What People Say About Horspitality

Below are some nice things that folks have written about Horspitality.  

Good Morning Horspitality Resort - Janice & Paul,

This is an article we wrote for our horse club newsletter being printed in the March edition. You can tell by the article that we really enjoyed our recent visit and are looking forward to returning in December.

Mike & Jo Keim

Wickenburg, Arizona Many WCPPHC members are aware that Jo and I have lived, traveled and visited many areas of the western states with our Peruvian Paso horses and even traveled to Mexico and Peru on horse riding trips. We have some of the best areas right here in Northern California for wonderful camping and trail riding. Now we have a new location to add to the list.

Last fall we started to look at places for us to get out of the cold weather for a few months. Part of our research was to talk to our friends who either have gone to warmer areas or were aware of possible locations. One such friend, Susan Black, who now lives in Oregon, was one of our contacts. Susan is always researching horse related   information on the web and suggested a place in Wickenburg, AZ. We were familiar with the area having visited Wickenburg in the 1996 when Jo read her poems at the Cowboy Poets Gathering there that year. We did not have our horses with us, but stayed at a Dude Ranch and rode their horse in the desert and mountains in the area. Susan's research had located a place called Horspitality RV Resort and Boarding Stables.

After reviewing information on their web site we decided to give   it a try for the month of December 2008. The facility has room for 90 RV spots and over 90 horse stalls. We were able to make a reservation for our RV   and took our two horses and dog, Rico.

We closed up our log home in the Sierra's, had a friend watch our cat and asked neighbors to watch the place while we were away. Mail would be forwarded or held until we returned. On the 4th day out we arrived at Horspitality.  Our horses were stabled in 24 x 12 pens.  All RV spots have water, power and sewer hook ups. The   park folks were very helpful keeping the office open for my after dark arrival and make sure we and the horses were set for the night.

Horspitality RV Park and Boarding Stables was all we had hoped for as a vacation spot. We soon were meeting our neighbors, most with horses and  some with both horses and ATV's. The resort was about 3/4 full in December and folks were arriving every day for overnight or longer stays. We could tell from the start that this was going to be our kind of place. There were people from all over the US staying there. One from as far away as Alaska, another from the NE and nearly all the northern states. We saw all kinds of   horses, even other Peruvian Paso's, some had mules. 

The resort is located outside of town and you can access trails right out the back gate. The trails were on dry creek beds, mostly sand, and you could take other trails over the mountains riding as long and far as you wanted. After the first ride we realized we needed to put shoes on the boys due to rocks and even the dry sand was hard on their feet. This brings me to a big plus for the area.   Living in the resort was an excellent farrier we met and appreciated. He had extensive experience working with vets over the years in the Reno, NV area correcting lame horse created by injuries, conformation issues or in many  cases bad trimmings. We found our boys need special attention although they had just been trimmed days before we left home. What's important is we got them corrected, shod and in one case medicated to correct a major issue with Jo's horse. Needless to say, we are changing our farrier now that we are home.

We took trail rides with other folks in the resort to learn and explore the area. Every day groups would leave on rides so we could ride as often or as far as we wanted. Most rides were in the 2 to 4 hour range with some having lunch on the trail. 

Riding in the desert area has it's own kind of challenge. The trails, although well marked, still had things you need to pay attention to. It is called Cactus ! ! Cactus in bloom is beautiful, but it is still something to beware off. Especially the cholla cactus. I think I still have a few reminders from my leaving the trails and   brushing against one of those fellows. Other types were organ pipe, strawberry hedgehog, pincushion, prickly pear, fish hook, barrel, ocotillo and the biggest of all the giant saguaro. They are all native to the area and for the most part just off the trails. All are easy to spot, just pay attention to where you ride.

There were other options for trail rides. Jo and I did not take many of the rides you could trailer to, but we did trailer for one ride with the local riding club. The Wickenburg Saddle Club has monthly rides with lunch or cookouts. The ride we took had 62 riders. It was an easy 3 hour ride   wandering through the hills just a few miles out of town. At the end of the ride there were goodies for all to enjoy. Nice people and again all kinds of horses.  Even with that many riders it was fun and well organized. 

Other rides leave from the local rodeo grounds just a few miles from the resort. Next trip we will take in more of those options.

Back to the resort. The center of resort activities is a recreation hall with TV, meeting room, laundry and clean restrooms with hot   showers. Every week there are fire pit potlucks, bingo, big screen movies, videos free to rent or special activities like birthdays and anniversary celebrations. 

Christmas was hosted by the resort owners providing the main   meal of turkey and ham. We took part in western BBQ's and cowboy breakfast of biscuits and gravey.  The resort is setup for Wi-Fi, data ports and fax/copy service. 

Propane and public phone sites are located in the resort. There is a large arena and two round pens for exercising your horses. You are only less than an hour out of Phoenix allowing more options. 

Wickenburg has a variety of restaurants, entertainment, a movie  theatre and a great Western Museum. 

The best part was meeting the other folks in the resort. Many have been coming back year after year - some for over 10 years.  A few live there year round, but many leave their RV's, park model mobile homes or trailers there year round. Summers can get very hot. We were told the best time to go is December through April. Storage is available or you can rent your RV space year round. We found people of similar age, mostly retired, but all are horse folks. 

The ATV's were never a problem on the trails. What more could you ask for as a horse vacation site?

Needless to say, we are going back again in December this year.   This time we are staying for three months and may stay more if we find weather at our home in Somerset, Ca is too cold and wet for the planned return in March, 2010. If you are looking for a place to go next winter give Wickenburg, AZ a shot...we will be there to show you the ropes. 

Mike & Jo Kei