Ghezal Hamidi
3.0
30 Oct 2019
I went here for a birthday excursion. We had booked the time in advance with a very friendly receptionist (who was great on the day-of!). She had informed us that we would be with another group, but that was okay with us. On our way to the location, we had made the effort to call them to inform them we would be 5 mins late (to see if this was okay with them) and were advised this was okay. We got to the location, had a great receptionist help us out, but then were told something we weren't told on the phone - that we would have to pay an additional $50 for a "beginner assessment". We weren't told this on the phone. I've ridden at least 5 times in my life before, the first time being when I was only 5 years old. I've ridden in much more dangerous locations, and didn't feel the need for this. We were still told we needed this, so we agreed and went along with things. One of the guides was very friendly and we liked her, but the one who was mainly guiding us solo was EXTREMELY rude throughout the entire process. During training, we listened to her, but during the ride itself, she kept shutting down any questions we had. Everything we asked, including, "can we go a bit faster?" was met with, "well our insurance policies don't allow for that, it's on me and I lose my job if you go too fast and get hurt". I understood, stayed quiet (I was at the back). I actually ended up getting a horse that kept stopping for food. I was told to "pull hard!" when the horse did this, so I did several times. It wasn't the horse's fault that it wanted to eat, so the first 3 or 4 times, I was very rigid with the horse and had it keep going, but a few times after, it kept being stubborn, went off trail (I was able to get it back on path quickly, but still), and the guide went as far as to say, "the horse knows whose on top of it and acts accordingly", which is insanely rude. She kept implying, saying, that I was the reason the horse was being like this. My partner and I were floored at this. I have ridden dangerous horses in dangerous locations, where there are cliffs, oceans, etc. I have never had a horse be that stubborn before. In fact, every time I've ridden, horses (including the "temperamental" ones) have obeyed me. The horse I got was lovely, but it wasn't suitable to me at all. I actually don't know why they gave me the horse if it was known for being more difficult, for stopping for food all the time, etc. If I actually had been a first-time rider, I wouldn't have known how to handle this situation. It was actually due to my experience riding that I knew when to steer the horse away from things, and when to let her (near the end, as we were both fed up) just have what she wanted. The horse was actually quite stubborn and seemed really repressed/passive/sad. My partner noted the horse looked "sad" and "scared", as he could see the horse from ahead of me. The horse also stayed far behind the guide and my partner, making it difficult for me to hear half of the guide. The guide then also went on to engage with my partner, without really speaking much to me at all. She only spoke to me when I asked why my horse was acting a specific way, to which she responded with insulting comments like, "it's because of who's riding her". Not only is that poor customer service, it's also poor people skills. If I'm experienced with riding actually dangerous horses, I don't think there's any issue with my riding skills. She kept going on about how we didn't know the real terminology for riding, and that's "exactly why you guys can't go faster".. which is again, insulting, and demeaning. A simple, "we don't allow for it, as it's our rules" would have sufficed. And again, I have actually gone fast on horses near cliffs. We were perfectly fine abiding by their rules as these are their horses, but to be spoken to in such a poor manner, was degrading.
I love horses, I have experience riding horses in 5 different countries now. I have the utmost respect for the other employees at the location, and for the horses themselves. But this treatment was unacceptable.