Sheeder Mill Farm — Attraction in East Vincent Township

I have gone twice to Sheeder Mill for a trail ride, and found both times to be amazing! I have been riding English on and off since I was a kid, and have been on many trails before. I would highly recommend Sheeder Mill. My FAVORITE part is you get a trail guide for your group. No strangers join you and you ride at the level of the most inexperienced rider. I really appreciate how they have you rate your riding ability and give you horses to match your experience; they clearly value safety. You also have the option of english or western saddle, but I prefer Western on trail for comfort.

My first time I went for a 1.5 hour trial with my SO who had never ridden before. After quick pointers on basic turning we headed off. Before we hit the actual trail we made a pit stop in a small ring where the trail guide had my boyfriend practice steering the horse around some barrels and asking him to go & stop. Even though we went single file on this ride this is a great touch since it allows beginners to get an idea of how to control their horse if they try to wander off, eat etc. I did think that even though he was a dead beginner a short trot would have been easy to handle. However when we got to an open road I (being an advanced rider) was allowed to hang back and trot to catch up. I even got a short canter in!

The trail guide we had was fantastic! After our lesson we were asking about places to eat in the area and she recommended this adorable small town by a creek, and mentioned they have some really nice walking trails there. When we said we would check out the trail and she even gave us both bug spray!

Because of my amazing first experience I came back with my advanced rider friend. Once they saw we both could clearly ride the trail guide didn't enforce a single file rule - a first in any trail I've ever been on. This was AMAZING because my horse (I believe his name was Tristan) was the fastest of the bunch. When the guide told us we could cater, I barely had to ask he was very excited to get going! Tristan jumped into a very fast canter when he realized I wasn't holding him back. We had an amazing long hand-gallop up a hill and it was so exhilarating just to be able to let your horse go without worrying about not passing the horse in front! When the trail guide asked us to have a nice controlled canter, Tristan was extremely responsive to my aids and immediately shortened and slowed his stride without breaking out of a canter.

The only drawback is that since the wooded trails are so narrow you cannot easily canter on them. Most of our cantering was done on dirt roads that cars do drive on infrequently (we only encountered a mail truck). We did encounter 3 more cars on the paved road returning to the barn. Even when riding on the "roads" the trail is very scenic and wooded with a few houses here and there. I didn't mind this too much in the end because the wooded trail you ride on is so scenic, you get to cross some creeks with your horse as well which was a first for me on trail.

Overall I would highly recommend! I'm trying to find a way to get back there one day since I'm now...

Disappointing. Trail guide (Jaime) made me feel so awful, and I cried. We got there early, as they asked, but we didn’t do a test lap (not sure why?). I have extremely short legs, and they didn’t size the stirrup length appropriately. So I couldn’t ride properly. Jaime incessantly verbally, brashly, ‘corrected’ my riding position, telling me to push my heels down and legs in, but I physically couldn’t, as I had to tippy-toe in order to reach the stirrups. Finally, during the ‘photo opp’ at the water, she realized what was happening and adjusted one stirrup strap. Why just one? At one point on the way back, my companion called out the fact that the saddle and I were lopsided, and Jaime continued berating me for my riding position, demanding I make sure to stay straight & ‘evenly positioned’ on the horse. I physically couldn’t, as I was still having to tippy toe to reach the stirrups, and now one was longer than the other. I get that the trail guide is there to make sure everyone is safe and the horses are comfortable, but I was just holding my breath waiting for the ride to be over, and feeling extremely uncomfortable the entire time. It’s a shame because I love riding, I used to do long trail rides every summer from ages 11-18 with my granddad, and I thought this would be a nice intro back into the hobby. The horses are beautiful, the stable seems well-run, but this experience left a sour taste in my mouth and kind of ruined my enjoyment of riding. I tried to reach out to the establishment directly, but the person who answers the emails is Jaime herself, which was also extremely uncomfortable for someone in my position. She eventually passed my message along to her mother(?), Dori, but Dori ‘doesn’t phone anyone (and) wont answer calls unless the number is in (her) contacts,’ and she stopped responding to...

What was meant to be a relaxing ride with my daughter, ended up with us covered in bee stings and sitting in the urgent care for the night.

I called a few days in advance to do a 2 hour ride with my daughter. When we got there, I made sure they knew I was not experienced. About an hour into the ride, we came across ground bees and were attacked on horses going down a hill. My horse fled with me on it away from my daughter and the guide and I was able to get off the horse using some branches. My daughter was not so lucky and fell off when she was not near me.

What they did right was the farm workers came to find us in the woods and retrieve all the ranaway horses, it was the least they could do. On foot , we were over a mile from the farm.

What they did wrong It was apparent that noone had checked the trail so I am not sure where the other riders were being taken. We reached a few points that the guide had to take us around a major obstacle. And noone offered to reschedule the other hour we missed at another time, we paid 2 hours for the one hour ride and bee attack, they actually asked if we wanted to continue once they got our horses back. Together, we had about 18 something bee stings and my daughter's backside was in pain from the fall. It was not the ideal time to jump back on the horses.

I was okay with the risk of riding horses, I understand they are animals, but not telling us that we could run into something so dangerous or checking the path before you send riders out is just unsafe.

Our guide did the best she could but it was obvious the horses had a long day, they both had loose shoes and it did not feel much preparation was given to our ride regardless of the advanced scheduling.

If you choose to do business here, be sure to ask if riders took that trail that day or stick to...