West Bridgford Equestrian Centre - www.nottingham-riding.co.uk
Value For Money
West Bridgford Equestrian Centre - www.nottingham-riding.co.uk
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User Reviews
Value For Money
The Worst Day Ever!!! Do Not Go Here At Any Cost !!!!!!
This Nottingham Riding School and Groupon offer that I had to walk away from today is cause for serious concern!!
There are serious health and safety implications with the school and the whole experience and the whole thing was a nightmare in which we chose to leave early at 12 mid day rather than staying till 3pm.
It was so bad I really don’t know where to start and my niece who I took it has put her off of horses for life. This was a Groupon deal and If this is the type of day out that Groupon recommend and support then I will not be interested in using or trusting Groupon in the future.
The day had no organisation, we were left waiting around for long periods of time, there were not enough horses for even a small group of children and the animals were in poor condition. The horse my 4 year old niece was put on was so big that it was only suitable for a large adult male rider, which is in complete contrast to the misleading image of the children on tiny pony’s on the advert. This deal is completely miss sold and all of the parents there today were equally horrified and disappointed but tried to put a brave face on so not to alarm the children who had been looking forward to it!
We were looked after if you can call it that, by what appeared to be work experience children who had no clue what they were doing, while the owner of the stables road off on her horse. The lad who was left in charge of around 20 children (who I felt sorry for), admitted he had no idea what he was doing or what he was meant to do with us. There was no instructions, poor fitting hats, some of which were not real ridding hats but instead old cycling helmets. The whole place was unclean with mouldy food and cans hanging around and I really am not in the mood to elaborate any further as it is a further waste of my time. As did many of the parents I drove for an hour and had petrol to pay as well as the voucher, my day out with my niece was made in to a total disaster and we had to drive back and make other arrangements for the day. I wish when I had asked for a refund through Groupon after the riding school didn’t reply to phone calls answering messages or emails for months to just book the day, that Groupon hadn’t encouraged me to still go through with the booking. They are clearly completely incompetent and there are many health and safety concerns.
I am as horrified by Groupons support and endorsement and that they are happy for more people to have to go through this as I am with this terrible place. On coming back I have read the reviews on line of all the Groupon customers that have had a terrible day and in many cases where birthdays have been completely ruined. (all of the good reviews from over a year ago are clearly false and forged)
I think that all the people who have children at Groupon should have to experience how bad it is, if they are happy to continue to subject other paying customers to it!!!
The lady that you mention as the receptionist is actually the owner. Serveral horses have been reported to the rspca and they are not BHS or ABRS registered. They have been made bankrupt more than once for not paying staff and have a list of law suites against them. The owner of the stables does not own half of those poor horses, she loans them from people who dont have the time for them or have gone to uni but dont want to sell them. Please dont be put off riding as not all places are like this one. Hope your son is ok.
i hope you shared this experience with the council who continue to give this place a licence to operate !
Myself and my son have had an equally terrible day today. This was supposed to be a nice surprise for my five my 5 year old son, who loves horses. The nightmare started back in spring when I originally booked our hack session for a day in July. The day before our session the centre called me to advise that they wouldn't be taking the horses out the following day as it was a heatwave. They advised me to call back on another date and rearrange. When I tried to call back, on numerous occasions, there was no answer. I left messages, sent emails, still no reply. Eventually, a few months down the line, I managed to finally pin someone down and arrange an alternative date. Wish I never had because today has been a complete surreal nightmare!! Arrived at the centre as arranged, to be greeted by a very unpleasant receptionist. She had no idea that we were booked in for a hack session. She tried to get me to rearrange but as I was already annoyed by the unsatisfactory customer service I decided not to. We were then 'fitted' for our helmets, which first of all consisted of me being fitted with an old bicycle helmet which wobbled far too much once they had put it on. I asked for a different one which was then far too tight, but I thought maybe safer than the other one. I was then worried about them putting a cycle helmet on my five year old son but they deemed it ok. Serious doubt in my mind at this time, but as I am not an expert horse rider I thought maybe this was acceptable. We were then took out to the yard by a lady and a young girl to get the horses for the hack. At this point alarm bells were ringing due to the complete disorganisation and attention to safety but stupidly I put my faith in those who were responsible. However, much to my stupidity, I got on the horse brought out. In the meantime my five year old son was left standing for between 5-10 minutes waiting for the woman to find an appropriate horse (I would have thought this would have been organised prior to us arriving). A horse was finally brought out for my son, at which point a young girl (who was probably no older than 12) was left to help my son onto his horse. At which point he was vey unstable as he tried to get on, and could have easily fell off. I shouted out for 'an adult to help my son onto his horse'....BIG MISTAKE.... the receptionist then proceeded to shout at me, telling me not to be rude and that if I was going to talk to her like that then I would have to leave. WOW!! I never knew that asking an adult to help your five year old son onto a horse was rude. I felt very fearful for my son's safety at this point. I was shouted at by the receptionist to get down from the horse and leave. At this point she pulled my son off his horse (he was absolutely devastated and in tears) and then came over to me telling me to get off 'her' horse. She then proceeded to push my leg out of the stirrups. I got off as my son was clearly upset and she wasn't going to show any compassion in any way. I could go on but I will be writing it all up as a formal complaint to a number of organisations. But I would just say to people DO NOT TAKE YOUR CHILD TO THIS CENTRE.....SHAMBOLIC AND IT HAS MANY MANY ISSUES WHICH NEED TO BE ADDRESSED. A refund does not even come close to the damage caused today....thank you West bridgford equestrian centre for completely ruining a precious day for me and my son.
I totally agree I had a terrible day and have contacted Groupon today and they have given me a full refund. They have had that many complaints they are investigating.
Value For Money
Groupon Pony Experiance
I purchased a Pony Experiance (4 hours) for my daughter who loves horses and the groupon deal did seem really good however although my daughter enjoyed being around the horses it was a total shambles. We got there on time and were left hanging around for the first half hour then they counted the children so they could split them into groups (16 children) They learnt about the tack (children standing there and woman pointing to bits of the tack) they took turns to groom the horse (4 at a time), mucked out the stables then stopped for lunch. They then went to the field to learn about what horses can/ can't eat and pick up poop and then the moment most children waited for....riding!!! 5/10 mins around the indoor arena is all they got due to the amount of children and apart from the 16 in my daughter group, there was another 8 children that joined them so 24 children in total. Absolute shambles. They had others turning up for an hours riding, some of these walked of as they were told they would have to wait over an hour!!!!
It does seem that they are happy to take the money and fit in as many children as possible.
The staff were very nice but there was total lack of yard mangement and the lady in charge was left running ragged trying to fit all the children in.
Value For Money
Groupon 3 Hour Hack
Purchased this for 2 people, took numerous attempts to get through to the school. When they arrived no one around to meet them, hack eventually started 15 minuets late. The girth on one horse so loose that it was dangerous when my daughter went to tighten it up there were no more holes to use, she told girl in charge who replied " oh I think that horse likes it loose". My daughter had to find and ask another girl who said that was ridiculous and changed her girth straight away. The bridle badly fitted so that bit came through the mouth. The worse was to come as the 3 hour hack lasted barely 40 minutes when they asked the girl she said "what hack are you on" when told 3 hour she simply said "horses couldn't do 3 hours" and ended the ride. The toilets were so disgusting that they were unuseable. Have emailed riding school but no response understandable as they seem to just want money and that's it. Staff pleasant enough but girl that took the hack clueless good job my daughters could ride heaven help a novice going there.
I submitted the 'GROUPON 3 HOUR HACK' on a previous post. I rang Groupon about the stables cutting short the hack by well over 2 hours 15 mins and being totally incompetent and was given a full refund within the hour. Groupon also said if they had too many complaints they would investigate and consider not accepting any more business from them. So if you had a very short 3 hour hack report it to Groupon and obtain a refund.
It also takes me numerous attempts to get through to the school as well, that's if I'm lucky at all. My lesson started half an hour late and this was my first time at the stables, It has also come to my attention that the staff lack interest and care in their customers as well as the horses, they don't check the tack of there horses which I find extremely dangerous they just plonk you in anything, they also have little knowledge.. They don't have the slightest clue what they are doing, very unprofessional stables and a waste of money. I also overheard 2 women taking to one of the staff after an advertisement on groupon said a '3 hour hack' yet they didn't receive 3 hours and a refund was not given, they tried to say that 'groupin had gotten in wrong and it was a misplace of words' if you ask me there just trying to trick people, I think it's common sense to anyone that if groupon used a 'misplace of words' then you would get them to take it off. CUSTOMERS BEWARE!!!
I can totally agree with everthing that is being mentioned here. They do seem to overbooking themselves via Groupon with not enough staff.
Value For Money
Pony Parties Beware!!!
We booked a party with these stables for my daughters 5th birthday. We arrived for the party with 6 of her friends to find the gates locked and a note to say that they were closed until the 12th aug due to a bereavement. I can be sympathetic towards a bereavement, however to not contact or get someone to contact us about this was unacceptable, futhermore their telephone was switched to an answerphone message which said it was unable to except anymore messages. I was left with 7 very upset children who I then had to make alternative arrangements for. We did manage to book a very short notice pony party at another stables but this cost us a whopping £175 for the privilege!! I am now faced with the challenge of trying to get my money back from westbridgeford, which is proving difficult.
I sincerely hope that other family's are contacted so as other children don't face the same disappointment mine did!
I saw this review after booking my daughters party (through a group on offer) for the 10th August and was obviously very concerned as no one had been in touch to let me know the school was shut. I had been trying to get in touch with the riding school for a week before hand but like above kept getting a call minder message which was full so couldn't leave a message. I also emailed them and also had group on try to get in touch all to no avail. Eventually, the day before the party I managed to get through and was told not to worry the school would be open. On the day of the party we arrived on time to be met by a young girl who said she would let them groom a pony. After an hour of this (this poor girl had been left to look after us on her own and didn't have a clue what to do with us) the children obviously started to get bored and I was worries we wouldn't have time for riding so I asked if we could have the party food which was included. Well we were left with no food while the girl went off to have her lunch, when I managed to track her down she said she didn't know where the food was! After half an hour of waiting a lady came with a tray of samdwiches she'd onviously just put together. There was no other food, just sandwiches. Luckily I had a packet of crisps in my bag which I shared between 10 children and we had the birthday cake I has made! Eventually with 15 mins left of the party staff seemed to appear and the children had a go at riding but unfortunately some guests had to go. All in all a very stressful party mainly due to the lack of staff and organisation. A 2 hour pony party with only 10 mins riding, and hour of basically stroking a horse and 45 mins waiting and eating sandwiches. I would not recommend and like I've read from another review group on should not sell offers for this place again!
Good luck with getting your money they owe me money since may so I have taken them to the small claims court
Value For Money
Fabulous Place To Ride
What a fabulous place to learn to ride. the ponies are so very well looked after and cared for, staff are friendly and courteous and the level of teaching skills are second to none. I have been riding there for nearly 3 years in group and private lessons. The private lessons are brilliant, but even in the group lessons, personal attention is given to each rider to help them continually improve. Both of my daughters are learning to ride there, one of them is quite a nervous rider and the instructors really try hard to increase her confidence in her own ability and help her to progress. It is a joy to be in an enviroment where the horses are so well treated and it shows through as they are all excellent ponies.
I have no idea how you could rate this 5 stars this is the worst riding school experience I have ever visited, it is a complete shambles. Poorly managed, no organisation and unclean.
I beg to differ, my whole time being there I can't recall any single horse/pony being watered or fed once, the quality of the horses was terrible and half of them failed to even lift their legs to walk never mind anything else, I found the staff quite rude as they seem to think that people have all day to be sitting around and waiting for them, the whole point of booking a lesson is to ride at that time not hours later! The teaching is not of a high standard at all, and when I am paying £25 a week I really do expect to be jumping actually jumps and NOT silver chairs, I was horrified it actually was disgusting and not worth the money I'm the slightest.
Value For Money
I Would Recomend This Riding School Its The Best
this one of the best riding school i have ever being to
the horses and ponys are fab and in great shape
Value For Money
Its The Best Riding School That I Have Been To
“i think that Westbridgford Equestrian Center is a...”
i think that Westbridgford Equestrian Center is a great place to be. I have been riding here for almost 5 years, and everyone is friendly and they would recognise you. The instructors here are very kind and helpful. I learnt how to canter and jump in a few months because i've never been riding before so i have no natural ability. here they let you tack up and untack, also they allow you to stay in the stables to just loosen off your horse. if you can't do it there is usually someone there that you...
Value For Money
Brilliant Place To Ride Excellent Instruction On B
Brilliant place to ride excellent instruction on beautifully cared for horse so refreshing to see happy riding school horses ! a must for riding in nottingham if you care about supporting a school that really looks after its horses and want to ride horses that arent shattered from endless lessons this is the place to go . Great fun lessons and percy rocks !
Value For Money
Having A Brilliant Time Riding At West Bridgford E
Having a brilliant time riding at West bridgford equestrian centre. All the staff are friendly and make me feel very welcome. The facilties are really good, especially the added bonus of the indoor arena. My instructor is great fun and makes the lessons really interesting. The horses & ponies are excellant.
I would reccomend the centre to all riders whther new beginners or advanced, there is something for all.
Value For Money
After Riding At The Stables A Few Times Now, Id Hi
After riding at the stables a few times now, id highly recommend westbridgford! All the staff are friendly and made me feel welcome, unlike other yards were some people did seem cold.
I was impressed with the standards the yard & stables & horses are kept in. Great example of stables!
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