Sugarlands Riding Stable

Great 1 hour ride at a good price. Everyone was friendly and the horses looked well cared for and were well behaved. Our guide, Billy, was fantastic pointing out sights and wildlife along the way. We would definitely do this again!

Amazing! Will definitely come again!!! Had an amazing Tour Guide and the Horses were beautiful!

We did the 1.5 hr tour. The horses are kept tied up out in the sun, uncovered which I thought was mean on a 93 degree day. Good horse, ok trail– scenery was not impressive unless you want to see a view of downtime Gatlinburg. HORRIBLE tour guide. Loud, obnoxious, and bossy. Do not get Joe. If there was any wildlife out in that forest it would have been scared away because of his big mouth.
I’m an experienced rider, have had horses all my life, and he told me to stop trying to guide my horse — «Just hold the knot at the end of the reins people. They do this every day you don’t need to guide them.» Here’s another comment that surprised me– «Do not let them go to the bathroom, do not let them stop if you can help it.» –Um…are you kidding me?
He constantly yelled at me for not keeping up with the group when the guys horse in front of me was going slow and kept falling behind. Joe obviously did not want us 6 – 8 ft behind one another like they instructed when we left the barn. He also never yelled at any of the men during the ride which I found sexist. He also constantly yelled at another woman behind me.
One of the kids on the tour was bucked twice. He didn’t fall off thankfully, could have been really bad. Tour guide did nothing.
Would not come back and would not recommend. Maybe would have had a better experience with a different guide.

Very nice 2 hour ride along the smoky mountains! It was worth the money and time! You don’t need to make reservation for small group so just show up and they will wait for a small group to gather and go together. Highly recommend!!!

It was the first time my fiancé and I had ridden horses and everything went fantastic. The horses were extremely good-​natured and responsive and the staff were warm and helpful.
We will always come back here when we visit the smokies!

Great experience. Good price. Very friendly people. Location is wrong on here. Check the actual website for details. If you get to sugarland visitor center you’re super close. One hour ride was plenty. Any longer and you’ll end up sore if you’re a beginner. Views on the hike were decent. Didn’t get a good look at any mountains. Small creek for a good part of the way that was neat. Better views would bump it to a 5. Couldn’t ask for better service though.

This was the first time for my kids to ride a horse. The folks were super nice. I liked how they put my 3 girls in front of me and my son and husband behind me. That way we could watch our kids while riding. My 8 year rode right behind our guide which made me feel good! My 14 year old daughters horse acted like he was going to go off trail. The guide coached her to pull up on the Raines and then told her she dud a good job. It did scare her for a second but she was able go laugh about it. I was pleased that he told her that bc she is soft hearted and is always afraid she’ll do something wrong. With her being sensitive natured he could have easily said something in a way that could have made her self conscience about handling the horse. Thank you sir!

5 of us went on a Friday morning without a reservation and was able to get right in. We took the 1.5 hour tour. It was up the side of the mountain and then down the other side. Beautiful countryside. I was on a horse named Redbull. The helper said he was a little lazy and that was a good thing ;))). The horses knew the trail very well and almost did the whole trip without much guiding. If you love horses you will love this place.

For my 1^st time riding a horse this was awesome. Great trail ride through a stream and up/​down the mountain side. Our guide (Joe) was great and offered a lot of information along the way. He even told a few humorous stories about the local bears.
They tell you not to let the horses eat while on the trail. We quickly learned that if you let your horse eat once they will repeatedly try to stop throughout the ride. This was a little inconvenient at 1^st until I figured out how to control the horse instead of letting the horse control me.
They sell pictures of your ride at the end. Tip — you can haggle down the price of the photos.
Being my 1^st experience with horseback riding, I didn’t feel that I could give them a 5 rating. But, the overall experience was fantastic.

This was my first time riding a horse, we did the 1 hour guided tour. My husband has been on a horse before. The scenery was absolutely beautiful we passed through streams and walked along steep cliffs and passed through cascades and waterfalls. Simply put it was beautiful country land. There was however very deep mud at times and I felt really sad for the horses having to lug us through that crap– I even teared up a couple times (btw I am extremely sensitive towards animals) & my husband said it made him sad seeing the horses slip on the rocks. I do feel like some parts of the trail are unacceptable and depreciating to the animals that keep their stable up and running– you could at least make the trail comfortable for them. Not all parts were like this– but there were a few parts they could improve for the horses comfort.
Now — I admit that I was a bit nervous and I didn’t receive any formal training on what to do or not to do while on the horse everything went so fast while loading up I got a brief «hold here– pull back to slow, give him a kick to speed up» ok I think I got it. Chance and I started off great a nice leisurely pace — I thought this is going to be a breeze. well what he didn’t like was when I gave him a small tap on the side to catch up with the group because he kept trying to take snack breaks, hey he was hungry I don’t blame him! But he got kind of rowdy and bucked me a bit to show his displeasure. At that point he could eat as much as he wanted to I wasn’t going to try that again. (Again this could have been my mistake if I had mis handled him– he IS a wild animal and I didn’t know what I was doing) out of nowhere he would start to gallop and scared me! But he would obey when I pulled the reigns to slow down, thankfully. Lol. It seemed like mine & my husbands horses were starving they kept trying to Graze the whole time. When I jokingly told the guide at the end chance is a rowdy boy he made a remark how he uses him as rescue horse and he’s been a trail horse 20 years he’s just doing his job, this might explain why he would randomly start to gallop. He was probably just annoyed at me (the horse) because I didn’t know what to do. We ripped the guide just because we are tipping kind of people, but saw nobody else in our group do this. Even though being in the back of the pack we couldn’t understand him the whole time at all. We DID enjoy the ride aside from the very few mishaps. I probably wouldn’t ever ride a horse again, but it was a wonderful once in a lifetime experience. In the end I would never blame the horse I am a crazy animal lover lady it was probably a new rider mistake I was making. I would say even experienced riders would have fun on this trail. 30 bucks was a very affordable price!
Edit: I did some research on Google horse riding for beginners and turns out I wasn’t holding the reins like I was supposed to & I’m pretty sure nobody showed me at the stables– perhaps I should have vocalized I had no idea how to hold on but it all happened so fast. This could’ve been why chance got annoyed at me. I wouldn’t want to deter anyone from going here by my review– But a beginner– I would do a quick google search for some dos and donts or ask them at the stables for clear directions.

Great place. Service was excellent and the ride was very nice. The guide was especially patient with our five year old grandson. I would highly recommend them, but go early or you will wait to ride.

Man what a super time very affordable, fantastic views and good olé friendly people and animals. Dutchess took super care of my first time riding girl friend, and champ kept my hefty self firmly planted in the saddle, we were able to go in heavy falling snow, and it was gorgeous, there were no reservations needed and they are open in almost any weather. Hurry up and go before thanksgiving and get those Christmas card photo shots…

First of all let me say this riding experience was awesome. The guided tour/​ride through the mountains is unbeatable. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable, and the price is just right ($ 30 for a hr ride).
The reason I’m not giving this place 5 stars is for two reasons. First being there is a lady who basically hounds you with a camera, having you pose near horses, and snapping pictures at nearly every step of riding the horse (while around the stable). The pictures are 2 shots for $ 15 or all of the pictures that she takes of you for $ 25. If you decide to get the pictures you are given a .jpeg disc.
The second reason that prevents me from giving 5 stars is the sign that you pass at the end of your ride. The sign reads «Tips are appreciated.» I don’t know, maybe its just me, but this doesn’t really seem like the type of «service» that warrants tips. At $ 30, $ 45, or $ 60 why do I need to tip. Are the people involved with this venture not being paid from the fairly hefty fee charged to partake in same? If they’re that hard up for cash why not charge say $ 40 rather than $ 30. To me putting a sign up for tips is just off putting, especially when being a guide is your job.
Like I said, the actual ride is awesome, I just think there are a few places that could be operated differently.

This was a wonderful experience! The facility is ok but the riding was wonderful. The staff are extremely polite and took the time with the kids to make sure they were comfortable. The actually ride was stunning, through the mountains and over streams it was an hour of bliss. Our daughter is an experiences rider and she loved it!

Sugarlands was the best experience of my trip to Gatlinburg! I had to go by myself because my husband was over the weight limit. I was grouped with a small family and another couple. The woman who manages it was super friendly – genuinely friendly and down to earth. The «Helpers» were nice and relaxed and a little rough around the edges, just like you’d expect from a cowboy. My guide was a very outgoing young guy that looked like he just went out west after the Civil War ended, chaps and everything. He broke the silence at just the right times and from what I could tell, made the little girl in our group feel very comfortable (he led her on horseback the whole way). The speed was perfect. The trail itself is incredibly serene and you will see everything from the hilltops to the streams and everything inbetween. We even saw some deer. If you’re looking for hoity-​toity equestrians, this place is not for you. If you want a nice long ride in Smokies for an EXCELLENT price (perhaps the only thing in Gatlinburg that wasn’t overpriced), this is the place to come. It’s only minutes from the main strip of Gatlinburg. **Make sure you bring a cash tip for your guide. I didn’t realize tips were appreciated until the very end because a sign said so. I had to write my guide a cheque. but, I’m sure those guys appreciate cash. And ladies, they take pictures ;)