This is by far the best barn in the world! The horses are awesome, the lessons are fun, and it's…read morerun by one of the strongest most amazing ladies I know. Wether your looking for lessons with lots of different horses you can ride, or looking to show for fun, check out sweet talk stables. Great place to make lots of friends as well.

From the owner: Sweet Talk Stables specializes in a Complete western and english horseback riding lesson program…read more Located 8 minutes east of Calgary in Chestermere, we help horseback riders achieve their goals at any level.. Sweet Talk Stables is a full service equestrian facility offering a "Complete" horseback riding lesson program, horse boarding, horse training and horse sales. Sweet Talk Stables raises and trains quality, Warmbloods, Sport Horses and Sport Ponies, specializing in pintos. Home of Canada's only Homozygous Pinto Warmblood Stallion.

Our family had a lovely horse drawn sleigh ride experience in Alberta here near Kananaskis outside…read morethe Banff area. The ride is about 30 minutes but went by quickly - we were given two blankets each one to sit on to stay warm and a second to cover us up. You can for easily 4 adults across in a row (maybe 6 rows?) - very charming and peaceful ride into the snowy woods! When we returned we had hot coffee and hot chocolates waiting for us! Definitely a must for any families or couples!

We had a GREAT Experience & our 10 year old Daughter LOVED it! The staff/guides are professional…read more& courteous & very knowledgeable! My Daughter was all smiles when we returned & Ruby (our guide) was GREAT! Thank You!

Where do I begin? We had our daughter's 4th birthday party with Horsin Around. Thankfully after my…read more9 emails with the owner Ron Thornhill they finally updated their website after our event. When we were booking on the website it showed an indoor venue with an indoor space to have birthday cake. Several bouncy castles, a foosball table, animals indoors for petting, ponies being ridden indoors etc. We were extremely shocked to find out nothing was indoors at the birthday party and there was nowhere to warm up or heat lamps. This was on October 27th and there was snow outside!! We had planned for an indoor event along with all of the other parents. Nowhere was it listed on the website indicates nowhere that everything would be outside and none of the pictures listed the indoor stuff as the "old location" This would have been extremely useful information given the weather and also I probably wouldn't have booked. With the cold weather and zero information on this being all outside I had a little girl crying and other guests cold. As you can imagine cold toddlers does not make for a happy time. Then I move onto the fact the "petting zoo" This is how it is defined in the Oxford Dictionary: Petting Zoo- a zoo at which visitors, especially children, may handle and feed the animals. There was no petting zoo but rather animals in a pen that the kids hot to reach through a fence to pet those within reach...some petting zoo and again not what was on the website. Highly misleading. Don't worry Ron kindly mentioned to me that they butcher several of the animals after they have served their purpose (which I really didn't need to know) he also said that their new petting zoo was just reaching through bars to touch the animals (if the animals bothered to wonder near in there large outdoor pen.) Then came the family with three kids whom were not our guests and I told them this was a private event of a birthday party and to speak with the staff about when to come back to ride the horses. Well after speaking to the volunteers.... they then proceeded to go on the bouncy castles and pony rides...though I don't recall having random people intrude on a birthday party something that I should be happy about. I am beyond disappointed and this is not at all the birthday party I had planned. I absolutely feel misled. Thanks, Ron for updating your website post our lengthy conversation also thanks for thinking offering a $100 discount to be applied to your summer riding camp, would somehow interest me on wanting to give you more money. Avoid this place at all costs as the owner literally does not care and has zero customer service.

In the same end of town as Spruce Meadows there's a small horse farm/ranch on the edge of the city…read morewhich offers horse and pony camps, riding lessons, three types of birthday parties, and 45-minute long trail rides. I took my family out for a trail ride, and for about $100 the three of us got to enjoy the wonder of horse-back riding again. The last time we went was on a ranch near Canmore for about twice as much money, but we didn't want to travel so far. We'd like to make it more of a regular thing. The weather was initially about 15 degrees, but dropped a touch and started raining a bit on our way back. The single path that wound through a couple fields and up and down some small hills was a little muddy and the horses slipped a little bit. There were 6 of us riders, plus the leader who tried to keep us from wandering off or stopping too long and letting our horses eat the bushes. At the very beginning we received a little tutorial on how to sit and how to steer the horse and make it stop. One of the riders kept pulling back on the reins after the horse stopped and it went backwards in a loop. He wanted that to stop so he pulled back on the reins some more. We were clearly a novice group. I had my helmet on backwards.(Helmets are mandatory for kids, but only recommended for adults.) The horses were lovely animals, trained very well, easy to work with, although mine was a little prone to looking at the tempting empty field and my wife's horse was a bit of a chow hound. The staff were awesome. All summer they offer pony camps for kids 4-7 and horse camps for kids 8 and over. Birthday parties include pony/horse rides, wagon rides, petting zoo, and a barbecue. If you don't want any of that you can get a day pass that gets you all that fun stuff (except the trail rides and lessons). (Also, Google Maps thinks this is in Priddis, but it's not. It's on the edge of Calgary.)

I booked a three hour morning ride and the Grampa cabin several months prior to the trip and paid…read morethe deposit. Two days before the visit I phoned to confirm the bookings and was told that someone was supposed to contact me and let me know that the ride was rescheduled for the afternoon but that had not happened. I insisted that we must ride in the morning as we had other commitments for the afternoon and was told that they now had a corporate booking that was more important than our two person booking. Upon arrival, nobody knew what was going on except that our ride was in the afternoon. After much insistence Anchor D agreed to putting the morning ride on and the wranglers and the ride itself were great. The cabin, however, was disgusting and unsafe not to mention unsanitary. The toilet had not been flushed prior to our arrival, the windows and doorways were literally covered with dead flies. The dining room chair had no seat but was covered by a cushion that allowed one guest to fall through it. The stairs to the upper loft are dangerous and only suitable for children. So be careful, this outfit is willing to cancel your trip if they get a better deal, and dont care one bit for your comfort.

We love the Anchor D and try to visit five or six times every year. Sometimes I take family,…read moresometimes I take business associates, sometimes I grab a group of friends and off we go. The ranch is wonderful and rustic and authentic, the horses are perfect for our group, and the scenery is second to none. Dewy and his team always do a wonderful job to ensure that we have an enjoyable time. Highly recommended!

I just love this place. I used to go riding there regularly ( unguided trail rides/ membership)…read moreuntil we moved away. Awesome trails. Wonderful horses. Thank you Griffin Valley Ranch for the wonderful times I had . 5 star !

Made a visit to Griffin Valley Ranch for a one hour trail ride on a beautiful Sunday afternoon…read more We were given a short lesson on how to handle the horses and then lead to the horse chosen for our specific size/weight/experience. Griffin Valley is set on some of the most beautiful property, about 15 kms outside of Cochrane. Our ride was easy and relaxing. The staff made sure to check in with everyone from time to time and chat with us or answer any questions we had. It's perfect for the person who has no riding experience, as the horses are extremely well trained. No need to worry about them getting out of hand, which lets you enjoy the scenery around you. They do let the more experienced riders take horses out for unguided trail rides as well, and offer sleigh rides in the winter. The map used to get there was from their website. DO NOT use Google maps, you will definitely get lost. The long winding road up to the Ranch is long, and you will feel like it takes forever to get there. Its worth it though!