Rising Star Ranch

The woman who runs this barn, Donna, is terrible. My friend and I boarded out horses there and when we have her 2 months notice that we were moving to another barn (like we are supposed to) she dyed my friends horse's leg blue and stopped giving our horses grain. Stalls were mudfilled, the misquote thorns took out three of my tires in two days, the horses are just left to wander around the terrain of cacti and thorns, and there is no enclosure or arena. Everything is outside, poor maintenance, no care, and it's only for the money to them. DO NOT GO HERE -Claire (I rode under Donna for 2 years, bought a horse, and immediately left after terrible conditions and treatment)

My 12 year old daughter has been taking lessons since early spring and was really enjoying it. They forced you to buy lessons in groups of 4 at $50/each. Her last lesson the instructor told my daughter when her next lesson would be but failed to actually check with the ADULT (myself) and when the day of the lesson came, my daughter said "I think I might have a horse riding lesson today", so I texted the instructor and she said "yes". I said my daughter could not make it that day. She said then you would forfeit the lesson (we had already paid for) because we did not give enough notice. I then asked if my other daughter could come then. She said no, the "package" purchase was only good for one child. So, then I said, well if I already paid for it then we will come. She then said, I already booked a new lesson so you cannot come. But, you still forfeited your lesson (again, we had already paid for), since you did not give us enough notice. This was all over text messaging in the span of about an hour. Luckily this was our last lesson in the purchased package, as we will never be going back. I encourage anyone thinking about taking lessons here to be weary, their business practices benefit themselves only. The odd thing was, they would have gotten NEW business by allowing my other daughter to come, and they wouldn't have LOST existing business by stealing my money and refusing to give my daughter the lesson we had paid for. Since they had already booked a lesson in her place, it's not like they lost any money. I am looking for a new stables currently, as we will never be going back to Rising Star Ranch and their shady business policies.

I love this place! I have been a customer of theirs for over two years and the people at this ranch really are an extension of my family. The owner and staff is extremely knowledgeable and friendly! I have patronized many other barns in my life but no other barn makes you feel as much as a part of the culture as this one! Class sizes are small and the coaching is personalized!If you are looking for a knowledgeable staff and a welcoming environment, this is the place for you! I have already recommended them to all my friends and famliy who are either looking for a place to take lessons, lease or looking to buy a horse!

Don't waste your time or money. Tried for 2 months to set up an appointment. Poor Communication! Never calls back, expects you to "email me your information". Once scheduled, they no showed and left me and my family locked out at the ranch gate in the middle of no where. Horse riding lessons can be dangerous and should be left to the pros. Rising Star aren't even close to pros and should be called Falling Star Ranch. Dad tried to arrange a fun outing for the whole family. I went from hero to chump in one afternoon for booking with these clowns.

I took my daughter there for a week of summer horse camp. It was terrible! They did not do the things that were listed on the website. There were no bathrooms, no indoor areas to cool off, no place to eat lunch beside in the dirt under a tree. It cost $375 and it was a big rip off!

do not buy a horse from these people-esp donna--we bought our11 yr old grandaughter a horse ---she said it was a kids horse it was not. we paid her $1200 and ask her to take it back for $800 -she refused--we ask her to split $500 for more training to hopefullly make it more of a kids horse so ourgrandaughter could maybe ride it--she offered only $100 so she knew it needed it but refused to paythe other $150 --so now we have to take her to small claims court--it is wrong to do a child this way--so be very careful--her word means nothing!!!!!! the islas family