Reviews of Mairehau Horse Riding School Christchurch - Christchurch City, New Zealand

i have been going to mairehau riding school for about 3-4 years and i have enjoyed every year i would definitely recommend this to beginners but as you get more experience you can still go here because there is a bigger paddock that you can go and have even more fun there is jumping every second week and treks that you can go to through bottle lake forest ( that is very safe ), the horses are very well looked after bye the girls and owners, the owners are one of the nicest people i have ever met, so please go here and recommend it to your friend and family!!!!! (:

Good place to go if you just want to have a wee ride and not take it too seriously. It's not the fanciest place in the world but its great for people who otherwise couldn't afford lessons. :-)

I do think this place is a great place to ride but if you are looking for a riding place to the competion side then i do not recomend this place because we do not compete so try going to Arion riding center if you are goingbto compete and i do think ghis place is good to ride for fun and they do help if it is your first time on a horse and we do lots of thing we do games and we do treks and there is a big paddock full of grass and jumps and you can only go there if you canjmp 2ft on two differrent horses and you can learn how to catch and tack up ect. It is very cheap to ride nad there are so many horses and ponys to choose from we provide helmets to ride in and we give ledsons to lots of people and if you want a one on one lesson just call them and they will proberally let you and in some of the lessons the instucters will focas on you while others are ridng so you can learn more

This riding school is very unique in the fact that you get a little more freedom. There are flaws though, such as the stable hands are really young but they deeply care for the horses and are gaining experience each day that they VOLUNTEER to help out. Some of the horses can get overworked on busy days which is a shame. Also some of the horses are very lazy because of being overworked and can be defiant. The owners are very kind, the more you ride there the more you can advance onto things like dressage and show jumping. This is not a riding school to get proper one on one tuition. This is a riding school where you go to enjoy more casual riding at a very cheap cost!

Unprofessional, unsafe, untidy and run by a bunch of rude teenagers who are obviously not supervised. The 'school' may or may not provide you any gear. They won't/can't give you one on one lesson. Stay clear of this place.

I think that mairehau riding center is no very well managed they don't give one on one lessons and they are unsafe my friend went for a trek and fell off and go concussion they told her to get back on???? I think this riding school needs to be closes due to the face that they abuse there horses and its a unsafe environment.

I have been riding at this particular riding school for the past 4-5 years since I was 12. The girls (stable hands) are inexperienced, have terrible dress attire, mainly like they're going to the beach, aren't very well mannered and can be very rude when they choose to be. The horses are very underfed, tied up most of the day and the owners don't give a single f*** about this! The horses aren't broken in properly, resulting in poor riding school horses, constantly refuse what they are asked to do and can be very arrogant/defiant. During the weekends, the riding school is very busy and the arena is constantly crammed. Most of the riding school is in the arena during the mornings in the weekends between 10-12 AM. It is also very dangerous because there are lots of riders there that simply cannot control their horse at all, letting their horses 'drift' all over the arena, and the beginners always cut off the other riders. On top of this, the instructors smack the horses with 'stick whips', causing the horses to lurch forward with fright and the riders almost falling off as a result of this. My final answer is do not go to this riding school!! Mairehau have the worst reputation for a riding school in Christchurch and are a total embarrassment to other riding schools etc! This place has apparently had numerous SPCA calls, but they haven't taken action because there apparently isn't enough evidence. I barely go to this riding school anymore as I cannot stand going there for a crappy lesson and I have been doing an Equine course at National Trade Academy through Arion Riding Centre. I have done excellent riding lessons during course time with a great qualified instructor, and I have learnt more at Arion in 6-8 lessons than in 4-5 years at Mairehau! Over the past year we have been recorrecting my position and fixing my very bad Mairehau habits that riding school taught me. Since then I haven't looked back and I prefer to ride at Arion much more than Mairehau. Hope this helps anyone who is looking for a good riding centre to go to and make the right decisions!