Chatfield Stables

My daughter was hesitant about riding horses, but through her week at camp, she grew to love it. She also loved the responsibility and the work involved with caring for her horse. She and Bob got along well -- he even invited her back to be a helper next summer. I am incredibly sad to hear the stable is closing. Bob is definitely old-school, but under that gruff demeanor, he has a big heart.

Our kids have been two summers in a row now. And they have loved each session. They learn in valuable skills of animal care and hard work. The wranglers are very responsible and great with the kids. The owner Bob does an amazing job of ensuring everyone's safety. I highly recommend this camp to anyone who has kids who love horses and adventure!!

I was hesitant to write this review because I try to find positives before I post. But then I saw there were multiple people who had the same problems. Here at the positives: It's a very nice area. The horses look well taken care of. They are very big on safety. The young ladies wrangling the ponies are very nice. I wish they had more ponies, as only 2 of the 6 kids in our group could ride at a time. I don't know the cut off is based on age vs weight. We had a very thin 9 year old who weighs less than many 7 year olds and she couldn't ride because she's 9. I agree with everyone who said Bob is gruff and was rude to the kids. He yelled at the kids and parents. A couple of the other moms and I talked about doing a horse ride for a moms day out but after seeing Bob yell at everyone, we will look elsewhere.

If I could leave 0 stars, I would. First of all, to Bob, who works at the stables, you ruined a 4 year old girls birthday party. You were rude, mean and unwelcoming to a bunch of little girls. Who behaves this way?!! There was a summer camp group there too who he was also being horrible to. If you hate your job this much, please retire. Or hire someone to deal with people since you clearly lack the skills.We had a reservation for 5 little girls at 11:00am. We got notice at 10:45 that they wouldn't be ready for us until 11:30. Okay, that's fine. Things happen. When we arrived, Bob was horrible to us. Yelled at one of the moms when she signed the form and her ink touched another signature. He yelled at another mom for smiling (he said she was smirking). He yelled at the birthday girls Grandmother for watching the teen handlers get some kids ready to feed the horses. The teens said she was welcome to watch and then Bob yelled at her. We decided to leave after the birthday girls 5 year old brother, looked at Bob and said "You're rude". If the kindest 5 year old calls you rude, you may want to do some soul searching. What should have been a wonderful experience and memory for several little girls, ended up being a horrible experience and traumatizing for them to see a grown man treating people this way. I've done research since this happened and the reviews for the Chatfield Stables are horrible everywhere! This man is a monster and should be out of business. A word of advice; if you don't like kids or people in general, don't offer services where you have to be around them. What an awful experience. I will be leaving this review in as many places as possible. It sounds like this man is horrible to anyone who crosses his path. Take tour kids elsewhere, take your horses elsewhere, take your business elsewhere.

Great place!! We will be back. My 10 year old son was a first timer, me I've only rode a horse a few times. We felt completely safe and had a great family experience. Husband and daughter are a little more experienced. I don't have a single complaint. The ride was peaceful and exactly the experience we were looking for. The owner is a straight shooter and I appreciate that. When my families safety is my concern I appreciate when he's honest and quick to the point. The owner is a good guy. I'm surprised by the other reviews.

My daughter attended the horse camp last summer and had the BEST time! She still talks about her horse and the counselors she met! The were so knowledgeable, caring, and engaging, and she had the experience of a lifetime! She absolutely adored Wyola, her counselor, and her horse, Sugar. She can't wait to come back next year. I am so thankful for this camp!!!

The owner is really racist. Too many rules and is really harsh with people. My family is bilingual and he was really disrespectful towards us, even stepped aside and said "they dont speak English." Meanwhile, they do. I do not recommend this place and he completely ruined my day. It was my daughter's birthday and he did not allow me to even film her.

We had a lovely time! Our guides were friendly and knowledgeable. My 7 y/o felt comfortable, learned a few things and left happy and confident. Bob paired us all with horses that met our experience level and helped make sure everyone was ready and comfortable before leaving the stables. The horses were delightful and well cared for. We'll definitely be back.

Wonderful horses, they care about safety, and you can't beat where you get to ride! Fyi they are cash only, but what an amazing time! And my kids love the horse camps.

I urge everyone to read recent comments. There's a very common theme here that Bob the owner is rude, and grump. This is nothing new, and will be consistent with our story I will share.We signed up our two kids for week long horseback riding camp. Something that costs approx $1,000 for the two of them. My kids aren't at all seasoned riders, but they aren't totally new either. They've done camps, trail rides and lessons before at different locations. They were both very excited going into this camp. After the first day they both came home and had a terrible time. The only reason was how rude, and mean the owner was. Not just to them, but other kids, as well as the staff. Even when not directed towards them he belittled and yelled at everyone and created a very hostile and toxic environment. That was the first thing they talked about rather than the horses they met or things they did. One of my kids is more sensitive and the other is definitely more thick skinned. Both were extremely uncomfortable and felt unsafe. When picking the kids up, you could visibly see the fear from the teenagers working there as well.My initial thought as a parent was to use this as a teaching moment. They'll encounter rude / mean people there whole life and need to learn to navigate that. Then, as I thought about it more, I realized this is different then a rude coach or teacher, this is something we paid for to have a positive experience. This is supposed to be fun. If I paid that much money for myself to do something, and the staff made it a bad experience I would be upset, so why should my kids have to "suffer"One of my children was so anxious about the camp she wasn't eating. She didn't eat her dinner that night, breakfast the next morning, and was starting to hyperventilate as she pulled up to camp. I decided to call the owner and discuss in a very calm and civilized manner explaining I had concerns about how he interacted, and that this was supposed to be a fun thing but his interactions with people made it not fun. To my own credit I refrained from doing the things I wanted to do like yell and swear. How did Bob the owner respond. Later in the day, he called me and told me to come pick up my kids and they wouldn't be allowed to finish camp for the week. Because "he didn't think he did anything wrong and my concerns aren't justified"That's how this man "runs a business" when someone approaches calmly about a concern, he kicked them out. I urge everyone to stay away. Horseback riding is awesome and a lot of fun, there are a lot of places you can get lessons, go on trail rides, do camps etc in the Denver Metro area. This man does not deserve your money.This man has NO business running a place that does camps for kids. He's at a State Park and therefore responsible for reporting to someone which is the only reason I can think of why he proactively kicked them out. He knew we'd be watching and if he kept it up he'd be reported.