White Stallion Ranch - Arizona

White Stallion Ranch

5 star rating   3 September 2024

Pen who has been on 2 In The Saddle rides. Super trip! | All trail rides were nose-to-tail in order of fastest horse first (behind the wrangler/guide) and slowest horse at the back. This meant you couldn't necessarily ride with your companion/partner. Very little chatting on the rides, and the wrangler/guides varied as to how chatty they were. There was no trotting/jogging, only walk and canter/lope. You could choose from 4 rides a day, either fast rides (3 or 4 canters) or slow rides (walk only) and sometimes cattle sorting and cattle penning (super fun!). Although the routes were different each day, the scenery was exactly the same each day, beautiful desert, just not very varied. A couple of routes were really rocky, steep and treacherous (really exciting!), but the horses were totally unfazed. The horses were pre-programmed to follow the one in front, and they were bombproof, so ideal for nervous/novice riders.


The Riding

How well were you matched with the right horse for your ability?
5 star rating
How would you rate the variety of riding, pace or terrain?
4 star rating
How would you rate the overall standard of the horses, tack and stables?
3 star rating

The Accommodation

How would you rate your room(s) for comfort and facilities?
5 star rating
How would you rate the standard of the food?
5 star rating

Do you have any comments about the accommodation and food?

Apart from a strong smell of urine (suspect just the drains?) in our room on day 1, the accommodation was perfectly appointed (queen double room) and very clean. Lots of hooks, very comfy bed, table and chairs, and very quiet. Toiletries, towels, hanging space, fridge and safe all provided. Much needed air con too! Wifi in rooms was good. Didn't miss a TV at all.
Food was varied and plentiful, and mostly buffet style. We are 99% vegan diet, and the staff/chefs went out of their way to cater for us, and it was delicious. If you are a super-strict vegan, you may struggle on the Breakfast Ride where the options were much more limited.
All the staff were super polite and friendly.


Before Your Holiday

Did you have all of the information you needed to:

Plan and prepare for your holiday?
4 star rating
Feel comfortable about your transfers and what to expect?
4 star rating

How could we improve the quality of pre-holiday information that we send?

We did a TON of research on White Stallion Ranch after finding it on In The Saddle's website. There are loads of reviews/comments on the WS ranch FB page and loads of YouTube video reviews of the ranch. We learnt almost everything we needed from this wider research. In The Saddle was perfect for the introductory info, but there was more to be found online!


How could we improve the way we handled your booking and payment?

No improvement possible, everything was perfect!


Do you have any other feedback for us?

Some of the activities advertised are no longer available: hay rides, sunset rides, hiking. We were keen to do EVERYTHING possible at the ranch in terms of activities, but many of the activities are scheduled at the same time as the horse riding, so you have to forfeit one to do the other. We were happy we had 8 days there so as to do everything offered on the 7 day programme.
The gift shop on the ranch was great! Wrangler jeans, bandanas and western shirts aplenty!
On the non-riding day, we fancied a couple of hours off-ranch, but it was prohibitively expensive to get a taxi anywhere. However the ranch kindly taxi-ed us to/fro a local outlet shopping mall 7 miles away at no charge.
The evening entertainment on the ranch every night was really good, although poorly attended on our week (guest numbers very low in August due to the heat - best time to go we reckon!).
Standard of horse-care slightly questionable. Tack was old and dirty, horses not brushed, feet not picked, some horses not shod, a few horses a bit on the thin side, a few long hooves to be seen. That said, they were all sound, and none of the horses being ridden showed behavioral or physical signs of discomfort (although a couple did trip and end up on their knees - with no harm to either horse or rider). You were not allowed to get involved in any brushing, feeding, tacking up, etc.