This is where I spend most of my free time so I'm going to tell you as much as I know…read more
I found it because I was looking for a horse to lease. I half-leased a sweet (she is actually kinda bitchy, but she's a mare) little quarter horse mare here that loved to do trails for under $300/month. Lease prices vary horse to horse, owner to owner. There is always someone here looking to lease or half lease their steed, if that is what you are looking for. It was a great deal since I got to ride her 3-4 times a week. There are lots of easy going people here that do trails and that has become my first love.
WHAT IT IS: The name is a little misleading. They do play a little bit of arena polo here, and teach a few lessons but I've not seen any hunt activity in the nearly 3 years I've been there. It IS a private club, but the membership fee is a nominal $450/year (just went up from $300). For that price you get full access to all the facilities which include a small but nice swimming pool, a polo arena about the size of football field, a very nice covered arena and a small "rustic" dressage arena. They have a shower and club room too, but nobody really uses them. You pay this fee on top of board or lesson fees.
THE VIBE: You can also take riding lessons here up to advanced intermediate whether you have a horse or not. Ira is an amazing instructor in dressage and basic equitation and a great horse trainer. There no grand prix stuff going on here, just people who love horses and want to be better riders.
There's no snob factor going on here and it's a very casual atmosphere where people mostly do their own thing. We are all pretty friendly to each other and I do have a couple of close friends I have made here and we even share our horses. That was totally unheard of where I was before.
I used to take arena ball lessons and throw down a few chukkers in Del Mar, but have not been inspired to do so here as the arena is quite small and I also realized while I was playing in Del Mar one day, "Holy crap, I could get KILLED playing this sport!" There are a few people here that board and exercise their polo ponies here for games at Will Rogers etc.
LOCATION: Okay, the amazing thing about this place is TRAILS, TRAILS, TRAILS. For being just 20 minutes to PCH and 10 minutes to the Valley it's pretty incredible how much wilderness we have access to. Fair Hills has 3-4 exit points (depending on the soundness and strength of your ride) and you can, and probably will, get lost for hours. I have a few favorite trails, each of them having nice rolling hills for some serious galloping. We can wind our way up Mullholland where the fire road starts and I haven't even had enough time to see how far we could actually go on them, but it's long, long, far, far away. And strangely, all of this is very unpopulated. We are actually always a little surprised when we see someone else on these pristine trails. Sometimes they get a little overgrown, but we go out on bush whacking missions sometimes to help keep them clear. My hubby comes home from a stressful LA workday, hops on our horse and marvels that he was just stuck in traffic 40 mintues ago and now he's in the wilderness on horseback.
SERVICE: The Staff is extremely knowledgeable and helpful. Jeanne is the person to ask for about ANYTHING if you call. Boarding, leasing, lessons, she's your go-to gal. She's amazingly kind-hearted and knows the details of every horse and rider. Be nice to her and she'll give you the world in a saddle, a real gem. She talked me into adopting my current and first horse, Traveler and even helped when things got sticky in the adoption process and made me feel like it was my idea. He was a neglected, spunky older guy and she paired us up and we couldn't be happier about it.
Don't buy her husband Derrick's sometimes gruff exterior, he's about the biggest softie I know and always willing to take a look at your horse if you have a question.
The guys that pony and exercise the horses are great. You'd be surprised what a $15 can get you in horse care. I've had a small injury that has prevented me from riding for nearly 3 weeks and they have my guy exercised and happy anytime I want.
BOARDING: There is lots of options here. My guy is in a dry pasture with a kinda crappy shelter but lots of space with just one other horse. (there used to be three of them in there.) It's $445/month and that includes cubes. There are nicer pipe stall, thy are about $500/month, and oversize corrals and other options as well. It's sort of what's available at the time and how many horses you have.
DOWNSIDES:
It's closed on Mondays. As in, don't come up unless it's a medical reason for you horse. And it closes early (6pm) on Sundays. This frequently bums me out.
The hay quality is not so great. I've resorted to having hay delivered.
You really gotta ask for what would seem some pretty basic things.
OVERALL:
It's a little piece of horse heaven oh, so close to the city.