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Academy Riding Stables
5 reviews for Academy Riding Stables
5 reviews in English
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Review from Michelle G.
Lisle, IL
5/16/2011
Horseback really is the way to see Garden of the Gods, and these folks seem to know it best. It was a bit windy but otherwise a beautiful ride. Beautiful horses, knowledgeable and friendly guide.
Note that if you indicate that you're an occasional rider, you will be expected to know how to handle the horse. (Seems like a common sense expectation, but you never known anymore....) -
Review from Michael S.
Marina del Rey, CA
7/4/2010 6 photos
My wife has been eager to go horseback riding for sometime. When we were planning our trip to Colorado Springs, CO this place stood out for two reasons: You actually ride through the Garden of the Gods and the weight limit is 250lbs instead of 225 (sigh... I'm still overweight... hence all the yelp restaurant reviews... ).
Anyways, there are two options at ASR: one-hour tours @ $40 / person or two-hour tours @ $60 / person. We choose the two hour tour. Plan to arrive 45 minutes early to get the paperwork done and get a horse assigned to you. Basically, there are three levels of riders: beginner, intermediate/occasional, and experienced/advanced. We both went the beginner route.
My horse was Dee Dee and my wife got Maverick. All the horses here are very comfortable with new riders and have probably memorized the entire trail by this point. It's a walking tour and one rule stressed is staying in a single-file line. The horses are totally used to this and just follow the horse in front of them. Which actually is ok for beginner riders like us.
In the Garden of the Gods, you cover about 6 1/2 miles of trail seeing some of the beauty of the park as well as the surrounding mountain landscape. The ride starts off very easy, but it does get to a couple hills, so, everyone gets some excitement of going up or down a rocky hill.
Be prepared to get covered in Garden of the Gods dust (is that Dust of the Gods?) because when it is dry like today you will get dirty. Also, if you want water or a camera, be prepared to wear it around your neck or loose pants with pockets because once riders get on their horse there is no stopping or dismounting until returning to the stables.
Depending on the size of your tour group, there are 2 or more guides. One to lead the horses and others to follow and make sure everyone is ok. Both our guides were outstanding. They deserved a tip.
There is a photo taken by an employee once getting into the Garden of the Gods as riders go past a rock formation. Since it is hard to take a lot of photos of yourself riding your horse, we opted to buy them @ $9.95 each. Otherwise, we were free to take as many pictures as wanted of the park...so we did.
Overall, we had a great time, got to see some amazing scenery, and did it all from a top a horse on a tour led by friendly guides. 4 stars. -
Review from Bryan H.
Owens Cross Roads, AL
7/25/2011 1 Check-in Here
The views that you get are spectacular. My wife and I just didn't have great horses. My wife's was slow going at its own pace never catching up when prompted. I had a good horse but the one behind us was a lead horse always pushing mine and biting mine making it upset. It was a great scenery experience, but not a great horse experience.
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Review from Princess Kim R.
San Diego, CA
2/3/2009
I booked a trail ride at Academy Riding Stables while visiting my in-laws in Colorado Springs. Every so often, I get a crazy urge to commune with nature, and I figured that riding a horse across the plains of Colorado would be a great way to satisfy my desire to be one with nature. When booking my trail ride, I specifically requested a black horse if it was available. I have a thing for black animals; I just feel more of a connection with them. I have a black dog, black cat, and a black fish (plus two other dogs of the non-black variety), so it made sense that I would want to ride a black horse.
I arrived on the day of my trail ride with my daughter in tow. I signed the necessary papers (I think I pretty much signed my life away and released Academy Riding Stables of any liability), and my daughter and I were given helmets.
My daughter had a wonderful time on her horse, Doc. They rode around in an arena, with Doc being led by a handler, for fifteen minutes or a half hour (can't remember). I can't imagine that it was very exciting for the handler, but he was very polite and made sure that my daughter had fun.
Now, on the phone, I had been told that I would ride Chick, the black horse. My ride was scheduled for 9:30 a.m., and there was one group ahead of mine. You can imagine my horror when they paired up riders and horses for the 9:00 a.m. group, and some fat lady waddled up after her name was called, and she was told that she would be riding Chick. I wanted to tell the staff that there had been some mistake, but I didn't think that anyone would understand my affinity for black animals.
I ended up riding Cash, a handsome brown horse. He was a good and trusty horse. I did enjoy the ride.
We rode in a slow, single file line through Garden of the Gods. Now, when you imagine a trail ride, you probably don't think that you'll be going through the peaks of Garden of the Gods, or experiencing your horse descending distances of four feet at a time, but it does happen! That's all really cool, but it wasn't what I was expecting.
As a child, I went on a GREAT trail ride in Colorado, I believe in or near Vail. The horses could ride in general clusters, rather than a single file line (I was PRAYING that the horse in front of us didn't get cranky and kick my horse in the face). Also, if you were an experienced rider (I used to own a horse), you could gallop your horse across the plains. Well, there were no plains to be had on the ride at Academy Riding Stables, nor could the horses be in any formation except a single file line. This was to be taken, of course, all at a walking pace. Sigh.
Upon my return, I dismounted, and my horse was immediately led back to the stables. I'm sure that Cash had been somewhat worked out and tired from his adventure, but anytime I deal with a horse, especially one that's done a great job, I like to thank the horse. A few pats on the neck would have been great. Getting to give Cash an apple or carrot would have been even better. Instead, our horses were just led away. It felt so impersonal and definitely detracted from the experience.
If a slow-poke trail ride with some nice scenery works for you, go ahead and book a ride with Academy Riding Stables. If you want to feel wild and free atop a horse, try to find that place where I had the great ride (I still haven't found it), so that you can experience the joy of an exciting ride across the plains. -
Review from Barbara s.
Denver, CO
8/2/2009 2 photos
This was a great beginner ride for my 10 year old daughter, who was paired with Boots. I marked myself an occasional rider as I was a
4-Her who rode, showed, and judged horses (not harshly.) They rewarded my honesty with a perky ride named Daisy, who laid her ears back constantly when the rider behind me came near.
I hadn't seen Garden of the Gods for over 10 years and was anxious to show my daughter. This is the way to see kissing camels, Siamese twins, the shipwreck, and rattlesnake formations! We had 12 in our group with one wrangler in front and one in back. Yeah, we didn't go too fast, but the terrain was more rocky than I would have wanted to see even a trot on.
We both wore helmets and signed a long agreement. For the two of us, it's was $120. Unsure if my daughter was less, but it's not something we can afford to do very often, but was definitely a wonderful treat.
