Happy Canyon Farm - Castle Rock, Colorado

Sarah M.

I've boarded my horse here for 2 months and he has never been happier. It was so difficult to find a place in Colorado that had everything in my list and was run by people I trust, but I found it here. Indoor stalls with runs, hours of turnout daily, twice daily hay feeds, twice daily supplement feeds and blanketing all included. The facility is the only place I've found with actual pasture grass turnout that is absolutely huge. Indoor arena with amazing footing. The barn manager is a gem, she has amazing horse sense and I trusted her almost immediately due to her experience. She also lives on the property which makes me rest easier. My texts are answered promptly. She cares for the horses as if they are her own. My horse is very happy here and so am I. No barn drama (most of us are adult boarders), and any toxic horse owners I've been told will be asked to leave to keep the barn a place of peace and escape from stress and I very much appreciate that!

Lindsey L.

Very dangerous place to board your horse in my opinion. They let horses run on concrete in and out of the barn (yes a horse got injured) because it’s too much trouble to put a halter on. They don’t honor boarder requests for treatment of their horses and frankly the way they handle the horses is a lawsuit waiting to happen (I’ve watched them try to heard a group of horses into open stalls where multiple horses were in one stall and they came out with a whip to try to get them into the right stall instead of a halter).

Not only that but there is no clear person in charge and no one knows what is going on and who is responsible for what. The owner (who isn’t really the owner- it’s the owners daughter who wants to try to make some money boarding horses with a newborn and another job) and ‘barn manager’ who lives in a trailer on the property say they will do one thing then they do the opposite. They have to ‘discuss’ with each other to get the story straight to tell boarders why XYZ didn’t happen. They point the finger at each other like the left hand doesn’t know what the right is doing. Further, the ‘barn manager’ actually works at another stable so your horse will be an afterthought.

They rifle through your things. There is no set schedule on when they go out or in. They leave equipment in the riding arena and there is zero maintenance on any riding areas.

They self proclaimed don’t have any funds to buy or organize the facility to make it an actual proper boarding facility. They are month to month dependent on the boarders checks (which they cash early, so beware).

One of the few woman they do have boarding there they threaten to kick out then change their mind because she ‘gossips’.

This is all on top of my horse colicing three days after arriving (still not sure if it was because of something she ate there or what) and having to go to CSU for a week. The owner and manager were nowhere to be found. Luckily I was around enough to notice something was wrong and get my horse help- management sure didn’t notice. Then we heard different stories about the ‘manager’ being out of town then later said she was just asleep in her trailer while all this was going on.

When I told the ‘owner’ about my concerns she said she was out of town for 5 days and she would discuss it when she got back. As my concerns were for the horses safety this seemed like a very dismissive and inappropriate response for someone running a business and charging over 1k board a month.

Michael

Great facilities and super nice staff. I’ve been very happy with there pasture grazing they offer.