My husband & I found out about Saddle Brook Farm on Groupon. We first went for a trail ride & found the staff very helpful & well run. We decided to take lessons & so happy we did, as Helen is a great teacher. She knows her horses very well & how to handle them & is firm with horses & us but it's the best way to learn. She is amazing with the kids taking lessons also & they respect her. The horses respect her also which is really important. I look forward to my lessons & am so glad I found this place. Being in our 50's we didn't know if we could learn how to ride, but she is patient with us & gives us the confidence we need to succeed. Thank you Helen for a great & continued experience. Ellen & John read more

I should have read the reviews prior to purchasing an Amazon Local Voucher for this place. They have inexperienced "Volunteer" Staff working at this farm. MY wife fell off of the horse while mounting because the person that put the saddle on the horse did not know what they were doing and it was not properly secured to the horse. I was given a mule or a Donkey on Steroids to ride. My wife's horse had a bad back, the other two horses were more like ponies that actual horses. The ride lasted no more that 15-20 mins it took more time for them to bring the horses(?) out and fill out waivers (which counts toward your riding time) than the actual ride did. Additionally, I had been communicating by email with a person named Chip for about a month before the ride. They requested names, heights, weights and still we had to waste time filling out release forms. This is not a true riding Stable it is a recovery farm for abused animals. I have had better rides on the Carousel in an amusement park. They literally had a horseless guide walking next to the horses. Totally bogus, total rip off. Worst Amazon local that I have ever purchased. The staff were very friendly but this did not fully make up for the total experience which was pretty awful. Their website states access to miles of trails, the trail consisted of walking around the perimeter to the farm. Save your money go somewhere else. It was not even worth the price of the Amazon Local. read more

I came here yesterday with my boyfriend. I am a beginner rider and this place was PERFECT for beginners. I didn't think the ride was boring at all. I was also really touched by the fact that a lot of the animals were rescued on the farm. There were a ton of cool animals on the farm and friendly too! There were cats, dogs, chickens, a zonkey, an emu, alpacas, llamas, goats, and of course horses. I loved it!! read more

BUYER BEWARE: I purchased trail rides via TravelZoo months ago, and despite my various attempts to call/email the owner/manager Helen, it's been impossible to reach her. TravelZoo customer service tells me a lot of their customers were are having problems reaching Helen and they're investigating the problem. read more

Just a recommendation to folks out there who may not have ridden a horse for a long time, or have never ridden a horse. Please Google instructions for commanding a horse what to do and how to say it to the horse. Please also Google instructions for handling the reins and what to do with your legs and heels of your feet. I went to My Saddle Brook Farm last weekend and had a decent time; however, there were absolutely no instructions given beforehand as to what to say to the horse or how to maneuver the animal. Once we were all on and riding along, my horse decided to do his own thing; get out of line, go eat leaves and grass and not stop when told to. A guide had to walk over and help me out. I learned as I went along what to say and how to manage the reins and the horse's obstinant behavior. There were so many people there and the owner was frantic and the process of getting on the horses was disorganized. There was no time to explain simple commands to the riders beforehand. The owner was a bit frazzled but the guides were calm and did their best. This farm is a great place for people who have ridden before and know what they're doing, as opposed to a complete beginner. read more

Do not waste your time and money on this place. I sure wish I had read the reviews before purchasing a living social voucher and driving a an hour and 20 minutes. Our issue was that due to ice outside, we never even got the slow trail ride others have complained about. The owner called and left us a message an hour after we had already left so we never got the message, an e-mail was never sent. My wife, 9 year old daughter and I were led around an indoor tent going in circles. The worst part was they never told us until 15 minutes into the ride that we were not going outside. We thought it was just a warm up and lesson for us prior to hitting the trail. Had they informed us, we would have rescheduled. I hopped off the horse as soon as I found out, but since we went so far, I let me my daughter and wife stay on. The owner apologized and offered us a free private ride with her on a return visit. However, when we tried to confirm this via e-mail, she reneged and only offered the free ride to myself and discounts to my wife and daughter. We instead got a refund from Living Social but we are out a half days time plus gas and tolls and aggravation. We gave the owner a chance to rectify a problem and she chose to cheat us. read more

I had a Living Social deal that didn't redeem properly online so I forwarded the voucher to the business and then separately wrote to them via their business website and there was NO Response. I find this very unprofessional to not return the customer's inquiries. In the end, as a parent and friend of many families, the business lost out on dozens of potential clients. I will be sure to tell all of my friends not to try this place out. read more

Saddle Brook Farm offered a deal on Living Social which I was trying to book out. The owner spoke to me via phone and promised to honor the offer. When I tried to book the package, suddenly the pricing changed and the other associates who were aware of my conversations with the owner refused to honor the package pricing. I made several attempts to contact the location using both email and phone and am now left with no package and a promise to never give this farm my business. What poor "professionalism". read more

Went there with my husband and had a lovely time going out on the trail. Afterwards, we walked around the farm and saw the alpacas and chickens. It was touching to see how well the rescue animals are treated. I wanted to add a lesson but they were booked for the rest of day so I'll be returning! read more

To make reservation took me 2 weeks, my groupon didn't work, but they solve the problem and I enjoy this ride. This was my first horseback riding experience and I really like it. Very friendly staff, beautiful horses and nice weather makes this experience unforgettable. read more

Has anyone recently been able t o reserve the horseback ride on their web site using the groupon? I purchased the groupon 5 days ago, but still was not able to make a reservation. I got "code is invalid" message. Call the phone number, no one picked up. read more

I took my 12 year old son to a one hour trail ride last Friday. The staff went out of their way to make us feel comfortable and they accommodated us even though we got there late. We even fed apples to the horses. My horse was "Charlie" super gentle horse. I definitely will be returning. I usually get allergies when I go around horses, but not this time. Thanks Hellen! read more

Worse horseback experience ever! The staff were unprofessional, poor quality customer service, horses starving and stopping every second to eat. Three little teen girls bet ages 8-15 were assigned to walk us to the trail, but instead they took us to a ring were we were instructed to only walk the horses by the fence. After around 25 min of the boring walking around the small ring under the heating sun I asked the oldest girl: is all this a warm up for the trail? When are we going for the trail? They said that we were not going to the TRAIL. I asked why? And she said: "the group is too big and it's unsafe". I am like, how come no one told us before we left the stable? She said it was for our safety, and to consider the ring the trail. Astonished by the unremarkable decision making that should have envolved us, the customers, I said: why don't we split into two groups? They shouldn't have booked so many people for 2pm from the first place. She said that we no longer had time. SO I asked her if I could speak with the manager but she disregarded my request and instead she said that we still had 10 min left and will walk a little on the trail. When we left the ring, we could barely spend 5 min on the trail because the poor horses were hungry and stopped every second to eat. After the disappointing ride, I went to the office but no one was inside. We saw a lady sitting on a bench outside eating sushi and asked her if she knew if someone was coming to the office, but she said no,but asked if she can be of help, so I explained the situation. The yet unknown lady claimed that spending time in the ring was needed to learn how to guide and ride the horses. But how long do you need to follow and learn simple instructions? 5 min max? Then she called one of the younger girls that lead us to the ring and asked her, who made the decision not to go to the trail? The little girl said "my sister". I was so astonished by this business and how they hire disqualified minors who lack the judgement on how to maintain safety while addressing customer's needs and satisfaction. I told the lady, this is not right and we didn't sign up for this boring ring. I told her that we drove 2 hours from NJ and it was a gift I gave to my wife for a special occasion. She abruptly got up from the bench, nodded her head, said that she needed to go back to finish her lunch and had no time for the non-sense complains. We were surprised by her unwillingness to talk. She became very irritaded and marched off into the office. Surprised, it turns out this lady is Helen King. It appeared that we were talking with THE OWNER of the barn, and she didn't even have the decency to apologize for what happened or even acknowledge us... instead she walked away to eat her sushi.. I wonder if she thinks about her hard working horses that are making her all that wealth read more

Brought a group of 4 horseback riding today. They had a great time! The staff was wonderful. Will definitely be going back!

Took my family there the first weekend of May. Had really good weather. My kids are 9 and 10 and this was their first experience riding a horse ever and they loved it. The people that work there were very good with both the kids and the horses and the horses were appropriately matched to my kids. We'd go back again! read more

We got a voucher for a discount to my saddle brook farm. They make u go online to redeem voucher but apparently to schedule ring lessons it's only by email or telephone. I tried calling a few times and left messages but never got a call back. I even emailed a few times and only got an automated response that all trail lessons are to be scheduled online now. So I figured that's what I was suppose to do. So When we arrived there was confusion because they thought we wanted a trail ride. It was my first time on a horse and I wanted a ring lesson instead. After having to explain our situation to a few different people finally we were told it was ok and we could have a ring lesson. We had a girl named Christina who was our instructor. She was very nice and patient. She told me I was doing a great job for a beginner and gave lots of encouragement. The horses we had were sweet and calm. Overall I had a good time. They did apologize for the mix up and said they are still working out the kinks to the online scheduling since its new. I loved that most of the animals on the farm are rescues and it's nice to walk around and see the different animals, including the cool Zonkey! I recommend this place but it's definitely easier to schedule a trail lesson than a ring lesson. read more

Go somewhere else. There are alot of very nice places to ride upstate. It is not worth spending your money groupon or not going to a place to be treated rudely and inappropriately by the owner. Her name is Helen and she is just plain nasty. Prefer to spend my hardworking money somewhere else. read more

Wish I could give them zero stars!! They cancelled a reservation on a beautiful sunny day claiming the trails were too muddy. Then they made it impossible for me to reschedule my reservation causing me to get my money back from Living Social. I found them to be rude and obnoxious on emails. They refused to speak with me on the phone and will only schedule reservations on the phone with "full paying" customers. Don't waste your money or time on this place. There are businesses who will treat you 100%better!! read more

Horrible Customer Service. Over Booked. We first book are trail ride in March. They cancelled on us 3 times and they make it very hard to reschedule. They are currently booked up until sometime in August. When I called to reschedule they were extremely rude and had a bad attitude over the phone. II had to ask them to calm own and that I was simply trying to reschedule my daughter trail riding lessons. This was her birthday present and she was so upset to have her ride cancelled every time. They didn't tell us until the morning of so it makes it hard to get a babysitter for my other daughter. The weather was beautiful the las 2 cancelations. I believe something else is Hong on at this horse farm. It doesn't make sense. They are very Unprofessional. Do not go here. Who yells at their customers that are being nice by trying to reschedule, AGAIN! Thankfully, Groupon gave me a full refund. read more

My Saddle Brook Farm is a great place to go for riding lessons. Personally, I have a lot of riding experience in many different styles and I found the instruction here was exactly what I wanted. They also have many different horses so the rider can grow by working with many personalities. I've watched beginner riders/kids take lessons here as well and it looks like they have a great time. So I would definitely recommend this stable to anyone looking to take some riding lessons! read more

Very disappointing....I think they are overbooking themselves and can't keep up with all the Groupons and other deals they are raking in. They lost site of what they do and have dollar signs flashing in their eyes. I had purchased a riding deal thru DoubleTakeDeals and it was something I was really looking forward to. However, the number they list on the deal site, is never answered and the voicemail is always FULL. I emailed them and got no response....EVER....even after 3 emails. They leave an alternate # on voicemail. I call that, NO ANSWER either! Finally after weeks of calling and leaving emails, I get thru on one of the numbers. Helen, the owner tells me she is on her way to a horse emergency and to call her back tomorrow at 9am....I do and NO ANSWER again! Then I finally get thru again a week later and she is so nasty and offers no explanation or apology! Could not believe how I was being treated. I am in 4H, I have worked with several horse farms in the area...NEVER has one of them been so disrespectful and so unprofessional. I told her to forget it, and am in process of getting refunded. I feel terrible for these horses. They must be so overworked. The owner can't even keep up. She should have set a limit she and the horses could manage. read more

My sister and I were introduced to My Saddlebrook Farm via HOMERUN vouchers for horseback riding lessons. This stable has extremely well-cared for and healthy animals. The health of the horses is put above business interests. For example, y we scheduled lessons more than a month in advance for July; canceled due to extremely hot weather conditions which would not be safe for the horses. Although it was a little difficult to be able to book due to our schedules, Helen the owner was more than accommodating and extended the expiration date of our coupons. We have so far a total of 3 lessons and was happy with each one. This is a stable folks...not a hotel. Yes, there are young people working there but I guarantee they have the expertise to do so. We intend to visit again and again...even though we come from NYC. THe 1 and a half hour trip is worth it! Thank you to Helen and all of your wonderful staff! BTW..if you are serious about horsebackriding lessons, ask for Dave. New to My SB Farm, but certainly not to the world of horseback riding. read more

This is a place where most horses are rescues and it is a wonderful thing what is being done here, the other animals as well. The most outstanding situation I have seen here is that the owner- Helen, has a mouth like a truck driver, and berates her staff, infront of others. It's not even ok to do it in private. The F word is a popular word out of her mouth and as far as a business Woman she should know this is unacceptable. Most of the staff are Volunteers which make this situation worse because when you are kind enough to "give of your time" , you should be treated with respect, as a matter of fact, in any situation, you should be treated with respect. If you want return business, your first step in the right direction is to learn how to treat people the way you want them to treat you. This is not the only place to ride so a small friendly suggestion, clean up your mouth and learn that all people are Human Beings and have feelings. read more