Potomac Horse Center

Great place to ride, horses well managed, and instructors are excellent; however, not a warm and fuzzy place. Definitely made to feel, «privileged» to ride here.

I’m back at PHC as an adult, after starting my riding career here in the late 80s. I’ve been back off and on for a few years now (off when pregnant), and have been thrilled.
The facilities at PHC are unmatched in this area. The rings are large, well maintained, and the jump courses are constantly changing.
The instructors are incredible. While I agree that there was a time where PHC experienced a lot of instructor turnover, it’s been consistent for a while, and they now have the right instructors in place. While I almost always ride with the same instructor, on the off chance she is out, I’ve been happy with her subs (all of 3 times in over a year.) Everyone is knowledgeable, helpful, and pushes their riders. I’m always learning and improving.
The horses are well cared for. They definitely do no sit tacked all day, as some other reviewers stated. They can only work a specific number of hours a day, and the staff errs on the side of caution if they suspect a horse is sore or injured. In fact, in the middle of my lesson, my horse felt off, and the instructor noticed as well. She asked me to dismount, and apologized for ending my lesson early (I received a free make up), but that she needed to ensure that the horse was OK. I obviously happily obliged, and that horse had weeks off while she recovered. She was back to her old self again, because the staff was quick to pull her out of lessons and get her the care she needed.
This is a great place to ride, with knowledgeable staff, and sweet horses.

I’m very impressed that Renee the manager cares enough about the PHC to call me up about my prior review and ask if they could make things right. I usually only leave positive reviews but I am so impressed with the facility that I felt with a few improvements it could be first class; so I left a few constructive comments. With a manager like Renee who seems to care, PHC will once again be a world class faculty.

I had a great time riding a horse there. My trainor is so nice that my friends and I learned the basics quickly. Yayyy! We’re coming back!

Last lesson the best but progression ponderous
Clients made to feel second class as if we are privileged to pay for lessons
Must think carefully about coming back

I really don’t understand the bad reviews. Maybe they had a different manager when those reviews were written. I take lessons twice a week and love it! I have made a great friend there, too, thanks to their staff making the special effort to introduce us. Their horses are treated very well. They do not stand in their stalls with bridles on all day. If my horse of the day does not have another lesson directly after mine (which is most of the time), they let me know I can untack him if I want. If I can’t that day, then one of their wonderful handlers promptly does it. (I asked if I could do this because I am not only learning to ride but also to care for horses. But they made sure they knew me well before they allowed me to do anything with their horses other than ride.) It is really nice to show up for my lesson with my horse ready to go and happy. And I love getting to give them some manager-​approved TLC afterward if I have time. Baths are required on warm days to rinse the sweat off. They rescue almost all of their school horses and train them very well. One wonderful quarter horse I ride was neglected by his previous owner and got his back foot lacerated in barbed wire. Usually a horse would be put down but they paid his vet bills, cared for him, and turned him in to a therapy horse for the disabled. The kids love him and so do I. Because of his foot, riders are not allowed to do anything but walk and trot with him and he is not overworked. Once I started to canter, they switched me to a couple of gorgeous thoroughbreds with the most wonderful, long, graceful canters. They adopted both of them. One has an old knee injury from racing, so he cannot jump. But he is just a big sweet boy. Once I get to the jumping level, there are plenty of other horses I can ride. They are very careful to match the rider and horse. The staff have been great to me and even let me change classes in the middle of a session because that particular instructor and I just didn’t click (this happens a lot in the horse world and is no big deal). Their kid classes are great and very safe. All group classes are limited to 4 riders. The only reason I didn’t give them 5 stars is because they don’t have any lessons for teaching riders how to work with their horses on the ground, which is an essential skill for building trust with one’s horse, and I do plan to buy soon. It is true that there don’t seem to be many advanced riders there, but maybe I’m just not there at the right times. Oh, they just got another great trainer with an amazing résumé so maybe she’ll attract some «A» level riders. I suggest everyone give them a try, and especially take your kids out there there for a pony ride or private intro lesson. Plus, if you live in Potomac, this is a very convenient location. I can leave my house 20 minutes before my lesson and be standing with my school horse outside the ring with plenty of time to spare before the lesson starts (which is always right on time).

I have been riding at the Potomac Horse Center (PHC) for more than 15 years. Over the course of those 15 years, I have purchased two of their school horses and boarded them both there and taken many, many lessons!
PHC provides lessons for beginners to advanced riders. They also offer Therapeutic lessons and pony rides for those not old enough to start lessons.
There are many Client, Schooling, and Dressage shows over the course of each year, and the Center has a Show Team, a Children’s Short Stirrup Equitation League, and an Adult Equitation League for those who want to get involved in a higher level of equestrian pursuits and travel off site. Not only do the horses go to horse shows, but some of them do performances at the Metropolitan Opera and appear in advertisements (what great horses they are to be stars)!
Regarding comments from some of the other reviews: the stalls are numbered (which coincides with each horse’s saddle and bridle). Imagine wearing someone else’s shoes that were too tight. Well, each horse needs to be fitted correctly with an appropriate saddle and bridle. Happy horse – happy rider (and safe rider)! The horses are tacked up before each lesson by a groom who is well-​versed in each horse’s needs. The horses are only allowed to be ridden a very small portion of each day, and they are untacked after each lesson and blanketed if it is cold or given a bath if they are hot from the summer heat.
PHC hosts an open house each spring for the public. This is a good time for families/​prospective riders to meet the horses, the staff, take a pony ride, get face painting, etc. Please come out and see why I have been a rider/​boarder there for 15 years!

Let me begin by sharing a little history, mine and PHC’s. I first attended PHC in the autumn of 1966. At that time it was THE outstanding equine facility in North America. The staff at the time included Betty Howett, FBHS; Collette Stevens, FBHS, Col. Tony Szedo, Nancy Jones, Brian Ross, Richard Newton and many others. When the Spanish Riding School of Vienna toured North America they first stayed at PHC for a month before beginning their tour. When the staff put on their famous Christmas Ride it was to music donated by Col. Alois Podhajski, director of the Spanish Riding School. Its then 1,500 acres was dotted with over 1,000 jumps including the first «Piano» and many other types of event jumps in America; all overseen by Mr. Richard Newton who went on to build the cross country course and the Kentucky Horse Park (among others). One of our secretaries eventually left to start a small magazine you may have heard of, Equus. Collette Stevens won the AHSA special dressage trophy the first three consecutive years it was offered. The next five years it was won by Kay Meredith of Meredith Manor, on Allegre, the same Andalusian stallion the Ms. Stevens had ridden to that award.
The most famous aspect of PHC was its Horsemaster Course, equivalent to the the BHS BHSAI course in Britain as had been taught by Ms. Howett, Ms. Stevens and other staff at Porlock Vale, from which they had been hired. Just as well know but this time infamous were the «Jollies,» a jolly ride through the countryside for Horsemaster students, led by owner Frederick G. «Stretch» Harding, usually riding his 18 hh. cold blooded Irish hunter, Scattery. These were three hour rides on Sunday afternoons, half of which were usually at a full gallop. some of the tales told of personal adventures on Jollies will still cause the hair on the back of necks to stand up.
Among the other groups of students taught at PHC were the staff of the German Embassy, students and faculty of the Washington French School, and groups from several colleges and universities. And each and every class was taught by a member of the staff dressed in highly shined boots, breeks, shirt and tie or turtleneck, blue uniform blazer with a PHC patch on the left breast pocket, spurs, gloves, stick and hard hat — no exceptions.
At that time PHC housed 71 horses, each with a special diet. The Centre was dark on Mondays so horses were given a bran mash on Sunday night and then taken and turned out in one of the several large fields. On Tuesday morning they were brought back, groomed, and the week started again. Speaking of groomed, each groom had care of 4 or 5 horses and they were made spotless each and every morning, starting with strapping. when a student arrived for a class they checked the schedule and went to the stall where their horse was located. There they were met by the horse’s groom, who led the already saddled horse to the arena or other location, the student was assisted to mount. when the lesson was over the groom would be waiting to take the horse back to its stall. and those stalls were spotless.
The loss of such a facility, the turning this once proud institution into what it is today, is beyond belief. For those of us who lived that life, it is nearly enough to bring tears.

The facilities are great, the horses are well cared for and they offer many different programs. However, they are very expensive for what is taught and their group lessons are very repetitive. They seem to go through instructors often and this combined with fitting too many people into programs is not a good recipe.

I rode here for about a year and it’s by and far the worst stable experience I’ve ever had. My first instructor quit and noone bothered to tell me — I showed up one day and they told me I would be riding with someone new. Then — get this — the same thing happened again. They cannot keep staff to save their lives.
I had been riding in a private lesson (my preference) until the barn manager decided that my lesson time would be used for group lessons. Her solution was to put me in a group lesson with 7 other riders. I did the math — that’s 12 minutes of instruction per rider for an hour long lesson. Thank you, but no. Then, when I tried to cancel because they would not let me continue taking a private lesson, they refused to refund my $ 100 deposit.
Also, and maybe this is standard practice in the area, the horses are left bridled all day in their stalls. I find that horrible. How would you like it if you were stuck with a bar in your mouth while you were trying to eat?

This is, in my opinion, a very well-​run, organized, if a bit «formulaic» stable. I will explain what I mean by that in a minute. It is a very nice, professional facility that is about 45 minutes to 1 hour from downtown DC. They have indoor and outdoor arenas and lots of good school horses.
You can go for a free evaluation ride Saturdays, and then they will assign you to a group lesson if you like with others of your level. The stable seems better equipped to handle beginners than it does expert riders, in terms of lesson offerings. They don’t seem to have a lot (if any?) A-​Rated show-​level riders.
The stable is almost too-​well organized if that’s possible (my formulaic comment). They seem to have everything down to an exact science – which kinda takes the fun out of it. Everything is overly organized and prescribed, I mean, even the stalls are numbered, which coincides with the numbers in the tack room which match up to the horse– Geez! It’s nice but also feels sort of OCD to me!!!
Overall though, the stable is excellent and I do recommend it.