Hitchin’ Post Stables

I don’t know about the horse back riding, I’m sure its nice. I would not do the «sleigh ride» if I were you. I envisioned a nice sleigh for my wife and daughter and a nicely dressed driver. What we got was a trailer with rows of park benches barely fastened to planks of wood that were visibly broken and moving with every tiny bump he hit. It was a very uncomfortable ride just because you were waiting for the car to fall apart. The driver wasn’t a man you would feel comfortable around alone nor did he even speak 10 words the whole time. There were 5 other people on the ride, which they don’t advertise that you won’t be alone with just your party. A 30 min ride into the forrest where there wasn’t a fire to warm up to. It was almost going by the time we had to leave so all we had was the poorly made hot chocolate.

We took our two year old 2 weeks ago. This was mediocre at best. We went when there was a lot of snow on the ground so at least the scenery was beautiful. When they say they wranglers wont narrate the experience they mean it. Our wrangler didn’t greet us and we had to ask him his name. Once we got to the cowboy camp, we were handed hot chocolate that was basically water. Overall it was pretty boring.

If you are looking for an «old west» experience, this is perfect because you will leave feeling like you were in a old Western movie getting robbed blind by a bunch of Cowboys!!!
$ 45 per adult and $ 40 per kid gets you a ride on a «sleigh» that is cram with 20 other people. The «guide» doesn’t say a word to you for the 10 – 15 minute ride. Then when you get to a spot with a bunch of staged broken down covered wagons they have about 5 seats around a propane run camp fire and point you to some cold hot chocolate and coffee (with no creamer/​sugar/​napkins/​nothing) AND then they disappear and leave you there for 20 – 25 minutes! Oh, but in case you haven’t spent enough money, they have A piece of paper taped to the table telling you that you can buy and roast marshmallow for $ 3 PER marshmallow! Not that you would know who to ask if you were really crazy enough to pay $ 3 for a marshmallow.
Eventually the wagon/“sleigh” shows up again, you assume you should cram yourself back in with the other 20 people and they take a 5 minute ride back to the start.
The best part was that they told us they needed to bring up the food for the dinner ride on our ride. They put all the food on the floor of the front row of the wagon. We sat in the front row and watched as the horses kicked up dirt and, frankly, horse poop, into the crates of food. We couldn’t help but cringe for the dinner ride group!
All in all, this sleigh ride is a total missed opportunity. There are so many easy touches they could incorporate (starting with even the slightest bit of customer service) that could make this an annual family tradition. Unfortunately, as is now, I can’t see how anyone would ever do this more than once at the rate they are charging.

So after booking our sleigh ride I read the Unilocal reviews and got seriously worried. Everyone complained that for the price the sleigh ride was only 10 minutes and the hot chocolate was nasty. But I thought what the heck, it already booked and hopefully it’ll be cheesy enough to entertain my 4 year old. Well I’m glad I kept an open mind and tried the sleigh ride anyways because my husband and I both agreed it was a lot of fun! And my son really enjoyed sitting by the campfire and having hot chocolate made over the open fire. I would recommend the experience, especially if you have kids. And I really liked the history on display as well. They’ve got loads of real covered wagons from the 1800s which were really neat to see. Bottom line, a little pricey but really fun!

Great day with a great guide. First time horseback riding for my boys. We had a fun time riding on the snowy trails. Our guide cowboy Steve picked the right horses for our inexperience. There was only four in our group so it made the ride that much more enjoyable. there was also sled rides the day we went which looked good for the families with small children. We did the one hour ride did which was enough for us. Look forward to the next ride when we visit Arizona from Hawaii.

We booked the Groupon deal for a sleigh ride for two and decided to go on New Year’s Eve! Super excited we envisioned the image of the experience as described by the individual who sold us the deal. Heck, even convinced us to book the extra steak dinner and purchase the sleigh ride through the company rather than Groupon. Sure why not, we thought! It’s a good deal.
So we packed our bags, booked our room and romanticized about our upcoming adventure.
When we arrived, Steve barely greeted us, and we got on the wagon. Wagon folks! It was not a private sleigh ride; instead it was a wagon 4 rows deep with the seating capacity of 16 – 20 adults.
Directly behind us was a sweet couple who helped us to lift the spirit during what turned out to be an incredibly disappointing experience! Regardless, it was not the private experience we were promised.
After about 10 minute wagon ride (not an hour), during which the wrangler was very rough with the beautiful horses, we arrived at Cowboy camp. There we were served, gritty coffee and watered down hot chocolate.
Then came dinner, a small styrofoam bowl of salad accompanied by choice of dressing (store bought and still in its manufactures containers). We chose the house made raspberry vinaigrette, which proved to be one of the two highlights of the ENTIRE meal. The salad was accompanied by a slice of baguette, the second highlight of the meal. Then the main course: cold beans with real pieces of bacon (probably delicious had they been warm), undercooked and cold hash brown potato casserole (once again has the potential to be delicious), and flavorless pieces of fat (which was supposed to be the prime rib).
Oh the tent (private dinning experience) was setup with three picnic tables inside an army type tent with Xmas wrapping paper as the table cloths and a camping propane lantern as the lighting. Let’s not forgot our company; who thought to put on some Pandora thus once again shining light on the disappointing experience.
While we were refilling out chocolate flavored water and gritty coffee (because there was no water or any other beverages to drink), Steve returned and started to abruptly speak with the other wrangler about his schedule and his time management. We had only been at our experience for an hour total at this time. So my husband swallowed his peach cobbler as Sabrina, the camp wrangler, apologized about the rush.
The cobbler was nothing but doughy cake and a few slices of canned Del Monte peaches. The other couple ate maybe 5 bites of the entire meal.
When we loading up for our return, Steve was extremely rude to Sabrina (completely unprofessional)!
All in all the while experience lasted 1.25 hours. It has so much potential especially for the price they charge and just doesn’t deliver. From reading the other reviews, seems like it’s the luck of the draw which is unfortunate because the other couple with us tonight paid $ 300 for this disappointing, distasteful, and rushed experience.
We learned that this 1972 ranch was recently purchased by new owners; my hope is the they don’t allow $$ to comprise quality and this establishments reputation!

I read the Unilocal reviews before coming up to Flagstaf for the pumpkin patch. I knew before coming up that the reviews weren’t the greatest but gave it a shot anyways. So here was our experience. We paid $ 14 per person including a 3 year old for the following:
–a hayride
–a very small hay maze which was filled with mud and animal poop
–a ‘petting’ zoo which consisted of two sheep, chickens, a pig, a little pony, and a donkey. All of the animals were in big pens and you could pet them through a wire fence. The pony and donkey ‘s pen was filled with poop and mud.
We paid an additional $ 5 for a short pony ride and $ 4 for a very tiny pumpkin.
My daughter liked it and the hay ride was fun but not worth $ 42.
My advice, save your cash and go elsewhere, this place was a huge disappointment. I only gave them 1 star because Unilocal wouldn’t let me give them 0 stars.

The hubs, kids and I drove up from Phoenix to come here. We decided to try this place because our favorite northern Arizona pumpkin experience was closed this year. We did not do horse/​trail rides but would come back to give that a try as it looked like fun.
It’s a small place without much to do if you’re coming for the pumpkin experience, but perfect for small kids. There’s a tiny hay-​bale maze, not more than 18 inches tall — good for small kids to roam around themselves, but not too impressive otherwise. Pony rides are available for extra cost — there’s really no rhyme or reason as to how long the rides goes on for, but I would say max 1 minute, so pricey at $ 5/​ride. Anything for my kiddos though.
The most fun was the wagon ride through the pines (included with admission to the pumpkin event) — a great experience and the horses were beautiful and sooooo strong! People were getting frustrated because there was no logic to the order of the wagon rides, so if this place could clean that up, I’m sure a lot of people would be happier.

Avoid! Complete waste and they should be ashamed of what they are charging.
This review is for the «Pumpkin Patch» event Hitchin’ Post offers during the Fall and Halloween Season. I just felt like I had been completely ripped off and other families there felt the same way. I felt so bad for families they had driven up to Flagstaff from the Phoenix area to make a day of it.
It was $ 12 for each person over the age of two, so a family of four was $ 48. And then they charged inside for things like a pony ride which should be included with the admission.
So for nearly $ 50, your family gets to see a few pumpkins they bought and placed in a dirt field. Oh, and there’s a wagon ride you have to wait nearly an hour where they go in a circle. Also, the facilities themselves were absolutely disgusting and unkempt.

Went to their pumpkin patch yesterday since we were in town already from our vacation and it cost my bf and I $ 28! Wtf it was not worth $ 28. This is why, i’m from oregon and we have pumpkin patches that are worth the price but this places was no oregon pumpkin patch. It was $ 14 per person and your entrance includes a hay ride and IF you have kids, activities for them well really crappy ones. There are pumpkin patches in the valley that charge you less if you dont have kids which is nice because we just want a pumpkin and go on a hay ride and see the animals. Also the price of pumpkins were ridiculous! $ 1 for a mini pumpkin and i mean the really small ones. $ 6 for a medium which to me were small pumpkins and $ 10 for a large! You can get a large at frys for $ 5. I guess there was food being offered, I thought the entrance fee covered the food but the guy cooking the burgers and hotdogs said it was $ 5. Thank god we had a late breakfast. The hey ride was nice and the guys doing the hay ride were the only nice ones there. Everyone else seemed meh. I felt like they were not organized at all. A kid as young as 6 was handling my money? Okay cute but really i rather have an adult handle my money. I think this place should stick to what they usually do which is horse back riding lessons. People of the valley please dont come here for a pumpkin patch experience, come here to ride a horse but dont waste a 3 hour car ride to go to a pumpkin patch.

This post is only about the pumpkin patch part of the stables. We didn’t ride any of the horses or do the trail rides.
That being said, this place is a complete ripoff. It costs $ 12 just to get in. What does that buy you? A hay ride that has no hay and the blessed opportunity to spend more money on their pumpkins and Shetland pony ride. Pumpkins are $ 1, $ 5 and $ 10 and the pony ride is $ 5 per kid to walk around a 20 foot track.
I was so mad that I dropped $ 50 just to get my wife and kids into this place, I couldn’t bring myself to spend any more money. Save your money and your time and avoid this place.

Came for the pumpkin patch. For $ 14 a person It wasn’t to our expectations, the hay maze was a foot tall, the pumpkin patch wasn’t that big at all, the «line» for the wagon ride was at least 20mins, and petting zoo wasn’t all that great. We asked to get our money back and was rudely spoken to. Our experience was ruined so we decided to leave and give our tickets to the next people. Our only good experience at that.

Such a great ride! My mom and I came up to escape the heat in Phoenix and had an amazing experience. We are both experienced riders, but since we haven’t had horses for a few years we wanted something that is somewhat challenging but also relaxing.
The trails were exactly what we were hoping for; some places were narrow with steep inclines and tight turns, while others were smooth and in wide open spaces. We loved climbing the rocks and navigating in the trees! The view from the top of the valley is EPIC.
Our guide Alfonzo aka Pancho was so awesome! We all got to know each other over the course of the ride and had a great time talking horses, food and lifestyle.
We chose the 4 hour ride which was perfect for us, although your butt’s gonna hurt a few hours in AND for the next few days!
We’re comin’ back to do the 8 hour ride with you, Pancho! I’ll bring the snacks!!!

My friend and I were looking for something to do, relied on Unilocal and found this place and had a blast. They were very accommodating to our spur of the moment show up and we were the only ones on our tour so many laughs were had. Great guide from Minnesota… never caught his name but he was top notch. My friend was scared of houses before but by the end of the ride she was completely confidante thanks to our guide. Thanks again!

Girlfriend and I spent our 3 year anniversary on a road trip from Sacramento, CA to many spots in Arizona. On the day of our anniversary, we decided to visit Hitchin’ Post Stable for a one hour horse back ride.
Now I’m not a regular horseback rider, but have rode many times before when I was younger. And thanks to Hitchin’ Post, it was like riding a bike. Except, a horse.
Jake, our guide, took us into the Cococino forest on a beautiful, rainy afternoon. Jake was friendly, informative and very tolerant of my animal-​loving sweetheart who had a problem kickin’ the horse to get him to go.
All and all, it was a great experience, we had a great time and many thanks to Jake, Sundance (my horse) and Hitchin’ Post Stables for making our anniversary a memorable one.

My husband and I went for a early afternoon ride in late April with my parents and had a wonderful time. Our two guides were great, they held a conversation with us for most of the hour and kept us entertained with jokes and facts. All four horses were very well behaved, it had been at least 15 years since we last rode and the first time for my husband but we all made it with no trouble. This place is definitely great for beginners but I’m sure they would accommodate more experienced riders with a more difficult trail.

Very, very disappointed in their lack of customer service. This place does not care…
I purchased the Groupon last year for the sleigh ride through the snow for 2 with hot chocolate for the purpose of surprising my parents who were visiting from Nebraska. Riding a horse-​drawn sleigh in the snow is on my moms bucket list and I was thrilled to be able to give her that gift! The weekend they were in Phoenix, there was no snow in Flagstaff, so the ‘bucket list dream’ was not going to be what we had thought — and driving 2 hours there and 2 hours back for an hour ride in less than ideal conditions didn’t seem worth it. So, I called to see if I could reschedule, they said that was fine and that a lot of people had done the same, hoping to catch snow on another day!
I called 3 different times throughout the winter to see if there was snow, and each time, there wasn’t. My Groupon was about to expire and the nice woman on the phone said, «Don’t worry about it, come back next year and we will honor the same Groupon.» I was relieved to know that my $ 50 wasn’t going to go to waste and was anxious to go back this year!
I called last week and scheduled for this weekend. I’m moving out of state and was excited to go to Flagstaff one last time — see the snow and use the Groupon I paid $ 50 for. They told me that it had expired and I told them yes, and told them what the woman had said last year. They said they were sorry that she said that, but that they could not honor my Groupon because it expired. Even though they have the SAME Groupon deal right now. He said I could pay $ 42 more dollars on top of the $ 50 I paid last year for the Groupon in order to have 2 people ride ($ 72 for an hour ride, which according to the other posts here in Unilocal,is actually more like a 15 minute ride and 30 minutes standing by a fire… seems expensive!).
This business told me one thing and is doing another. It’s very frustrating. I’ve already paid $ 50 and will now get NOTHING for that. I can’t believe that they — for the sake of honoring their word and having good customer service — could not just let one more person on the sleigh. It won’t cost them anything — we could even bring our own hot chocolate! The fact they they argued with me and wouldn’t try to understand the fact that I already paid for this exact service, is hard to understand.
I will never recommend this place to people because it’s obvious that they don’t care about getting or keeping customers. They provide an experience, and mine was nothing but bad.

We came for the sleigh ride with the hot cocoa that we found on Groupon. It was a great experience from the start. We arrived in town early, called to see if they could accommodate us on an earlier ride (they graciously did) and we thoroughly enjoyed every minute. We sat up front and our guide gave us a history of the farm, and answered our myriad of questions with patience and good humor. The cocoa was steaming hot and delicious. Next year we‘ll spring for the dinner. It is well worth it!

On a whim, my friend and I decided to go to Flagstaff to go horseback riding… and getting to Hitchin’ Post Stables was an adventure in itself. From Sedona, you can take the main highway or the scenic route. I highly suggest going the scenic route if you are traveling during the day because it is just gorgeous the entire time. However, this does add about an extra 30 minutes to your commute.
We went to Hitchin Post on a week day in October so there was little traffic and when we actually got there, we ended up being the only two people for the tour. Josh, a real cowboy, was our tour guide, so he gave us a nice little private tour of the national forest. He told us his life story and gave us a lot of unique tidbits about the forest itself. It was actually fascinating getting to know him and learn more about the cowboy lifestyle.
My horse, Spirit, went a little rogue during the tour… she kept stopping to eat. but at no point was I afraid she was going to throw me off of her. The ride was enjoyable and a little over an hour long. The staff members at this ranch were very friendly and helpful and the horses looked like they were being taken care of well. I feel like it was a little on the steep side for the ride ($ 45) but a cool stop during our trip to Arizona.

One hour trail ride that turned out to be 90 minutes of pure awesomeness! This was a gentle horsey walk through the Coconino National Forest. Of the ten riders, six were children, including my eight year old grandson who was on his very first horse ride. Our ride had two helpful wranglers who gave us complete riding instructions and gently shepherded us on steep parts of the trail.
Cost for the one hour trail ride was $ 55 for adults and $ 45 for children.