9 Acres Equestrian Center — Attraction in Palos Township

I have ridden at Fitzjoy for the past five years. I've experienced every aspect of the barn - lessons, trail rides, camps, and shareboarding/boarding. First of all, the barn is just dirty. There is a serious pest problem, and there are extermination signs hidden around the barn. The turnouts are very small, and the horses don't get that much time in them anyway. The trainers aren't bad for beginners, but personally I don't believe the best way to train a horse is to have them go around in circles and work on their mouth 24/7. The students in the advanced lessons aren't on the same level - some of them are still holding the pommel while cantering and have a bad seat, which holds back the actual advanced riders. The tack up girls talk about the students behind their backs, saying they're a pain or they're stupid. I don't know what it is, but Fitzjoy seems to attract spoiled teenage girls. The 'barn drama' level is extremely high, and friendships never seem to last longer than six months. The student parties are fun, but the boarder ones always get a little crazy to the point where it's unsafe. They allowed certain students to 'show down' so they'd win all the lower-level classes in the student shows, but they've gotten better about that in the recent years. The lesson horses are sweet, but many of them have been there for years and years, and will be there for years to come which really isn't fair considering the stress the lessons put them under. It's not the worst barn in the area, but I just don't think it's worth the money. I would've left years ago but I was tied to a horse there until February, and I'm much happier now that I'm shareboarding at a different barn. Btw, they just had at least one case...

So my boyfriend and I went there for a trail ride and it was amazing. The lady that took us on the trail was very nice too( I believe her name was Lisa). The owner was the problem. She was very rude after she saw what I looked like. I was so happy with the trail I was going to take horseback riding lessons there even though I already booked somewhere else and this farm cost more than the other but I was willing to pay more UNTIL I called the owner to ask her if I could get lessons, keep in mind I asked another lady(Lisa) and she said yes they have adult lessons and to sign up and I have self esteem issues and my horse was a bit slow so I asked the lady( Lisa)was I maybe too heavy and she replied with “no you’re not at all it had nothing to do with that” so fast forward again and I ask the owner and she tells me that I am 10 lbs over the weight limit and the horses would have to put in extra work FOR ME! Then she was like let me check if something is available and then proceeds to say there is nothing and best she can do is put me on a waiting list. So I guess if you’re over 190 don’t bother going there. Also no offense to them but my boyfriend and I saw a lady that weighed much more than me and was RUNNING on a...

worst riding lesson because i went with my friend and first the arena was tiny and there was about 9 to 8 horses in it and they were all getting stressed out because they were in such a small space and they were kicking eachother and they put a bigginer that wasnt even good at walking with a person that was alredy gallopin and the horses that were walking were getting scared of the one horse galloping in the middle and the horse in the middle didnt have enought space to even gallop and the rider was getting so tired because she kept on kicking so he goes facter and i wouldnt say this is a good place to go for lessons or trail rides and if i was looking for a place for good lessons i would go to tower hill stables and ride with kendall or stephanie and they also have a great taril rides and i would totally go there and the staff is awsome and nice and are sweet so this is all i have to say about this stable and you should really check out tower...