Briarcliff Farm

We have boarded here for the last year. We love Briarcliff and look forward to many more years.

Owner is quite rude and grumpy

I do not usually believe in putting down businesses, and have never before used Unilocal.However, after my disturbing experience at BriarCliff I felt it important that I share my experience to hopefully keep other horse owners from having a similar one. I agree with Brianna G who wishes you could have left less than one star.
As this review is lengthy, here are the key points:
–Owner is unstable.
–Horses colic frequently.
–Primary method of feed is pellets, cubes, alfalfa.
–Appearance of facility appears to take precedence over care of horses.
–Easy to be deceived by gorgeous and scenic location.
I have boarded my horses at barns in CA, WY, and MT (I moved around for college), so I am pretty go-​with-​the flow and easy to please when it comes to boarding. My main requirements are fairly basic: quality hay, ample space, good footing, safe and peaceful environment.
At BriarCliff, the owner acts extremely friendly tells you what you want to hear to get you onsite. However, once you move to the facility, she acts like you have misunderstood where your horse will be boarded, and you are placed in something else. She only feeds pellets and cubes primarily because «it works the horses jaw» and is less messy. The footing is ok, but tends to clump when it rains, and when it rains everything is pretty much closed except for a disheveled round pen that you must walk down a steep muddy hill to get to… for a facility specializing in «older, retired horses,» this is not a good turnout option, especially when the turn outs on site are dry and safe.
She was willing to accommodate my goats and seemed very nice and promising, so I moved there. However, after careful consideration I decided another ranch would be a better fit for me. I had not yet signed a contract, and had already paid full board. Upon advisement from other previous boarders that when a boarder leaves the owner does weird things (such as moving your horses around and moving tack trunks out in the rain), I felt it best to wait to tell the owner we would be moving on the day we moved. As I had never signed the contract, I was not obligated to stay, and I had only been there 1 week but paid for 1 month of board, so she would not be losing any money from us.
I thanked her profusely for her accommodation and time, saying I had a last minute job opportunity that I needed to move for immediately. Instead of being disappointed but kind, she was extremely rude and mean, saying that she kicked someone out to let «you people» have better stalls (after she had previously told us the horses she moved were a sale horse she put in another pen and a student’s horse who wanted to move to a stall down below). She was rude and walked away with a simple «let me know when you get your stuff out of here.» She kept her workers (very friendly crew) busy so they could not help my mom and I load my goats/​move a few heavy grain bins (with my previous arm injury, some things I require assistance with if they are heavy).
Her manner was extremely unprofessional. She wants things pristine and seems to be more obsessed with appearance than of care for the horses (everyone I met as boarders said their horse had coliced during its stay at BriarCliff). She runs around in her golf cart «checking on the horses» but seems to be looking for things that are not in perfect order. You cannot walk on the grass, and must pay extra for grass hay as cubes, pellets, and alfalfa are fed. Most pens have very large step downs which is hard for older horses (such as mine).
I hope this review helps other horse owners in their search for a quality boarding facility in the Santa Cruz Country.

5 stars for the impressive facility and surroundings !
5 stars for the owner (Hilary) for her excellent care of the horses as well as being professional, caring, and helpful.
5 stars for the employees who really cares for the horses and their well being!
Kudos to Hilary for training them well.
Highly recommend this place!

We loved our time here. Beautiful setting, spotless facilities. Hilary is the owner. She never stops moving in terms of managing the staff, spending time with the horses and generally keeping everything in tip top condition. A special bonus that we liked is a cross country course down by the creek and wonderful trails in the adjacent forrest. We moved our horses to be closer to home, but highly recommend this farm located several miles from Soquel and Capitola.