-
May 2024 by Joy Briggs
This place is a dumpster fire! I paid for a package deal of 5 lessons plus 1 free for $250. Great deal but seriously I got what I paid for.The property is an absolute mess.Filthy stalls and horses. The lesson horses are tired and many of them in poor condition. I saw a number of times open wounds and they were used for lessons anyway. Underweight horses with ribs sticking out and heads drooped forced to do lesson after lesson and, as far as I saw, not watered between lessons. One old horse is blind in one eye and should be retired.The children are sent to the tack room to choose their own tack often resulting in ill fitted tack. One of my daughters came home with bad chaffs on her knees from a too-small saddle. Reins are often too short then the child gets blamed for confusing the horse.Yesterday was my final straw. My daughter couldn’t remember how to fasten the cinch/girth and the child assistant, Kaya, did it for her. Once in the arena the horse was immediately uncomfortable and not responding to my daughter, kept looking back and its side. Erika kept yelling at my daughter that she wasn’t reining right, finally told my daughter to get off. Erika started slapping the horse on the rear and making it do a bunch of circles right in the arena in the path of other students riding. They ended up discovering that the cinch was pinching the horse causing pain. Good thing the horse didn’t decide to buck or run with my child on her!!!The lack of proper tacking and riding education is a serious safety issue but we all sign liability waivers.This place might have a great price for lessons but I will not recommend Woodhaven to anyone. Your money is better spent on a more expensive private lesson someplace that values their knowledge and their horse’s wellbeing.
-
May 2024 by Guillermo Villard
Excellent
-
December 2023 by ED BEDNARZ
It was great
-
November 2023 by Michael Singleton
A great place to take riding lessons.
-
October 2023 by Ruby Curtsinger
Went to meet my daughter and watch my granddaughter ride. They have been going there for year's.
-
August 2023 by Tina Fast
My daughters loved their hats back riding camps. Learned so much and enjoyed the entire week. It was hot, but the camp was shared and provided a couple water activity days.
-
August 2023 by Molly Sweeney
I am a young student at this place and it is awesome. Horses are so sweet and the instructors are so helpful. If you have a young one who enjoys things like this definitely check it out!
-
July 2023 by adam t
great for my grandaughters camp she is 8 she did it last year
-
July 2023 by Debi Lee
A wonderful place to learn about horses in how to ride excellent instructor’s wonderful horses beautiful surroundings lots of trees
-
May 2023 by Heather S.
My daughter took lessons and also leased a horse at Woodhaven. While she did learn some things during the lessons, it was also a bit challenging for her to really work on certain things since the group lessons have a lot of kids in each one. The communication we received from the instructor, along with the owner of the property, made it a less enjoyable experience. There are a lot of great horses and some really great people at the stables. The leasing part taught her a lot, but there were challenges with communication throughout that process as well. There were a few instances where her leased horse was injured due to wire and she was unable to ride her and it was a challenge to figure out who else she would ride in the meantime. There are limited areas to ride during lessons, which happened quite frequently during the times my daughter was leasing. There are too many horses for the amount of fenced property and unfortunately no pastures available for the horses to graze.
-
April 2023 by Tamar Levin
We are new at the stables, both my young girls (6 and 4 yo) taking lessons with the most amazing instructor—Amanda Blair. Amanda is patient, kind and professional above all. I feel confident having my two young ones under her care.
-
March 2023 by Angelina Cashman
So I rode here off and on when I was 13 to 15, I rode at other barns when I wasn't here. I volunteered at the horse camp even, the thing is on my first day Jean yelled at me when I asked the other girls what we're supposed to be doing cause it wasn't clear, she said not to talk to them and to do what I was supposed to do, which wasn't clear and why I was talking to them. It was high stress and I felt out of the loop cause nobody explained what we were even doing. I did not keep volunteering there, I went to Windmill Stables in Garland instead.When I took lessons for a few months here when I was 12, I was on at least 3 horses that crowhopped, luckily I had years of experience before riding here and i just stayed on each time. This is the only place I've ever rode where the lesson horses crowhopped so much that i got used to it. (If you don't know what crowhopping is look it up)I attest to the review that says "city kids ride in circles and learn almost nothing" , that's what I've heard about this place AFTER I rode there, i learned my skills from Martin Campbell, a true cowboy who grew up riding in the mountains. He passed away years ago from cancer but he was the best instructor I've ever had. I also when I rode at woodhaven, felt it was like a break from the usual riding I did. I didn't have to do much and I didn't like that fact, even at 12. I liked to work hard and do barnwork and stuff in addition to riding.I've also heard things from people I know about Jean claiming one of their horses was hers.Also her leasing policies are weird, the thing about "Owners pay for their horses 7 days a week and never ride 7 days a week" is very subjective, there's days where you ride but do light work instead of cantering and stuff. We also indeed do ride some in the morning some in the afternoon, contrary to what she thinks
-
February 2023 by Ashley Graham
A message for people looking to Board:I have been with Woodhaven for 5 years and I have been unsatisfied with the pastures and how the horses are treated. The lesson instructors are fantastic and very caring, but where the horses are pastured are awful. First off the owner has WAY TOO MANY horses (over 30 of them) on her maybe 8-9 acre property, which is illegal. She doesn't rotate the horses to different pastures which is why there is no grass. Most all of her horses have Thrush or develop tenderness on the bottom of their feet. There is also wayyy too much much barn drama and nasty rumors that get spread. For people who are looking to board for cheap... I would think twice before coming here.
-
December 2022 by Edwin Finley
My little sister loves it here and she is a great rider I highly recommend it.
-
December 2022 by Ashley Scott
My daughter starts the first summer camp at Woodhaven today. After participating in a Spring Break camp in March and LOVING it, she was excited to come back again. Her previous instructor recommended she ride full horses as opposed to the ponies at her next camp and this evoked some anxiety for her. One brief conversation with Helene and her nerves were squashed. Helene did a wonderful job handling her fears with validation, and truth! She was so wonderful at getting on her level and providing the logic behind how the horses are paired to each camper based on experience and personality! We’ve had a wonderful experience with Helene at both camps and are grateful for her compassion.
