Jackson’s Stables

*** Beautiful but Unnecessarily Dangerous!!! *** An otherwise great ride is ruined because of disregard for dangerous wildlife.
This review is for our 9÷13÷15 ride on 2 hr Emerald Mountain route.
GOOD: The ride was beautiful with cooperative horses. We did the 2 hr Emerald Mountain ride and the views were stunning riding around the mountain with the first part being a nice ascent, middle part was going around the mountain up high, end part was descending. It would have been the best commercial horseback riding I’ve ever done, but…
BAD: The guide thought it would be O.K. to pass a HUGE BULL ELK lying on the path. I yelled up from behind that it would be very dangerous, we could be gored, a horse could be gored, or the horses could get spooked and throw riders. The guide ignored warnings and proceeded to pass the elk by herself. The elk stood up and charge her and her horse, with antlers pointed downward to do damage! Fortunately, the guide’s horse quickly got out of the way, but it spooked the other horses and they wanted to jump and run. After that, the guide radioed back to the stables and ranch hands came to scare the elk off with rocks and sticks. Finally, we passed and returned safely. After returning home, I called one of the owners of Jackson Stables (Julie Jackson) to describe the incident. She said she was aware of it and said she wasn’t concerned that her guide attempted to pass the huge, wild bull elk. She said it happens all the time on their rides. I found that hard to believe. I explained that I’ve seen and read about severe injuries resulting from close encounters with bull elk, especially during rutting season. She said that they ride passed large elk and bear. I’m dumbfounded!!! If anyone wants to take this kind of risk, please don’t take your kids~!
I hate rating Jackson’s Stables so low. It was a fantastic ride in beautiful country with friendly staff. But, the disregard for dangerous wildlife by the trail guide and owner of Jackson’s Stables makes me not recommend them.

Out of all the activities I did in Estes, horseback riding is probably the one I wouldn’t opt to do again.
The stables were hard to find and we drove around in circles asking people where it’s located. We were signed up for the 2 hour Moraine hike, but ended up doing a 1 hour hiking as we were late, due mostly in part having trouble trying to find the place.
I’ve never gone horseback riding before, so the wranglers did a good job giving instruction.
Views were great, but my horse, Aspen had a mind of her own and had her own idea about routes toward the end… not too fun when you’ve never done this before. Everyone else in my group was experienced so it was catered for them.
I didn’t enjoy it too much, but my boyfriend (experienced rider) had a blast, bonded with his horse and was smiling ear to ear the entire time. It was his birthday trip so seeing him have a good time made everything worth it.

My family and I went for a trail ride while visiting Estes. My husband and kids had never been on a horse and were very nervous. Our experience was awesome! We loved it! The horses were amazing and very calm. Rachel our Wrangler was awesome and very knowledgable. We had a great experience and would totally do it again.

BEST ride I’ve ever had. We did the three hour that goes into the RMNP. Our guide was excellent, and the ride was beautiful and fun. We did a lot of uphill and downhill that was definitely a challenge and did some trotting! We went across a creek and up «Cardiac Hill» which was terrifying/​amazing all at the same time. The horses were well behaved and didn’t give anyone problems, and I loved loved loved mine. I want to come back and do another ride before winter hits!

We have been riding from this stable for probably 15 years. I can’t believe it took this long to write a review as this is such a great place.
This is located on the YMCA property adjacent to Rocky Mountain National Park. I think all of the different trail rides actually go into the park. They offer many different packages, and you can spend as little as an hour ride to as much as all day. I have to say that after 2 hours my backside was screaming for relief:)
The wranglers are all very nice and very experienced. It seems that a lot of them are college students that work here during the summer. Several of them brought their own horses.
They do a nice job of matching horse and rider. If you don’t ride much, they give you a horse that knows the trail by heart. If you are experienced, they give you a horse with some spirit. I got Stitch, and he was a great horse. I liked the fact that he kept biting my wife’s horse on the rear. It kept her horse moving quite nicely.
We will return for another ride on our next visit to Estes Park.