Surfside Ranch

We picked this place on the recommendation of a friend who owns horses. I wanted a nice experience for my 8 and 9.5 year old daughters, who had never been horseback riding before. We had an amazing time! They matched up the horses and people based on our size and experience, which worked out very well. Kelly was a wonderful guide, and really great with the kids. Riding along the beach is just a beautiful experience. We’re looking forward to doing this again!

I took my daughter and I for her birthday and it was an awesome ride. The guid Kate was amazing and very friendly we had a blast! I will definitely return.

We had a great ride with Kelly. I chose Surf Side Ranch because we are experienced and didn’t want to ride single file. We wanted to ride with each other. I would recommend this ranch to all levels of experience.

My daughter and I went on the beach ride with Kelly and had a great time. We are experienced riders and didn’t want a ride that we had to stay in a line and had little freedom. That’s why we chose Surf Side Ranch. Other ranches make you stay in line according to he disposition of the horse. So if you want to ride close to your family forget it if they have chosen a horse for you that doesn’t get along with you partners horse. We will definitely be back.

Had a great time! We showed up a few minutes early, were greeted with super friendly people. Our guide got us set up and ready to ride with in a few minutes. They set us up with perfect horses for each of us. My dad rode Maximus, a funny stubborn adorable horse. My husband rode Kahuna who was tranquil and was best friends with Gidget. He liked to compete with and play with Gidget, my horse. Gidget is an older horse, but looked and rode like she was still a young mare! They were all great! Our guide was super awesome and talkative throughout the whole ride. We rode for an hour through the trails near the stable. It was perfect weather! Highly recommend this place. Prices are decent, people are great, and the horses are a blast!

We had Kate twice now. Once for a ride for our toddler and once for a 2 hour beach ride! She is so sweet, knowledgeable, and easy going! I highly suggest her! She was so great with our daughter too! We’ll be back!
The rest of the staff are great as well. Everyone we’ve met or spoken to have been very polite and helpful.
The animals are reliable and we’ll cared for!

These people are great. I didn’t tell my date where we were going, it was a surprise date and boy was it. I prearranged with Happy Trails and brought over a boom box, chocolate covered strawberries. sparkling apple juice and battery candles. We had a night ride and they had a area set up on the trail. So as we approached the set up my date saw the candles and thought maybe illegals were camping there. Then as we got closer and he heard the 50’s music he knew that was his surprise and boy was he. I pulled it off good. A big hit thanks to Happy Trails.

My sister and I grew up riding horses but neither of us had been for 15+ years so my husband and I surprised my sister for her 35^th birthday and my mom for mother’s day last weekend. We did the 2 hour beach ride and it was AMAZING! We were going to be late due to storms the night before knocked out power to numerous stop lights in our city which backed up traffic so we made sure to call and give them the heads up. They were very nice and understanding and gave us no attitude AT ALL (we ended up being about 30 min late).
The beach was beautiful and practically deserted since people can’t swim there. Our guide Lorenzo was very nice and would jump off his horse anytime we spotted a shell or a stone on the beach to grab it for us. The horses were very friendly and mild mannered and are clearly are treated well (this is a fear of ours since he are such big horse lovers). Lorenzo also took MANY pictures for us and was always kind and even suggested poses to make sure the pictures looked perfect.
Overall we had a great time and an amazing experience and I would highly recommend Happy Trails and we cannot wait to go back!

We were there for 1 hr trail ride, and boy let me tell you it is worth every penny! Kelly our guide was sweet and helpful to answer all questions you have, most important of all the views and the experience is unbeatable!

I’ve taken rides at Happy Trails several times and had nothing but good experiences. The horses are gentle, the guides are experienced, and the trails are lovely. My kids love riding the horses and looking at the petting zoo animals. I would recommend Happy Trails to anyone looking for beach or trail rides.

UNHAPPY trails! Yes we were late, but we didn’t need an attitude and rude comments. Stephany and the lady that signs people up lack customer service skills pretty bad! Kelly was such a nice person though.
It was my birthday and they ruined it! Thank you!
You guys need to smile, make people feel welcome, make conversation, thank people for their business, read a book on customer service! It does not matter if people were late and you are upset, you want to make that groups’s experience as enjoyable as possible no matter what. Always! That only creates more revenue for you! The customer is always right haven’t you heard? I will never go back or the people i went with. And i will forever make sure i tell others of the terrible experience we had there. Which will of course create less business for you!

Decent stable of horses but…
Our experience started off on the wrong foot because we had to wait for another person to arrive, this proved to be annoying to the owner as she kept saying «we close at 6 you guys just won’t get to ride.» Customer always right mentality is not a thing at this place. Our guide Kelly was good, she was helpful and wanted to make our experience better. Can’t say the same for our other guide Stephanie. Overall, the experience was slightly ruined by the attitude of the owner from the beginning. Otherwise I would give 3 stars. Not more because this is quite expensive for trail riding, especially when you can go south of the border (literally 15 min across the border) and for 15 $ a person ride horses any way you want on the beach for hours.

The whole idea of horse back riding on the beach at sunset is fantastic and simply that part was amazing. However… Our guide is the reason for my poor rating. Her name was Kelly and she was very rude and unprofessional. She was leading a group of non experienced riders, you would think she would be more willing to assist us with the basics. Also, when we were waiting for the horses to be saddled up, one of the horse keepers decided to violently kick one of the horses in the stomach which was a terrible sight for all of us to see. Animal abuse. When the horses would get rowdy and then therefore make us riders nervous she would lash out at us and get mad that we didn’t know how to handle the situation. At one point one girls horse decided to turn around and take off in a different direction. Our guide didn’t do much but get angry and start yelling that we didn’t know how to ride. If you are experienced enough and feel comfortable and confident on a horse then you may be able to get past the lack of instruction and rude comments from the guide. On a side note, during the ride back ourselves and our horses became swarmed with Mosquitos which made the horses angry and out of control. A few of us decided to get off and walk the horse since they wouldn’t cooperate. Basically, today I am covered head to toe with mosquito bites and am currently itching like crazy. I don’t regret the experience, it was a lot of fun however there were some details that made the trip less than perfect.

Joanne, is most professional and fun. The staff were all experienced and helpful. Attention to detail and safety was clearly present. And that’s important to me when taking the kids on trail and beach.
Truly an enjoyable and superior experience. If you want the best, look no further. I will try to make this an annual event when friends come to town.
Thank you Joanne!

Not sure where to begin. I have waited more than 24 hours to write my review because I wanted to make sure that I was able to express myself clearly. Settle in, this is a long one.
My mother in law spent $ 600 for two days of riding for my 7 year old daughter and for my 12 year old niece. Everything went exceptionally well the first day! On the second day things went downhill fast. When the owner, Joanne, and the guide, Kelly, were loading the horses into the trailer, one of the horses seemed «high energy.» Both the ladies commented that it was a difficult horse. My mother in law said «I hope one of the girls is not going to ride that horse.» Kelly, the guide, said «no, I am going to ride that horse.» After mounting the horses and starting our ride, it was very apparent that Kelly’s horse was «spirited.» The horse pranced and kept speeding up, Kelly had to apply so much pressure to the horse that it was bleeding where the harness was touching the horse. Kelly was having to spend all of her energy just keeping her horse on the trail to the beach.
About 15 minutes into the ride, my daughter’s horse began to trot to catch up with the others. This FREAKED my daughter out. She FREAKED OUT so much that Kelly felt obligated to approach her and ask if she was ok. As soon as Kelly approached on her horse, my daughter’s horse put her ears back and took off again. I clearly understand that this would not be a problem for any person who had horseback riding experience but my daughter is 7! She began to scream even louder and wanted off the horse. Kelly could not approach my daughter because the horses did not get along. Every time she tried to approach, the horses would start to show their teeth and put their ears back. Most importantly, the horse my daughter was on would begin to try to get away again. I was finally able to get the lead rope from my daughter’s horse and try to keep it from trotting.
I fully understand that my daughter’s reaction was extreme to the horse’s trotting but she is 7 and was clearly terrified so we decide to call it a day (after 20 minutes of riding) and go back. This is where the story gets crazy!
As a mom, I realize that often my children respond better to teaching from other authority figures, coaches, teachers, etc. So I decide to ride a few paces ahead so that Kelly, the guide, can walk with my daughter and talk to her. At this point Kelly has had to dismount from her horse and walk between the two horses all the way back to the road. I felt comfortable leaving Kelly with my daughter because I had heard Kelly say things like «you have such good posture» and «I don’t think you should be scared, you are doing great.» In my mind, I thought I was making a good choice to give my daughter some space. HOWEVER, when we were driving home my daughter told me that Kelly said to her «I am going to lose my cat, my dog, and my house, and it is your fault.» Apparently, she said that more than one time and my daughter wanted to know if it was true. Kelly also told her, «well don’t worry, you got what you wanted, you got all of the attention.» I was beside myself when I heard this. Now my SEVEN year old daughter believes that she is responsible for getting someone fired because she got scared on a horse. She has apologized so many times I have lost count! I CANNOT believe that another human would tell a 7 year old little girl who was scared that she was going to lose her dog, cat, and her house because of her!
The BEST part is that BEFORE I knew Kelly had said any of these horrible things to my daughter, we told the owner that she should really not put a horse in a group of young riders that does not get along with other horses. Her response, «so you are saying this is my fault?» She stood there with her arms crossed, defensive and NEVER once said «how can I make this better?» «I am sorry that happened.» NOTHING!!! I am not sure how she is going to run a successful business with a horrible attitude and an employee who likes to insult little girls. Honestly, it seems like a bad, bad dream. The only reason I know it is true is because my daughter apologized again when she got home from school today.

Extremely happy with Happy Trails. For our anniversary, my girlfriend and I purchased the two hour long beach ride which was perfect despite our horses being spooked a big due to really strong winds. Our guide, Heather, was very patient, knowledgable, and most importantly fun. The whole ordeal was a great experience that I would definitely do again and would recommend to others whether it be their first time riding or hundredth. A great find on Unilocal

FIRST OFFFFFFFFFFFF… These horses were hungry af. Especially my horse. All my horse did was stop and eat the whole time no matter how much I tried to get control of him.
NEXT, the place has unleashed and wild dogs and horses roaming around so I was in defense mode the entire time. I am not all prissy and what-​not but dang, I just wanted to stay in the car until our guide came out to greet us.
NEXT, the guide was not understanding how belligerent these horses were to each other. Our horses were competitive trying to get in front of one another and trying to kick the whole time, which is really scary being me and my sisters first and second time on a horse in our life. When we expressed our concern our guide responds saying «Oh, they did tell me about this being angry and wild sometimes» UMMMMM, This is our first time and we already told you we were nervous… why decided to take the most wild horse with us on this endeavor?
2.5÷3 stars for the great pictures we took, the memories had with my mom and sister, & my horse who was very laid back (although he was hungry and stopped to eat leaves frequently), I had a chance to SLIGHTLY overcome my fear of horses; however, I came back to reality when I saw my sister’s crazy horse spazz out.
Great experience for the fearless, not for me. Do not recommend if you are at all apprehensive about horseback riding. If you want a laid back, easy going horse, get the white one with the blue eyes. Superrrrrr pretty (and slow) haha.
We didn’t do the beach route, we did the route with the dirt trail and bushes, etc.

I went for a sunset beach ride and it was amazing!!! Lyca not sure of speilling of our guide was so good with the horses and its was a magical evening~
Can’t wait to go again
Cindy

There are two «Happy Trails» horse rentals very close to each other. This is the one *not* to choose. They took down the wrong time for our ride and then, when we showed up at 2pm (our agreed-​upon time) rather than 1pm (the time they had down), they told us they no longer had time/​space for our ride. Mistakes happen, and they could have easily gained a great Unilocal review if they’d been apologetic about their mistake and accommodating about rescheduling rather than accusatory and offish.
We went down the road to the other Happy Trails (now called San Diego Beach Rides/​Happy Trails) instead and got to do a beach ride despite a rough start to the afternoon. I highly recommend the other place, not this one.

These people are fantastic in their casual and welcoming manner, yet very professional in making sure your horse is safe and cared for at their facility. You can walk around and feel the positive vibe about the place, as well as see the no nonsense approach that they take towards teaching those who want horse riding lessons… it’s not about you, it’s about the horse. A teaching approach where the horse is the primary concern, making sure you know how to ride properly and safely.

Before I get into the details about why Happy Trails is an amazing place with excellent staff, I must first speak of it’s diametrically-​opposite «competition» on Monument road. When one visits the Happy Trails website via search engine, their website notes that they are located at 2225 Hollister, NOT a location on Monument road (which is a minute or so away). This detail is crucial and in conflict with the business address listed on Unilocal (for which many people have mistakenly written reviews).
As my friend and I drove down the road looking for Happy Trails (there is no sign for it off the main road, which makes little sense), we inevitably found ourselves on Monument Road at a place we thought was Happy Trails. However, this location on Monument Road had a sign that read «San Diego Beach Rides.» Hmm. That doesn’t sound like «Happy Trails» at all. Thinking maybe the name had changed, we drove in anyway and went to sign in for our tour. We were confused when the woman working there (who was quite rude to us upon arrival for some unknown reason) couldn’t find our reservation AND informed us the 2-​hour tour would be $ 10 extra per person. Uuuh… that’s strange. Where the hell are we?
Since we were short $ 20 collectively, we had to leave and find an ATM out of the area. However, on the way back, we decided to call the Happy Trails number listed on their website and asked for directions. As it turns out, their ACTUAL location is adjacent to Suzie’s farm on Hollister, NOT Monument. After taking a slightly circuitous route via a Happy Trails employee’s phone directions, we found the Happy Trails location that was designated by modest «Happy Trails» signage. When we spoke to one of the staff, we explained our confusion that their address on Unilocal indicates they are located on Monument. What he told us afterward didn’t surprise me given the way we were treated at the other location on Monument.
Apparently, the location on Monument and the legitimate location on Hollister used to be one family business, but some family members had a falling out and, thus, 2 separate locations and businesses were born. The employee also told us that the Monument location will often take advantage of patrons’ confusion, lying that they have the correct reservation information and then charging people $ 10 extra per rider. Gross.
Now that I have gotten that long explanation out of the way, I must say that Happy Trails at 2225 Hollister is a great place with even greater staff. We were warmly welcomed upon arrival, offered bug spray to douse ourselves in, and treated well during the entire time. Our guide, Daniel, was sensitive to our party’s needs (my friend was a first-​time rider and a bit nervous) and made us feel comfortable and safe during the whole ride. I seriously cannot say enough good things about Daniel. I highly recommend asking for him by request when calling to make a tour reservation with Happy Trails.
In sum, AVOID THE MONUMENT LOCATION AT ALL COSTS. It is NOT the same business. Do not let them take advantage of you and certainly do not pay $ 90 for a 2-​hour ride when paying $ 80 is an option at Happy Trails’ 2225 Hollister location (and with much nicer staff)!
Also, a word of advice to Happy Trails: Please consider posting a sign on the main Hollister road for your location. This could help alleviate any confusion and ensure that your patrons don’t end up staring into the grumpy faces of «San Diego Beach Ride» employees on Monument road.