MAW Performance Horses

BEWARE!!! of Melissa Weiser.666
She has nearly killed my horse! The vet gave him 6 months to live because he was mysteriously poisoned while under Melissa Weiser’s care. It was obvious that he had lost hundreds of pounds. I removed him from the ranch after only about 1.5 months (that was the soonest i could get him out of that ranch bc Melissa was holding him and another one of my horses hostage). I took him to another ranch down the street as soon as I could. Because he lost hundreds of pounds I called the local vet. The vet tested his blood and came back to give me the bad news. My horse had undergone a mass poisoning within the less than 2-​month period that my horse was being boarded at a ranch in Shadow Hills that Melissa was renting to us and that the poisoning was so severe that he had never encountered such a strong & dire dose. The vet stated that my horse should have died bc it was enough poison to instantly kill most horses. There is no cure or treatment:(. I also found out later from the vet that there were other horses that either became deathly ill or died under Melissa’s care at this same ranch and at ranches she was formerly operating from. The vet knew her previous history. Melissa was on the verge of eviction from the ranch at the time she rented the stalls to us and had no permission from the landlord to rent stalls to the public. Melissa was only allowed to keep horses on the property if they were part of Melissa’s horse training program but that business MAW turned-​out unfortunately to be a fraud and she has no legal business entity existing according to the city, county and state. She is totally a fraud using an illegal business name on her contracts and has no bank account to accept money for services or rent of boarders. She claims that she received a bad check but that’s because it was written to her company and she could not cash it because the company didn’t exist and she has such bad credit that no bank will allow her to open a checking account let alone a business checking account. I became aware of all this plus she is a neurotic control freak who does Nickle & Dime you for everything including charging me $ 50.00 per hour while my horse was getting shoe’d. She begged me to use her Farrier even though he was super expensive. i also later found out that it was so pricey because she was getting a cut$. The farrier was so slow literally taking more than 6 hours to shoe 2 horses. I had to go to work. That is why she charged me $ 50.00 per hour to stay at the ranch until her Farrier was done. Right after I left within a month Melissa Weiser was officially evicted and forced to move-​out. I had paid for 30 day security deposit on both horses. After 2 weeks of stay there my husband I decided that it was best to give our notice and move our horses immediately. We didn’t mind her keeping the deposit all we wanted was to move out for the well being of our horses but she refused to let us go. She said she needed 60 day notice according to her bogus agreement and notice had to be given on the 1^st but the first had already passed so we were looking at nearly 3 months notice. That was unacceptable and my horse was in terrible shape! She put locks on my horses stalls and locked us out of the ranch. We had to call the police. We showed them the docs that we had only been there for 2 weeks and she had a 30 day security deposit and they forced her to unlock the horses and we literally walked them down the street to the nearest boarding facility. This was and continues to be the worst nightmare i have ever been through. Meanwhile my one poor horse who is only 8 years old is dying and paying the price…

BEWARE! When I first talked with her she was so nice and so flexible, I told her my horse needed orchard hay she said no problem I could pay her an extra $ 80.00 and she would buy it and feed it or I could get it and she would feed It. I told her I was on a tight budget and I could not afford extra services. Before I moved In Melissa told me shaving were not ok in the outside stalls where I had my horse, but I could use rice hauls she showed me the rice hauls in the stalls and it seemed to be pretty good. She told me over and over agin how laid back her barn Is and so I agreed and moved in. I payed first and last (she makes you pay a deposit) and the extra money for orchard hay on the first. The first day I moved in she was all over me micro managing everything I did, witch I thought was odd because I was under the impression everything was laid back. Melissa told me that the owners of the ranch are real jerks and crazy Italian english rinding people I thought was rude because I am Italian and I ride english and western. About a week after I moved In rice hauls were no where to be seen I could find them any were for sale. My horses is Jake. Jakes stall started to get wet and sloppy from pee. I asked her if i could use pelleted bedding because my stall was getting bad, she said I could. I bought them and put them in the stall, the next day she said I could only use one bag at a time because her horse that was next to me was eating them. After less then 2 weeks my stall was horrible I could not believe It I asked her what els I could use, that was ok to fix my stall she told me I could use some of the dam sand she had piled on her property. I would never put sand in my stall but I was desperate so I put some in the back of his stall where the pee was collecting. My stall just got worse, I asked her why she then told me it was volleyball sand I almost fell overt. I thought It was from the dam thats next to the ranch, I started stripping the stall right away. When I got to the bottom and the thin top layer of dirt was gone I realized the whole stall was volleyball sand. That explained why the stall was always wet I asked her If I could put DG and she said no so my horse was stuck on pure wet sand at the same time while all this was going on I notices my horse was loosing a lot of weight I told her and she said she was feeding the right amount, if my horse needs more food I would have to pay extra so I paid her extra. After a little over 2 weeks Jake had lost so much weight I went and bought supplements witch she charged me to feed. At that point I was beside myself and I had to spend money I did not have. At 3 weeks with extra feed and supplements Jake had lost about half his body weight. When I brought It up she got really short with me so I told her I would rather bring in my own food. She told me I could not even though she said I could when I moved In. My horse was eating so much sand trying to get every tidbit he could because he was so hungry, staving. I asked her if he could be feed in the barn off the sand because I was really worried about his sand consumption, she told me very coldly It was not her problem. I ran into a friend that has a horse close to her ranch and he told me the horse that was in that stall before mine died of sand colic. I went back to the ranch and asked her about what my friend had told me. She said she told me that before I moved in, that was a lie she did not tell me that. At the end of the month my horse had lost so much weight I did not recognize him. I told her my horse was in danger and I was going to move him on the first and she needed to give me my deposit back. She said no and told me my horse is not her problem. I demanded to talk to the owners of the ranch and she said this is none of there business and would not give me there number. When I came to pick him up he had a big burn like wound on his face I asked her about it, she said it was not there that morning. Im not saying she inflicted the wound for sure just pointing out she did not even notice it, yet she claims she dose not miss a thing and told me that day she checked him in the morning and the wound was not there. Ill post a pic and you decide if that is a new wound. I told her I was going to wright a review and she said if I did she would slap me and slap me with a lawsuit. She is cheep, nickel and dimes you and she’s a complete liar. I think she is an animal abuser who is ok starving horses and one of the most horrible people I have ever met. She is not fit to run a ranch or own horses in my opinion. I have before and after pics. I will try to put them on here ASAP Im not so good on the computer. I have grown up there my whole life and have seen that ranch run for many years. Now that bud is gone she will run that place right into the ground. THEY NEED DIFFERENT MANAGEMENT QUICK. BEWARE!!!

I love Melissa! I am an experienced rider who has barely taken lessons so you can imagine I’m unbalanced but not scared to ride. I called her because I am a total Western girl and she trains both humans and horses in western style (English too). I love her quiet ranch in Sunland! I came from a barn near there with many issues and so this is a great change of pace. She gives you hours of her time, not just an hour lesson. Prices are great for the time you spend there!

My daughter is a beginning to intermediate rider and has been a student of Ms. Weiser for 1.5 years. She started western riding lessons at TES in Burbank, but they have very limited western riding sessions. So when I found Melissa Weiser’s ad for western riding and barrel lessons, we were very excited. My daughter has competed in 2 gymkhanas and is scheduled for her 3^rd one this week. She is 15 yrs. old and absolutely loves Melissa.
She has learned so much in the time she has been here. Melissa is a barrel racer herself and a very competent trainer of the student and of the horses. My daughter always leaves the barn with a smile on her face.
Melissa does stress safety overall. So be prepared for a lot of safety checks and rules, which I feel is important around unpredictable animals. I feel my daughter is never in any danger and I feel very confident Melissa has her welfare always in mind before the horses. The barn is very close to the trails around Hanson Dam, and Melissa does take my daughter out on the trails occasionally, it is a great way to have more fun on her horses, and a learning experience too. The barn is super clean and so are all the horses. My only regret is I wish i had found her sooner, we wasted a lot of time at TES.
My daughter is a member of USEF and they have a high school program, and Melissa is helping us met their requirements. We are very happy with Melissa and her horses.

She nickle and dimes you on everything and makes you feel like a thief when you want to make your child happy. Not a good business woman.

Quick Tip: Very knowledgeable and safety oriented. Great place to train for riding and stunts for film industry. That’s why I’m here.
Full Review:
My friend wanted to come here and train one day after we had already been training nearby on a high fall tower. We kind of surprised Melissa because she didn’t know four people were going to show up. She only thought is was going to be my friend.
Even so, she didn’t mind us being there and was more than willing to let us train as well. Only $ 50 to train and she offers great deals and multi-​session discounts.
Before even going near the horses that would be ridden, she made sure to show us around the property and introduce us to all of the horses and her outdoor kitty. She seems to really love the horses that she boards and owns. She knows all about each one including their quirks and without looking at their boards was stating when they were last fed or turned out.
Even if you have ridden before, she makes sure to explain everything and get you well acquainted with the horse you will be riding. I really appreciate this part of the process because every horse is different. Just because you did really well on one horse and you and the horse were in sync, does NOT mean you will be able to ride the same way on the next horse right away.
Many places that I have ridden already have the horses prepped and ready when you arrive so you don’t get to do any of this and are rushed through the process of learning or re-​learning basics. Melissa really takes her time, especially on the first day.
So going through the process of brushing, prepping and saddling the horse is a great bonding process so both you and the horse slowly learn about each other. A horse is a very sensitive animal and if you aren’t completely comfortable with him/​her then your horse will sense it and that could make training much more difficult.
Her training is tailored to each person and she allows you to learn tricks at your own pace and comfort level rather than saying «this is lesson one so you will do this and this and you can’t do the next thing until lesson two». I have been to places that were very «training mill» and didn’t tailor the lessons at all. Tailored lessons are definitely ideal for both the safety of the horse and the rider.
I will definitely be returning and look forward to learning more. Maybe I will be able to do some cool stunts shortly.

666

I’ve worked with Melissa Weiser on previous occasions as a horse hauler under her Ms. Jiminy’s Horse Transport business and she’s always been pleasant. I recently moved my horse to her facility under the understanding he’s have ample turn out space and attention. Sadly, that’s not what I’ve found.
My stall is only cleaned once per day, my horse fed twice per day and seems to never be fly sprayed. I paid extra for Orchard, turnout and lunging. Each month it got more expensive and the horse was not receiving services it was paid to have.
Upon giving proper notice of leaving I was told I had to be out before my contract was up because she’d given the stall to a new person and my money was forfeit. Her site states all sorts of services, but they are not what she says she delivers.
The ranch owner, not her, has numerous rules. If you’re looking for a quiet environment with nice people, I don’t recommend this barn. Very sad to even have to write something like this about a horse place. But today, customer service is everything.