Big Horse Feed & Mercantile — Local services in Temecula

This is for the pumpkin patch/harvest “festival”. We came while it was raining and expected it to be wet and muddy. That wasn’t a problem. We figured we would beat the crowds. The kids wore rain boots and we were prepared. The problem was that Big Horse wasn’t prepared. Half of the bouncers didn’t work in the rain, along with the big wheel race and a few other rides / games, yet they were still charging full price for each activity. Activities were manned by teenagers who were hiding from the rain and mud under awnings while taking customers’ money to send our children up puddles, unsafe equipment. The one exception was the zip line bounce house staff- they were working hard to keep the activity as safe and dry as possible (which is expected if Big Horse is going to stay open and take money for the activities).

Examples of the prices, which would be seriously questionable even without the awful service and unmaintained activity areas, are: $10 each for a 2-second “zipline” which is just a bounce house dual slide with 2 bucket seats attached on either side of the center staircase, held to the earth with only corner stakes. Yes, $10 for a 2-second swing. -$5-$7 per kid for each of the 4 jump houses that give the customer a 1-minute experience which is being generous on my part. Older kids went thru the jumpers in under a minute. It took longer to take their shoes off than the time they spent. $10 EACH for a go in ye old corn maze. Yes, children too. Families can be prepared to spend $100 CONSERVATIVELY between the maze and the ridiculous prices they are charging for the activities. If you’re fancy enough to buy your pumpkins here, plan on $125-$150 all told for a family of 6, and a 1-2 hour experience not including food or beverages. If you’re planning to eat here, each plate is $10 on average drinks not included. All told, we were disappointed and won’t be back. We love supporting local businesses and participating in family friendly activities in our community but these guys obviously care more about their seasonal profits at the community’s expense. We will take our large family elsewhere this season, where the value of a hard earned buck isn’t flippantly taken for granted by...

I will no longer shop at Big Horse Feed in Temecula! I was in the feed yard a couple of weeks ago, getting hay when I observed the owner, Rose Corona, sitting back there on her behind, ordering her guys around. Not only was she barking orders, she was belittling them in the worst way. She would ask, "why are you doing that?" "What are you hungover?" I was in disbelief. I have been in the yard many times and these guys work their tails off. It is a difficult job and to have an employer treating you like a piece of dirt is just unacceptable no matter what the case is. Since then, I have spoken with a couple of people within the industry and someone down at Inland Vet Supply, regarding Ms Corona. Did not hear anything positive. Apparently she runs that place like a prison camp. The pay is absolutely horrible and the employees are treated poorly. The turnover is incredibly high. One person lableled Ms. Corona as a real "Nut Job." She rarely treats anyone with kindness and is constantly distributing critical and threatening memos to everyone. Doesn't she realize that a high turnover means that employees are not happy? Unhappy employees mean less productivity. Duh! A no brainer! It is a known fact that if you treat your employees with respect and reward them, you will have a low turnover and more productivity. You would think a light bulb would go off or something. Sure maybe there are some employees that may need to be moved on out because they are just bad for business but what about the many that are good? I have met quite a few that are great including my delivery people. There is no way I will sit back and watch my hard earned money go to someone who treats people with such disrespect. These people are your employees not your dogs. Maybe you treat your dogs better? Get your head out of your tail Ms. Corona and do what is right! Maybe some leadership training would...

We've come here for the last few years and have always enjoyed ourselves. Today was no exception. However, there were a couple hiccups. The ticket line....unacceptable. We were in line with 2 parties in front of us for approximately 20 minutes. 20 minutes for 2 people to buy tickets! Thats ridiculous. The lines have several posters outlining ticket options that spell out exactly how many tickets for each activity. People that approach the counter that are clueless or are having difficulty deciding what package to buy should kindly be asked to step aside and get back in line when they are ready. 10 mins per person is unacceptable. The 2nd and biggest let down was that there is a sign posted right as you enter titled Pony Ride Rules. A big green poster. Says right on the poster 5 tickets. 5 tickets. Cool. We account for the pony ride as we get in line to buy our tickets. We bought 2 books which we calculated out would be perfect for all that we wanted to do. We go to ride the ponies and low and behold the sign there says 7 tickets. Unfortunately for my two daughters this was the last thing that we did before leaving so we only had 5 tickets left each because that's what the sign said out front. I mentioned to the girl working it about the 5 ticket sign out front and she couldn't have cared less. No apology or let me check it out....nothing. Not even an attempt to notify someone to change it so this doesn't happen again. Very disappointing. We felt the least she could have done was take our 5 tickets and let my girls ride and then check into it. They should have honored it and should still make it right. It was...