Bannockburn Riding Academy - Bannockburn Riding Academy 56a Avon Road

Great teacher, lots of fun.

My granddaughter Really enjoys her lessons great place to learn to ride.

Great fun for all ages.

go riding here regularly it's really great, I love it so much!

My daughter just had her birthday party here and she had the best day because of the team at Bannockburn Riding Academy. Fantastic communication before the event and so great to have it all organised for us! They were so relaxed, friendly and flexible it made everything so easy for us to enjoy our day with family and friends. We had a themed party and the room was decorated beautifully as well as the horses looked amazing. Plenty of food supplied and they were happy for us to walk away while they cleaned up. Thanks so much for such a special afternoon. Would highly recommend for a birthday party!

The worst experience I've ever had, if this could be called an experience... I'm not a person to write bad reviews but this was very very disappointing. Not sure if it was because Beatrice has had only children as students, cause it felt like she didn't know how to communicate with adults. There was no introduction to either, herself, her farm or her horses. And if I wasn't asking questions I don't think we would have heard a word from her. If someone is selling you experience they should commit to it or not do it at all... When we said we weren't happy with the experience, the first thing she responded was, NOT 'what is the problem, how can i fix this' - instead she went on saying 'you'll still have to pay'... That in itself should tell you a lot about a person, their attitude and ethics of running their business. If you are looking for a compassionate, cheerful and talkative person to introduce you to the life of horses and how to ride one, you should DEFINITELY look at another place!!!

TL;DR – AVOID this place!!! Beatrice has absolutely zero people skills and only worries about getting paid. I've yet to encounter a more arrogant and pretentious person, something that I've never had to worry about, having lived 5 years in New Zealand. Upon arriving, she made no effort introducing herself or even putting on a smile. The entire situation felt awkward as we were standing there with no idea what will be happening in the next hour. She did not speak, nor did she explain anything to us, until we were forced to ask and then barely got a few words out of her. "Brush the horse", she said in a careless tone, tossing a few brushes at us and then moving on to do her other duties, leaving us alone. I felt uncomfortable and unsafe as I started brushing the mud off the horse, not knowing if I'm doing it properly or not (the horse was moving side to side and didn't seem to enjoy the brushing). But there was noone I could ask, so I just stepped aside and waited. A few more commanding and unfriendly words ("find yourselves helmets there") and we've had enough. We said we're not happy with the experience, and asked what was the actual agenda for the day. Then all hell broke loose. Her first words though? "You'll still have to pay for two people." Angered by our foreign accent, she then went on to "educate" us how things are done in New Zealand (mind you, I've spent a good chunk of my last 5 years travelling the country and booking all sorts of experiences and activities on both islands, not to mention that designing experiences is what I professionally do for a living). Beatrice made fun of my lack of knowledge around horses, and went on to compare paying for physical products at The Warehouse to having to pay upfront for the horrible human transaction we've just had. She also asked for cash and was annoyed when we opted in to pay by bank transfer. We were then forced off the farm with a "good luck finding another / better horse riding course". I'm pretty sure this won't be such a challenge Beatrice, as you've set the bar so so low. My advice to you? Learn how to interact with adult, professional human beings in a mature manner. You are supposed to sell pleasant memories, good fun and a nice experience. How do you manage to do the exact opposite? And to be frank, it's not just you who have "wasted your time". We traveled from Auckland, specifically carved out time to come visit, and ended up paying hard earned dollars for a ruined day. To anyone who really cares about horses, wants to learn a few useful things and have a great experience, Bannockburn Riding Academy is not for you. Look elsewhere.

I've been going to Beatrice regularly now for about 6 weeks, I am really enjoying it. Beatrice pays attention, gives great advice and coaching on riding. Feels like I am learning to ride a horse, not just fun time in the saddle. Highly recommend Bannockburn