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Welcome to the Ranch!
Frequently Asked Questions
We specialize in providing private experiences for people to connect with our horses. Explore our website to learn more!
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How do I see what's available and book a horseback ride?Our website calendars are live and always up to date! To see what is available, click the "check availability" buttons or the "book now" buttons on our website. Explore our "rides" tab in the menu for more information on the different rides! You can easily book online through our website by selecting the "book now" button or "check availability" on the website. We do not do over the phone bookings, all our bookings must be done online via a booking link.
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Can I just show up for a ride, or do I need to book in advance?Our experiences are private and by appointment only! We strongly recommend booking in advance, especially during holidays and tourist seasons, to ensure we have availability for you. We cannot accommodate "drop-ins" or visits. We like to keep things planned and to give our horses and family a fair routine that works for all of us! 🙂
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What is your cancellation policy?We understand plans can change! To cancel or make changes to your reservation, please contact us at 616-422-8200 at least 24 hours before your scheduled ride time. Late cancellations significantly impact our small family ranch as we often turn away other customers to stay committed to your PRIVATE appointment. You may cancel your ride up to 24 hours before your scheduled time for a full refund. Cancellations made within 24 hours of your ride time are not eligible for a refund. You may reschedule your ride up to 24 hours before your scheduled time. Rescheduling is not permitted within 24 hours of your ride time. If Rise & Ride Ranch cancels your ride due to severe weather or unforeseen circumstances, you will receive a gift card for the full amount of your ride to use at your convenience. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation with our policy, which is designed to protect our small family ranch, ensure the quality of the private experiences we offer, and support the care of our horses. As a small family business, it's unrealistic for us to accommodate or refund last-minute cancellations/rescheduling, as this would jeopardize our sustainability, unlike the big companies you deal with regularly (e.g. Amazon or Walmart). We strive to be transparent by including this policy in the rules provided before booking, at checkout, and in all reminder emails. Thank you for your understanding and support!
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Can I make changes to my ride after I book?You can make changes to your booking up to 24 hours before your scheduled ride time. Please contact us at 616-422-8200. We carefully assign our horses and equipment based on each rider's information, so advanced notice is appreciated!
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How do I rebook a ride that has been cancelled by Rise and Ride Ranch?If Rise & Ride Ranch needs to cancel your ride, you can easily reschedule it the same way you originally booked it. Just go back to the calendar, choose the ride you want, and pick a new available date and time. If you have a gift card, select "Apply a gift card" at checkout to use it when you book.
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Can we ride without a guide?No. We do not permit horseback rides without a guide to ensure the safety and wellbeing of both the riders and our horses.
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Can we trot, canter, gallop, or run?Our trail rides are all about taking it easy 😎 — absolutely no trotting, cantering, or galloping. Our horses prefer their chill jobs. We do not tolerate riders attempting to trot or canter our horses during rides. "I have experience!" We're sorry, but it's still walk only! This isn't about questioning anyone's ability or "ruining the fun". This is simply about what our horses are conditioned for. 🙂 We promised our horses easy going lives with jobs they can do comfortably!
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Do you do lessons?We no longer offer lessons at our ranch. As a family-run operation, we found it challenging to maintain the lesson program while also providing horseback rides, so we had to make a choice. Thank you for your understanding! 🙂
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Do you offer birthday parties or group events?We no longer offer on site events or parties or have the space to accommodate!
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Can I trailer in my own horse/use your trails?No, only our horses (or boarded horses) are permitted on our private trails!
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Where are you located?We are located at 2855 36th St. Allegan, MI. Our private family ranch is nestled on 40 acres of wooded land 30 minutes from West Michigan's lakeshore. We're surrounded by 800+ acres of state game land away from the hustle and bustle.
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Do you have overnight accommodations or on-site activities for travelers?We're a small ranch and our focus is on private horseback rides that help pay for our horse's care! We are a completely outdoor facility that does horseback rides only. 🐎 While we do not have places to stay or things to explore on site, there are plenty of places surrounding us you should check out! To the West: We definitely recommend checking out Saugatuck(my personal favorite), Fennville, South Haven or Holland as they have beautiful stays, places to eat, and fun Lake Michigan activities! 🤩 To the East: We are a short drive from the Gun Lake Casino. 🎰 They have a massive hotel, adult accommodations, buffets, etc. To the South: During the summer, I've heard amazing things about Tri-Ponds Family Camp Resort 5 minutes down the road! 🌞 To the North: If you're into the city scene, Grand Rapids has endless activities, art galleries, gardens, rooftop bars and music, etc.! 🌆
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Are Glow Rides year round?In short, yes! We only release times one month at a time. These rides are offered whenever the weather and sunset time allow. We avoid them in mid-summer as the sun sets much later. We also steer clear of rainy seasons to protect our handmade glow-in-the-dark tack. While these rides are possible throughout the year, Michigan's unpredictable weather makes it difficult to schedule further out than a few weeks in advance.
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What is the $75 glow setup fee for?This fee is only charged once per booking, not per person Our glow tack is handmade and maintained by our family! The glow setup fee helps cover supplies for upkeep and the setup of the glow tack on each horse for your private night! The price per person only covers the cost of our horses, their extra food/meds/vitamins and care for these rides, as well as the wear on our normal tack and trails.
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I can't find availability, everything shows as sold out!If a ride says "sold out" or if the calendar shows only grey spaces for the month, it means we are full and have no spots available for that month. We release glow ride times one month at a time due to the unpredictable weather in Michigan. So, if a month is sold out, it does not mean we’re sold out for the entire year! Typically, we release the new times during the last couple weeks of each month for the following month. 🙂 Our rides are first come, first served. Book as soon as new times are released each month! Due to the popularity of these rides, we do not have a waitlist or cancellation list. If you want to stay in the loop for when we release times each month, you can subscribe to our email list for announcements. 📧📣 The email subscription is at the bottom of our website. You can also follow us on Facebook as I do make an announcement the day after I send the email.
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When will more times be available and why are there limited spaces?We only release ride times one month at a time at a time. Typically, we release the new times during the last couple of weeks of each month for the following month. 🙂 It's important we can confirm safe trail conditions and our horse's work schedules for the coming month. We keep the number of spaces small to make the rides a private experience for you and ensure our horses have a job they enjoy without being overworked.
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Can I get added to a waitlist/cancel list or can I book later in the year?We don’t have a waitlist due to the ride's popularity and can’t create extra spots when we are already sold out. Watch our calendars for "green" spaces in case of cancelations or reschedules! We also will not do bookings further out in the year as we need to consider our horse's work schedules and weather conditions. This is difficult to do beyond a few weeks at a time in Michigan. We release glow ride times one month at a time. So, if a month is sold out, it does not mean we’re sold out for the entire year! Typically, we release the new times during the last couple of weeks of each month for the following month. 🙂 Our rides are first come, first served. Book as soon as new times are released each month! Due to the popularity of these rides, we do not have a waitlist or cancellation list. If you want to stay in the loop for when we release times each month, you can subscribe to our email list for announcements. 📧📣 The email subscription is at the bottom of our website. You can also follow us on Facebook as I do make an announcement the day after I send the email.
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Can I trailer in my own horse?We do not permit trailer ins. Only our horses are permitted on these rides for everyone's safety!
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Do the lights bother the horses?SAFETY FIRST - With ANYTHING in the horse world, it’s important to note that what suits one horse does not always suit another horse. EVERYHORSE is different. Please prioritize your horse's well-being and respect their individual preferences before introducing anything new. Your horse’s personality and preferences should always guide your decisions, and we encourage you to keep this in mind as you explore the amazing possibilities of glow tack! :) We designed our tack to have dimmable lights that emit a gentle glow and are channel/padded away from direct vision. Notice how the cheek lights disappear when a horse looks directly at the camera. The lights we use are the same used in light up children's costumes and wedding décor. They are no UV, low voltage and energy efficient that do not get hot to the touch. We always take the time to train and observe our horses under various conditions to ensure their comfort and confidence with the tack. None of OUR horses have exhibited signs of discomfort while wearing it. We definitely would NOT be doing these rides if we saw issues. If you watch our videos, you can see our horses looking at my camera, unbothered, aware, and calm about their surroundings. We care deeply about our horses and have monthly check-ins with various specialists, ensuring there are no adverse effects from any of our activities. These rides have been a positive in many ways and some of our most sensitive of horses have even shown preferences to riding at night. We use our glow tack for 60-90 minutes, with about 20 minutes being during sunset, allowing for a smooth transition. Lights in photographs will appear much brighter than they are in person because of the way cellphone camera exposure works. Think of the northern lights and how many will use their cameras to see them or why your phone asks you to hold still at night. See image below for a close example of brightness taken with a professional camera.
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Where did you get your lights/glow tack?We've gotten hundreds of inquiries and I’m thrilled everyone likes it so much! I worked hard over the past two years to make it what it is today. I just can’t answer all the calls/emails/messages I’ve been getting 😞 I’m not trying to ignore anyone.. it’s just been a bit overwhelming and I have to stop somewhere. I started off buying light-up products on Amazon that I altered and sewed(like fairy light tutus, skirts, capes, rave bracelets, glow dog leashes, etc haha). I just wanted to explore and see what I could make cause there wasn’t much on the market.. I wanted something that would be really unique! However, there are LED horse products available and I used the breast collars from Amazon for a while. After doing our first few rides with the prototypes I made and seeing how people liked the rides, I decided this was something I wanted to do! I then learned to solder and make my own light up products from scratch so they are clean and efficient like what you see today! 🙂 We make our rump sheets using the organza from the old fairy light capes from 2023 and pebble pixel lights that are longer lasting and more durable. Which is why you can’t find ours exactly online.. As for the halter and breast collar, I had a leather worker make the tack I designed from my learnings. I then took the LED string lights and soldered, channeled and padded them to the tack. 🙂 My best advice light shopping is making sure everything is DIMMABLE! I wish I had a magic wand to just make a how-to video or make the tack to sell, but that is so time consuming.. and I’m only one person.. 😞 if you knew me personally, you’d already know I work 100hrs+ a week between jobs, this ranch and side gigs haha. This is the best I can do 🙂 I just encourage people to be creative like I was! At least now you have my pictures and videos to get inspired from✨🤩
Before reaching out, please read our FAQ for answers to questions
We stay busy between our ranch, family, and horses! Our rural location has spotty cell and internet service, so we cannot always get to messages right away. We've built this website from scratch and filled it with all the questions and experiences learned over the years. 🙂 Give it a good read!
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