Bannockburn Riding Academy

Really enjoying our experience, great place, beautiful ponies and horses and Beatrice is a great teacher for all ages
Jul 12th, 2022

go riding here regularly it's really great, I love it so much!
Mar 13th, 2022

Jul 19th, 2021

I had a great afternoon.
May 7th, 2021

TL;DR AVOID this place!!! Beatrice has absolutely zero people skills and only worries about getting paid. I've yet to encounter a more arrogant and pretentious person, something that I've never had to worry about, having lived 5 years in New Zealand. Upon arriving, she made no effort introducing herself or even putting on a smile. The entire situation felt awkward as we were standing there with no idea what will be happening in the next hour. She did not speak, nor did she explain anything to us, until we were forced to ask and then barely got a few words out of her. "Brush the horse", she said in a careless tone, tossing a few brushes at us and then moving on to do her other duties, leaving us alone. I felt uncomfortable and unsafe as I started brushing the mud off the horse, not knowing if I'm doing it properly or not (the horse was moving side to side and didn't seem to enjoy the brushing). But there was noone I could ask, so I just stepped aside and waited. A few more commanding and unfriendly words ("find yourselves helmets there") and we've had enough. We said we're not happy with the experience, and asked what was the actual agenda for the day. Then all hell broke loose. Her first words though? "You'll still have to pay for two people." Angered by our foreign accent, she then went on to "educate" us how things are done in New Zealand (mind you, I've spent a good chunk of my last 5 years travelling the country and booking all sorts of experiences and activities on both islands, not to mention that designing experiences is what I professionally do for a living). Beatrice made fun of my lack of knowledge around horses, and went on to compare paying for physical products at The Warehouse to having to pay upfront for the horrible human transaction we've just had. She also asked for cash and was annoyed when we opted in to pay by bank transfer. We were then forced off the farm with a "good luck finding another / better horse riding course". I'm pretty sure this won't be such a challenge Beatrice, as you've set the bar so so low. My advice to you? Learn how to interact with adult, professional human beings in a mature manner. You are supposed to sell pleasant memories, good fun and a nice experience. How do you manage to do the exact opposite? And to be frank, it's not just you who have "wasted your time". We traveled from Auckland, specifically carved out time to come visit, and ended up paying hard earned dollars for a ruined day. To anyone who really cares about horses, wants to learn a few useful things and have a great experience, Bannockburn Riding Academy is not for you. Look elsewhere.
Apr 29th, 2021