Idylwood Equestrian Center

0 stars, the management needs to learn how to treat customers with respect...please do t visit there are better places in the area

***WARNING PLEASE READ BEFORE CONTINUING***I had ridden at Idlywood for 5 years. During these 5 years, I've experienced verbal abuse by the trainer Jaime (owner of this establishment). My mother and I both rode together and separate. We bought horses from Jaime that were "perfect horses". We had to move barns because it was too far away. When we moved our horses, we were surprised by what they turned into. The owner of the new barn said that the horses we had, seemed like they had been abused by a previous owner. My horse started to show so much pain in his feet immediately. He looked as though he could never walk again. After 6 months of continued vet treatment, we found he had navicular disorder and arthritis that was preexisting. We were not informed about this oand we could not get previous vet reports from Jamie (previous owner). His back story was lied about even to the point of age. My mothers horse was given to Jamie to just retire. Jamie then sold my mothers horse to my mother. The horse seem mentally not there. The horse was almost considered too dangerous to ride. Jamie said that the horse was mistreated at the previous barn and needed more training. We then found out the horse had a career ending Injury and was not meant to be ridden. There's similar stories of many people who had left this barn with horses and not with horses. The fact that this has happened more than once is concerning for all people who want to ride here. I wouldn't even give this place one star because of what I've been through day to day. My horse is no longer rideable and is retired at 10 years old. There are so many other barns that would be better. Thank you for reading and please reconsider.

The day after I left Idylwood with my horse, I got a text message from Jaime Benner (Idylwood owner) with the photo of what looked like a dead horse. The text said "Let me be clear before you write a review...".Well, I'm going to be clear and to the point. I made a huge mistake by bringing my horse to this facility. My horse arrived in good weight and healthy. When my horse left, only a few months later, he was very underweight, coughing constantly with a runny nose and had muscle spasms throughout his body. I would drive up to barn and see my horse just lying in the paddock, depressed. That's the first time he has acted depressed or had a of these symptoms. Jaime will charge you a hefty board fee but will feed your horse dusty and moldy hay, and not much of it either. Her pastures were grazed down to dirt and no extra hay to make up caloric intake. I purchased a lot of extra feed and hay while paying Jaime to feed my horse! As soon as I could leave, I did. My horse quit coughing with in a week and muscle spasms were gone just as quick - the obvious result of having proper nutrition again. There are FAR worse stories than mine. Don't make the same mistake that I did, there are better choices out there.

ReviewI began riding with Jaime Benner of Idylwood Equestrian Center in 2003. I remained with her for thirteen years. When I first started riding with her, she actually cared about teaching and riding, but I can't say the same for her anymore. She has become a money-hungry business person with little to no regard for the welfare of her riders or the horses under her care. Let's start with the horses. She will try to sell you one asap. If you are inclined to take the leap to horse ownership, do not trust her word. Get a vet check and be present when it is performed. She lied about the ages of both of my horses and concealed some serious chronic issues on one of them that a vet check would have revealed. I made the mistake of trusting her after riding with her for so many years. Do not make this same mistake. After I left her barn, I found out that one of my horses had been receiving massive doses of pain medication to make him sound enough to ride. I should have never been on his back, but she doped him up so that he was sound enough to go to the horse shows. This ties in to the money-hungry nature I mentioned earlier. All she cares about is getting riders to go to the horse show. She charges exorbitant shipping prices (3x the usual rates-believe me, I checked) and then charges you for "training" your horse while at the show and doesn't even ride them. Multiple other trainers have reported not seeing her at the show grounds all week until the students show up to ride on the weekend. On one occasion, she even admitted to injecting my horse with a medication to calm him down so he could be ridden at the show. This horse did not need to be sedated. No properly trained horse should need to be sedated to show. A sedated horse is a recipe for disaster in the show ring. How do you expect a doped up animal to safely jump a fence. Another example is the board fee that you pay. It claims to include half training which is two rides per week by the trainer. In one three month period, my two horses were ridden a grand total of four times! Thats 44 rides short for a 12 week span. I paid for the service, but she never delivered. The facility is lovely and the school horses are great, but the trainer is unethical. Unless you have money to burn and don't care about being gossiped about behind your back (oh, she loves to put other riders down and constantly complains about all the idiots that she has to teach), go elsewhere for your riding needs. Her riding skills are mediocre at best and no one ever became good from learning from a mediocre teacher. I switched to a different trainer, and in one year, I have made more progress than I did in the 13 years that I rode with her.

I have been riding at Idylwood for 14 years and obviously I love it. One of the reasons is that I know my horses will have the best of care. The other is that Jaime has a true love of horses and loves working with people who have the same passion. I have taken lessons from her for the 14 years and find her to be a natural and intuitive instructor. I love being at the barn and after a hard day at work it's the best place to be.

My 4-year old son loves horses and wanted to try lessons so I bought a groupon for a single lesson to try it out. At first it was difficult to schedule the lesson as the owner and I played phone tag for a couple weeks but the lesson itself was great. We arrived 10 minutes late but the instructor, Abby, welcomed us warmly. She did a great job teaching my son and explained each step and was accepting of his reserved demeanor at the beginning. It was a great experience and my son was beaming at the end, asking if we could go back the next day, even stating, "that was even more fun than I expected!"