let her know that this would be my last lesson with her. Here's what followed: My mother, who's now fully into Alzheimer's, and her partner who's just passed, insisted on coming to see my last riding lesson. I begged them to let me go alone, but noooo. So after this harridan in a ponytail let me embarrass myself to her roaring critique of my admittedly horrible habits, she gets on my sour lesson horse and shows everyone how great SHE can ride!!! THAT'S what my mother saw, or rather witnessed. Thanks, whoever referred me to this hellhole. read more

I've been riding at PTR for over a year now and it is the best barn I've ridden at. The boarders are nice and considerate, there are a variety of horses to ride depending on your experience and interest, the lessons are challenging, and Jan, the trainer, is great!!! I've recommended PTR to all levels of riders . . . Kids, adults, experienced, beginner, rusty, etc. It is a great place to spend time away from the rest of your responsibilities in life and just focus on riding. If you're looking for a good place to learn how to ride or improve your skills, you've found it. read more

Went out to try a couple horses for a half lease situation, and I'm a pretty good judge of character, but Jan the owner was not only unhappy that she had to get the horses ready, but then proceeded to be very critical of the way I rode them, and said they were $20,000.00 dollar horses, and they were perfect!! Well they were nice enough, but clearly were not at all trained completely and one had sore feet!!!! I'm 63 and ridden all my life on and off, had a few accidents, so I'm very nervous and cautious at first, but all I did was get criticized for that, and told I should know better!!!! Horrible attitude!!!! Know it all demeanor, and place is a dump!!!! The owners weren't even out to help me with their horses!!!! I left feeling really like ok, just another crappy Horse person!!!!!! Then to top it off she was NOT even wearing a mask to greet me during this COVID time!!!!! Don't recommend!!!! read more

My boyfriend and I purchased a Groupon for 2 one hour horse back riding lessons and we both had an amazing experience. There are about 20 horses on the ranch, a pony and even a zebra! All of the animals were well groomed and beautiful! Jan spent well over an hour with us - we started by grooming our horses, watching how to clean its hooves and saddling them up. We walked around an arena, trotted and even broke into a canter at one point. All the horses were very responsive to the lightest pull on the bridle and very calm. It was my first time riding a horse and Jan was a great instructor and made everything very easy to pick up. I would recommend this as a great birthday present for a kid or adult! read more

Awful place to keep your horse! Do not go here if you care about your horse or about yourself! The owners are absolutely unprofessional, the woman Jan Addison has a bad attitude and becomes easily angry with clients who board with her. The stalls are small. The feed is not that good and the hay is inexpensive food. The mares all stand on gravel all day long with no access to grass, not any of the horses have grass. Also the tiny tiny tack rooms are filthy as the cleaner blows dust into the tack room, dust on the leather dust on the saddle dust on the bridals. Nasty place! Lastly, they treat the poor Mexican family that stays in the barn just horribly! The owners use and abuse this poor family and don't pay them a dime. read more

Recently had a bday party there. Neighbor lady Cheese could have been more cordial. Heck, I brought her business. Kids loved the horses and party assistant was sweet. BUT, the birthday tables where food and cake was served was set on 5 inches of barn muck. I couldn't keep the muck off of anything. I don't think the kids noticed, but the adults did. One of the tables was so unstable and close to collapsing. I must add, I am grateful Neighbor Lady Cheese was able to work with my difficult schedule. Just wish I didn't have serve lunch and birthday cake on muck. Perhaps a table outside of the barn would be a good idea...just say'n. read more

Loved my horse back riding. Learned lots of stuff in a friendly and stress free environment, and the horses are just so amazing.

My daughter is addicted to Horses. So what better thing for her birthday than a horse riding party! Pony Tail Ranch was a great experience for everyone. Our kids that attended ranged from 3 to 13. The little kids were led by us adults so it was fun for kids and parents. The older kids learned to ride on their own, and couldn't get enough of it! The staff had a great happy attitude and was very patient with us. They provided great horses that were super gentle and well groomed. We had several hourses so there was ample riding for everyone throughout our party time and noone was bored or left wanting for riding time. And the price was amazing considering the amount of horses and attention you get for the one low price. Everyone was talking about it and can't wait to go back. We will do this again and I would recommend Pony Tail Ranch to anyone who's kids love horses. Thank you for making my daughter the happiest 3 year old who is now in love with Skipper (her new favorite horse in the world)!! read more

People were very rude .I would NEVER go back I don't recommend anybody else going waste of money and time

I called this establishment many times sight unseen to reserve it for a birthday party because the location was convenient. I made arrangements to meet with the owner Jan before hand. When I arrived I saw horses in a pen outside, they all ran over to me in a desperate fashion like they wanted out. One horse that was black and gray put his head over the fence and made me pet him something like a cat and then we were both given quite a shock from an electric fence. There were piles of manure all along the dense where the horses were fed, they are literally forced to eat on top of their own excriment. It was a very hot day and they had no water available to them. They were hoof deep in manure no grass and there were maggots and flies every where. The half empty water buckets inside the stables were full of scum and mosquitos and the horses were laying on cement. I was there knocking in all the doors of the house and walking around the property fir 30 minutes before I found Jan, she was teaching a lesson, a 4 year old little girl was riding a horse with no lead rope, I dont feel this is safe at all should the child lose control there would be not much that could be done. Jan never at any point acknowledged my presence. She was rude and I decided after much thought that I could not contribute financially or otherwise to the abuse of animals and that I could not stand being on that property fir the time I was there let alone at a birthday party. And I didnt trust her to actually be there and be ready. So Jan laughed at me and said " I think its so funny she city people complain about poop and flies when these are farm animals". She also thought it was funny that I had been.shocked by the electric dense, even after I told her that an electric fense wasn't conducive to having childrena where on the property. I'd like to add that there was a great deal of dog feces everywhere from her four dogs and it wreaked strongly, so there were more flies on the dog poop than you can imagine. Jan after an hour of arguing agreed to return my payment. Days went by and I did not receive it. So I called her and asked if she had mailed it and she said " I dont know" and I told her I would be taking her to small claims court and she laughed and said good then hung the phone up. In our argument I asked her about if the other reviews on here were true she said they were and that it was her neighbor across the street who she had swindled into paying her for the board of a pony for 9 months that Jan herself owned. Then she laughed and said she had told them if they paid to care for the horse fir a year she would give it to them and that she had not made good on her word and what fools....she did not deny harming the animals. I showed up at the time the birthday party was scheduled after Jan did not return my calls or money and she was no where to be found and there was junk and garbage piled everywhere. I think its pretty clear from her demeanor, the state of her living quarters and the strange people hanging around her property that this is more of a crack/flop house than a ranch. I urge anyone who has witnessed Jan kicking or beating the animals to report this to the police or contact me read more

For some reason my review was filtered. I feel it's important that people know our experience with lessons. While the care and treatment of the horses seems fine, I would definitely not recommend lessons. Especially for beginner riders. read more

I wanted to spread the word to anyone in the Seattle area who is looking for horseback riding lessons to avoid Pony Tail Ranch (ponytailranch.com) in Renton, WA. I started lessons for my five year old daughter there three weeks ago, and I wouldn't go back if they paid ME! I was very polite in trying to arrange a lesson date/time via email with the owner, Jan Addison. The first two lessons with her supposed instructor were utterly devoid of instruction, when she instead was constantly playing with her phone. The ancient lesson horse was quiet enough but refused to stop, even with a twisted gag bit and super long shank and my daughter hauling back yelling "whoa!" When I politely emailed the owner to tell her I was disappointed in the lack of instruction and outlined why, she was surprisingly responsive and apologized for the instructor, saying that she'd been out of the country and that the instructor was being replaced, and she would be giving all lessons until a replacement was found. She asked me to try to take the last two lessons, and I agreed and said I appreciated her reading my email. When we arrived, she was abrupt and rude, which surprised me given the email response. She put my daughter up on the horse, then proceeded to tell me in a seemingly hostile way why the instructor had been right on one of my points and how the horse needed to wear a gag bit so it could feel little riders' cues. I disagreed with what she said but just nodded my head and listened. She definitely gave my daughter better instruction than the other girl, and tightened the reins enough that the horse would stop, if only briefly. After the lesson, she point blank told me she could tell I wasn't happy and that she would refund my money for the last lesson. I wasn't going to argue with her, so I said okay and put my three little kids in the car and returned to the barn to collect the check. She held it and then immediately said my initial emails to her were "shitty" in tone and that she had thought of turning us down initially for lessons! I was really taken by surprise and was shocked so said I didn't think I'd sounded that way. She apparently felt the need to lecture me about how I'd sounded and I finally said I had a sick cat and had to go, since my cat got deathly ill that morning and my husband had just taken him to the vet. She kept holding the check and talking, so I finally turned and walked away toward my car. She followed, telling me it was my money, and I said "that's okay." She followed me to the car still talking so I finally grabbed the check out of her hand and shut the door. I was incredibly upset and appalled by her lack of professionalism in providing a service! I re-read every email communication I had with her and can absolutely not see where she was coming from! I was polite and straight-forward on every single one. Please help me spread the word about this horrible woman. read more

I would like to start off by saying the owner, Jan, is very knowledgeable and knows endless amounts of information about horses. However, the facilities are not very well kept up. My horses stall was disgusting most of the time, unless I cleaned it myself. Often times their water buckets outside were dirty and some days the horses would be completely out of water. The turnouts leave much to be desired as they are simply small dirt pens with no grass or anything. In the winter the turnouts turn into one giant mud puddle, which is awful for them to stand in all day. The feeding schedule is inconsistent and many times they wouldn't even spend the extra 30 seconds to make sure my horse got the supplements he needed. Also, the way that the horses are treated is absolutely heart breaking. I have personally seen Jan kick horses in the stomach repeatedly, and whip them in the face with their lead ropes. The way business is handled is unprofessional. When I made the decision to move to a different barn, she came after me, and made me feel absolutely awful to the point where I started crying. I would not recommend this barn to anyone. read more

This place is horrible. The trainer, Jan, is a vindictive trainer towards some (not all, but some) of her students and is an abusive horse trainer. I've seen a horse try and climb a 6 foot fence to try and get away from her because they were so scared. She doesn't correct her horses when they do something wrong, she beats them into submission. I honestly feel so sorry for the horses there and the beginners she sells horses to and forces them into a contract that they can't get out of for 6 months. Most of her operation is a facade for what is actually going on behind the scenes. Not only have I had a bad experience there, but many of my other horse friends who have taken lessons or boarded there have had similarly bad experiences. Actually almost anyone I've ever talked to who used to ride at Ponytail said they hated it. Many of them have gotten hurt there because of the trainer's methods or just barely made it out unscathed. Not only is her training program bad, her facility is falling apart and manure pile is way larger than the legal limit. I honestly don't know how she hasn't been shut down yet. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS PLACE TO ANYONE. read more