What a fantastic experience! If you don’t want to read this entire review, just stop here and know that you will be in good hands at Bella Vista! My kids are extreme beginners… They have been up on a horse maybe once or twice in their lives. However, They LOVE horses and want to learn more about them. Enter Bella Vista. In addition to having healthy, beautiful, well behaved horses– the setting of the Ranch makes you feel like you were in the middle of Colorado, not Simi Valley. Very quiet, very private — absolutely peaceful and beautiful. We arrived and were introduced to all of the horses at the ranch. My kids enjoyed the stories, and learning about each horse’s distinct personality. Please saw where they ate, exercise, and where they slept. I am telling you — the stables are cleaner than my house! So CLEAN!!! We were honored to ride Lily– an absolutely gorgeous, calm, lovable and loving horse. Just standing next to this horse, you can feel the calmness and love radiating from her. The instructor, Celia, explained about different types of saddles, why do you wear a helmet, different types of helmets, and all Sorts of various horse riding equipment. Everything said and done was with an emphasis on safety. I felt 100% SAFE letting my son up on Lily. It wasn’t long until Celia had my son looking like a pro on that horse! She helped him gain confidence and stability– and SHOWED him how to safely handle Lily and even did some troubleshooting… Like, «If you were on a horse and _____, what might you do?» EVERYTHING was about SAFETY. Everyone was sad when the lesson was over, but nobody could believe how much was learned in such a short period of time. It seems the knowledge acquired would have taken a WEEK!!! We were extremely happy with our experience at Bella Vista and we definitely will be back. The horses are so happy to be there, and so were we.