Peacehaven Equestrian Center

BEWARE! If you consider Jenny and Dan Root’s boarding facility as an option for your horse you will be sorry! NO ONE leaves on good terms with these people!
They can only hide their CRAZY for a very short while!
THEY DO NOT PRACTICE WHAT THEY PREACH! I don’t know which branch of Christianity condones self-​righteous, self-​involved, judgemental, vindictive, liars. I believe they are their own «cult». Lies roll off their tongue as easily as breathing. They count on playing the Christian «card» to get away with multitudes of bad UNCHRISTIAN-​LIKE behaviours.
DO NOT BELIEVE what they tell you about themselves or this ranch. These people are COUNTERFEIT. They couldn’t be less Christian like, if they sprouted horns and a tail, and should not be running a boarding facility let alone a ministry. Unprofessional business practices run rampant. i.e.-They had to take down a web site that they built, claiming, their ranch had the BEST WEDDING VENUE between LA and SD. That web site was BUILT ENTIRELY FROM PICTURES THAT THEY STOLE from a legitimate wedding venue! THEIR VENUE DID NOT EXIST! It is a hill full of dirt and weeds and a 30 year old decrepit gazebo. That site was up for at least 3 months. I saw it with my own eyes!
Their LACK OF INTEGRITY is only exceeded be their abject laziness. Frequently no one is up to feed until 10:30AM.
NO AUTOMATIC WATERERS means that water buckets are left EMPTY quite often, even though they live 50 feet from the pens! Several boarders have left for this reason, after being told their horse DRANK the water THEREFORE didn’t need more! Jenny will tell you she works 14 hrs. a day. TOTALLY a fantasy in her own mind (like most of what comes out of her mouth)!.They do as little as possible for their boarders. 90% of my year here, I have mucked my own pen. I have made my own improvements to my pen, buying lumber and adding to the big gaps in the pen, to keep hungry horses from fighting with each other. DAN is ABSOLUTELY NO HELP, so don’t ask!
NOT ONE THING IS TRUE, ON THEIR WEB SITE for this ranch! It is PURE FICTION! There is NO kids camp, pony club, (supposedly every Sat. from 11 –2, in a yr. I’ve only seen a few kids twice)! NO PERSONALISED CARE (don’t ask for ANYTHING) bagged supplements are frequently not given to horses for days at a time, and NO TRAINERS, WESTERN NOR ENGLISH! On two separate occasions they lured in trainers, and they left disgruntled, in LESS THAN 24 HOURS! Every other point is just delusional rhetoric, meant to deceive.
THEY HAVE HAD AN ENDLESS EXODUS OF BOARDERS, workers, and not to mention down-​on-​their-​luck people that thought they were going to be helped, only to be thrown out when they couldn’t pay up, and were left worse off than they were found. Workers generally last a month or two, the same with boarders. In the year I was there dozens of people have been thrown out or leave, most left because of poor treatment, from the ROOTS, either towards themselves or lack of care for their animals. It doesn’t take long for an intelligent horse owner to realise that the ROOTS KNOW NOTHING ABOUT HORSES nor RUNNING a BUSINESS!
They breed dogs to supplement their income from donations. The poor momma dog has had 3 litters in less than a year. They kept a female pup from a past litter, intending to breed her to HER OWN FATHER. Just another example of unethical practices! Oh and, watch out for all the huge piles of dog poop they don’t pick up, that’s everywhere!
THEY HAVE NO ACCOUNTABILITY for anything that happens on this ranch. Just one of many examples: Dan Root fed my horse an entire bin of mouldy black hay one morning. I didn’t accuse him of doing it on purpose but wanted him to see what was fed to my horse. Instead of just apologising he BLAMED ANOTHER BOARDER for feeding that morning. (We didn’t have a worker that he could blame). When that woman confronted him he HAD TO ADMIT he had done it! We frequently hear Mrs. Root, HERSELF, crabbing about MR. ROOT not being able to hold a job and not working for the last 8 years! This is IN FRONT OF BOARDERS!
THEY BUY ENOUGH HAY FOR ONLY A WEEK, AT A TIME. I’ve spent triple what I used to feed, in supplemental food, because of the skimpy rations, just to keep my horses weight up. The horses are being fed less than a flake each meal, no lie. Pony or TB, they get the same. (One boarder was thrown out for suggesting they weigh the hay being fed). The horses eat every speck and tiny bite that they can find in the dirt. I’m lucky enough to be able to go out every day and supplement greatly, what mine gets to eat. The handful of boarders that are left, try to look out for each other and take extra hay rations to each others horses. They don’t take care of their own 9 horses. The ones they’ve had the longest are skin and bones!
They tried to keep a woman from getting her 4 horses out by fake locking the front entrance. They illegally evicted me for saying something about it not being right!
BEWARE!!!

Wedding pictures are stock pictures. You can find them doing a google search. These are not pictures of their establishment or of any events that have occurred there.

Where to begin with this place… sure, the charm of the property is apparent right from the start if you’re looking for a quiet, rustic, eclectic type setting. The arena needs work but is really large and you can’t beat the proximity to the San Luis Rey River Trails, or the riding club next door (if you’re a member), but that’s where the positives of «Peacehaven Equestrian Center» stop.
I was on the property for over a year and a half before it changed owners, and while the new owners seemed ok at first, we traded one crazy in for two. Dan and Jenny Root may appear nice to your face, but they will talk about you behind your back, spread rumors about their boarders, and accuse you of stealing things to guests they have over. Make sure ALL of your belongings are labeled, otherwise you will be accused of stealing. Oh, and be prepared to be judged if you don’t conform or agree to their religious beliefs and practices.
Their horsemanship is sub-​par at best. Dan is absolutely clueless when it comes to horses, leaving halters on in stalls and turnouts (if he even grabbed the correct halter for your horse), and just generally aloof. Jenny thinks she knows everything due to «fifty plus years of experience» yet cannot tell when horses are lame or in pain, and that’s only the beginning of her incompetence. If you aren’t a fan of Clinton Anderson or Pat Parelli, don’t even bother. She insists that she is a trainer but all she’s successful at doing is «join up» with the horses.
Horses were fed inconsistently, and on more than one occasion my horses did not receive their supplements. Other boarders complained of this as well on several occasions. Water buckets have also been empty on hot days. Stalls were laden with manure and if you have a stall with shavings, be prepared to find old manure scattered throughout, as they do not know how to properly clean a box stall.
The Roots promise the world but lie through their teeth. Their website speaks of summer camps, riding camps, kids camps, on-​site trainers, horse training programs, and the like, but all are completely false claims. Ninety percent of the photos on their website are not even theirs, but stock photos taken from an image search (especially the wedding ones; the property looks NOTHING like that). They have 3 horses that they own but none of these horses are horse camp material. There are no programs– I’ve seen Jenny give only one lesson and that was the day before I left their property for good. They have no horses in training by them, and I wouldn’t let them touch a horse after they worked with my mare.
I recently had to retire my mare to pasture because she went lame in her hind end. She had joint issues previously due to her age and an old stifle injury, but Jenny was looking for another horse to ride and I had taken on a foster horse and decided to let Jenny lease Bella from me with a set amount of guidelines. Every time I went out to the barn and saw my horse after they «worked» with her, she was head shy, stiff, and limping. She had swollen legs on more than one occasion and when I brought it up, I was told that there was nothing wrong with my horse and if I was going to nitpick every little thing then it wasn’t going to work out. They had leased her less than 3 weeks at this point in time, and when my vet came out to examine Bella, she determined that Bella was lame and could only be ridden at the walk for no more than 30 minutes four days a week. Jenny then proceeded to argue with myself AND my veterinarian saying that my horse was «too full of life» to be retired and that I should just continue to work her and give her injections so that she «didn’t sit in a stall and be depressed all day.» Mind you, Bella had a HUGE mare motel (20’x60’) and was being loved on but not worked by me until I had her seen by my vet. Jenny tried several times to get me to either sell Bella or donate her to a program, and even went as far as telling me that I neglected her and that I didn’t have time for two horses, which in her own words, was why they leased her from me to begin with. She also told me that I knew nothing about horses, and she even advertised my mare to a woman without my permission, when my horse was never for sale, and later told me that the woman in question would be «the perfect home for Bella where she would get all of the love and attention she deserved.»
Dan and Jenny are Evangelists and are not shy about their beliefs. I am not attacking their religion, but they are overwhelming with their use of God and are honestly more focused on their ministry program than they are improving the place for their boarders. They will judge you if you are not «Christian enough» in their eyes.
You’re better taking your money elsewhere. The prices are too steep and they have kicked boarders out to raise the board even more.
«Peacehaven» is not so peaceful after all and I would NEVER recommend this place to anyone.