Cardinal Stables and Riding Academy

"I boarded here for several years. Always a friendly, and inviting environment. Mrs.Beverly has been an amazing instructor and my horse has been well taken care of and loved."

"Absolutely the best trail riding experience around, especially for inexperienced riders. Their knowledge and safety are top notch and their attention to detail in ensuring the safety of their riders is beyond reproach. Clear trail, fun trail...safe, healthy and lovable horses...super friendly staff that make you feel like you are right at home. They also offer summer camp (Everyone talks about how their kids had the best time and learned so much). I would reccomend this business to anyone wanted an enjoyable, fun experience on horseback!"

"On Wednesday, May 4th I decided to purchase a trail ride for two, my wife and I, for Mother's Day on Sunday, May 8th at 2:00 PM, (also acquired a babysitter for my two little ones). I chose Cardinal Stables as it was very close to our farm, we just moved to the area in March and their website is super easy to use, showing available time slots for each day of the week so long as you book more than 48 hours in advance. My wife is a lifelong equestrian, I was hoping this experience could lead to a long-lasting relationship for my wife and the stable. On Saturday, May 7th at 2:00 PM I received a confirmation email for our Sunday Mother's Day ride. At 5:45 on Saturday, May 7th the owner sent this: "Hi, Levin. Thank you for your booking for a trail ride on Sunday, May 8th. Unfortunately due to all the rain and bad weather we've had the past couple of days, it's very wet on the trail. Also, it is Mother's Day and I am having a hard time finding a guide that's available tomorrow afternoon. Is it possible to reschedule your ride? Possibly next Saturday sometime?" I responded first thing the next morning, stating this ride was a Mother's Day gift for my wife and today is Mother's day, I stated if Sunday would not work I would like a refund. After not receiving a response by 11:00 AM I decided to call the stable. Beverly never brought up the weather, as it had cleared for the last 24 hours at this point. She did say, "We don't usually offer Sunday trail rides and don't have any instructors available." After asking why the times were listed Beverly threw her daughter under the bus, stating, "I don't know why my daughter put those times on the site, we need to fix that." Their website currently still has Sunday trail rides available. Instead of ponying up and leading the ride herself, Beverly decided her Mother's Day was more important than her prospective new clients and canceled the ride without taking any responsibility, truly bad business. Beverly also declared she was not sure how to execute the return through her website and it may take a few days. After eight days on Monday, May 16th, I had to call multiple times, I got in contact with Beverly, but she could not refund me through the site. Note, that she did not reach out to me about this... She did say she could mail me a check or PayPal me. I decided to pick up the check the next day on my way home from work. The real cherry on top is the registered address on google is incorrect, taking me on a 7-minute detour. Upon arriving there were no apologies for the poor business practices, just her forgetting my name again, not even taking the time to look it up through the purchase... Overall I cannot recommend this stable, there is a zero percent chance I would trust this person to put my kids first or to stable my horses."

"I can’t in good faith recommend this as a trail riding experience. I can’t speak to their knowledge as trainers but would expect they be better at that than a tourism experience. I grew up on horses through childhood. My fiancée until earlier this year had never ridden a horse. We had experiences in the Smokies that were professional, safe, and reassuring for a first time rider. We decided while in the area for the wineries we would ride again. Right from the get go the unprofessional nature was apparent. Two members of our party did not get helmets because they did not have helmets to fit. “We don’t get a lot of big guys around here.” They didn’t care but readers of this review might. Safety is paramount in this type of business but statements like, “be careful with those shoes if your horse takes off he’ll just drag you off,” probably are too blunt for members of a party who have never ridden. Is it true? Yes. Making a customer comfortable is also important. The “trail ride” is actually just riding around a field. You enter through a gate that barely opens and one non-experienced member of our party had their leg drug against the fence post as a result and got a large hematoma. One guide led our party and another in the back. The one in the back, we discovered later, was riding a horse she had never ridden. The guide and that horse did not do well together let’s say and the horse bucked and ran off on her. One guide starts screaming at the other guide, “are you safe to continue.” Again, this was billed as a leisurely trail ride. What we got was something that would scare the hell out of any first time rider. This business would do well to visit other similar outfits in the Carolinas and Tennessee. If you’re a visitor to the area this is not a good use of your time in the area."