13th Birthday

I took my daughter to Zion for her 13th birthday and she wanted to go horseback riding. I was only familiar with another company offering slow trail rides, which was fine when my kids were much younger, but we wanted something more adventurous. After researching our options called Jacob’s Ranch and spoke with Jackson, who described in detail what we could expect from our all day adventure. He explained that we would spend time getting to know the horses, work with them in a ring so we would learn verbal and physical commands, and ultimately go for a real horseback ride including the opportunity to run and gallop, go up and down steep hills and explore the beautiful Zion country.

Since my daughter and I have virtually no horse riding experience, I asked if this seemed like the right fit for us. Jackson accurately said that this was the best possible experience, since we would learn how to ride, learn how to communicate with the horses, and ride at whatever level we wished, limited only by our confidence and sense of adventure. Our experience was exactly as Jackson promised.

Our wranglers were Sheryl, Jered and Tyler and they were able to give each of us individual attention when we needed it. Trotting and running were thrilling and even scary at times, but good scary. I appreciated that they broke us into groups sometimes so those that wanted to gallop could go as fast as they wanted and those who wanted to go slower (like us) could enjoy the ride at the speed we felt comfortable. We spent all day at the ranch and had a fantastic time. We plan to return on our next trip to Zion with the rest of the family.

Jo B. – 04-09-2012