City Island Stables, Inc. — Attraction in New York

So my daughter was excited to try horseback riding so I decided to take her here and let her ride a pony before we sign up for lessons. Upon arrival I went into the little house for assistance. No one was there. I went back to the porch and this young woman introduced herself as a volunteer and offered to help. She walked into the barn and as she was doing so another woman came out and dismissed the volunteer. She said she was the manager. Her tone was unpleasant and rude and it was if she was letting her authority be known over the volunteer. It wasn't only her tone but her body language towards the volunteer was very dismissive. It felt racist af. I told the manager that we were interested in a pony ride. She said my daughter was too big. No explanation other than that. She guided us in the office and said "it's $15 , sign here". No explanation of what we're signing or what we're supposed to do next. After that she said "Go pick out a helmet " she didn't tell us what size helmet or how to put the helmet on or anything. My daughter who is wearing two ponytails at the time needed a helmet that will fit over her hair and so we didn't know what size to put on her head and of course the manager did not offer any support. when I asked her if the helmet fit right she was like "yeah". at that point she says your "horse is outside," again no clear instructions just like go outside. how the hell are we supposed to know what we're supposed to be doing if we've never done this before? We go outside and a man is standing there holding a huge horse and again there's no direction or no talking. How do we know that my daughter is supposed to climb onto the horse? My husband and my daughter are standing behind the horse and I'm telling them to move out of the way so the horse do not kick them from behind. why is that something that I need to say? That is something that the staff there should have said. So my daughter does the little two laps around on the horse, comes back and the guy guiding the horse just says "okay she can get down" . my husband and I were so confused and ask the guy if my daughter can use the platform that she used to climb onto the horse. he doesn't say anything and gives a blank stare. The manager is there so we ask her if my daughter can go over to the platform and climb down from the horse the same way she got on the horse.. The manager, while walking away from us says something about why that can't be done but again we don't understand it because we don't go horseback riding and don't know all of the guidelines and the rules. this is something that the staff should have explained more clearly. I just felt like the experience there was terrible, no guidance , no structure and also a safety issue. 1. why didn't the manager come out and check the helmet and make sure the helmet was on properly. why did my daughter have to climb off the horse without the platform. 3.why was this person's customer service just so terrible. Why no clear instructions on what the ride will be like. At some point I asked the volunteer to explain and she quickly said " I'm just a volunteer. Her response was obviously short and curt because of the manager's earlier interaction. It seemed the volunteer didn't want to say anything else after being reprimanded earlier for helping me.

The worst part about it is my daughter's experience was not what she thought it was going to be. She expressed discomfort afterwards and actually said it seemed like the staff were unhappy. Definitely not going back there and will be checking out other stables in the city. I spoke to other people who've gone horse riding and was told this experience was unsafe and questioned if this stable is licensed. I'm appalled at...

I just came back from the stable, we booked a trail ride for 4 kids and 2 adults (one was me). Me and my daughter are an intermediate level, while the others were beginners. I am not a pro, but I never have problems with horses (at least nothing that is not "normal" while dealing with a big animal). some of the 6 horses were ok, but at least two were not appropriate for a trail ride with kids and/or beginners. They were overreacting animals that can put the rider in danger. My situation was particularly weird because my horse had super short reins, like the horse could not take his head down even with reins at the full length and my arms extended, and the stable girl told me not to pull at all because he had a sensitive mouth... WTH?! why do you do that to a horse? Obviously, the horse got super nervous, and the first time I tried to slow him down a little, he tried to get me off the saddle. I managed to stay, then I asked to dismount. The stable boy laughed at me, and said I was the problem, to relax and go into the park. I refused to mount a horse that was clearly not comfortable with the way they set him, but he didn't let me dismount until I screamed at him. When the others came back, they told me that also two of the other horses tried to run away from the group once, and they did not get any help from the guides. This place is not the right choice for trail rides.

ADD: I mount since I am 14. I owned my own horse. In the past 5 years I have been riding every summer on a regular base and I go on trail rides and multi days excursions, both in US and Europe. I assist in Equine assisted therapy as well. My daughter is an equestrian. Riding is a dangerous activity that must be lead properly to be enjoyable, and your staff was careless.

Besides what I said above: I had to hold one of the horses when the staff left her go free outside the arenas. Despite your staff was alerted that there were minors that were also beginners in the group, they left one of those kids on the horse unattended. The lady that was "screaming" was actually trying to catch their attention because the stable guy left her and the beginner kid unattended. Also, the horses should not feel the need to catch up, because it should be the guides' job to keep the group together at the proper speed for the group.

I was the one dismounting because your horse, Prince, had the reins super short, and as soon as I was on... you stable girl told me I couldn't use the reins to stop him because he has a very sensitive mouth. So when Prince tried to kick the horse behind us and start cantering... and even reacted on my attempt to calm him down, I asked to dismount. I do not leave a stable riding a horse that I don't know at all and is already showing signs of nervousness. In the arena... maybe. I was refunded, but it didn’t make my ride safer, nor my day more pleasant.

Finally, even assuming that you have a beginner in a moment of panic, and this was NOT the case, your staff should know how to manage the situation, not leaving them unattended and mocking them (I have...

I wouldn’t recommend this place not even to my worst enemies, they don’t inform you about proper safety measurements of how to handle a horse, the horses seen to be very wild and not properly train which cause my mother and 10 year old daughter to be in the hospital. Took my mother here for her 49th birthday along with my brother and 10 year old daughter for horse back riding; we were all very excited about this experience so I began to video them all while they got on their horses, the young lady who work there give told them basic instructions like if they wanted to turn right to pull the rope right, if they wanted to go left to pull the horse rope left and if they wanted the horse to stop to pull the rope backwards towards themselves, this sounded pretty easy to me as the worker said it, turn out to be that wasn’t the case, as I was in the parking lot waiting for their rides to be finish I saw the horse that my 10 year old daughter was on running back to the stable without my child on it smh so I then got so scared Because I knew something had went wrong, so I ran towards the stable to ask the worker that was there if everything is ok and she replied that she not sure as to what going on but she will call the tour guide; by then we both start heading through the horse trail and about 10 mins in I saw my mother laying in the trail in some serious pain saying that her horse ran after my daughter horse which cause her to felt off on side leading to swelling of her knee and bruises; My daughter crying saying that her horse ran away with her and she felt off head way face down on the trail smh I then call the ambulance to take them to the emergency room thank god no bones were breaking after the x-tray. This place is life and death and I am still stock as to why would they even put a 10 year old on a horse by herself, how could she even manage to pull back a horse that is three times her size which the worker had said nothing about pulling back the horse with strength which they all later on realized smh .

Little advice for the business owner here when it comes to safety, it is always your duty to verbally express them to each customers...