Anne Breen

Review of Vermont Icelandic Horse Farm/ ...

We booked a 3 hour ride for our party of 6; a mix ...

We booked a 3 hour ride for our party of 6; a mix of very experienced and inexperienced riders. The website states that a 3 hour ride is $120 plus tax - we were charged $140 plus tax with no advanced notice of an increase- when questioned, the owner stated that was for a 2 1/2 hour ride, the website is out of date and a few other excuses that made no sense.
I was happy that I brought my own helmet as the ones they provide are basically junk -and look as though they are never cleaned up. Time is fluid - we were instructed to arrive early but spent a good amount of time standing around with no direction from staff who apparently were waiting for the farm owner to arrive.
The location is beautiful, the farm itself is lovely and the staff was friendly. The horses that we rode were well behaved and made everyone feel safe. The majority of the ride was on roads which was not at all what we expected. The trail portions were very rocky and more difficult than I would take novice riders on. The guide spent most of the time at the head of the ride with no idea and seemingly little interest in how the riders were doing- at times we were very spread out - since we had experienced riders in our group we were keeping an eye on those that were inexperienced. With the mix of experience levels I would have expected 2 guides so everyone had an opportunity to ride at their level which would have made for a better ride all around. I would not go back and would be very hesitant to encourage others to go.