Tanglewood Farm and Equestrian Centre

My kids have gone to Tanglewood Camp for the past 4 years! LOVE IT!, January 23, 2013

By Robin

I have 2 girls that go to Tanglewood every year for Summer Camp for at least 2 weeks each summer 3 if we can fit it in. They always ride a lot and have never had a problem with the coaches. The showers are not in the house and never have been at least in the 4 years we have been going. I have always found the owners and staff the be friendly and helpful never had a problem with any of them. My kids always got to ride twice a day, they also did swimming, trampoline, bonfires and movie nights. So I think they have a pretty busy day. My kids are not around horses the rest of the year so do not have a lot of experience but have never had any problem with the instructors. I reccommend send your kids to this camp, every kids I have seen on Friday always seems sad to leave and my kids have made lots of friends through Tanglewood.

Beware the summer camp. Unprofessional!, May 30, 2011

By Anonymous

My daughter visited this facility for a 1 week summer camp. She is a moderately experienced rider who was not new to horses. Very disappointed. Staff seemed to leave the kids to look after themselves most of their spare time - ok for teenagers, but NOT for younger children. Limited shower facilities in the house which were hogged by the teens leaving the younger children without the ability to even shower before bedtimes - my daughter was so rank by the time we picked her up we had to drive home with the car windows down, and we were not alone with this experience. She tried numerous times to shower but was told it was too late by the time the shower came available, or there was no hot water left. Did the staff not notice that the younger children were not maintaining a level of cleanliness?

An inordinate amount of time was spent on chores and cleaning tack versus saddle time. Yes, the horsemanship experience includes work as well as fun, but it shouldn't be expected that the camp students do all the hard work while the owners sit in the house.

During the riding time the campers did receive my daughter reported that the coach grew very frustrated with some of the less experienced riders, frequently yelling at them.

The website promises all sorts of activities that simply never happened.

My daughter eats, sleeps, and breathes horses, but when asked she had NO desire to return to this summer camp this year. That alone should speak volumes to any parent out there.

Disappointment at Tanglewood!, July 5, 2010

By Susan Taylor

My husband and I had booked a family trail ride for 4 of our grandchildren, who had travelled quite a distance to share in this experience with us. Our visit was booked for 1:30 on July 5, 2010 and when we arrived at 1:15, we were greeted by barking dogs, but nobody else. Despite the fact that there was a truck and horse trailer in the driveway, there was nobody to be found! After knocking on the house door, calling into the barns and phoning from a cell phone we still had no luck in finding anyone. After approximately 1/2 an hour of waiting, we noticed 3 young people watching us from across the yard. When my husband walked towards them, they took off running and disappeared. With the way the ran off, we assumed they must have been kids from the area who weren't supposed to be there. However, after another 1/2 an hour or so (and a visit to the neighbours) we spotted the girls watching us again. When we approached them, they once again took off running! We later found them hiding on the ground behind some wooden horse jumps, refusing to acknowlege that we were even there. Finally, one of them stood up and acted surprised to see us. After some questioning, she admitted that she was in fact a summer student who works at Tanglewood and that she had been left in charge while the owners went out. We explained that we were there for a trail ride, at which point she said that the owners were not home and did not know when to expect them. We explained that we had 4 very disappointed kids who had been truly looking forward to this experience, and the girl finally said "well, do you want a trail ride then?" At this point, we were thinking that there would be no way that we would trust our 4 grandchildren with somebody so irresponsible and were also adament that we would not be giving this business any money and we informed the girls that we were going to contact their supervisor. We felt it was truly irresponsible the way they acted and then blatantly lied to us about watching us and running away from us. If this is how Tanglewood runs their business, we hope that people will think twice before booking with them and then being disappointed as we were. When I phoned from my cell phone (while standing in their driveway at the beginning of all this), I said that we assumed they had had an emergency and asked that they please call me to explain why there was nobody there for our trail ride that we had booked. Upon arriving home later, there was no phone call or message. I even tried to phone them, but still could not reach anyone. This was a very diappointing day for all of us and is a very unprofessional way for them to be conducting business!

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