Sun City Stables

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I went riding this past Monday with my own children and elderly parents. We did the 2 hours and 1 for free. The staff was great help from the time we arrived at the stables. We were on our horses swiftly and were off to the trails. All 7 of us had a wonderful time and the ride itself was extremely relaxing and peaceful. There were a couple spots in the trails we were told we could run if we wanted ( Of course we ran...i have 4 children eager and ready)!! I myself didnt want to go too fast nor my parents so we directed our horse as told to do so and they picked up the pace as much as we let them, on the other hand my kids were “Gone with the Wind”
Afterwards we stopped by the petting zoo and it was enjoyable for everyone as there is shaded areas with benches for the adults and open area to browse and chase the animals haha.
Great place i would certainly recommend and there prices are very reasonable. We will be going back shortly!

Sun City Stables was amazing! I made an appointment and rode the same day! It was really beautiful with lots of trails. We had the option of getting a guide, super helpful. I was able to run a smooth gated horse, the best in the world as they say! All the horses were so well trained, sweet, and great with kids. After having a blast out on the
trails we came back for the petting zoo! The kids couldnt belive that there was a real live ostrich! They had so many other animals. I was impressed on how well everything was taken care of, especially the fat pig! After shopping around the Tampa Bay area, this was by far the best choice! Everything from very professional/friendly staff to to the beautiful scenery and fantastic animals. We had such an enjoyable time. I highly recommend you pack up the family and head on over. You wont be disappointed!

Typically not one for leaving reviews, I feel compelled, after numerous trips to Sun City Stables over the last 5 years (my most recent being yesterday), to leave a review detailing my experience to hopefully combat some of the blatantly false or unusual experiences accounted thus far.

I am an intermediate rider from Orlando, FL with a few years of English Eventing and many years of both English and Western leisure experience. Living in the city, it's not very often that I get to go out and enjoy a ride, but when I do, I always choose Sun City Stables. Over the years, I've ridden here and brought new riders, and we have never once encountered an issue. I've ridden at your run of the mill follow-the-leader style group trail rides, and they get boring quickly. Sun City is a mere fraction of the cost, and an experience unlike anything else in Florida. Getting the option to go guided or unguided, choosing between English or Western tack, gaited horses, a petting zoo with rescued animals, horses for lease or sale, adventure rides, swimming with horses... Sun City will surpass all of your expectations. They cater to your exact needs and wants as a visitor, and make sure you leave wanting to come back.

I tend to enjoy horses with a little giddy up, whereas my guests usually want a beginner horse. Sun City has always accommodated my groups needs, perfectly matching each horse to rider, and happily making switches as needed. Their guides, namely Blair and Brian, are incredible, and will even come out together to allow different members of the group to ride with them at different paces. They are a pleasure to be around, friendly, knowledgeable and so much fun.

I can't say enough good things about Sun City, and am already anxiously awaiting my first time on their Adventure Rides at the state parks and beaches! I would not want to spend my money elsewhere.

Hi, my name is JoAnna.

Thank you for sharing your review on sun city stables. It has been greatly appreciated.
However, there has been a lot going on behind the scenes with this place. I, out if several past employees have been trying to gain a law suit against the owner. We have failed in attempt.
He is in a dangerous cult and hires young girls to sit in his van and talk about God and uses this as a way to talk "dirty" and touch these girls sexually.
When he "hires" people most of them do NOT get paid or he docs them so they are paid a lot less than they've earned without them knowing. He has damaged a lot of girl's lives emotionally. The horses do not get the proper care or treatment they need.

We are putting together our next protest for October 1st through the 2nd of 2016. More information is available. Please share with family and friends so we can expose the owner and shut this place down!

Took my husband for his birthday to Sun city stables today and we had such a great time that we're going again tomorrow. Brian and Blair were so helpful and I love that it's an actual horse farms and when your waiting for them to get your horses ready you can enjoy the petting zoo. Been to may horse ranches and this one is by far our favorite.

This stables horse's are for experience riders only. Owners are out to get money. I felt that the animals were cared for with food and health but not trained for the safety of a beginner rider. The trails are very tight space not enjoyable environment. We lucked out with staff the young man was kind but not very experienced with horses. He walked horses down trails. As we was leaving we did see a lady get thrown off a horse that took off running. I rode diamond and had no problem but I had control of her from little experience with riding but I could see a beginner rider having trouble. Overall not recommended for beginners or kids. Over priced for trails. Spend more money and go to better establishment don't be cheap like I was.

I had a great time with the family. It was easy to call and schedule. The man on the phone was very polite and gave us all the information we needed. we did the ride for 2 hours get an hour free special because we were suggested that only an hour is too short to ride, which was true. We had an amazing 3 hours and enjoyed every minuet of it. Haley was our guide and she was very sweet and helpful, I liked that we had the option to go with out a guide but i haven't ridden in a while so it was nice to have one. We got to meet our horses right away and they were very gentle with us and seemed genuinely happy. The trails were well kept and very beautiful. There are a few different trails you can take through the woods and plenty to see because there is also a very cool petting zoo with some interesting animals! over all it was a great experience and very reasonably priced.

I went horse riding here a few times during my vacation. I had a wonderful time. The horses were treated with a lot of love. The people there knew every horse personally, could tell us about it's personality etc....You could tell that the horses were happy and well fed. They were not overworked. They were given time to rest and drink. And if a horse wasn't feeling 100% that day it was given a day off. The guide was very helpful. The guides (Jeremy and a few others) were good with the horses! You could tell they had a lot of experience with horses. And it"s true the horses sometimes like to eat grass/leaves along the way. Which horse doesn't enjoy some fresh green leaves once in a while?! But they stop when you tell them to. I rode on a couple of different horses there. My little boy was given a big gentle horse (Apache) with buddy stirrups. He loved it. The horses have a place to shelter when it rains. Their stalls are clean.

Yes, it frequently rains in the afternoon during the summer in Florida. And there tend to be a few more mosquitoes this time of the year. You need to take that into consideration when you plan to go horse riding. Take along bug spray. Spray it all over yourself and you'll be fine. I'm sure there are stables that are fancier, but if you are looking for a good, fun place to ride for your dollar then treat yourself to Sun City stables. My family and I had a wonderful time here and we'll definitely go again when we come back to Florida next year!

Great experience. Will highly recommend to friends and family. Plan to return frequently.
Garth

To begin I started off my day at the stables by arriving with a group of 8 close buddies of mine craving the experience of riding a horse for the first time. From the moment we arrived and had gathered all our necessities out of the car within moments we were greeted by a very friendly woman and the cutest little puppy ever! She asked us how our day was going and what brought us to the stables( highly outgoing) then we proceeded to the office and paid for our ride and within a few moments of wrapping that up we were on our way to meet our horses for the day!! almost all 8 of our horses were saddled by the time we got to them and in just a couple more minutes we were on our way to the gate to mount up and enjoy the ride. we got on our horses 1 by 1 and were on our way.. My group was riding for 3 hours and guided for only the first hour so we could get the hang of things and be properly instructed on what to do once the guide left. Our guider was so kind spirited and funny as well as informative, also sharing some funny stories about each horse along the way.. we decided to have the guide stay out a little longer because we were all surely enjoying her company very much and felt like we actually knew the horses a little bit by the time she departed. the trails out there were so peaceful and calming and it really allows you to enjoy nature as well as new experiences with peers. one thing I really enjoyed about the trails is that the nature out there is extremely diverse so one moment your in a nice sandy field where you can pick up the pace /trot/run your horses if your feeling comfortable enough to do so, then you head to nice shady green areas where you can relax and go slower enjoy the weather and talk amongst friends.

Oohhh and of course I wont forget to mention what a variety of wildlife you will see out there on the trails)..to mention a few I have personally seen, deer, giant tortoises, raccoon s, bald eagles, giant owls, baby armadillos, wild hogs etc....NOW I KNOW some of this may sound a bit startling at first, however none of the animals came too close for comfort and the wild hogs most definitely keep their distance, as they are afraid of the horses ( you will not be mauled I promise!) but I don't want to fail to mention all this because as I said initially u might b wary if u have small children but I myself have been out several times even with my sisters (ages 4 and 7) and they cant stop talking about how cool all the animals were and how fat the hogs were HAHA.. after we got back from our ride we ate lunch on a picnic table right near the petting zoo they offer to riders for free..Boy when I made my reservation and was told there was an EXTENSIVE petting zoo I was expecting maybe 15 animals..man was I wrong! my friends and I thought our fun with horses was over until after lunch we walked inside the petting zoo and were approached by so many cute & friendly animals...I even pet Ozzy the ostrich(little scary at first because of the birds size...totally harmless and adorable, he also gave us a show by dancing...which we later found out its a mating dance, too funny! All and all everything was amazing and the group I went with cannot wait to go back..the employees were so helpful and all of our horses besides being gorgeous and very well groomed, were wonderfully behaved and rode well for us! we cannot wait to go back again!

P.S. this is a great place for family/friend/group photos and all of the staff helped us with getting all of the pictures we wanted and more.

I visited sun city stables the other day, where I was approached by a lady with a good morning welcome to sun city stables. As we continued to the office area we were asked our experience level, and wether we needed a guide ( in which we choose not to have.) We were informed about the water on the trails due to recent rains, but I had no issue with that! We were offered big repellent due to the increase in water so are the bugs. We are novice riders and were a little nervous but was reassured that we would get adequate instructions upon mounting. This lady told us every thing that was going to happen as far as pulling out our horses and where we were going to mount, I watched and questioned as they sprayed down all horses with bug repellent as well... She handed us our horses and gave us a quick low down on what kind of horse and some little personality quirks I thought was cute. Long story short, we take our horses to a block and get on in where they gave us a quick lesson in basic riding how to sit, rein, stop ect... Then this lady proceeded to walk us a distance out to then explain the trail to us. Very easy instructions... I would recommend this place and also would visit again! The trails were wet but brought me back in time to fl natural environment ... Will do it again soon.

i had a vary fun time at sun city stables. the horse are nice. i was talking to some of worker their and they said that the bug were vary bad bc of all the rain that has been hitting. i put on some bug spray and i was fine.i have rode be for but not in a log time and i took a guide i had a vary fun time with the guide he was vary nice. i asked him if he know why their are so many bad review he said bc people that have said that they know how to ride so they put them on a harder horse then some of the other horse some they can use the for kids and other riders that don't no how to ride and we find out that they have not rode in a long time then they get mad at us. then i asked him if they are in their pens 24/7 he said no and that they are out when they are not open and that mad me happy. i also said that the best way to keep safe and have a good ride is take a guide.my guide name was josh he is vary good at what he does and like what he does.

I am a highly experienced rider, I lived on a horse ranch my whole life. I moved to Tampa FL because I am in the military. I wanted a place to ride with my mom who came down to visit. Sun City Stables is the worst place I have ever been to and would never recommend this place to anyone! I paid more for two gaited horses (paso finos). The lady on the phone told me that all the gaited horses she had were all paso finos. When we got there, I knew the horse that my mom was riding was not a paso fino, we later found out that it was a Missouri Fox Trotter. The Australian man who was walking us to the point where the trails started told us he was scared of horses and had never even been on one before. Once we got on the trail, it was fine for the first five minutes and then my horse started bucking and rearing. I walked the horse back and they gave me a non gaited horse and even that horse was not well behaved and didn't want to listen to what I was trying to make him do. We felt like we were trying to train these horses more than having an enjoyable ride. We paid for two hours but we only rode for about 30 minutes. I walked more than I rode. When we went back I demanded that they give me the extra $20.00 back for what I paid for the first horse and they refused to refund me the money. We also saw a very inexperienced rider approximately 10 years old on a guided tour and the horse in front of hers bucked and kicked that one in the face and the little girls horse started to freak out and she didnt know how to get the horse under control and all the guide did was tell him to stop like he would another person. Overall, this place was a scam!!!!! These horses were not well trained what so ever, and I have never had someone who had never rode a horse talk to me like I was a beginner rider. Customer service is non existent with this business! Save yourself the time and the trip and go somewhere else!!! Stay away from Clyde and Starbuck.

If you enjoy a rude staff, being thrown off of your horse, being nipped at by your horse and it not obeying you or being broken and then being given zero compassion or help back to your car or the urgent care - this is the place for you. If you'd like to see my injuries from my hellish experience here, please send me a message. Don't waste your time here. $450 dr. bill for a hurt arm, leg, elbow, crushed nerves, knee and neck all because an employee ran his horse up on mine causing mine to panic and it bucked me off. Also, was given NO refund or consolation whatsoever and no help even standing up. TERRRIBLE TERRRRIBLE TERRRIBLE

WORST riding experience EVER!!!! Got there on time for an "all day" ride. Had to wait over an hour before the horses were even ready. The "office" staff was rude and unfriendly. No one even asked if they could help us or why we were there when we arrived. Felt uncomfortable riding without a guide. Website does not accurately describe the place. The ostrich in the petting zoo the owner made a big deal about petting over the phone, was in a pen with a DANGER - STAY BACK 5 FEET sign on it!! The "all day" riding was a waste of money, paid $80 per person for 6 hours, the whole trail ride took 15 minutes to go through. The weather was lousy, down pouring rain. Knew there were not refunds, but asked if a rain check would be possible, was rudely told "we don't do that". You would think that after handing over $320 (CASH ONLY TAKEN) and riding for no more than 30 minutes, they would be a LITTLE accommodating, guess NOT!!!!

Run from this place. The good reviews on here must be from the owner. The place is a dump and the horses are not trained. I knew I was in trouble when they didn't have the reservation, we stupidly paid for 2hours, you get the third free. It took almost an hour for the staff to saddle the horses and walk us to the trail where you can ride unguided. This was after swapping out a horse who was bucking and only wanted to go back to the stable. As soon as the guide walked away from the trail, my horse refused to do anything but go back to the stable as well. I got thrown and luckily came out with just a few bruises. These horses are clearly not treated well, trained well and the staff does not care. When they tell you, you don't get your money back no matter what, it's a good sign you're in for a miserable experience. Miserable doesn't begin to describe it. Based on other guests we saw there having a similar experience, this place should not be in business. Stay away from horses named Blaze and Clyde. We tried a third hose named Starbuck who also only wanted to be in his stable. $120, no ride and no refund. Run!

Okay let's be honest here. Sun City Stables is owned by good Christian people and they have the very best prices. They can't be beat. I've read some of the reviews in regards to their horse care. Their horses are well fed and well taken care of. Anyone who says any different is distorting the truth. I rode at this stable weekly for about 2 years. I am an avid rider so I have ridden at a few stables in my day. This is by far one of the BEST. The trails are very good. Like any trail ride the rain makes it less enjoyable. Horses are incredibly intelligent and sensitive to the rider so if a rider complains about their ride they probably do not have enough experience to handle a particular horse. If you know your "horse stuff" then you will enjoy this stable. If you are not experienced then ask for a guide (they are very inexpensive). Experienced rider or not you will enjoy your experience at this stable. My ONLY complaint would be in the area of refunds. In 99% of cases the rider is at fault so a refund would not be due, but their are a few occasions where the horse or other circumstances would warrant a refund or a partial refund. Stable grade from me? A-

I have been to this stable a few times, but I will never go back. This place looks like the film location of the show Sanford and Son. This is a REAL junkyard with many old trailers all over the place. The main office is a tiny dumpy trailer. You NEVER, EVER get a refund here. If you have a bad ride, take a fall etc. well too bad. They keep your money no matter what the situation is. They have a couple of horses that are dangerous. You cannot control them. Beware of the horse named "Diamond" I ran into a fellow who rode there and he told me that they were going to let him ride an unbroke horse! He was a regular rider and they had some disagreement so this was the stable managers daughter's answer to the problem. How dangerous! If you reserve a horse way ahead of time there is no guarantee that you will get to ride it when you get there, because if a better "DEAL" comes along for them they will rent your horse out to a group of people so they can make more money. Stay away from this stable!!