Penshaw Equestrian Centre — Attraction in Sunderland

We began by arranging a party for 13 kids, months in advance at an agreed price per child for 30 minutes of Riding followed by 30 minutes of grooming & ending with the kids party room which they described as "a lovely room" that they could dress up for an additional £50 ontop of the £30 room hire which we chose not to take them up on.

Party day arrives & we arrive 45 minutes before the party start time. Were then led upto the kids party room, which if you look at the attached pictures can hardly be classed as lovely. Infact, it looked like it had not been cleaned in 20 year. Im not sure how they intended to dress it up, but nothing short of a flame thrower would suffice. There was an inadequate amount of tables (Which were all of different heights.. obviously) for the amount of kids invited, An abundance of horrendously manky office chairs, a small viewing gallery which I didn't dare go into, a overflowing bin with previous party food & for good measure, handfuls of food on the floor.

This room was quite frankly not fit for purpose. Soft clothed seats like these should never NEVER be used in this kind of environment. It should be hard plastic, easily cleanable seating. Tables should also obviously be of the same height. Upon complaining about the state of the room, I was given a shovel & brush to tidy it up myself. With 20 minutes till it started, I just had to get on with it. This room was not suitable for food consumption. I understand that the stables will be a dirty environment. However the horses don't go upstairs, so there is no excuse for having such a disgusting room on the premises.

Next parents started turning up, 20 minutes earlier as requested. At this point were told that we will wait until everyone turns up before sorting out helmets and boots, making the request for an early arrival almost pointless and in contradiction to what we were asked the day prior.

Some kids brought their own horse riding gear so had no issues, however for the ones that didn't, there was insufficient numbers of each size in order to cover the 11 kids who did not have their own equipment. Most got the size they needed, however others and one serious case in my eyes, is where a child was given size 11 boots when they were a size 9 (And this was apparently safer than they wellies they brought with them?) and told to pack them out with some manky socks they found in a cupboard. To make matters worse, they then had to use a helmet far to big for the child due to insufficient equipment numbers. This from my point of view as someone who deals with health & safety on a regular basis is nothing short of complacent. A fall with such a large helmet would have likely done more damage to his neck than falling without the helmet at all.

Party started with the riding at 12:15 after it was due to start at 12:00. 45 minutes of riding took place with 4 ponies being used for the 13 kids. I would mention that the three girls who led this activity and the ponies themselves were great and clearly well looked after. Due to the number of kids being much greater than the number of ponies, they were split into groups. In theory there is no issue with this, however is contradicts what was agreed, which was 30 minutes of riding for each child when in reality, they only got around 12 minutes each.

The riding then ended & they were all told to go up to the room for food. Just to clarify that the grooming was going to be after the food, we went to ask. What we were then told is that because WE started late (We did not start late, we had people turn up early and were told to wait by the staff) that they gave us an hour of pony riding instead. Even then, it wasn't an hour and still didn't meet the agreed 30 mins of riding per child we paid for.

We were offered the grooming at 2pm which like the riding was a well looked after Pony and the handler was great.

This place can look after horses clearly, but their management abilities, cleanliness of non horse areas and customer service skills are...

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Penshaw equestrian centre is number 1

I highly recommend Penshaw Equestrian Centre! I can honestly say this place is number one and I would not go anywhere else this place is amazing defo stands out from the rest . The staff are amazing they are so dedicated to this place they are so helpful , supportive and are all extremely hardworking . The facilities are amazing and they have well-maintained stables, they have two indoor arenas with one that has a upstairs viewing gallery they also have a well lit outdoor arena Every single horse / pony hear is well looked after and happy .

My Lacey has been riding here for nearly a year and half now and bringing Lacey hear was the best thing ever she has gained so much confidence and the amount of skills she has learned is amazing Lacey has gone from a beginner to a intermediate rider . Lacey has the passion for dressage which she enters every month and she also loves showing which she does and it’s all thanks to penshaw I will always be so grateful to this place and my daughter absolutely loves it hear she thinks a lot of not just the staff but the bond and connection she has made with the horses .

They have the best instructors hear at penshaw I will always speak so highly of them always willing to go the extra mile for everyone .

Coming hear is like a second home my daughter has made so many amazing supportive friends but not only has she made friends but I have met and made some amazing friends hear to I will also be so grateful to penshaw thankyou so much for ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Penshaw is...

I paid for private riding lessons for my 8 yr old daughter in October, she had about 7 or 8 lessons. Sadly I chose to stop coming to the Penshaw, purely down to lack of progression. Every lesson she was doing the same thing. She had a different instructor each time- which was fine- but there was never any record kept of her. The instructors would ask me what stage she was at (I have zero knowledge of horse riding) and what did she do the week prior. There was no structure considering I was paying £40 for a half hour private lesson- I expected more. There was no relationship built between her and the instructor, she was treat like a new student doing her first lesson, like she was a stranger every week. We kitted her out in the best riding gear- and really wanted to invest in this. Hence why I wanted private lessons. Sadly I think this is an area that needs to be reviewed at Penshaw. The fact they can’t keep simple notes from prior lessons says it all- how are instructors meant to communicate with their colleagues to progress the students? I She’s since started a new riding school- and Ive had my eyes opened at how little Penshaw had to offer in regards to their private lessons. She’s learned and progressed more in 2 lessons than she ever did at penshaw. She wasn’t even taught basic rein handling. Other than told to ‘hold here’ or ‘hold there’. Private lessons are more expensive for a reason- you want reassurance that you’re going to get a good service...