Jackson's Stables Inc — Attraction in Four Corners States

NOT safe - got thrown by one of their horses and broke my wrist and got a concussion.

My husband and I picked Jackson's stables since they are the only ones licensed to operate within the park itself and touted good horsemanship. But we had more experience than our guide, who had only arrived at the park a week before our ride and had minimal training. She wasn't familiar with the horses beyond their names and didn't even know what a 'green' horse was.

My fall occurred about 15 minutes into the ride. The guide stopped our party by a large hilly rock outcropping and told us she was doing a girth check. Why she chose to stop us there and not by the sandy flat area we passed two minutes before is beyond me. It was lightly raining so she offered us these tarp-like ponchos to wear. She assured us the horses were used to them and would not spook.

My horse was NOT used to it and DID spook.

The guide either was not holding my horse or was not holding him tightly at all. He did a short little rear that I was able to stay on for. Then he reared again and pivoted backwards, throwing me onto a waist-high boulder face first.

Once my husband (who is EMT trained) assessed my injuries, we were at first told we had to ride back to the stables. Then we were told to walk back to the stables and made the twenty minute trek down the rocky, wet mountainside while it was raining, shivering from shock and with a concussion and a broken wrist.

It was a MISERABLE experience. We did receive a refund, but that does not begin to recoup the medical bills we received at the ER and will continue to receive as I recover. This also occurred on the first day of a week long vacation for my husband and me - completely ruining most of the rest of our plans since I can't use my dominant arm at all and have to keep it still for recovery.

Summary - in my opinion, the inexperience and lack of training of my guide caused me thousands if dollars and literal physical harm. Do NOT ride here until hiring policies change or training is increased. There are plenty of other places for you to have a riding experience if you still want to after reading this review.

However, I'd only recommend hiking it by foot after my experience. You never know who you're going to get, and horses are...

Well, I’m very thankful that none of my kids were given the horse I was. The poor guy was named Nacho. I looked all of the horses over before our ride and noticed Nacho has foundered in the past. His rear hooves were in very bad condition and he had even lost half of his tail to the founder. When I got on him, I noticed a rough gait and at first thought he was limping but decided I must be crazy. I convinced myself he just had a rough gait. But as we climbed hills I felt his feet stumble. And as we descended he began to stumble even more and almost fall. I yelled for the wrangler and said I thought my horse had a rock in his foot and she said he would be fine and rocks come right out which is far from true. He continued to stumble and tremble and she shouted that he was recovering from an injury and maybe he was just in the mood to run their vet bill up again. I felt horrible for him but followed the rules and rode the injured horse all the way back to the corral. Dear Jackson Stables, if he had a rock in his foot we should have removed it, if he’s not sound, please retire him. I’ve never felt so sorry for an animal in my life. I gave two stars because my family loved being out in the park on horses and I sincerely wanted to just make a happy memory with them. Unfortunately, I paid $420 for a horrific ride on an injured horse who I sincerely feared would fall off the...

I had a lot of fun. If I come back to Colorado I will make sure to go back to Jackson stables. I think It was the best thing that I did at the ymca! I had a horse named little man and my sister had a horse named Danny. We went for a 1 hour ride but they have up to 4 hour rides! And they shared a lot of history about the terrain, they have a lot of different horses that will take care of you! I loved it so much and I hope you enjoy it too! I recommend it mostly because I felt comfortable on the horse and safe on the horse. The guides are very helpful and nice if you ask them any question I guarantee they will answer unless they didn’t hear you it’s really fun even if you’re in the back, I recommend the 1 hour ride, my guide Sloan recommended the 3 hour ride because it’s fairly flat. If you have never ridden a horse before that’s definitely the place to go or if you have then it’s perfectly fine too. My guides Sloan and Jake were really nice and helpful if you don’t know how to ride you can ask them any questions about it then they will explain all the details and rules before you get on. My sister was nervous at first but she had a great time, she wasn’t expecting to be controlling the horse but the horses know the trial and are trained! I hope you consider going! (Written by...