Sandy Bottom Trail Rides

The best of the best! Nice people, beautiful trails, horses oooohhhh the gorgeous horses! This trip was an unforgettable experience. Thanks to the people of Sandy Bottom Trails for let us have this amazing day!

What a beautiful experience. Very friendly staff. I think overall the price was right. We did a 2 hour ride. Stopped half way to a mine and looked around and continued the next hour on the trail. Our kids wanted to come back the next day.

I absolutely LOVE this place. Everyone was so welcoming and my family truly enjoyed the beautiful horses and scenery. WE WILL BE BACK

We had a terrific time. Would be 6 stars if it would let me. We did the 2hour ride, which is the option that gives you the most time on horseback. We really werent interested in the mine, which is really just a cave in the woods. Kids might like it tho. We had a nice young man as a guide, who was very friendly and conscientious. The land is beautiful, we even spoke with the owner before our ride. He does own all the land, cattle, sheep, and horses. He was very nice. I asked him which horse was his favorite. He said all of them :). Our horses were great and i didnt even have to use the stairs to get on him. Those helper hands and guides are strong lol, we arent small people! We WILL come again when in nc and likely will schedule to do two rides next time. Might save a day in between to let my bottom recover. A++++++

Love Love Love Sandy Bottom Trails!
My boyfriend and I did the three hour ride. In my opinion, a little too much time was spent at the Gem Mine, but my boyfriend had a blast digging up and mining garnets and it was fun seeing the younger him come out every time he found a garnet.
We had a very nice trail guide and everyone was very friendly. The wife of the owner was an absolute delight and we enjoyed chatting with her after our trip.
We got there about 30 minutes early, we waited for a bit. And since it was just is there they took us right on out. So my boyfriend and I got our own little private ride. It was lovely.
I definitely recommend Sandy Bottom Trails. The views are amazing and it’s not your average ride, that’s for sure.

My boyfriend and I went here for a one hour ride. My boyfriend has never been horse back riding before and I am a bit more experienced. We loved this place. It had a very homie feel and looks to be family run. Everyone was very nice, great service. Kelly was our guide. She was wonderful and the trail was beautiful.

My mother and I went on a ‘girls weekend’ trip and we decided to go for a horseback ride — my mother didn’t feel comfortable getting on a horse @ age 67, she was willing to go for me, because it was what I wanted to do for my Birthday. It was ok, because they could take her for a ride in a Polaris, right behind us, if there is more than 2 people going, they will hitch up a wagon & take you out as well. This place was so BEAUTIFUL and the people were so NICE! It truely is for people of ALL AGES & they have no weight limits for riding the horses. Jack & several others came out and greeted us as soon as we arrived. The ranch is run by 4 generations of the same family & has more than 350 acres. They have around 65 horses. There are clean bathrooms, water bottles for you to purchase & a small vending machine, as well as a porta-​potty out @ the Garnet Mine. They have helmets for the children. Slim was my guide and he talked about the ranch and the history and even a little about himself. Shoney drove my mom & was so good with her. The land was so beautiful, there were cows, sheep, dogs and plenty of beautiful wild flowers to look at along the way. When we got out to the gem mine, they helped us fine garnets, took pictures of us & even let my mother take some rock back for her garden & loaded it up for her. Overall it was an AWESOME day… till my Mother accidentally locked her keys in the trunk of the car. At this point you would’ve thought the day had taken a bad turn, but it didn’t, it became part of the adventure. 5 different people including the owner (Jack), started getting on their phones to try and find us a locksmith (which was difficult to do, because we were in the middle of the country, and 45 minutes outside of Asheville). These people were so awesome! They normally dont serve lunch, but they had a large bus of kids on the trails & they had served lunch that day. They told us not to worry they’d find us a locksmith & then told us to go have some lunch, on the house. We were served BBQ sandwiches, corn on the cob, baked beans, blackberry wine cake & peach cobbler. It was a HUGE lunch & they were apologizing for running out of potato salad & coleslaw (REALLY not necessary! :)). While waiting, we found out that the meal was made by Jacqueline (the granddaughter) & her mother that day & the women take turns on who is going to cook. The ladies working in the kitchen were super sweet, served us & sat and talked with us while we waited & Jacqueline and I even swapped recipes.
Random acts of kindness come in all shapes and sizes. Meeting the folks that run Sandy Bottom Trails was one of those times. We were truely blessed that day & we’ll be back to this place, with all of our family to ride the horses and have more adventures with these WONDERFUL PEOPLE!

This place sucks. If you pay for a 2-​hour trail ride, you do a 1-​hour ride, and spend 1 hour at an old garnet mine. If you do the 3-​hour ride, you ride for the same hour, but you spend TWO HOURS at the same stupid mine. Do you pay more? Of course!
The guides are grumpy old men (I don’t mean sixty-​something, I mean NINETY-​something); they put me on an unruly mare that responded to gentle reining by throwing her head around, then told me not to «jerk her around» when she did it. I’m not an expert rider, but I’ve been riding long enough to know a few things. I had to get off my horse at a stopping point and adjust my girlfriend’s stirrups, because the morons didn’t do it before we took off, and her legs were killing her.
In summary, this place is boring and overpriced. I’ll not go back.

The BEST time of our trip! We reserved our spots for the 12:00pm, 3 hour horse ride. Our tour guide led us to the little gem mine where we dug up some cool garnet gem stones! We can’t wait to take them home and polish them up! Our guide was really friendly and helpful. My 3 year old, who is very particular, enjoyed his company :) The horses know right where to go and are well trained. My little one wanted to take our horse «Cotton» home! I definitely recommend Sandy Bottom Trail Rides… especially if you have kids :)