monterey bay equestrian center

Our guide, Bridget, was so awesome and helpful. The guides pick a horse for you based on your weight/experience. Well worth the price! If you love horses and the beach you should go!

We had a beautiful experience with Monterey Equestrian Center. We went there for a 1.5 hours beach ride at salinas river state beach, we were in 2 with the guide. She was very kind and helpful, we rode on Torino and Angel, two wonderful and cute horses, and all went pretty well. It is a really nice experience to ride on the sand next to the water, with the sounds of the waves and birds around you, and possibly see some see life. We also saw a baby whale quite close to the coast!If you like horses and beach rides, that's the right place to go.

On New Years afternoon my wife took our granddaughter on a beach ride. Lisa was their guide and she did an excellent job of matching rider skills to horse. Her instructions were clear and easy for all the riders to understand. She was is very personable and considerate of all. She went above and beyond in offering to take pictures of all the riders with their cameras. We have a number of good pictures which only adds to the wonderful memories Lisa helped us created. Thank you so very much! I would highly recommend this activity.

We went riding today on the beach with some friends from our home town. My son's friend had never ridden and his mom hadn't ridden for 30 years. My son and I and our friends had a great time and Lisa and Bridgette, our two guides were awesome! Bridgette took several pix with my phone, which was awesome.I highly recommend this business for horse back riding on the beach near Monterey! The rates are reasonable and the service was perfect!

Awesome experience for me, my sister and my daughter. I have ridden horses with many rental outfits at many locations, including places like Hawaii, and high Sierras but none come close to this ride for many reasons. The horses are brought to you at the beach ready to ride. That means you are riding the entire time at the beach enjoying the beautiful ocean, sand and surf. Our guide Bridget was so friendly and made us comfortable at once. We felt like we were riding with a friend. The horses were not only beautiful but were well trained and took good care of us. Our guide custom fit our ride to our own groups personal riding abilities. We actually got to gallop and rein our horses into the surf. The scenery! Beautiful beach overlooking Monterey Bay with dolphins frolicking just beyond the surf the day we were there. We happened to go on a Monday and had the beach to ourselves. The weather was beautiful as well. This is by far the best riding experience in the Monterey area!!!!

Our family just had a nice ride today. My daughter who is 7 1/2 years old, has been looking forward to having her first real horse riding. My 13 years old son has concerns about safety of horse riding, but he still came with us. Both of them enjoyed the ride a lot.We have a group of total 9 person plus 2 guides, Lisa was the guide that lead the group. She took good care of my daughter and stayed with her during the whole ride.The group was guided under rules for beginner. We could not run our horses but only walk. That is totally fine for our family since safety is our top priority. I would highly recommend this place to my friends to bring their families here. It is incredible experience.

I had the most amazon experience!Lisa was a fabulous guide- really friendly and made me feel comfortable- my first time riding western. I went on a 2 hour beach ride. The company were fabulous and were so helpful as a only called in the morning on the off chance that they may have a ride and they managed to arrange a ride i could join in with.My horse was a complete sweetheart called Sundance, he did everything i asked of him, went not the water when asked and was lovely and forward (We were on an experienced group).Lisa was kind enough to take some pictures and email them to me too so i had some keepsake photos! The beach was just like i dreamed! it went on and on! the waves were rolling and there were not many other people on the beach. The group was small (3 people) which was great.It was also nice that Lisa introduced us to our horses and told us a little of their history and personalities, made it so much more personal and nice to see them treating the horses as individuals rather than just another trail horse.If I'm ever back in the is part of the world i will certainly be coming back!

This was the highlight of our trip to Monterey. Bridget was a great guide and the horses were well trained. They all had their personalities, mine wanted to gallop but I loved it! We did get to lope on the beach for a short while too. Bridget is easy to talk with and we rode for over an hour. Expect to be sore if you don't ride regularly but it's well worth it.

We had a beautiful ride and we were very pleased with the competence and the flexibility of our guide, Lisa. She found a way for two riders with very different skill levels to ride together and to experience the level of excitement that suited both of us. I enjoyed the gentle walk along the surf, and my adult son, who had more experience with riding, had opportunities to canter along the beach. The scenery was beautiful along this isolated, mostly uninhabited beach. Lisa took some nice photos of us with our camera.We had the one and one half hour ride and enjoyed all of it. The horses were well behaved, and their individual personalities showed through in interesting ways. We recommend this ride, and we hope we can get back to Monterey Bay to ride again.

Let me start by saying that I am a seasoned (albeit rusty) rider. Took lessons since I was a child and rode on my college equestrian team. Now I'm limited to trail rides on the occasional vacation. I look forward to these trail rides although most turn out to be just a "nice" addition to our vacation. My husband is a through and through novice. So taking a trail ride together usually means a nice walk on a horse since it's difficult to accommodate riders with different skill sets. This was not the case with Monterey Bay Equestrian Center. When I called to make the reservation I was told that the trail guide would assess us and determine if it was okay to do more than a walk. That seemed reasonable but I assumed that meant "no" since my husband would only want to walk. Boy was I thoroughly surprised! When we arrived a the meeting site, the guide knew from the start that I had experienced and picked the horse appropriately - a wonderful chestnut named Sundance. Sometimes being an "experienced" rider gets you the other end of the spectrum - a difficult horse. Again, not the case. Sundance was wonderful. I would have loved to put him on the plane and take him home. Our trail guide Lisa said she chose him for me because he is content to hang back on his own and doesn't need to be nose to tail with the horse in front of him. So we had a pleasant walk on a nice sand dune trail out to the beach. There was another couple along on the ride who both appeared to be novice riders. Then when we got to the beach and had gotten comfortable with our horse, Lisa asked who wanted to trot. My hand flew up and she laughed. She said "I knew you would - that's why you are on Sunny." She offered to take the rest of the group further up the beach while Sunny and I hung back, then she would signal and I could canter up to the group. We did this several times. While it was by no means a strenuous ride, it was PERFECT for me to get a little cantering in and still not push a rusty rider too much. Then to top off the ride we got to witness a group of seals swimming and jumping off the coast along where we were riding. Simply perfect. We only booked for an hour and I was wishing we had booked longer. Could have easily stayed 2 hrs and not been bored on this ride. Beautiful scenery, excellent horses and a great guide who was willing to accommodate riders with various skill sets. My husband rode a horse named Tater. Also a very nice horse though he did NOT want to be separated from the group. The other two horses on the ride were equally well mannered. All in all very impressed with Monterey Bay Equestrian Center

My husband and I did the hour and a half ride with our guide, Brian. He and the horses were wonderful. We were in a small group of 5 and had a great time one the way to the beach area, and then along the beach near the water. Back up on the sand and then again to the beach. I would book the our and a half ride time, seems like the hour would be too short. Our horses did get a little feisty at one point but we all got them under control easily. I would recommend this for everyone, and Brian was awesome.

What a great birthday gift from my husband--an hour and a half horseback ride on the beach. We took a gentle stroll, with time to view the shorebirds skittering on the shiny, wet sand and the dolphins dancing in the ocean, all the while listening to the sound of the surf. Lisa, our guide, was delightful and our horses, Dakota and Sundance, were very tolerance of our limited riding skills.

Rode this morning with Vee who did a wonderful job! Horses were matched to riders' abilities and she was a great guide. Two children were on the ride and enjoyed it immensely. I highly recommend this!

* I was excited to be able to ride on the beach when I signed up. But all we did was slow walk on the beach. I like to run, asked the guide a few times. He said the tide was high, but we did not even trot. 1.5 hour of slow walk was too boring for me.* Scenery at the beach was great. Blue ocean, blue sky.

This was truly a great find for an excursion that took advantage of the awesome sand dunes and beaches of the Monterey/Seaside area. My wife and two daughters had a great time with their guide, Bridget. Bridget was patient with my wife who is a beginner and she was flexible enough to allow my more experienced daughters to canter or gallop. One of my daughters is a barrel racer in North Texas so she's used to riding fast and she truly enjoyed this experience. You may want to allow a few more minutes than they suggest to find the meeting spot because it is not at the stables but at the beach. Highly recommend.