In Unicorns and Mustangs, there are two kids per pony and trainer. In Pegasus each student has her/his own horse and there are never more than four kids in a group.

The lessons are 55 minutes long.

With the help and under supervision of our trainers each student has to clean and tack up the pony before the ride. After that, the riding time begins. Once the kids are done riding they will untack the pony and bring it back to the barn/pastute.

Unicorns usually take longer to learn the things on the ground so it takes them more time to get the pony ready. The shared riding time is typically 30-35 min. Mustangs are a little bit faster at tacking up so their shared riding time is typically between 40-45 min. Pegasus students' riding time is about 45 min.

Absolutely! We require a riding helmet (no bicycle helmet), riding pants and paddock boots or tall boots. For safety reasons, if your child is not wearing proper gear, she/he won't be permitted to attend the lesson. COMING SOON (You can order everything your child needs in the ProShop, which you can find in the customer portal for pick-up at your next visit at the barn.) Cowboy boots are not a part of proper English riding gear!

Yes and no. For kids 4 years old and under, the parents need to be on the property in case the trainer needs help with the little one. Kids 5 years old and older typically do a lot better without the parents, even though parents don’t like to hear that. 😋 So, in Unicorn classes it depends on the child. In Mustangs and Pegasus classes the parents are NOT allowed to be involved in the lesson. Feel free to watch from the spectator area. If you prefer you can even leave and come back to pick up your child after the lesson.

No. We like for the kids to ride a variety of ponies. The trainer decides which pony will be used for the lesson, based on the student’s size and ability. There’s always a reason why we put your child on a specific horse. Also, trainers rotate through classes sometimes.

Yes. In the process of learning how to ride there is a chance the student comes off the horse, even though the kids' safety is our main concern. Even the most gentle pony can spook or unintentionally bring the kid out of balance. Falling off the pony is typically not as painful as falling off a bicycle on the street.

The customer portal is the booking platform which is connected to our website. The customer portal is used by customers, the management and the trainers, so it aids in smooth operations by keeping everybody on the same page. That’s the reason why all the requests and changes have to go through the customer portal.

Yes. If your child has the 5 pm Wednesday spot, you have a lesson every week on Wednesday at 5 pm.

You have to send a transfer request through the customer portal.

In that case you’ll receive a token through the customer portal which you can use to “jump” into any open class of your child's level on any day. Just send a make-up request for that class through the customer portal, we’ll manually approve it and you’ll receive a confirmation email. Makeups have to be requested at least 24 hours before the class in order to be approved.

Plan to arrive 5-10 minutes before the lesson starts. But not earlier then 10 minutes. Please drive 5 miles per hour coming in and out! We love your kids and our animals ❤️

Absolutely, and we encourage that, especially for Mustang and Pegasus students the progress in riding multiple times a week is a lot higher.

Yes! You have to inform us until two hours before the class in order to get a make-up token. You won’t receive a token for unexcused absences. Please send an email or a text message to let us know that you’re not coming. You can also use the customer portal to create a future absence for your student.

You can get up to five tokens per year. The new cycle starts on January 1st.

Each individual token expires after two months. Make-up tokens that have been used to schedule a make-up class can’t be rescheduled and/or re-used in case you miss the class again. Also make-up tokens can be used only during active enrollment. Once the enrollment is dropped the tokens become inactive.

No. tokens have to be used before the drop date.

If you arrive 15 minutes or later after the lesson started, your child will not be permitted to attend the session but you’ll receive one of your five tokens.

No. If you can’t make it to class you’ll receive one of your five tokens. We have too many students in order to do appointments outside the customer portal.

You can drop your enrollment through the customer portal. We have a 30-day notice policy, which means, if you drop your enrollment on June 14th it will be effective on July 14th.

No. After your child is enrolled she/he will stay enrolled until you drop the enrollment through the customer portal.

Yes. There is a small fee for internal barn shows in order to cover the cost for judges, ribbons and certificates ($30). The fee will automatically be charged to your credit card. You don’t necessarily need show gear but recommend it since it’s supposed to be special for the students. White riding breeches and a nice show shirt are perfectly fine.

Yes. If one of your kid's friends enrolls into the lesson program you’ll receive an additional token for a free lesson. The parents of the new student need to let us know that someone referred them, otherwise we won’t know.

Yes. Just go to the website, find a class with an open spot, create an account (including credit card information because the software requires it even though the trial is 100% free) and click on “request trial” at checkout.

You don’t have to invest in gear before you enroll in the program but there are still safety standards we need to respect. For the trial your kid needs a bicycle helmet, leggings and closed-toe shoes. In case you don’t have a helmet your kid can use one of ours.

Yes, siblings are 10% off. So are additional enrollments.

No. Please don’t bring any animals to the barn.

We have a covered arena, so rain and sun don’t bother us too much. If the weather is super bad, like during a major freeze or an awful thunderstorm we might cancel a lesson for safety reasons. It is possible even during a “regular” thunderstorm that we decide not to put the kids on a horse since it might not be safe. In that case, we’ll work with the ponies on the ground, which is also a lot of fun. But this happens very seldomly.

Definitely! Ponies love apples and carrots. BUT: Please don’t give them ANYTHING unsupervised (meaning without a trainer) since some of them are on special diets. Also, please don’t feed them the hay stored in the barn without a trainer.

No. Most of the horses in the main barn are privately owned performance horses who aren't part of Palina’s Ponies. Please don’t enter the barn or pet them without supervision of a trainer since some of them bite or do other mean things.