Redwood Ranch Stables

The owners — David Jeffries and Garry Pregler — stole $ 300.00 from me. But they’re in bankruptcy court! They owe tens of thousands of dollars at least, and are about to lose their property. The case is in federal bankruptcy court Northern California district, case number 14 – 42 071. If they owe you money too, this is why. I suggest no one give them a dime under these circumstances. I’m not sure if they’re even still open, but if they are, they could fold at any time and keep your money.

I scheduled a 7-​year-​old birthday party at this ranch. If you are looking for a place to have a birthday party, please keep looking. This place is not at all what I expected. Garry, who I later discovered is the owner, was rude towards me and my daughter, and this treatment took place in the presence of my grandchildren. This facility is NOT conducive, in my opinion, for a children’s birthday party due to the filthy condition of the «party room». The «staff» is made up of teenagers/​tweens.
The party was for my granddaughter who was so excited about her horse ranch party, she couldn’t sleep the night before. I, too, was looking forward to this event, and so were the other 9 kids, ages 5 to 8, that were invited. I had arranged the party via email with Garry, we emailed several times, beginning approx 6 weeks before the event. He assured me they give birthday parties all the time and have a separate indoor area where we could put up decorations, eat pizza, have cake, and open gifts, and in which the parents could «lounge» if they wished. Garry informed me I would need to send a $ 100 deposit, which I did, and parents of kids that want to ride, would sign a release waiver. No problem, this sounded safe and professional. I asked Garry via email what time we could come and setup – he responded anytime after 12 noon. I sent him an email stating I would see him around 1:30-ish the day of the party. The party hours were 3 to 5pm.
The day of the party I parked my car, there is VERY little parking, and walked over to the barn, asking staff members where I could find Garry. They asked why, I explained about the party. No one seemed to expect me, which was odd, and they told me Garry would show up soon. It was about 1:45 by now. No Garry for another 30 minutes. Turns out when he finally arrived, he walked briskly right past me without so much as a hi or hello or may I help you. I told him who I was and I would appreciate not being ignored.
A few minutes before Garry arrived, I asked a staff where to setup for the party. He directed me to a room that was one of the filthiest rooms I’ve ever seen. Kids are supposed to EAT in here? And it reeked of urine and feces and mold/​mildew. An inch of DUST covered the small end tables, covered the old over-​stuffed couches – I touched one and the dust flew up in my face and you could see that they were filthy. The floor was also covered with dirt and dust.
Turns out this «party room» was a room inside the barn. I tried pulling the curtains back to open the windows, and again, the dust flew up from the dirty curtains – it was deplorable and an unhealthy place for adults, much less 5 to 8-​year-​old children. I informed the staff of my complaints, the tween that was helping me responded «well I can sweep?» Huh, I said, SWEEP, sweep what, sweep the dust up in the air? Why wasn’t this room cleaned long before we arrived – they had a SIX-​WEEK notice. Then they said, there’s another area outside with a table and chairs. I checked this out, the table was a dirty, dusty wrought iron table that had two dusty, dirty chairs. I asked if they had anymore chairs, their response was «no».
I was disrespected by the owner, and I later found out Garry is selling the ranch. So maybe that’s why he just doesn’t care how he treats his customers. In the end, he seemed all to eager to give me my deposit back and cancel the birthday party, as if he didn’t want to bother with us anyway. I did not want to do this because my granddaughter looked so forward to it, but under the circumstances I had to cancel. There’s NO WAY I could ask those parents to sit in a filthy room and eat pizzas and have cake and ice cream while they smell urine and feces. So we went down the hill to Red Boy Pizza and had a very nice party. The staff at Red Boy Pizza was professional and extremely accommodating; they were polite and eager to serve us with respect. I am forever grateful to Red Boy Pizza!

We reserved a ride for two kids and two grownups for 4−6pm. Once there they said they could only give us tours from 4−5p. They said they would pay us $ 100 later. I have been emailing non-​stop and they have not refunded me.

As an adult rider getting back into the sport after a long hiatus, it’s been great finding Redwood Ranch Stables. I’ve been riding there a couple of months now. Not sure if I spoke with David or Gary on the phone initially, but they were kind, courteous, and asked me what kind of riding I’d done before and were able to set me up with the right trainer (see below.) The barn is clean, well-​maintained, with an outdoor and a covered arena (which is SO great for riding in the winter when you otherwise might have to cancel.) Additionally, the barn is adjacent to gorgeous Roberts Regional Park with tons of riding trails that I haven’t been able to take advantage of yet, but am seriously looking forward to. The people that ride there have all been to a person, really friendly, there’s a group of boarders and people who ride the well-​trained, well-​cared for lesson horses.
I’ve been riding with Kenny Fraser, who you can tell right off the bat, is one of those trainers who both adores and intuitively understands horses. His background is hunter jumper, but he’s very knowledgeable on dressage as well. Not a lot of people are able to work with both people and horses well, but fortunately for the people that ride with him, Kenny’s able to do both. He’s got a great eye; my first lesson with him, he was able to evaluate the level I was at currently, what I’d been able to do previously, and identify the bad habits I’d had, and clearly explain how to fix them, in a way that was refreshingly free of technical jargon. For those that know how awful a sitting trot can feel, this next will speak volumes: my second lesson, after about ten minutes, Kenny had me sitting the trot more comfortably than I ever had before, pretty much ever. In short, it’s been a wonderful experience and I’m grateful to Kenny & all the people at the barn for making it that way.

Great place, my child has had wonderful experiences here. HOWEVER, they canceled Christmas camp without telling me first, and now are sitting on a $ 300 payment I made to hold the spot.
I’ll be happy to up my stars if this is taken care of in a satisfactory manner.

We had a party here with 13 girls, aged between 7 – 8. I asked them all on a scale of 1 – 10 how it was, they each gave a 9 or 10! Success! The ranch had several young teens that separated the girls into groups and were able to answer all the girls questions and keep them engaged. They rode a horse, learned how to groom and feed and took a tour. We also had a private party room. The price was excellent and everyone felt like they had a good amount of time on the horse.
Only recommendation if you hold a party here is to carpool as there is not much parking. The staff moved their cars for us, which was wonderful!

The stalls at Redwood are roomy, the horses are fed 3x/​day and there is a spacious covered arena to ride in even when it is raining. The boarders, riders and visitors are all very friendly and the owners are very inclusive. My mare has made tremendous progress here over the last two years. When I leave town I can always find a friend to take care of her in my absence and the low-​stress down-​to-​earth environment makes me look forward to being at the barn.

I didn’t have a good experience at Redwood Ranch so I can’t recommend it.

We just bought my daughter Mac n’ Cheese the POA pony. David and Gary were a pleasure to work with. They were kind and very patient with the sale of their pony. The staff was kind in giving her a lesson a few times, to make sure my seven year old daughter got a true feel of this pony. We came out several times and they were very accommodating. I paid for the pony in full, before taking possession of him and they delivered him as promised on my time and date. This was a stress free buy.
Thank you both!

I’ve been boarding my horse at redwood ranch for almost a year now and my horse and I are very happy with the service that redwood ranch provide. Great place and people are very friendly and Gary and David are such a wonderful owners.

This review is specifically about the summer camp for kids.
Although my two granddaughters really like this place, there were a couple of things that could be improved, imo
There was no water fountain for the kids to drink from, they were told it was «broken» and they would have to buy water
The kids ate their lunch outside in the blazing sun, there was no shade for them to sit in, both of my kids got a sunburn even though they were wearing sunscreen
Although I wrote a nice email to the owner asking to please give the kids water if they forgot to bring it, and to please set up a place for the kids in the shade, this never happened and the owner basically told me to suck it up.
As far as the riding goes, the whole place is run by teenagers, and there is not much riding pre se in the camp, just walking around while the horse is led by a teen or tween. I would have hated that as a horse crazy kid! Also the teens are VERY sullen and nobody ever smiles or says hi! I thought that was strange.
Considering what I paid for this camp (over $ 2000 for two weeks) I expect more and I will check out some of the other camps in the area for next time.

We have taken our 3-​year old kids to Redwood Ranch several times just to visit the horses, and every time the folks there have been extremely welcoming and friendly. Our kids loved looking at (and occasionally, after being invited by various owners, petting) the horses and there is generally a great atmosphere.
I also want to acknowledge their excellent customer service. David was very kind to replace a lost riding lesson gift certificate I had purchased for my wife, which I greatly appreciated. We hope to visit RR with the kids again soon!

Beware Redwood Ranch– it is unsafe for your children. I left a post last year after my daughter was thrown from a horse and dragged upside down by her stirrup –a very dangerous situation that kills kids and adults every year. A high school girl was teaching the class and the horses became nervous and jumpy. The kids were not using safety stirrups which are now the standard in teaching stables around the world. The owner claims he followed up with the purchase of safety stirrups, which are designed to come apart to avoid dragging a thrown rider.
I grew up riding my own horse, and should have known better as I watched the young girl «lead» the class, and I did not check for safety stirrups.
I hope this warning saves kids from injury and death. Go to a stable that is less crowded, has better teaching horses, better instructors, and insists on safety stirrups.

I have been riding at this stable for over a year and rode here 30 years ago, then came back because I love this place so much. The environment is relaxing, quiet, and a place for us older folks to have a space for ourselves, especially in the early evenings. It is literally like being in another place with crickets, frogs, deer, raccoons, and just nature abounding. The owners, trainers and instructors are all caring, prompt response, and safety first people. They take care of their horses and their customers. In reading some of the reviews on Unilocal who note that there is poor response, and unsafe practices, they seem a bit high maintenance. This is a busy barn with about 65 horses most of which are for lessons, the crew at the barn have to go off site for high end competition and if they don’t call back a day or two, one needs to get over it. I board my own horse here and would not have her in any other place. The other barns in Oakland are not as large, don’t offer the range in lessons that this barn does, and they don’t have the proper staff to run a full barn. This place is clean, has high expectations for children to clean up after they ride, and have responsibility. It is also a place for fun, where kids and adults can meet, ride either in and arena or out on the park trails.
For those of you who want to have a safe, fun place for their children to learn horsemanship, learn responsibility to care for a large animal and learn about themselves, this is the place for you. If you are a high maintenance, over pushy and highly demanding person, you may want to look elsewhere for your horse riding needs. This place is very chill and relaxing where by a slight delay in correspondence is ok, and easy going relaxed manner is the norm.
I have referred many people to David/​Garry and their trainers, and have nothing but good things to say about them. Lets put it this way, this barn is constantly having classes which are full, they have people who have been riding here for years who love it here and when an instructor leaves, maybe there is a good reason for the departure, not pointing unknown fingers back at the employer — maybe it is the instructor who needed to move on.

Great barn. Though private or group lessons will likely provide more riding time than camp.

Called to get information about birthday plans for a loved one and was so impressed with how helpful and *not pushy* he was with offering trailride information and trying to accommodate our budget, that I was moved to come write a review.
I’ll come back and add to the review with more specific information about the trailride if we end up going with Redwood Ranch, but for now I’m just really impressed with how professional and courteous David was over the phone. Had some great ideas about how I could make the birthday special — surprises, etc. And even gave some other names of stables further afield that I might like to check out. Virtually unheard of these days, and very refreshing! A sign of a confident business :)

My 7 year old daughter is taking lessons here with David for the last 5 weeks and is loving it! The horses are well cared for. the stables are well kept and clean, and the owners, Gary and David, truly love teaching kids and are very conscious about safety.
Shayla, one of the other instructors, is very focused, gives great direction, and is professional. And, all of this in our neighborhood!
The negative review posted earlier is unfortunate and as a parent, I too would be gravely concerned if the safety of the kids at the barn was not a top priority — but in my experiences at Redwood Ranch, safety is the top priority with the instructors and owners.
As a novice horseback riding family, we are truly pleased with Redwood Ranch and encourage anyone who is interested in riding lessons to give this place a shot. I cant’ give 5 stars because I don’t really have anything to compare this to since we’re new to the sport but we are huge fans!

After moving to SF, I figured my days of riding were numbered. Lucky for me my co-​worked decided to get back into riding and insisted I come do a lesson here with her. Being back on a horse after months of not riding reminded me how crucial it is for my well-being…and one lesson quickly turned into two… and then into 3… etc. We take semi-​private lessons with Rebecca (who is amazing) and slowly but surely I’m regaining my muscles and sanity. I’m now fortunate enough to be able to ride almost weekly and my life is whole again.

We LOVE Redwood Ranch. Really, LOVE.
Our daughter attended summer camp last year and this year had a fabulous experience.
The horses are well cared for and the barns are clean. There are lots of staff and helpers around AND it is in the beautiful Oakland hills. I feel like I am in another (peaceful) country every time we stop by.
My daughter has been taking lessons every week for about a year. It has been wonderful watching her skill and confidence continue to build at Redwood Ranch.
Redwood Ranch is a special place. I am so grateful to the owners Dave and Garry for sharing their slice of heaven with us.

Garry is wonderful and runs a good, clean barn. They have room for boarding and offer well trained lesson horses.
I recently started riding again, after a log hiatus, and I’m working with one of their trainers Pam Howden –who is very patient and extremely knowledgeable. Lessons are affordable and you’ll be able to take your riding to the next level. If you want to be a better rider sign up with her fast because her schedule gets full quickly!
They offer summer riding camp for kids and they are one of the only barns in the east bay to have a covered arena. The rains haven’t slowed them down.