Nookside Stables — Local services in East Hempfield Township

Very disappointed...let me share my experience. I have a 5 and a 3 year old kids. They were beyond excited to ride a horse or to get to pet them, see them... I have been calling all the morning and no one picked the phone, just wanted to ask what could we do there...since I could not see clearly what they offered for kids I drove there this morning. I was helped by a bunch of kids, very polite and nice but kids. One of the kids told me that they could't ride a horse but they could ride a ponny. I try to convince they kids to ride the ponny. Finally an adult shows up and tells me that ponny rides are only on Saturday...ok...so I ask her " so you can't offer us something to do?" And she says no. And she adds that a big group is comming soon.. like... get out of here... Last year my son was 3, and a very nice lady let him ride a horse, not a ponny, she let him pet the horse and ride it for 10 minutes with her. She was amazing...not sure what changed the last year but today it was a flop. All I got was two kids crying all the way back home...you could have offered us something..like pet them, look at them for a while....I was willing to pay anything to make them happy...

So thanks for this horrible experience, I will...

We were there this past Sat.(July13). The 2 complaints I have is that several riders in our group told the girls that their saddles were loose and they didn't do anything about it. The one lady who just turned 72 also had a loose saddle and really got worried. She told the assistant who didn't do anything about it. They just led her around in a circle and then she asked to get off cuz she was afraid she'd fall off. Even the assistant said the saddle was loose but didn't do anything to tighten it. We were quite disappointed in that as this was her birthday and she wanted to ride a horse. I also requested an assistant to be with her on the ride when I made the reservations ( I was told that I could request that). There was only 2 assistants there and they said they couldn't do that. A suggestion, also, is that it would be nice if there would be a pavilion there with some benches for those watching who are not riding. It was a hot day and we had to stand in the sun for over 2 1/2 hrs. It's a beautiful place and the trail is nice but we did have some problems there as...

The pastures are wonderful, the sunsets are gorgeous. Close proximity to trails where you can ride but have to remove any manure dropped.

The manager is curt and overfeeding the horses, causing founder in some. The horses are only checked on 2x a day when fed, and left on their own the rest of the time. Property owners live onsite but don't pay attention to horses at all, even when in distress.

Airbnb guests in house are allowed free access to horses including letting kids ride scooters in the sheds with the horses unsupervised. My horse was fed random hay that cut his mouth by someone that wasn't staff. When horses are injured the staff says it's likely arthritis instead of calling the vet. If you are looking for bare minimum care and for strange non horse people to feed your horse, this is the place for you!

One outdoor arena that gets slippery muddy in the rain, with puddles and needs days to dry out. Round pen also collects a large puddle in the rain and needs days to dry out.

Very close to the highway. Gorgeous pastures. Fun obstacle course and beautiful...