Gibson Ranch County Park Equestrian Services

I’ve had two negative encounters at Gipson Ranch recently. One day recently I drove down a dirt road near the back parking lot that used to be a closed in pasture for horses. There was no sign not to drive there and I had remembered walking all over the park growing up and into young adulthood and I wanted to see where I used to walk so I drove down there up the hill and down a road toward the old swimming hole. As I came near the swimming hold a truck came at a fast rate of speed and jumped out of his truck saying I had driven through the pasture (that contained no horses) saying I could scare the horses and not to drive through there. I said okay but there wasn’t a sign. He said I get that a lot. I was about to drive away when a man swooped in on some kind of a tractor and started chewing me out. I said I heard the other man say what he was saying and I wasn’t willing to listen to it twice. He had a really angry look on his face and I started to drive away and he said wait that the general manager would be there in two minutes. I wasn’t going to wait for that so drove away and left the park. Another day I saw a young man go down a road down the hill to the track and was speeding around the track with dust flying up in the air. That time I did go down the road between the playground and the store that said unauthorized. Then I went over by the lake and that same young man cut me off saying I couldn’t drive down that road. I didn’t know who he was and said well you did and he said I work here. He didn’t have on a uniform or badge or anything. It kind of spooked me. I had no way of knowing he was an employee, especially the way he was acting. I don’t know who owns the park or who is running it but there doesn’t seem to be any rangers or trucks going around like there used to be. There seems to be no authority so the people who work there try to take authority and apparently nobody is listening to them and they’re getting madder and madder. I don’t feel safe going there anymore even though it’s one of my favorite places. Who knows what one of those employees will do. I didn’t see that I did anything wrong driving down a dirt road that didn’t have a sign that said don’t drive there. I don’t mind hearing something once from someone if they’re not threatening but I’m not about to be chewed out for the same thing twice or three times when there wasn’t even a sign or confronted by a young person who cuts me off with his car.

Not sure why the horrible reviews — I have 4 horses there and am extremely happy. I have yet to see a skinny horse in the whole place — all that I have seen are fat and healthy. Nich has been awesome to me and a tremendous help. He’s easy to talk to, knowledgeable about horses, very upfront, and very willing to work with you. He always promptly answers my texts and calls and is great about calling me if he feels I need to know about anything with my horses. His main concern is for the welfare of the horses and makes that his priority. I’m always happy with places that put the horses first! I hate to say it — but deaths do occur wherever you are and at every facility I have been at. Unfortunately, colic does happen but I have yet to find any facility anywhere that hasn’t had any. While impaling is a horrible thing I realize that accidents do happen and horses will get into trouble wherever they are. I had a horse impale herself at my house once (thankfully she was fine) — but I had no clue where she did it or how — I walked the fence line and everywhere and still couldn’t figure it out. Horses are horses and trust me… they can get into trouble wherever they are. The security is actually very good — when I first boarded there, I came over right at dusk and the gates were closed — I followed in a car and two different people stopped me to ask why I was there (I was very happy about that!). All of the codes were changed on January 1 — including the front gate and I received the new codes a couple of weeks prior to the new year (which I totally appreciated!). I’ve found the people extremely friendly around the facility and very relaxing. I enjoy having the option to work in the arena or go out for a nice trail ride.