big sky ranch temecula

What a great experience! My sister and I decided for Christmas to get my mom the gift of horseback riding as she has been saying she wants to do it for years! We found a very reasonably priced groupon and finally redeemed it this past weekend. Terry is the owner and Michelle was our trail guide and they were amazing! My mom and I were newbies and my sister had only ridden once. Terry was extremely thorough and patient in instructing us on how to ride the horses properly, what to look out for, what not to do, etc. He was made a point to share with us the nuances of each particular horse we were riding. We felt very comfortable and taken care of. Michelle answered all of our questions while we were on the trail and was reassuring.
The trail goes through vineyards and groves and you see the rolling hills of Temecula Valley — its beautiful! What a great experience for beginners and those who have ridden horses before. I cant wait to come back! Thank you Big Sky Ranch!

This place is a hidden, horseback riding gem. The owner does a great job of prepping you for the ride and making everyone, experienced or not, feel at ease around the horses. Alaura was a great tour guide, knowledgable, sweet and funny!

Excellent service, great experience !! I surprised my wife here for her birthday, and I earned extra bonus points (winning). Laura was our guide (I dunno what the proper term is lol), and she and Terry helped your boy and his wife get into the groove of riding out horse (s) effectively. First time for me doing it, won’t be the last!

My wife and I had a private horseback riding tour for our anniversary. The owner and staff exceeded my expectations. In fact, I wrote down the wrong tour time and showed up 45 min late, but they were very understanding and accommodated us anyways. I can’t thank them enough for that!
Overall we had a super fun time, and the horses were great. The tour guide quickly made us feel very comfortable on the horses. My horse, Buck, had an awesome personality. All of their horses were well maintained. I would recommend this to anyone looking to do something different out in wine country. My wife enjoyed herself as did I. Great experience all around.

In response to the blanket comment on my first review: If weather was the reason for a cancellation, weather reports do exist. In fact, they go so far as to tell you what to expect for up to a week in advance. What you fail to realize is that canceling the day before is considered by most to be «last minute.» As far as «taking forever to reschedule» you’ll do well to take into account that your text response time wasn’t the issue. The issue was how far back we had to reschedule. So far back, in fact, that it went past the expiration date on the groupon. You did offer to honor the price, which is fair. However, after rescheduling for the 2^nd time, we were cancelled on yet again. This is why we will NOT be rescheduling. We will NOT be patronizing your establishment. We have received a full refund from groupon. In the future, you should give your patrons more than last minute notice of cancellation. It’s insulting, and it shows a complete disregard for people’s time.

Had a great experience with Big Sky Ranch and fell in love with horseback riding. The guides were very careful to make sure we could practice with and handle the horses. They gave good instruction. They had us ride around in the arena for the first little while before going on the trail along the vineyards/​orchards. I enjoyed myself and bonded with my horse Prince! And next time I’m bringing sunscreen!

Marissa is a very patient and kind instructor. She knows both the needs of the rider and horse. I took my boyfriend on his first horseback ride and at first he was scared but by the end of the trail ride he was confident and conquered his fear of animals. I would recommend this company to anyone. The trail was beautiful as well.

We went to Temecula for a day trip during our spring break and Terry was able to fit us in very last minute. The ranch was very clean and hidden away from the main town past the vineyards.
Our three daughters enjoyed their riding and grooming lessons at the ranch. Our instructor Marissa was awesome, and the girls loved learning to ride on Freckles, Candy, and Rusty.
Jordyn, our 5 year old, never learned to groom a horse before until now. She came home excited about the fun time she had at your farm. Sheridan, my 9 year old, never rode a horse on her own before, so you can imagine how much fun she had. Although her only complaint was a sore tushy. lol! Then our oldest, Madison, was pretty confident in her riding abilities that she can’t wait to come back and go on the trails into the vineyards soon. Happy kids, and happy parents! Thanks Terry for a great day! PS The wine tasting was awesome too as there were many to choose from on our way to the ranch!

Great time! Got a deal on groupon and booked a ride for Monday afternoon at 1pm, it was only my wife and I which was cool. The owner and the 2 girls were extremely nice and helpful. It was my wife’s first time and had a lot of fun. Our guide was very kind and helpful, especially when my wife’s horse kept stoping to eat. Overall great time. BRING CASH! I didn’t have any on me and couldn’t leave a tip which I felt bad about.

Very nice man on the phone. Unfortunately, no one under 12 can ride on a trail, even with a parent. I may come back with my wife though. That is how personable this man was on the phone.

Came here on a Groupon and had the best time!!! We were late because of the traffic from Orange County, luckily we were the last ride of the day and the were very nice and accommodating. The horses were fabulous, one liked to feed a lot. But other than that it was a great time. And they gave us tasting for right down the road and it was a perfect way to end the day! Loved my horse freckles!!! We will be back!

Horrible experience! My girlfriends and I were expecting a fun and relaxing afternoon. Our horses (Penny, Candy, Freckles), kept getting SPOOKED along the trail and we had a difficult time controlling them.
At one point in the trail, they warned us that dogs would be jumping on nearby fences and that will scare the horses. Well it happened! Both my girlfriends were THROWN off the horses. Very dangerous thing to have happened. My horse also got spooked and started running off. I just dismounted and walked back. We were so sore and got pretty BAD sprains from it. Didn’t complete our plans for the rest of our afternoon.
Our trail guides just stopped the trail ride early, never got reimbursed, never apologized or really assisted us, etc. The other people in our trail ride were VERY UPSET.
PLEASE DO NOT GO WITH YOUNG KIDS OR ELDERLY folks. Big Sky Ranch has some areas that the horses will get spooked (and they are aware of these spots) and the horses are NOT WELL BEHAVED. After seeing both my friends get thrown from the horses, I got so upset and completely fearful of ever riding again. :(

We had an amazing experience, Terry and his staff made our time spent there very enjoyable. Horses were well behaved and the route is scenic. Terry provides tasting tickets to a couple of boutique Wineries and those are great choices as we liked the choices he made. In general very good experience and we highly recommend this place! If not sure what to do in wine country, ask Terry too.

I usually find a few businesses I’m interested in before I decide which one I am going to go with! When I called them I spoke to the owner Terry and he was beyond nice! When we got there we were a little bit early so we sat down and just chaffed with him! He’s so easy to talk to and just a fun guy! They have us water because it was super hot! We met some other that worked there and they were really friendly too!
They usually don’t do more than around 5 on one ride so you can have a personal experience! It was me and my boyfriend and the other three girls were running late so they ended up taking us on a private tour which was awesome!!! Before we left we got on the horses and just rode them around to get a good feel for them!
During the ride the tour guide always made sure we were comfortable and feeling okay! We stopped for a picture at a nice scenery!
I got a discount deal from Groupon that also included wine tasting at two wineries that we went to after the ride! The whole experience was enjoyable! :)))

Thank you so much for the experience! Michelle was very nice and understanding. Freckles was great! We will definitely be back for some more fun! (With some friends) Thanks again guys, see you next time!

I was shopping on Groupon and came across Big Sky Ranch, prior to purchasing a groupon I wanted to check to see if they accepted them on the weekends (some places do not cause they’re too busy) and to see if the had open spots for the day I wanted to ride. I called Big Sky Ranch and spoke to Terry, told him the situation and he offered me a better deal if I booked directly with him!
The morning of the ride Terry called to give me a weather update cause of potential rain but we chanced it and drove out there. Thank goodness we did cause the skies opened up and it was a perfect day. Terry was so genuine and friendly and the entire staff was very helpful. The horses were well taken care of and groomed. They introduce you to the horse they feel is a match for you and you get to ride in a pen to get comfortable with your horse before the actual trail ride. We had 2 trail guides with us and they took us through the vineyards and even took pictures for/​of us.
We had such a great time and experience and I would definitely go back and recommend them to others.

Boyfriend took me on a date here. So much fun and John is so nice! Love the scenery so beautiful. Horses are completely trained will miss freckles and rocky!

Fun times awesome horses beautiful scenery terry is great john n Michelle were so helpful they made sure we were comfortable with the horses before we went in the trail felt safe and had a great time awesome time def coming back soon

Oh my gosh what a FUN DAY we had at Big Sky Ranch! The owners Terry and Cindy are such nice people. They started us off with some horsemanship instruction in the arena to make sure we knew what to do — then we went on our ride through a beautiful tree lined wash, then up into the vineyards and citrus groves. The view was truly spectacular! Our guides were really nice and the horses were great. When we got back from our ride we had the nicest spread of cheeses, nuts, veggies, olives and wine. We went for my daughter’s 21^st birthday — we all had a GREAT TIME! Thank you Big Sky Ranch!

In short: Easy to find, I had a lot of fun, beautiful trail.
I made a reservation over the phone earlier this week and got a prompt response.
It was extremely easy to find.
When I showed up I accidentally left out my friend’s spouse coming along, but they were able to accommodate the extra person, no worries. Major props to them on this.
They gave us water and drinks, and even gave me some sunscreen!
The horses were well-​taken care of and the trail guides were very nice.
They did an extremely good job of matching horses to the riders’ personalities.
The ride was beautiful (for this time of year. I would recommend coming in spring through early winter for some of the best).
My only wish was for the ride to go a LITTLE faster, I mean I’m not hoping for E-​ticket, but maybe a working trot would be a good one, especially going up hills. that the walking only pace made a few of the riders a little eager to move faster at times, which reflected in the horses as well.
Overall I had a great time and I would go again.
Some recommendations for first time riders:
–Don’t bring too much stuff with you because you won’t be able to bring it on the ride.
–Bring Sunblock
–Be honest about your riding experience, they’ll match you to the right horse.
–When you leave, make sure you get a good running start on your car to get over the hill.
–They have a white lab called Tucker that will run to greet you. He may or may not be dragging along a screen window that he escaped through.