Scheduled a private trail ride over the phone. Upon arrival, I was provided instructions on safety with the horse. My guide, Liz was very helpful and informative during the ride. I felt safe and became much more confident on the horse by the end. Appy Orse Acres has been around for a long time and I can see why. Bernadette and her staff take great care of their horses and customers. read more

THE ABSOLUTE WORST EXPERIENCE EVER! I never leave reviews, but I don't want someone else's kid to experience this so I'm hoping I persuade someone to find another stable for their equestrian needs. I don't know who is writing all these positive, glowing reviews about Bernadette, but our experience was absolutely terrible and left my daughter and her friend in tears. Since then, everyone I talk to has had a similar awful experience with her. She's an old crabby woman who's tired and has no patience for kids (the last person that should be running a summer camp). My 11 yr old daughter (an experienced rider who leases her own horse and takes private riding lessons twice a week, shows and has many awards and ribbons) signed up for a week-long, overnight riding camp last summer at Appy Orse Acres. She was soooo excited! But Bernadette's demeanor, approach to teaching the kids, and treatment of the horses left her begging and pleading to come home the first night. -- First of all the kids are left in old RVs on one end of the property, out in the middle of nowhere, without any adult supervision overnight. And they are not allowed to lock them. WHAT? -- They are not allowed to have any technology, no cells phones, tablets, anything. No one is allowed to call home. What if something happened overnight? Thankfully I deliberately broke this rule and allowed my daughter to have her phone in the RV. -- In a tour provided for the kids after arriving at the camp (I was the only parent that stayed for the tour), one of the staff said to the kids "I promise you, there will be tears tomorrow". Seriously, isn't summer camp supposed to be happy and carefree? -- During the first riding lesson of day 1, my daughter and her friend were riding together, and again remember they are experienced riders, Bernadette said on her microphone to her staff (she didn't know the girls could hear her), "these girls are terrible, who taught them to ride, they're just awful." During the entire lesson, she was yelling and criticizing them. In my opinion, who cares if they're doing things wrong or not to her liking... camp is supposed to be fun. We weren't paying Bernadette to "fix" anything she saw wrong. The intent was to go and have fun with the horses and friends... we quickly learned that this was not the intent of her camp. -- Also during the lessons if the horses weren't responding to the commands of the rider, she made the rider put on spurs so they could kick the horse. Anyone that knows anything about how to properly train and work with horses, knows that if you're doing it the right way, there is never a need for spurs. This was animal abuse. -- All the kids did the entire first day was have one riding lesson and then do manual farm labor the rest of the day with Bernadette and her staff barking orders at them, with very few breaks or time for fun. Both of our families confronted her about this, but of course she denied everything, and refused to refund us our $750 for the camp. What a joke. PLEASE DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILD TO HER SUMMER CAMP but if you do, please make sure they have a way to contact you if they want to come home! read more

Group of five ladies went for a beautiful fall ride. Highly recommend. Looking forward to going back again soon.

My Girl Scout troop had a blast going on a trail ride yesterday. Beautiful scenery, helpful and knowledgeable guides, gorgeous horses. As a first time rider i was a little nervous but I felt confident to ride after the instruction given. Bernadette was great to deal with throughout the process of setting up the trail ride for my troop! My daughter and I will be back for some more trail rides and summer camps! read more

Mrs B was very knowledgeable, and a wonderful guide! She opened a tour on her day off for ya, and we had a lot of fun!

I was completely shocked by how rude this company was to me. I understand that businesses change with the times. I called to see if I could make a time schedule for a day where my step daughter and I could go horseback riding. I was told that they no longer offered that service. The gentleman asked where I would be coming from. When I replied, he said, "That's two hours too far away.". Here's what shocked me the most! When I started to ask him if he knew of any other place we might be able to go, he interrupted me, and said, as if I had not been speaking at all, "I cannot help you.", and hung up on me. I have never been this chagrined at an owner's behavior. He wonders why there was not enough business for horseback riding? He may have to look at his own behavior. As for his comments about his horses not being ridden enough to keep them in shape for trail riding, it's called a business. You have to work at it. You have to pay for the care and upkeep of the horses and work with them, too. When he said to me they weren't being ridden enough, I thought... "Who's making sure they're safe enough for guests on a constant basis?" Since he is now only doing carriage rides, I think you'd be pretty safe.... as long as the wheels stay on. read more

We had a girls trip out here. It was such a wonderful time..the view was beautiful and you could see how much the horses are loved by Bernadette. We traveled from Racine and we are planning to go again... highly recommended... read more

This was a great great great day with my family. Called a week before and Bernadette was able to acomadate our big party of 11 We got there and they talked us through all the instructions . The ride was so relaxing and and overall an amazing experience highly recommend ! read more

Took my niece and nephew (14 & 19yrs) for an hour trail ride. They have never been riding before and my niece (19) is terrified of horses but was willing to conquer her fears. Nice, easy ride out there from Milwaukee--easy to find. An older lady (owner maybe) was going through instructions on how to ride and manage the horses with us--seemed a little gruff at times but I can understand her concern for her animals and riders. While waiting for the horses there were nice dogs on the property to pet. It was just the 3 of us on the ride and a nice guide--a young girl named Ash I believe. She told funny stories, trivia and history of the ranch. It was a casual ride through the field, farm area. Got to trot and run a couple times and the kids enjoyed it. $35/hr, $30 if you pay cash. . Got a punch card for a free ride after so many and a fridge magnet with their info on it :). Glad we went. read more

We had an amazing day, It was my daughters birthday and she had never been riding. I haven't been riding in I bet 30+ years. We had a great guide the ride was one hour and we can't wait to go back. The owner was wonderful, at first, it was going to be three of us and we called back and she made the accommodations so all five of us could go. I had the best horse they were all very well behaved. Thank you for making my daughters birthday special. read more

We looked for a place to have a group trail ride with family and friends while my brother was on military leave and found this place. We drove over an hour to get there and as soon as we pulled up and started getting out of the vehicle (arriving 10 minutes early), we started getting yelled at to hurry by the owner Bernadette. As we were getting on the horses, Bernadette kept yelling at us for doing everything wrong without explaining how to properly do things. She treated us like we were petulant children, which was pretty degrading for a group of young adults (the youngest was 18). She also yelled at her employees for not moving fast enough when they were trying to explain things to the inexperienced riders. Once we were on the trail with the trail guides and away from Bernadette, we had a great time! The guides were helpful and kind and explained everything really well to the first time riders. One of the riders had had a bad horse experience previously and was terrified even more after Bernadette yelled at her for not knowing how to direct her horse, but the guides (Emily especially) helped her get comfortable in the saddle. The trail guides are the only thing preventing a one star review, but I would definitely never return after our group spent hundreds of dollars to be chastised and watch the employees be humiliated. read more