They are fine taking your money but so unhelpful and friendly in other ways. Not the service I would have expected, no morals

EXTREMELY DANGEROUS trails for beginners -I am a complete beginner, I filled out the waiver which explicitly has boxes to check, with your riding skill. I checked beginner, and told them I had no experience riding a horse I HIGHLY recommend beginners stay away from this location. This type of negligence could cause serious harm. I was told that my horse "June" had ADHD and got distracted very easily. This was a complete understatement. The gentleman who was giving the "safety " talk seemed bothered and completely put out that he had to be there. If I would have known I needed to be an equestrian to ride here, I would have went somewhere else. But we didnt know, I let them know I was inexperienced and they ignored that fact even after the waiver we filled out and not once, but twice I asked to get down and that I was not in contol of this 900-2,200 lbs beast. I stressed to the handlers this. They told me I'd be fine and reshowed me how to "control" June. See, I was with June for about an hour and I realized real quick that she needs a more experienced and firmer handler than what they put on her. (Me) The problems started early, pretty much as soon as I got on. During our beginner two hour ride my horse June, decided to show me how much she truly did not give and ounce of care that I was doing all the things they showed me to control her. She was in charge and I was just there for the ride. Which was the most frightening experience of my life, and I served in the army. I am also a registered nurse and have been in some really frightening situations. The trails we were on were poorly kept. It wasn't her fault, the trails were just so unsafe. If this had been a young child i worry the day would have ended much worse. The trails were very very poorly kept, entire trees were down on the trail. There were ditches of mud which we were warned about but this definitely was not a trail for a bunch of beginners. June would not stay on the trail no matter what I did and the trail guide just kept yelling to kick her or pull the reins (WHICH I WAS DOING). very aggressively I might add. Then I was seriously worried she would just get spooked and bolt. I didnt trust myself, june or the ranch hands not one bit. This caused a lot of small injuries, at one point my horse decided to freak out and started to scramble backwards on a steep slope, by doing this, she pushed my sister who was behind me on the horse named Elsa into a tree which subsequently pinned her knee between the very large horse and a very unforgiving tree. I was struggling to "force" June back on the trail and not get taken out by trees as she forged their own path due to her "adhd" I just held close to her and tried to avoid the worst of the branches and tree trunks. I'm very surprised by the large amount of positive reviews here, I'm never one to complain about a service but I feel obligated because I really do feel like this is an unsafe environment. I dont want a refund, I am not asking for anything, I just want to know how a business is ran this unsafely and are still able to operate without any governance. I also want people to be warned. Our group unfortunately didnt do their due diligence and scour the reviews, but again not our fault completely, this place should not have been able to have 10+years of tormenting unsuspecting novice riders with their incompetence. This place has a waiver, I appreciate this, but when a customer explicitly says they are not good at something as dangerous as this could be, it is the businesses responsibility to be transparent about what said customer are getting themselves into. Like I said, I hate to complain, I really never make posts like this. However, if I help avoid one serious injury caused by this locations negligence then it is worth it in this case. Don't risk injury at this location, go somewhere else. read more

Was truly awesome!! They take very good care of their horses and are extreme passionate of what they do. Suiting the horse for everyone's needs and experience levels. From the experience itself, to all the people from the ladies in the office, and the wranglers. Will definitely come back when we're back in town read more

The Spotted Horse Ranch - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Laurelville, Ohio

Had an incredible time with Alana & Tarisa! They were very patient with us as we were beginners and walked us through how to control the horses. I come to Hocking Hills every year with a group of 30+ and will definitely be back next year! Next time I will bring cash to personally tip the instructors because I unfortunately dropped my sunglasses and even tho the rules say they won't dismount for dropped items, Tarisa was an angel and grabbed them for me. thank you so much! See you again! My little cousin played basketball over seas in Ireland and was on the Bachelorette and said it was one of his most incredible experiences! read more

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My friend and I visited on April 2, 2022, in honor of her 60th birthday. We were very impressed with how well the animals are treated, and that was a huge plus in my opinion. When I called to make the appointment, I spoke with Ellie and asked whether they did anything special for birthdays. They didn't have anything special to offer, but Ellie offered to make my friend a "Junior Cowgirl" certificate for her birthday. She loves it! Joey was our guide for the trail ride. We decided on a private tour for just the two of us, plus Joey. Joey was amazing. She talked to us and explained everything. She did a great job of providing tips for us as we were riding. I managed to slip off my horse, and Joey had to help me get back on. She was amazing. Without her, I could not have managed. Make sure you check out the gift shop area. The shirts are wonderful souvenirs. And, be sure to tip your wrangler. They work extremely hard. Joey kept us and the horses safe and managed to lead us through a wonderful trail. It was a truly amazing experience. The only suggestion I have would be for the wranglers to take a moment to introduce each person to his/her horse. Let us get to know the horses (and let them get to know us) before the ride begins. I had a truly wonderful adventure at The Spotted Horse Ranch and hope to visit again soon. read more

The Spotted Horse Ranch - Penny and Wrangler Joey - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Laurelville, Ohio

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Awesome place to ride. We'll worth the money. Our tour guide Theresa was the absolute best. Very informative during our ride. I would definitely request Theresa when we go back. So glad that we went with Spotted Horse Ranch. Thanks Theresa for an awesome day read more

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We had a lovely day at this horse ranch our Lead rider was (Brittany aka Chuck) and I had my favorite horse Maverick and my Wife Tracy had Kim . We did the cook out ride so we took off for a 2 hour ride then met up with Mike the owner were he had the camp fire going with all the food cooking , he welcomed us with beer and margaritas which was well needed at 80° it was a perfect day with now new friends. I highly recommend this experience. read more

Beyond disappointing! Where to start: -The poor treatment of their horses (smoking cigarettes right next to their faces and even in the barn! -The "trail" was so completely overgrown and unmanicured that my arms were covered in scratches and bleeding within 15 minutes! -The "guide" was extremely rude and uncaring. Between smacking her horse in the face and when my nearly blind friend lost his glasses (due to riding through the unmanicured forest/trail) she didn't want to stop. We had to insist! We turned around from our 2 hour tour after about 40 minutes and decided we would rather lose the remains of our money instead of continuing! FIND ANOTHER HORSEBACK RIDING COMPANY! read more

Booked our reservation for my birthday and engagement. We were big I er's and out wrangler was perfect. T was great with us and the group knew her horses. My fiancés horse had a kind of his own and another horse was being stubborn but she knew what she was doing. Highly recommend this place great experience!!! read more

The Spotted Horse Ranch - Horse name joker - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Laurelville, Ohio

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This place has authentic trail riding. We requested our favorite horses when we booked a private ride. Last time we came we rode with another group and it was fun, too, but I liked having just the 2 of us and our guide. Our guide even took us off trail to explore & there were streams for the horses to drink from. Next time we come to ride, we are going to do the cowboy cookout because it smelled amazing as we rode by the group that had their horses relaxing while they were eating. read more

The owner of this Horse Ranch was not a nice man. I had an issue I needed to discuss with him about our experience at his Horse Ranch and he was very rude and even asked if I was from California. I asked why would it matter where I am from and he just made a snarly comment of I was just wondering. I could go into a long reason of why I would NEVER go back to this place but I figured a review of NOT GOOD should be enough said. The entire experience including his staff was not good. read more

I read all the reviews I could find before making reservations to ride here. The only thing I regret is not making them sooner! We are a family of horse people, and have ridden all over this country, across the pond, the Carribean...Spotted Horse Ranch isn't the best, but it certainly isn't the worst! LOL We met the owner when we checked in, and found him funny, down to earth, and a realist! He sure doesn't sugar coat things, which we appreciate! The concern and even love he feels towards ALL the animals on this working ranch is clear, as he knows each and every animal there by name or number! Yeah, the bathrooms could use a touch of paint, but anyone with half a brain can tell that their water is hard (FYI: hard water leaves iron and sediment deposits on everything!! It's NOT GOING TO HURT YOU!) Yeah, the stalls in the campground were a bit unkempt, but for the price? $10 per stall per night, and $35 for the campsite) Couldn't beat it with a stick! BONUS??? He let us use his stock trailer to haul over to both Tar Hollow one day, and Hocking Hills the next, so we didn't have to break camp. On the third day, to give our horses a break, and to see what all the fuss was about Appaloosa's (the ranch horses) we went out on a two hour ride. For all the people complaining about mud, and overgrown trails? Ya'll must not ride much! Things happen in the woods, like (gasp!) trees falling down, and oddly enough, things grow in the woods! This is not some metro park, that has a full staff, well paid to maintain trails to a manicured perfection ... this is TRAIL RIDING! In case yu didn't notice, most horses have 4 legs, and really REALLY good balance! If you can't steer your horse around/over/through ... perhaps try canoeing your next vacation! Horses have brains, not an auto-pilot switch! I'm not saying this to be anything but informative, peeps, so if yer knickers are getting twisted....there's always some place else you might enjoy! I hear Marmon Valley has TONS of VOLUNTEERS who go manicure their trails, and polish the loo's! But if you are looking for an ADVENTURE, with folks that truly GIVE A SHITE, then Spotted Horse Ranch is def the place to go! read more

Great place to go to camp and ride horses! The wranglers were great! Very friendly people. The animals were fun to see and interact with. The major negative here are the bathrooms, which as you can see, are just downright gross and nasty...even for camping standards. Please, please, please do something with the bathrooms/showers! read more

The Spotted Horse Ranch - Beautiful animals - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Laurelville, Ohio

Very rude and unprofessional. No. They still hadn't fixed the issue of the water or restroom facilities per a friend in Summer 2019. Im surprised the health department let's them run a campground. I just thought you all would like to read what the owner wrote about the bad reviews: "just saw some bad press on yelp and goggle about the ranch said the stalls were old and yes we had the first camp/cabins with stalls in the hocking hills so that has been 20 years ago so the stalls are old also that the owner is a drunk and yes that is also true and their are animals all around that will scare horses not are job to train your horses and if you see our websites we said we have all kinds of critters here so if your horse does not like all kinds' of critters do not bring it here train it first again not my job we have been here for 20 years and try to make it a nice place to camp and ride ,but will not hold your hand for you to ride our trails folks bad mouth my dogs because the want to go on rides and they can they are my best friends and can do what the fuck want to do, also some people bad mouth my trail horses they have only been doing this for 20 years some for more than that I think they know what they are doing maybe the riders problem thanks for listing Michael solt still the owner" read more

Me and my wife have been here 3 times in the past, the most recent time was first week of August, 2020. The experience every time was valuable to me. I want to book a 5 hour ride-cook out experience for my September birthday. In the phone call I asked the man if they are taking any precautions during the pandemic if other customer joins the ride, again, since there will be a cook out. He said, "for me I don't acknowledge any of that. I think that's total political. If you believe in that, this is a wrong place to be. I said:" I love animals. It's unfortunate that I'm treated like this because of your believes." He later on said it again,"I don't believe any of that BS." I asked, "Are you one of rider or are you the owner?" He said, "I'm the F* owner." "We're full. This is not a place for you." Then he hung up. read more

EXTREMELY DANGEROUS trails for beginners - My horse fell, I HIGHLY recommend beginners stay away from this location. Negligent owner could cause serious harm. We were told the horses were in heat and aggressive, multiple people were bit by the horses throughout the ride. During our beginner two hour ride my horse fell due to very poorly kept trails. It wasn't her fault, the trails were just so unsafe, the poor girl slipped in the very deep mud as she tried to make her way through it and fell onto her side. I narrowly avoided being crushed by her weight by yanking my leg out of the stirrup and leaping sideways off of the horse. If I had been a young child, more inexperienced, or just unlucky then I would be writing this with some very serious injuries. Luckily I came away with only a good set of bruises instead. The trails were very very poorly kept, entire trees were down on the trail. There were ditches of mud many feet deep. We watched the horses slip and slide down the steep inclines. My whole party was terrified. The horses were not comfortable following and the entire ride they kept trying to make their own, safer, paths through the woods. This caused a lot of small injuries and unpleasantness for the beginner riders who were struggling to force the horses back on the trail and not get taken out by trees as they forged their own path. Eventually we realized the trail really was dangerous (after my horse fell and we had a few close calls) and allowed the horses to make their own safer way through the woods, we just held close to them to avoid the worst of the branches and tree trunks. I'm very surprised by the large amount of positive reviews here, I'm never one to complain about a service but I feel obligated because I really do feel like this is an unsafe environment. As we came back, I saw a young girl around 10 getting hesitantly getting onto a horse to go out. I was genuinely worried for her so I decided to speak with the owner. I didn't want a refund, I didn't ask for anything, I just thought that perhaps he was unaware of how dangerous that trail was for beginners. I very calmly and politely told him about our experience. He was civil as well but when I told him that was not a beginner trail, extremely unkept, and I was almost very seriously injured he said that they "Only had one trail and we have to pay the bills." he said they send everyone out on that trail. I told him I was amazed they didn't have more accidents and he joked that if people get hurt they "Usually just shoot them out back." While I appreciate humor, he really took none of my concerns seriously and completely dismissed the issue. We talked for 15 minutes and there were no reassuring comments said about my horse falling, no assurances of safety, no concern shown for myself or any other riders. I was just trying to be friendly and helpful to avoid injury for future riders and it was not at all taken seriously. Like I said, I hate to complain, I really never make posts like this as I prefer to resolve these things one on one with the business owner. However, if I help avoid one serious injury caused by this locations negligence then it is worth it in this case. Don't risk injury at this location, go somewhere else. read more

My boyfriend and I went to this ranch for a 2 hours ride. The night before we went, i read the reviews and most people were saying how they didn't like this place and that they wouldn't recommend this. That kind of info made us a little nervous to go but I am so glad we ignored the bad comments and went. We had such a great time! Our tour guide was so sweet and the rest of the ladies there were so nice and knowledgeable about all of their animals. The animals were all so friendly and the horses did great on our 2 hour ride. The guide made sure the horses got breaks and that they were okay during our ride as well. I'm not sure why these other people didn't get good care but our experience was excellent and I recommend this place to anyone! We had 4 other people in our group for a total of 7 riders on the trail. We will definitely come back in the future to ride with them! read more

A friend and I stayed here a few years ago, was not very happy with a few things and would not go back. The trails were almost grown over, owner said his new machine just broke down,, well ok I get it. Then there was a horrible smell through the whole area,. when ask what it was owner replied "it's treated human waste we spread on the fields for fertilizer" WHAT? absolutely stinks gross. Bathroom was really dirty also but we made do. Then one evening I was feeling poorly so thought I'd walk around outside by fire and up to restroom. One of the camp dogs get very aggressive , kept coming toward me so I carefully,quickly got back in camper. When I told them about it the next AM they said " well they do guard the camp". Backing up a bit both our horses are very calm and steady and have been all over. Have said that ..they were both very jumpy and nervous in theirs stalls as soon as we got there and most of the time we were there..(.not to bad while we were riding thank goodness ) we later thought that maybe it WAS the smell that was bothering them never acted like that since. read more

Horses were great, the trail on the 2 hour trip was exciting yet not too difficult. The tour guide was knowledgeable of the natural surroundings. All and all a great ride. read more

Spotted Horse Ranch has some positives and some negatives. Positives -- 2 hr ride was excellent. Our wrangler (Britney aka Chuck) really knew her horses and the terrain. Nicely done. Negatives -- we stayed at the 'campground' on the night before the ride. It is NOT a campground. It is a muddy field with an outhouse that has NEVER been cleaned. Groundskeeper cut the lawn while we were away, and I swear, he had the lawn mower pointed towards the tent (instead of away from it) to fill it up with cut lawn upon our return. Really!?! read more

My daughter had an appointment to horseback ride while on vacation with her father in Hocking Hills. He took her for their appointment. The woman at the front desk asked if she could help them; my daughter said she was there for her appointment. This woman looked my daughter's father up and down and said, very rudely, "You're too big to ride." Now, her father is a large man, but he's not HUGE; he's also not thin skinned at all, but this woman and her eudensss had him in tears. HE WASNT EVEN THERE TO RIDE; she didn't even ask him if he was there to ride before so rudely addressing him! I know that weight is a major consideration, and I respect them making sure the horses are safe. But a) he wasn't there to ride; maybe find that out FIRST and b) there is absolutely NO REASON for anyone to be so RUDE. I will NEVER let any of my six children ride here again; I will never go myself. And I promise I will make sure that everyone knows that if they're looking for a calm morning outing, tear and drama free, this is NOT the place to go. Complete lack of professionalism and common sense. read more

Called last minute (2 days before) and booked a 2 hr ride with my husband who has never been on a horse before. The guy I spoke with on the phone was very friendly and explained that they wouldn't be able to do any rides the next day because it had just rained heavily. So we booked for the day after. Found the ranch with no trouble using Google maps. Our guide happened to greet us after we parked the car so we had no trouble finding the office either. Plus, we got to pet the many farm dogs, admire the cows, and laugh at the chickens wandering everywhere! Being November, it was definitely on the chilly side, but we dressed accordingly. I loved my horse, who responded to me well, while my husband's was not particularly responsive and a little prissy about going through the mud, which we both found hilarious. Our guide was great and told us all about the farm, the horses, and all the other animals on it. I personally would've preferred to trot a bit, but this wasn't a trip where that was allowed. All in all a really great experience - trails were a nice mix of some steep spots, and flat areas through the woods, the property was lovely, and the farm dogs escorted us the whole way! We even got to pet an antelope while the horses were being put back in their stalls at the end of the trip. Would definitely come back. Watch out for the turkeys roaming everywhere too - they love gobbling at you! And don't forget to bring cash for tipping your guide (we were lucky we happened to have cash on us). read more

I personally have not ridden with this outfitter but wanted to give you feedback on the conversation I had with a young lady that returned my call. In my quest to follow up on the poor Yelp reviews herein; we had a lengthy conversation regarding some of the insight that past Yelpers have provided. She expressed to me that the owner (male) is most likely the one that may have replied to a review using inappropriate and unprofessional customer service language. However, he is an older gentleman and from my own personal experiences with my cantankerous grandfather, I can only imagine he simply has not evolved to our more PC ways of life. I advised the young lady to keep him away from the phones and keyboards; she agreed and said that they are trying. While I would LOVE to give these guys a shot, I simply cannot (at this time). I have a large group and we all know that problems can occur with large groups and we need the outfitter to have a well oiled machine. The young lady did state that they have new wranglers (all in their 20's) and that they do want to improve the rides and customer service and are striving for better. With that being said, one of the main reasons I am providing this insight is because I want to commend these millennials for having the gumption to continue with an industry that is going to have uphill battles (just as the golf industry has had with the lack of interest of certain hobbies with the newer generations). Running a stable, tending to livestock, guiding tours and dealing with what appears to be a cranky owner cannot be easy. KUDOS and keep on keeping on !! read more

Wish I could give this place a minus 10. If you are looking to camp with your horses here, dave the $55 a night and so somewhere else. Every stall was dirty, most with overgrown weeds, many gates broke. No lights or water hookups at barn. Water spigot at each site is not for human consumption. Porta potty was beyond disgusting, looked inside but never used. All the staff except one wrangler was all jerks. All the trails except the ones they use for the guided horse rides looks like they havent been maintained in years. We had to make our own trails several times. The only way to get to the trails is to ride about a half mile of the driveway with fence on both sides full of horses, cattle, deer and sheep. Loose turkeys and chickens running around and 3 large dogs that ran up to us barking and spooking the horses. Plus a jerk who cut the grass when we went to the store, blew grass all over our rug, table and other things we had outside. This place is a joke. Go somewhere else read more

No rating. I had posted a complaint to the Facebook timeline on 8/13, but for some reason I have not received a response and the complaint never was posted (perhaps they are screened prior to posting). I had scheduled a trip on 8/13 at 9:00am to horseback ride with my daughter (an adult) on her birthday. We were both very excited and I have only taken her to horseback ride a couple times in the past, but it has been a few years. She marked on her consent form that she was a beginner. To begin, our ride started late and we scheduled for 2 hours, but when we arrived we were informed that our ride would only be an hour due to rainfall the night before. Thank goodness we were fine with the hour because this was the most stressful horseback trail I have ever been on. Please note, I have been an experienced horseback rider since I was 14. Our ride began and our guide (forget her name) had red hair and glasses. Total there were 4 riders including our guide. I was the last rider in sequence and my daughter was before me. You would think a beginner would be behind the guide? The horseback rider before my daughter was unable to guide and control his horse and the beginning of the ride was our horses stopped waiting for the horse to move and the guide really doing nothing. Finally the horse started to move and we were able to continue our ride. We were informed by the guide to be aware of horseflies. The horseflies were consistently landing on the horse or on myself or my daughter. Do you spray? My daughter was stung twice by the horseflies and she had to be seen by a doctor and put on a steroid and antibiotic Never have I experienced this in my life to such extreme. To cut to the chase, the ride consisted of my daughter trying to kill horseflies, while trying to control her horse who is following a horse in front of her who keeps going off the trail and being a beginner. Needless to say, she was terrified and in tears by the time the ride ended. Again, the guide was more focused on chatting with the rider behind her instead of assisting with uncontrollable horses with beginners on them. When the ride ended I asked the guide 3 times to please assist my daughter in getting off her horse. She did not assist and I had to go and get my daughter off her horse myself. It's really sad we had this experience and I will not be recommending this ranch to friends/family. This was supposed to be a nice experience for myself and my daughter. In addition, I would like a full refund or some sort of grace for our awful experience. By the way, here is their reply to my post: yes we screen post form dumb ass post if your child was afraid to ride most parents would not have put the kid in that situation as for the ride time if you were a experience you would know that a heat index of 102 and muddy conditions one would not put a horse through a 2 hr. ride 1 hr was plenty . and as far as horse flies what do you think we do turn them out just to piss you off . get you head out of you ass the world does not run just for you . the guides are trained to work with all types of people and to remove the one from the horses that need removed first . but if your kid was so uncomfortable riding why in the hell did you make her go in the first place ? best for you to go to a merry-go-round on you next riding trip Very unprofessional and they will be reported. read more

The ride was great and the horse. I am sure this post will be screened and a nasty response is soon to follow. Lets be clear I am reporting your business to the B.B.B. Also social media is another platform where my horrible experience will be heard! Now in terms of the staff members not a great experience. We purchased the 2 hour tour for two riders. This was a Mother's Day gift from my husband. During the prep time some of the horses were a bit agitated which made my mother nervous and she decided to not ride. In hindsight, it was a good choice because the ride is not easy and would have hurt her back. So my husband calls this morning to ask if we could still use that purchase towards a future ride as we were not concerned with getting a refund. The young man on the phone was very rude and said no. He told my husband that they had paid for their staff to give us the tour and the horses were reserved in advanced. I guess we just lost our money. Let me be clear-- the young woman who gives the tour Shelley volunteers her time and gets paid by the tips from the riders. In addition there were a total of 2 riders yesterday including myself and more than enough horses to cover a group of 6. My husband also spoke to the owner who was very rude as well and stated that he heard the conversation and said we are being unreasonable. First of all there is nothing listed on their website that all services are final and no refunds. I just wanted to ride again in the future since that was already paid for in advance. This is a very poor way to do business and I am sending out a warning to everyone in the event you find yourself in the same situation. I was left extremely disappointed in their response especially from the owner of the ranch. We paid for services in full which were not rendered in full. This will not end here I can assure you all of that!!! I will never come back nor will I recommend this place to any of my friends or family!!!!! This place is horrible!!!! read more