The Rocking S Ranch

What a wonderful trip! You are on a ranch with the rancher and his horses. He has full knowledge of what «no experience» in horseback riding means. Not his first rodeo I guess! My daughters, 8 & 11, and I went today and had a blast. Memories that will last forever. Beautiful scenery too.

You can’t get any better than Rocking S Ranch for horseback riding! I surpised my fiancé with a fun day of horseback ridiing. He has never been on a horse before and was a little nervous to say the least. Bill, who is the owner and our guide, made us feel at ease and we were really able to enjoy the ride. You can tell that Bill really enjoys what he does and takes it upon himself to make sure veryone is safe and has a good time. He even took our phone to snap a bunch of pictures while we were riding! Bill was very easy to talk to and i enjoyed his one liner jokes. We are already planning to go back this fall. Thanks Bill for a wonderful day!

First time riding a horse and really enjoyed it. Bill — the tour guide/​instructor was very charismatic and told us everything we needed to know. He told lots of jokes and kept the ride fun. He also took plenty of really great action pictures of us throughout the trail ride. I highly recommend this for any beginner riders and would definitely return.

My girlfriend and I decided to take a trip to the Rocking Horse Ranch, after spotting a brochure around the Winchester area. The experience was better than expected. The owner Bill was an exceptional tour guide and we both loved his friendly attitude and light hearted jokes.
We definitely recommend this place to anyone, just factor in 2+ hours of total time riding/​setting up.

We had a great time! My daughter is a good rider and I’m a beginner and we both had a lot of fun. Bill, the owner, is a hoot! And he is a great teacher too. I would highly recommend this if you just want to have a couple hours of low-​key sight seeing fun. And the horses are really responsive and friendly. Bill described other tours he can take you along that are more challenging. If you are a good rider you’ll probably find Bill has a perfect trail for you too.

I lived in urban areas for most of my childhood — Los Angeles, Bangkok, etc — yet my dad always found places to take me horseback riding. There is possibly some underlying guilt because this extremely good little girl never got a pony for her birthday or Christmas. As an avid former Santa believer, I actually believed that I was not good enough for so many years!!!
The love of horseback riding still remains with me to this day with dreams of one day having my very own horse. Yes Santa, I can be as «naughty» as I want and just buy things myself now! I kid :-)
It is this love for a good ride that took me to Rocking S Ranch. The brochure caught my eye as I was checking into a nearby hotel, the words «Open Year Round» thrilled me as not too many places are open during the winter times.
Rocking S Ranch is awesome. A family run business who cares about their horses as well as your experience riding them. The owner knew his horses well and took care to match you to the right horse taking size and temperament into consideration.
The trail we were on was beautiful. It took us up hillsides, through the woods, crossing streams. The guide/​owner even took our cameras so we had digital evidence of all this. I mean he went camera crazy. I have to be honest; getting a picture of me on a horse crossing a stream was pretty awesome.
TIPS:
— Make sure you are in no rush that day. The reserved start time as well as the length of time of your ride is more of a suggestion. There’s absolutely no rush to get started on time or get back on time. This adds to the relaxing atmosphere that I loved and I got more than what I paid for (which I loved more ;-)
— $ 40 per hour, available from 60 minutes to 90 minutes to I think up to 4 hours. If you are new to the horseback riding thing, I would start with less. Don’t want you to be stuck in some sort painful cowboy stance now :-)
— Cash or check only.
— Lastly be prepared for some pretty dorky but endearing jokes.

If you’re looking for a small, family operated ranch for hourly-​rate horseback riding, I strongly recommend this tiny ranch.
John and his two daughters are no nonsense, down-​to-​earth people with an obvious greater love for their horses than in their making money! Their initial interaction with you as a customer makes you feel more like a friend than a patron. The care they show their animals is better than any establishment with which I’ve dealt in my life.
At roughly $ 40 an hour, we were initially skeptical but during our ride, John never looked at his watch, made us feel rushed, or gave the slightest inkling of us being anything other than the center of his attention. His routes were obviously well-​known by him but did not resemble the «beaten paths» of most horseback riding establishments I’ve visited.
Two words of caution however…
1. John’s one-​liners are a bit tongue-​in-​cheek, light on the humor of today, heavy on the cowboy charm of yesterday.
2. This is a family run business — if you’re expecting pomp and circumstance, aloof handling, city-​flair, or anything other than a good old-​fashioned horseback ride with a lot of idle conversation — go somewhere else! These are good hard-​working people who obviously love what they do.