Vin Hesten Trail Rides

“I had the most incredible first-time horseback riding experience! It was incredibly important to me to have a positive experience, as I was a bit nervous at first. Thanks to our amazing guide, Cole, my fear melted away. Riding through an actual forest was an unexpected delight, and it added a whole new layer of adventure to our ride. I highly recommend this experience to anyone looking for a memorable and fear-conquering adventure!”

“Cole was such an AMAZING tour guide and explained instructions with ease. His personality was easy going and outgoing and helped with any new beginner scares. The owner herself was very friendly and aloud us to have such a great experience i’d recommend them again and again, the wine tasting was beautiful at the end too! The horses were great too, so easy going!”

“We went on the private sunset ride tonite for our 36th anniversary. We had a great guide and great horses. Wish I could post pics here Our first scheduled ride was cancelled due to heavy rain but we were able to reschedule right away for a week later. It was no problem and our ride was most enjoyable. Great place.”

“Should've, Could've, Would've - 4 Stars with Mixed Feelings Trail Guide Sam - 5 stars Overall Experience - 3.5 stars Trails - 3.5 stars Cleanliness - 4 stars Horses - 5 stars Safety - 4 Overall, my family of five had a blast, but improvements are needed if they want 5-star reviews. The day before they sent a text telling us where to go and said there would be signage. Upon arrival at the property, there was no signage (that I saw) indicating we were at the correct ranch. Sam and her mom were giving water to the horses - they did not greet us and still no signage, so I asked. Sam let us know we were in the right spot and she'd be with us in a moment. Okay, that was awkward but no big deal. When Sam was finished, she started her intake and said, "So you are experienced?" The online booking form asks for experience level but only gives 3 options, NONE, EXPERIENCED, OR SEASONED RIDER. It wasn't none, and it wasn't seasoned, so I chose experienced. Had there been an option to elaborate I would have left a note stating our level of experience but that wasn't an option. So now I let her know it wasn't none but we were by no means "riders". The mom obviously annoyed said, "they said they were experienced." Sam seemed to disregard this, then proceeded to pair us with our horses. She put my daughter on Tarmack - suddenly her mom shouts out angrily, "she shouldn't be on that horse!". It was weird. I mean if she thought my daughter was in danger, why did they put her on that horse? But again, Sam disregarded her mom's comments. As Sam was giving us riding directions, her mom would shout over at us. We were supposed to keep our horses at their stations until ait was our turn. My horse was eager and started to go and I had to get him to stop. At one point her mom yelled at me to pull the reins to the right - so I did. My horse Ranger gave me a little side eye, so I said, "he gave me side eye" and Sam replied protectively of Ranger, "Because you're pulling on his face!" So here the mom is yelling at us saying, "You need be rough, show them who's boss!". Meanwhile, Sam is asking us to be gentle. It was quite uncomfortable and simply unprofessional behavior of the Mother. She was clearly profiling us based on the very little information she had on us. Another odd behavior that was occurring was the Dad was operating some heavy equipment a couple hundred feet away. Sam kept asking him to turn it off as she was concerned it would spook the horses, but there was clearly a lack of respect or disregard going on. At one point the Dad and some other people started yelling and swearing... it was the oddest behavior for a business to be acting this way in front of clients. They finally did turn the equipment off after the mom walked over and told them to stop. Once we had gone over the basics and everyone in our party had the opportunity to demonstrate their skill, we set off into the bush for our "sunset" ride. The ride was FANTASTIC and Sam was a terrific guide. She was friendly and funny, yet kept safety as the #1 priority. The trails were pretty, though could have been a bit more well-kept. There was some debris laying around from an old nursery. It was fun - just not quite as was described on their website. We did not get to see a sunset nor did we ride through vineyards. It was more riparian with arroyo willows & oaks. Overall we had a wonderful time with Sam and our horses. I wish that places like this would realize that not everyone comes from equine backgrounds and if you don't want to deal with people with little to no experience, don't offer trail rides. If you don't like people, don't advertise a service that deals with people. Maybe on the forms, add an option for people to elaborate on their skill level so you can be confident with pairing folks with the right horses. Maybe Mom should just stay inside next time. Sam, you get five stars. Thank you for being a great guide, keeping us safe, and being nice. We appreciate you and the time you took to make my daughter's 23rd birthday a super fun day.”