Glen Grove Equestrian Center — Local services in Vernon Hills

I've been riding at Glen Grove for about two years. I started riding when I was 11, and was a working student and later a groom. I took a 7 year break from riding to finish college and start my career. Being plus sized I was very apprehensive getting back into riding. Many barns have weight limits, which I respect and understand, but it means a whole entirely awkward layer that needs to be addressed. The stables was accommodating and I started back riding their big school horse Moose. Never once in all my time there have I been made to feel ashamed of my weight. When I started looking for a horse to shareboard, they found me a big mare to work with, and in a year and a half together we've made great progress.

Paula has been a great trainer. Before I stopped riding I had been riding with the same trainer since I was 15 years old. I was apprehensive and nervous to be riding with someone else. She was easy to work with and amazingly adaptive to my personality. I've witnessed her change her teaching style between different riders, taking different approaches to different personality types and intuitively figuring out the best way to teach a person.

I've yet to see a trainer here who's training methods I disliked. The trainers work to instill confidence, stress safety, and teach their students respect and understanding towards the horse.

I've made great friends and have went to several shows now. Our show team is wonderfully supportive of one another and everyone has a great time. The barn is full of good people and having spent my time at a lot of different stables in my teens and 20's, I have to say it's amazingly low drama. I'm not sure if I've been at any barn before where some sort of meltdown or conflict between trainers, boarders, or owners hasn't happened at least once a year. Two years at Glen Grove and there's been nothing like that. Overall, it's been a great experience.

A edit two years later:

I still love this barn, love these people, and love the trainers. The mare they found me to shareboard that I mentioned in the review above was purchased by me later on that year. The sale and transition of ownership was smooth and while me and Arti have had some ups and downs over the last two years, overall the ups have outweighed the downs. We've been showing a few years and it's a great group of people to complete with. Everyone is supportive and is there to cheer each other on.

We qualified for B medal finals this year and on Sunday we placed second in the Limit Medal. Arti was absolutely perfect for me this show and I can't say enough for this barn and what they've done for me and...

My daughter recently attended a camp at Glen Grove and (after waiting 48 hours for my nerves to simmer) I feel like I should share our experience.

On the third day of camp, my daughter called me, in tears, telling me that she'd been bitten by her horse. I was skeptical, figuring that if she was really hurt, the camp would have called me, but then she sent me a picture, and I became alarmed. The picture looked bad. This had happened over an hour ago, and no one from Glen Grove had called me, and all they had done for my daughter was to give her give her an ice pack.

I called Glen Grove, and Sue (I think she's the owner?) answered. She seemed annoyed that I had called and said that yes, my daughter had been bitten, but it was no big deal because it hadn't broken the skin. I told her that I had seen a picture of it and it looked like it needed to be treated, at which point she huffed, went over to my daughter, took another look, and said it just looked like a rug burn but if I was really worried about it "[she could] put alcohol on it, but it's going to hurt really bad." My daughter was right there - I could hear her yelping in fear in the background. After a few back and forths, I asked Sue to clean it with soap and water (that's what I read on the internet) and put some bacitracin on it. We hung up, no apologies, no assurances, she was just so annoyed that I was making a big deal of this.

I am not a dramatic mom. I always assume that my kids actually did what they've been accused of, and I have been to the ER a bizzilion times for scrapes, stitches...you name it. I am not upset that a horse bit my kid at camp - stuff happens. But the way that this camp handled this issue was so unprofessional, so dismissive of any responsibility, I don't think that they should not be running a summer camp.

I later heard from my daughter (and 2 other girls who told their moms) that later that afternoon Sue was trashing me to other parents - telling everyone about my "overreaction." Sue also told my daughter that her particular horse (Clover) doesn't like getting his hooves cleaned, so that's why he bit her (wait, that's part of the grooming she's supposed to do - and...hold on, has this happened before?!).

Glen Grove has a lot of horses, and they are relatively convenient (right off of the highway) and the facilities are pretty nice. Maybe I just hit Sue on a bad day. But it takes a lot for me to get riled up and this...

I was very disappointed with my experience at Glen Grove. I am a beginner rider in my mid-40s, and starting this journey at my age is already challenging enough. Unfortunately, the environment here made it even harder.

My instructor, Paula, was consistently rude and dismissive. Before my first lesson, I asked multiple times what time I should arrive to begin grooming and preparing the horse. I could never get a clear answer. Each visit, I was told something different — one day I was “too early,” the next day I was “too late.” It created stress before the lesson even started.

There were also constant conflicting instructions. I was told at one point to interrupt the horse to place the halter on while eating because “he’s a professional,” but when I gently tried to halter him another day while he was drinking (thinking the same guidance applied), the horse reacted and I was loudly scolded in front of others. It was confusing, embarrassing, and discouraging.

Whenever I tried to ask for help or clarification, Paula was usually in the office or occupied, and the teens working there were passive-aggressive or dismissive when approached. Yet later, I would be criticized for attempting tasks “without supervision,” even though no one was ever actually available to supervise or teach me. It felt like I was being set up to fail.

I genuinely wanted to learn. I was respectful, eager, prepared, and willing to take constructive feedback. Instead, I was met with inconsistency, raised voices, and a lack of support. When I eventually reached out to explain how I was feeling, I received no response at all, which was incredibly unprofessional.

This environment was stressful, discouraging, and not conducive to learning. I would not recommend Glen Grove to anyone looking to actually learn — especially beginners or adults — unless you want to be berated instead...