This parent-to-parent guide to horseback riding for Chicago area families collects crowdsourced recommendations for riding lessons, kid-friendly trail rides & more places to ride a horse near you.
Where does your family go horseback riding around Chicago? Add a review to share your experience below!
Forest View Farms
Shila: Forest View Farms is a horse farm and equestrian center for Western and English horseback riding lessons, trail rides through Cook County Forest Preserve, pony rides, and horse-themed parties. The farm is family friendly and well known for a few festivals and attractions like their petting farm.
Nova Quarter Horses Inc
$60/30-minute private lesson; $50/30-minute semi-private lesson
Shila: Nova Quarter Horses teaches Western and English riding disciplines. They offer group, private, and semi-private lessons. They have Pee Wee lessons for 6-year olds.
They also offer birthday riding parties & summer camps. Along with fun games, camp participants learn how to properly groom, saddle, feed, walk horses to and from their stalls, and of course how to ride.
Memory Lane Stables
Shila: Memory Lane Stables offers horseback lessons, trail rides, pony rides, pony parties, & pony rentals to the Chicago area.
Lessons include training on basic health care, feeding, grooming, and how to saddle a horse properly. Instructors are both avid riders with years of experience under their belts. Riding lessons are Western style riding. Lessons are given to riders of all ages, from as young as 8 to the experienced (or inexperienced) age of 70.
Sarah's Pony Rides, Inc.
Shila: Sarah’s Pony Rides offers private and semi-private lessons as well as pee wee pony lessons for ages 4+. They have access to over 25 miles of year-round trails and invite anyone —beginner to advanced— to enjoy guided trail rides via horseback. Facilities also include horse-drawn carriage rides, a petting zoo and party rooms.
Country Meadow Farm
Shila: Country Meadow Farm offers professional training, instruction & sales. They have a fun relaxed atmosphere, great for the whole family. They have kind & gentle lesson horses that can help a timid, nervous rider become a confident equestrian. They have a large heated indoor arena and an outdoor arena so lessons are held all year round.
Double J Riding Club
Shila: A family-friendly horseback riding club with the goal to teach in a fun and safe manner. They offer group, private, semi-private, tiny rider (ages 4-5), and mommy and me lessons. Lessons are available for all skill levels in both western and English.
Freedom Woods
Shila: Freedom Woods is primarily a hunter jumper stable that offers lessons, boarding, training, and sales. The facility has two indoor arenas and one large outdoor arena to ensure they separate beginners from advanced riders to keep the riding arena a safe place. Riders as young as 5 may begin lead line lessons.
Oak Brook Farms
Shila: Oak Brook Farms offers Dressage style horseback riding lessons and horse boarding. With the help of experienced instructors, they have the ability to provide lessons for all levels of riders ranging from beginner to advanced Dressage. Training on grooming and horsemanship is also provided. Lessons are available to equestrians ages 9 years & up.
Windridge Farm
$367/6-weeks of 30-minute private lessons or 60-minute group lessons
Shila: Windridge Farm is a hunter/jumper stable that offers a safe, structured and caring environment for beginner, intermediate, and advanced equestrian rider development. Riders must be 7 years of age or older.
Check out their summer camps as well. Camp includes daily horseback riding lessons, horsemanship, caring for a horse, games, and other horse related activities.
Glen Grove Equestrian Center
Shila: Specializing in hunter/jumper lessons, boarding, training and horse shows, Glen Grove also offers seasonal pony rides around its grounds for younger children. They do not offer trail rides.
Equestrian Connection
Shila: Equestrian Connection has helped thousands of children and adults with special needs and their family members. The staff includes highly professional licensed therapists, social workers, therapeutic riding instructors and well trained and caring volunteers. Having begun as an organization that provided hippotherapy and therapeutic riding, they now offer 13 different programs from art therapy to riding lessons and summer camps for all ages.
Celebration Farm
$45/30-minute private lesson with owned/leased horse; $70/with a school horse
Shila: Celebration Farm offers a variety of boarding options tailored to meet your needs as a rider & horse owner. School horses are safe, well maintained, happy, and the absolute best teachers to introduce aspiring riders, young and old, to the wonderful world of the equestrian sport.
Danada Equestrian Center
Shila: At Danada Equestrian Center, individuals ages 12 and older can learn valuable horsemanship and riding skills in a friendly group setting or receive one-on-one instruction with private lessons. The Center is a located inside the DuPage forest preserve.
Kids from ages 10 – 14 can also check out their summer camps, where they can enjoy hands-on experiences with horses, lessons, and the chores of a working barn.
Palladia Farm
Shila: Palladia Farm is a full-service hunter/jumper business in Lake County, offering boarding, showing, riding lessons, and camps. USHJA-certified trainers will guide you through riding school, camp, boarding, and horsemanship lessons. Located on a beautiful 15 acre farm.
Dark Horse Stable
Shila: Dark Horse Stable is a riding, boarding, and training facility that specializes in eventing, dressage, and hunter/jumpers. The stable is a laid-back, fun-loving facility suitable for the active competitor or the pleasure rider. They offer lessons, horse-friendly accommodations, and plenty of riding space.
Primary photo: Carlos Fernando Bendfeldt on Unsplash
Upparent collects community-submitted recommendations and reviews, and any ideas that are shared reflect the opinions of individual contributors.
