| rev:text
| - Overall: Good time with the horses. Workers and volunteers were great. The stressed out person in charge however could set a better tone for everyone around her.
We had a Groupon and had tried a few times via phone to book a date for the two of us. We did get a reservation, and were told we'd receive a parking pass via email. Prior to our date, we still didn't receive the pass and we phoned in. We were told we didn't have a reservation, and that we should have booked via email and not phone to begin with. After more conversation, the gal who helped us finally located our reservation and said if we had corresponded with her via email to begin with, there wouldn't have been any of this "ball-dropping." Ball dropping? As if it was our fault that someone forgot to email us a pass because we didn't know all bookings needed to be done via email?
We eventually received the parking pass and arrived on time. The gal in charge (same person we'd been dealing with up to this point) seemed frazzled, like it was chaos for her to have 3 parties at her table at the same time. She'd start to check us in, then would help another party, then another, then help us again, then stop to answer someone else's question. She looked disappointed that we handed her our paper Groupon. "You don't have this on your phone?" she asked. Yes, we did, and started to pull it up. My boyfriend who bought the Groupon had to unlock his phone, find the app, log in... and I guess that took too long so she accepted the paper but said it was extra work for her to have to manually type in the number for processing the Groupon. Another party handed her a paper Groupon too and I she let out another huff, asking them the same thing. By now, it's more than 15 minutes into our 2-hour appointment and she tells us we're doing our hay ride first, but that we'd have to wait for the other Groupon party to arrive as they were late. I'm not sure that they ever showed up, because some time later she took us over to the riding area instead where there was another group getting their demonstration. A trainer was on his horse describing to them, "...next, I'm going to show you how to..." and she said, "NO! They're just Groupon people, you don't show them that. They only get the short introduction." Then she calls out to another fellow and says, "You're going to take these other Groupon people." I understand her having to clarify to her workers what kind of package we were entitled to, but being referred to out loud by the "discount" that we paid felt demeaning.
Our trainer Alec was fantastic. Alec answered all of our questions and led us with a corral ride, giving us as much time as we needed. It was a great experience to ride Frankie. You can tell that Alec and his teammates loved and cared for the animals. In fact, all the workers and volunteers that we met there were the friendliest people and made you feel welcome. The lady in charge however, made customers feel like we were inconveniencing her. She even snapped at this cute little boy who asked if he could chase one of the rabbits who was loose and hopping around, and before his parents could answer, she said, "NO that would be cruel!"
I understood that of the variety of animals in the visiting area, some were rescued and looked a bit worn down or were intimidated by humans so I totally sympathize. They're not there for our entertainment, but as a way for us to appreciate that they're as tender as any other animal and I felt like they could use more TLC. Maybe close that pen to humans so that they're less stressed. I think cleaner water would have been desired, but we did go on a real windy day and I don't know how practical it is for them to have to change out that water more frequently. Perhaps find a way to keep the water troughs somewhat covered from the dust and wind.
Bottom line, this organization needs support. I felt like everyone who worked/volunteered there are involved because they wholeheartedly want to care for the animals and give people a chance to interact at this historic site where it makes you feel like you're not in Las Vegas. The park itself is beautiful. We never did take the hayride. The hayride was a flatbed behind a pickup truck with a some bales of hay, so it wasn't the "ranch" experience we hoped for. But we did walk around the entire park to check out the other wildlife, ponds, and historic buildings. It's worth the drive.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)