Welcome to Allison Acres ~ Galt, CA ~ (209) 748-2658

Lessons at Allison Acres ~ Pictures below!
Notice: everyone under the age of 18 is required to wear a
riding helmet (which we can provide.)

We offer several different types of lessons: private lessons, semi-private lessons, the after school program, lungeline lessons, mini lessons during birthday parties, and young horse mentoring.  Private lessons can be mounted or unmounted; if you don't want to ride but way to learn about horses and learn to interact with them and train them from the ground, we can do that and it's a lot of fun.  Click any of the following links for more information on that particular subject.  The rest of this page gives important info.  Thanks!

After-School Program Lungeline lessons Private/semi-private lessons
Pony rides Farm experience/petting Birthday parties
Camp Safe and Sane Young Horse Mentoring

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Us:

Horse Related Links

Contact Us!
 Email or
(209) 748-2658

Allison Acres
13512 Alta Mesa Rd.
Galt, CA 95632
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Pay for anything here(horses for sale, boarding, lessons, whatever!) using
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Private and semi-private horsemanship and riding lessons are available.  Lessons with us are perfect for the beginner to intermediate rider, either child or adult, or the fearful rider, or advanced riders who want to work on more advanced groundwork and discrimination training (desensitizing our horses to stimuli they should ignore, and sensitizing them to stimuli they should respond to, like our cues!)

For the new-comer to horses, we can teach you all you need to know to start on a safe, rewarding journey into horsemanship.   If you want to purchase a horse eventually or have already purchased a horse and just want some guidance, we are happy to help out!  We also consult on management issues such as tack usage and fit, diet, conditioning programs, and barefoot hoof care.

You do not have to ride to have fun learning about horses.  We can do natural horsemanship on the ground, clicker training, obstacle work, lunging, round penning... If you have a physical limitation to riding or just don't want to, don't feel pressured - I won't try to make you do more than you are comfortable doing. 

I'm Cindi, the senior instructor here, and I am uniquely qualified to teach horsemanship.

  • I am an ARIA certified riding instructor (certified also in stable management)

  • I have a background and degree in psychology

  • I am a trained and experienced teacher with 30 graduate level units in education

  • I hold a current California substitute teaching credential, which means I've been fingerprinted and background checked

  • I have been certified in the past in first aid and CPR; I plan to become recertified this summer

You can read more about me at this page, and see more pictures of me working with students and horses: cindiinfo.html

Lessons are $40 for semi-private (2 to 3 people) per hour, either with your horse or ours.  Guaranteed private lessons are $55 per hour.  There will be no other students who need my attention during a private lesson, but sometimes we won't be the only ones out there.  I have boarders who can ride whenever they want and sometimes my daughter is lurking about.  :-)

We ride in the shade or out of the rain under the covered arena, and we do have lights if your schedule will only accommodate late evening lessons.  We can also ride outside, in the round arena or the pasture or the trails. 

Most of the time a one-hour lesson includes instruction on (or semi-independent practice of) catching, haltering, leading, and tacking up, as well as some additional groundwork, which takes approximately 25 minutes.  Sometimes we do groundwork for the whole session, depending on your goals and skill level, but usually you'll be in the saddle for 25 or so minutes. 

We focus a lot on developing an independent seat through the use of bareback, stirrup-less and lungeline lessons.  We also focus on being soft, quiet and relaxed and on being a good, effective leader for the horse.  Keeping the horse comfortable and in a relaxed and accepting state of mind is an important goal.  And so is having fun!

Those of you who stick around and get to a more intermediate stage are welcome to accompany us to have your "lessons" off-site at various horse events such as cattle sortings or trail rides or gymkhanas and other events.

Please note: People under the age of 18 need to have their parents come by and meet me and sign a release of liability form.  We can't let you ride if you're under-age and haven't done that! 

Lungeline lessons on your horse:

Want to work on your balanced seat without having to also maintain gait and direction?  Bring your horse for lungeline lessons.  I require one session with the horse alone first so I can confirm and tune up his lunging skills.  Then it's your turn!  A half hour session is $35. 

Pony rides:

Lots of younger kids don't have the attention span for an actual lesson but still want to have some fun with horses.  We give pony rides for $20 per half hour.  The kids will get to groom the horse and then will be given a ride around the ranch.  If your younger child actually wants to learn to ride, that's fine too; we can do half-hour private lessons for $25 for kids ages 4 to 8.  Older kids can have the hour private lesson, which is $55.  (See the after school program and camps for other ways kids can learn.)

Farm experience/petting:

Come out and pet the horses!  And the donkey!  If you want to experience some country life but don't want to actually sign up for riding just quite yet, give us a ring.  We can give you a guided tour of the ranch and barn and all the horses.  If you want to arrange to come during feeding time you can watch/help with that.  This is of course super fun for little kids, but adults like it also.  It's $20 per half hour for the whole group.

 

Please call or email for more information. 

Look for the lesson pictures below!

Here I am, Cindi Scoleri:

Pictures from Friday, October 26:

From the left: Erin on Jewel, Madiso on Roxy, Stephanie on Steele

Erin on Jewel:

Madison on Roxy:

Stephanie on Steele:

The usual crew of spectators during lessons:

 

Here are some pictures from October 24, 2007.  From left to right: The little bay mare is Jewel with Madison.  The black Appendix QH is Chex with Erica.  The big bay TB is Forrest with Lauren. 

Jewel and Chex:

The myspace pose:

Lauren and Forrest:

Madison and Jewel:

Heading back to the barn at a nice walk - no barn sour horses in this group!

Back inside, Lauren does a nice slow walk over the cross rails:

Madison and Jewel:

 

Here are a bunch of students, boarders and Allison at the
Clements Extreme Ranch Trials from the summer of '07:

 

Here is Erin on Casper:

Here is Jessica on Dusty:

Here is Madison on Bonnie:

 

Here is Kayla on Casper, Sarah on Rain, and Madison on Dusty:

Here is Madison on Chex:

Below is Allison Acres' student Kristina Lucero showing off the ribbons she won at a gymkhana on Viejo. 

 

Here is Rain doing leadline:

Here is Gussie and Lora:

Here is Alina and Rain, November 1, 2004:

 

Here are Lora on Jack, Kristina on VeeVee, and Allison on Christa, taken April 3, 2005:

Here is Kayla on Fifth Element:

Here is my daughter Allison with my student Isabel on Tanner:

Taken in July, 2005, lessons with Tiana and Gabriel Luckey:

 

Taken August 7, 2006:

Liz on Chex on the left, Allison on Brownie on the right

Madison on Bonnie:

Cayleigh on Rain:

From the left: Jessica on Gussie, Kayla on Jaz, Liz on Chex, Madison on Bonnie:

Jessica on Jaz: