Big River Ranch — Attraction in Kalbarri

We are on holiday in Kalbarri and were interested in doing a trail ride, our own horses being back in Perth. However, upon arrival we decided we weren't interested due to the general lack of care for the horses on the ranch and the rude staff. The horses were sweet but were underweight and living in sand paddocks. There is no reason for working horses to have ribs and poverty lines showing if they are being well fed. Upon closer inspection we noticed one horse with a wound on the left side of it's face. Said wound was completely open, obviously infected as it was weeping and covered in flies. When I asked politely about this specific horse I was rudely shut down with "All the horses are well taken care of" and "I've been doing horses since I was 2 years old" before I had even explained the problem. The explanation for the wound being open was that they couldn't dress it because of the humidity. Even if it was true the humidity is 51% today which is below the average. All of this aside, addressing any client in the way you addressed me is a sure way to lose business. And reading your other reviews this rudeness appears to be a common theme on the ranch. For $130 a ride you can afford to have your horses wounds vet checked/dressed properly, feed so they don't have bones sticking out and have proper loam paddocks for their feet. You are lucky majority of your clients are clueless tourists because any horse person can see the care of these horses is...

We recently stayed for 2 night in our caravan, we loved our stay here, the bathrooms are basic but we’ll maintained and cleaned daily, the pool is clean and refreshing, the camp kitchen has everything you would need! The owners were friendly and very helpful! We wish we could of stayed longer!

We also did the 2 hour morning ride, and after reading some of the earlier reviews and being a horse owner myself I didn’t know what to expect but I am happy to report all the horses and ponies on this property are extremely well cared for! all are well fed, rugged, and in a great condition. The ride itself caters for all experience levels, and all horses are matched to rider experience. Myself, with over 15 years riding experience and my partner who had only been on a horse once before had an equally good time! Our instructor was amazing and made my partner extremely comfortable riding through a lot of different terrain with his minimal experience level. The actual ride itself was on of those once in a lifetime experiences, starting at the properly you ride out through a sand track, then ride in the water of the river mouth, then onto a neighbouring station surrounded by wild goats, kangaroos and eagles, you then ride up the sand dunes and pop out to the most amazing view of the ocean. I really couldn’t recommended this place highly enough! We definitely...

Overall it was a okay ride on the horses. But the staff were rude and unprofessional. The younger girl was okay, she seemed nice enough and was quiet (Don’t @ her) but the older instructor was impatient and rude. Me and my family were new at horse riding so whilst we were trying our best to follow instructions we weren’t that good. I was at the back of the line and in front of the older lady, as such I could hear her having a go at my family under her breath. It was quite loud. I get bad talking the customers to an extent if they are rude themselves but not if they are trying something new. And NOT when they are around. Do it subtly. We were just looking for a way to try something new and have a good time, we couldn’t be happier that we were trying this. Also when I was trying to get of the horse she was berating me to hurry up and do it her way. I get that it’s a regulation, and yes I do agree that I had to do it that way for a reason. But at the time I was panicking, as I have bad anxiety and I couldn’t move my legs any further because I was afraid I would pull something because I have joint hyper mobility. All and all, I was crying and afraid. She thought it was invalid how I was feeling, and ended up slandering me and attacking me. I left the ranch crying. Learn to be more accepting and patient, and teach that to your staff. That’s...