Advantage Horsemanship Equestrian Center, Union Bridge

When I originally scheduled the trail ride, I stated that I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to make it to the Equestrian Center by 4 (I had not originally wanted that date at all but the woman on the phone worked very hard to try and find a date that would work). The woman I spoke with stated that 4:30 would work also. I said that I should be able to make it, but my children did not get out of school until 2:45 and I would have to get the younger ones to a babysitter before making it to the appointment. Never was I told that if we were 15 minutes late we would forfeit out appointment, in fact I made it clear that we might have to be late. I was able to arrange for a babysitter to meet me at the school parking lot so my older daughter and I were able to leave the school directly at 2:45, however traffic was very heavy on 695 and it was between 4:15 and 4:20 when we actually showed up. No one was there. We walked around the office and stable, called out, and I went back to my car to leave a message. No one answered the phone but while I was leaving a message, a young man rode up on a horse from across the field -- at this point we had been at the stable for well over five minutes. He stated that because we were more than 15 minutes late we would need to forfeit our appointment. In addition, he stated that he had called several times to find out where we were and tell us of this policy, I showed him my cell phone where it showed the only call to or from the Equatrian Center was the one I had made at 4:23 looking for a staff member. Nor was there a message on my phone. I knew there were no other appointments available because the center is moving later in the month, so rescheduling was not an option. I told the gentleman that this was my daughter 13th birthday, we had just driven an hour an half to be here and could he just make our ride shorter. He proceeded to tell me that there is no way to make the ride shorter and that there were other appointments scheduled for that night so there was no way to take us out. At this point, I am VERY upset and ask to talk to someone else (he tells me he is the ONLY one I can talk to). I then point at that it is just now 4:30 and I certainly have at LEAST another half an hour that I have paid for. He tells me that he can squeeze in a thirty minute lesson for my daughter and I, and tells me this is worth more than our trail ride anyway. My daughter and I then spend the next thirty or forty minutes riding a horse in circles around a barn. He did give my daughter pointers on her riding but it certainly was not the hour trail ride I had originally purchased. The only reason I agreed to the "lesson" was because it was my daughters birthday and she had been so excited for her birthday treat. We were both very disappointed by the experience. And I feel like he lied to me about several issues. When we left at 5:15, there were no other customers waiting. He he had just taken us out for our hour trail ride when we got there, instead of arguing with me for at least ten minutes about not being able to help us, we would have left the center at the same time and I would have been a satisfied customer and my daughter would have had a much happier birthday.

Based upon their website, the experience fell well below that expectation.

Friendly guide. The Center sits at the end of a long driveway next to/behind the high school. The sign does NOT say Advantage Horsemanship Equestrian Center so you may not want to enter, but you will find it at the end of the driveway.

Located behind a school - just follow the dirt road and you'll see the farm/stables. Tyler did an awesome job.