Kentucky Hidden Wonders

See Kentucky On Horseback

• Kentucky Hidden Wonders • Episode 8

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 30:59

Justine Saudan and Lyndsey Estes from Red Fern Riding Center share how they're bringing authentic horseback experiences to visitors and locals alike at Shelby Trails Park in Simpsonville, Kentucky. Their riding center offers guided trail rides, English riding lessons, boarding services and equestrian events while focusing on safety, accessibility and exceptional horse care.

  • Located on 465 acres of county parkland in Simpsonville with trails for both horses and hikers
  • Offers two types of guided trail rides — a one-hour Nature Ride and a 90-minute Adventure Ride
  • Provides comprehensive safety measures including pre-assigned horses matched to riders, safety videos, helmets, and mounting platforms
  • Welcomes riders as young as 7 with no upper age limit (their oldest rider was 88)
  • Many horses come from rescue situations and are transformed through proper care and training
  • Attracts visitors from around the world including Australia, UAE, Japan and across the US
  • Partners with bourbon tour companies for combination experiences
  • Lesson program teaches "horsemanship from the ground up" for all ages and experience levels
  • Recently added signage improvements, GPS-mapped trails and a cross-country jumping course
  • Open Wednesday through Sunday with rides at 9 AM, 11 AM, 2 PM and 4 PM

Visit redfernridingcenter.com to book your trail ride or learn more about their programs.

Send us Fan Mail

🎙️ Kentucky Hidden Wonders is presented by ShelbyKY Tourism.

🥃 Plan a visit to Your Bourbon Destination® at www.visitshelbyky.com. Located in the heart of central Kentucky and less than an hour from Louisville and Lexington, ShelbyKY is the perfect Kentucky getaway. Complete with two great distilleries, action-packed outdoor adventures, and the best vacation rentals near Louisville, put ShelbyKY at the top of your list when planning a Kentucky Bourbon Trail® trip, romantic couples retreat, or a whole-family vacation.

🎙️ Kentucky Hidden Wonders is hosted by Janette Marson and Mason Warren and edited by Ethan Fisher. 

📲 Follow Kentucky Hidden Wonders:

© ShelbyKY Tourism, All Rights Reserved.

Speaker 1

Welcome to Kentucky Hidden Wonders. I'm Jeanette Marson and I'm Mason Warren. Together, we're uncovering the secrets, stories and hidden gems of Shelby County, Kentucky.

Welcome to Kentucky Hidden Wonders

Speaker 2

From unforgettable places to off-the-beaten-path adventures. Join us as we explore Kentucky treasures and Shelby County's best-kept secrets. On the show today we have Justine and Lindsay from Redfern Riding Center. Thank you for being here.

Speaker 3

Thank you for having us. Thank you.

Speaker 2

Well, so before we get into what Redfern Riding Center is and what you do there and everything, tell us a little bit about yourself. Whoever wants to go first, just you know.

Meet Justine and Lindsay

Speaker 1

Put your background? What started your love of horses? How'd you get started?

Speaker 3

Well, my mom started my love of horses. She grew up in New Zealand and she grew up riding and so when she moved to the United States she got a horse eventually and she started me riding when I was three and I always tease her because she put me on a little bit of a crazy horse and I fell off and broke my arm. I said that was my intro to horses. However, that didn't deter me at all. Yeah and so. So you've always had a horse I guess Always had a horse. Grew up competing, grew up in pony club Riding with my mom. Yeah, kind of lived and breathed it until I went to college.

Speaker 4

Fantastic Mom, yeah kind of lived and breathed it until I went to college. Fantastic, yeah, so I actually grew up in the Highlands in Louisville, so very much a city girl from the beginning. However, there was a writing stable in a park near my house and from the moment I learned to read, I would beg my mom to call the number on the banner that said writing lessons in big letters, and she would just put me off and ignore me and ignore me, hoping that I forgot. And finally, when I was six years old, she said fine, it's just a phase.

Speaker 1

She's going to grow out of it. And here I am, 28 years later, still riding. Well, that's exciting, and that means you guys know what you're doing. You've done it a long time and you know horses, yes. So how did Redfern Riding Center get its start and how did you all get involved in it?

Inside Redfern Riding Center

Speaker 3

Well, I was working for the Humane Society for a long time and I had gotten into horses, but prior to that I'd worked for myself and kind of my passion has always been to be an entrepreneur and a businesswoman. And so when the contract came up from Shelby County to take over Shelby Trails, I kind of jumped on it because I saw an opportunity to do what I love add to the community and work for myself.

Speaker 1

And I'm so glad you did so. Before we go any further, can one of you talk about where Redfern Riding Center is and what it is, because some people may just not know. Yeah.

Speaker 4

So we are located in Simpsonville, on Aiken Road, about 15 minutes from downtown Simpsonville. We are located on a county park. The park itself has 465 acres. It is open to horses and hikers, and Redfern Riding Center is located within Shelby Trails Park and we provide boarding riding lessons, guided trail rides to the general public, training, you name it.

Speaker 2

Okay, so you've talked a little bit about that, but the horseback riding program is just one of the things there. And so, focusing on that, because that is so special and unique for this area, there's really only a handful of horseback riding or trail rides in the state.

Speaker 1

Guided Guided trail rides yeah, and that surprises a lot of people.

Speaker 2

They think Kentucky there's just like horses everywhere. Yeah, and there are to an extent, but not kind of the guided hands-on experience like what you all offer. And so talk a little bit about what that guided trail ride program looks like at Redfern Riding Center.

Speaker 3

Sure, well, part of what we offer and you know, like you said it and like you said, this is quintessential horse, country and people come for thoroughbreds.

The Guided Trail Rides Experience

Speaker 3

But having a guided ride operation is complicated. You need really well-trained horses, you need a beautiful place to take them, you need a horse background, a safety background. So I think it is hard for people to do that and we're very lucky that we can do that for the community. What makes us special, I guess, is that you know we can. Our guided rides are kind of for for anybody. So say, you come to Kentucky and you know you want to do something above and beyond, to see the thoroughbreds or do a farm tour, which is also really cool but, you want to bring your family to do something where you sit on a horse, but you don't have experience.

Speaker 3

Well, we have the horses for you, we have the guides, we take you out, we make you safe and it's just a fun experience. And, yeah, it's unique. It's unique to this area. People think, well, I'll go out west and I'll you know. I can ride in the Rockies or or do whatever, but they don't think I can ride in the, in the bluegrass and, and they can.

Speaker 2

I always uh say this is not to speak ill of you know some of our more famous racetracks? Uh in the state. Uh, but you don't get that hands-on experience there. It feels like a half mile away from a horse at any given moment, whereas with you all, with what you're doing, you're literally on a horseback. So that's a different, more hands-on experience for people wanting that authentic Kentucky experience there.

Speaker 1

Experience is the word definitely.

Speaker 4

Well, and one of the things that I think really sets us apart and that we are most proud of is our program is very safe. If you look at our reviews online, everyone mentions how safe it is and they're still having fun.

Speaker 1

We're not compromising safety for fun, but we're not compromising fun either, and you've mentioned safety a couple of different times, which is so good, because I remember getting on a horse at other places, maybe not even in Kentucky, and you've just never been on one. They sit you on one and it doesn't feel as safe. But go through your safety. I mean you watch a video, Tell our viewers, our listeners, what they can. I mean it will make them feel better if they're bringing their children or somebody that's never been on a horse.

Speaker 4

Yes, yeah, absolutely so. We start off at the very beginning. When people register, they give us their ages, their weights, their names, their things like that. So before you even step foot onto the property, you have a horse assigned specifically to you that we know is going to be appropriate for you. Watch a safety video beforehand that goes over you know basic instructions and then, um, everyone does wear helmets, which is very important to us. And once you get on the horse, even though you have watched the video, our guides go over the steering instructions, safety instructions, answer any questions that you may have, and then, while out on the trail, the guides the whole time. The guide in the front will be basically riding their horse backwards the guides the whole time.

Speaker 4

the guide in the front will be basically riding their horse backwards keeping an eye on you. So, and typically for larger rides, we have two guides, so that you know, you have eyeballs on you at all times.

Speaker 1

And for those listeners that are short like me, getting on that can be a problem, but you've got some stairs and a platform where, literally, you're just like stepping right over, so that shouldn't be a concern for people Not at all, and that's how people get off as well.

Speaker 4

They get off on the stairs, so that's another element of safety and ease as well. You know, we do have a lot of people with physical limitations who come to ride with us, and they'll reach out to us beforehand concerned about getting on and off the horse, and we reassure them that we do have the facilities for them.

Speaker 1

Now your program goes way beyond just the guided trail rides. What are some other things that you're doing? And you've added some things like agility, or I may I don't know.

Speaker 3

Cross country course. Yeah, it's horse agility, it is.

Speaker 1

No, that's good, that's good, no, you can tell we're not. Yeah, that's okay.

Speaker 4

That's okay. It is essentially horse agility, yeah yeah.

Safety First Approach

Speaker 3

As far as Redfern Riding Center, we have a lesson program. So it's an English-based lesson program. It's set up for again, anybody we do kids, adults, beginner to advanced Again very safety-oriented. We do you know arena work or you work on the flat and you can learn how to jump. You can learn how to jump outside and everything, just like our guided ride program, is kind of built on a. You know, you start here and you work your way up and you really learn. What we're proud of with the lesson program is it's you learn fundamentals, you learn horsemanship, how to walk a horse properly, how to brush, all those things that you know sometimes get missed in not other lesson programs, but that's our, that's our focus is really care. So if you do decide you want a horse, eventually you know everything.

Speaker 4

Yeah, we call it horsemanship from the ground up. So every single lesson you are with the instructor on the ground, like Justine said, learning how to brush, learning how to lead, learning how to turn your horse out safely. You know just all of the things that you would need to know to own your own horse one day.

Speaker 2

Gotcha.

Speaker 4

Amazing Anything else.

Speaker 3

We have borders, oh okay. So we have people who bring their horses. It's called full care board, so we take care of their horse from start to finish feed them, turn them out, give them grain, make sure that they have water, that they're, you know, safe and healthy, and then the borders can just come out and they get to do the fun part.

Speaker 4

They get to do the fun part.

Speaker 3

Yeah, I always say, if I was a billionaire or a millionaire, that I just want to be a boarder and show up and ride my horse and just ride and just ride.

Speaker 1

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So also at the park, can't you just bring? If you own, like say, I owned my own horse I can bring it out, Absolutely, absolutely. And is there a cost for that? Just for riding, yep.

Beyond Trail Rides: Lessons and Boarding

Speaker 3

So there's two and that kind of dovetails into the cross-country course that we just built. But there's two options. You can either have a year pass or a day pass, and that's for either trail riding, if you don't want to use the jumps, or for cross-country, if you do want to use the jumps. And we try to make it really easy. People can do it online. They just hit get my pass. They can buy their year pass or or day pass, um, and then they can come down to the barn or we will come find you and we'll say hey, have you been here before? Um, kind of show them where the trail heads start, and that kind of stuff.

Speaker 3

Um, in the last year we've been really lucky and we've gotten some grant funding to do a couple of things. One is more signage. I think that was a problem for us, for well, you guys put signs up, which was wonderful, but signs within the park as well. So we have a whole information booth and new trail maps and we've GPS the trails. So we really want to help people be able to independently show up if we're not there and just say, okay, I'm here. I've never been here before. I'm going to follow this trail. Oh, that's fantastic.

Speaker 4

It's fantastic, yeah. And then this summer we're getting new trail markers out, so once you're out on the trails, it's going to be a whole lot easier to find your way around Absolutely.

Speaker 2

Oh, that's so good, yeah, so going back to the guided trail rides for a second. Uh, there's. You offered the two different types of guided trail rides, correct? And what are those?

Speaker 4

So we have an hour long ride we call it the nature ride, and then we have a 90 minute ride that we call the adventure ride. Both are appropriate for beginners. Um, we do tell people for the adventure ride if you think you're going to be nervous, it's not the best first ride because, there are some bigger Hills, but again, it's still beginner friendly and anyone of any level can ride. We take people as young as seven, and I think our oldest rider to date was 88.

Speaker 4

So as long as you meet the minimum age requirement you are welcome.

Speaker 1

No maximum, no maximum, no maximum age. That's amazing and it's just so beautiful it is the? Probably either one I know I've seen starting out in the open field and going through the, through the woods. Do they both kind of start the same way, only they're just a little short. One is shorter yeah, um.

Speaker 4

So that is the nice thing about both of the rides is you're going to see, um, more or less the same terrain on each ride, just one's a little bit longer. But you go through open fields, you go through the woods, there's creek crossings, there's always lots of wildlife, lots of deer. The deer are not scared of our horses and they'll let you get pretty close. It's really cool to be able to see deer up close like that. And then later on in the year I think around June is when he comes by we have a great heron that lives in the creek and I mean he's massive, he's probably got a 10-foot wingspan.

Speaker 3

Yeah, and he's been back year after year.

Speaker 4

But yeah, he's been there all eight years that I've been here.

Speaker 3

But yeah, our adventure ride is a little bit different in that, so we kind of have called this the. The front side is the nature ride and then there's a creek that divides and then the back side is the adventure ride.

Speaker 3

Um, and the adventure ride kind of goes to the far point of the park and it's where most trail riders ride as well, so there's a more flat section in the front for our nature ride and a lot of families do that, because the trails are a little bit wider and if you've got back problems it's less kind of going up and down hills and then the adventure ride goes all the way to the back. So you do see a little bit more stuff, but all in all it's gorgeous.

Speaker 1

It is gorgeous. It really is. Those rides are wonderful. We're very relaxed.

Speaker 2

So you've talked a little bit about I guess the best way to put it would be your wildlife encounters on the property. But is there a moment or a memory that stands out to either of you? Not even necessarily about that, but just something funny, a funny story that happened on a trail ride? I mean, I have a story about the time, but I won't scare anyone by telling that one. So, but anyway, go for it.

Speaker 4

Come on.

Speaker 2

You have to tell the turkey story. I'll tell the turkey story. Oh, there's a story. It has a name.

Speaker 4

Okay yes, so we have a lot of wild turkey at the park. Just a disclaimer this is the only time that this has ever happened In nine years. In nine years, and it was my first year of working at the park. Do I have to make this sound effects?

Speaker 2

Oh, do If you want to.

Speaker 1

You have said the word sound effects, so now they must happen.

The Wild Turkey Story

Speaker 4

Okay, so I was taking a ride. It was a young boy, his mother and his father. It was so far a very uneventful ride. We were about halfway through the ride and I turned forward for a brief second to just make sure I was heading in the right direction. And from behind me I just hear.

Speaker 1

Oh my gosh, that was fabulous, that was perfect, isn't that?

Speaker 4

good.

Speaker 1

We need to have a turkey calling contest. Yes, definitely.

Speaker 4

And this poor boy. There were turkeys chasing his pony and the boy did come off unfortunately, but he handled it like an absolute trooper. I got him back on, Everything was great. We continue down the trail. Not even 10 minutes later, Again I hear and I had been turned around backwards my horse spun around, I came off, the little boy came off, and that's it. I said we're done.

Speaker 4

And we all I put the boy back on his horse but I walked him back to the barn and, uh, my favorite part about that was the family went out to dinner, I guess at Texas Roadhouse or something after that and there had been a taxidermy turkey in the restaurant and they sent us a picture of the little boy shaking his fist at the turkey. That's so funny. So it was an unfortunate experience, a funny experience looking back, but the boy handled it really well and the parents handled it really well and I think we all came away with a really crazy story.

Speaker 3

Disclaimer I know.

Speaker 4

There needs to be a disclaimer.

Speaker 3

Disclaimer People, rarely, rarely rarely, rarely ever fall off, and part of what we were doing was it was in the height of summer and we decided to do rides later and I think this ride was at like six o'clock it was like 630'clock, it was like 6.30.

Speaker 4

Yeah, it was a late ride. And what?

Speaker 3

happens later is the turkeys come out, and that's what we learned, so we immediately stopped doing later rides.

Speaker 4

That is why we no longer do rides after 5 pm.

Speaker 3

Yeah, truly Truly it is. It is yeah Because it's.

Speaker 4

And again.

Speaker 1

This was eight years ago and it has not happened since and it is the only time I've fallen off on a trail ride is because of the turkeys.

Speaker 2

Oh my gosh, but your turkey sound was fabulous, very good, it was fabulous.

Speaker 1

I was looked behind me oh my gosh, I have a mental picture of it all happening, but, um, you mentioned, uh, that you don't do them after five. So so what season do you do the guided trail rides? And then, from what time to what time? What? Kind of information about that.

Speaker 3

Sure, we run from usually spring break. Spring break we historically April 15th, but we look at when the schools go on spring break. So this year it's a lot sooner because we really want kids to be able to enjoy, you know, spring and we run all the way through november 15th. They do a little bit of hunting out there, so we stop before they before and they do it on the back side of the park.

Speaker 4

That's still oh, we like to play it safe.

Speaker 3

Yeah, if there is going to be hunting on the property, we aren't riding and it's pretty funny because we can tell when hunting season comes, because all of the deer will go. Come on the front side of the park and now we'll just be so many deer. And we're like yeah, you know, you know it's hunting season.

Speaker 4

They've gotten really smart, they know. Oh, it's November. I better head over the creek.

Speaker 1

I've always noticed that the deer disappear. It's like they have that guide or something. They're reading it, they know things, they know things.

Speaker 3

And our rides are 9, 11, 2, and 4. So we do four rides a day, max 10 people. Usually we go up to about 12 in the summer. It just depends on how many horses we have and how busy we get. But Wednesday through Sunday Did.

Speaker 1

I say that yes, wednesday through Sunday, but you can never say it too often, so just to get it, get it in there and set.

Speaker 2

And people make that, they reserve that online ahead of time. It's not just a show up type of ordeal.

Speaker 3

No, I wish, I wish it could be a show up. We do do a lot of same day bookings, so, and every year as we you know, the word gets out and more and more people learn about us we can do that more. I mean the ultimate goal. It would be wonderful just to say, walk in Um, but people are pretty good about pre-booking and that helps us staff.

Speaker 4

And how many horses we're going to use and that stuff. Honestly, one of the reasons that we can't always accommodate walk-in bookings is because people do book with us well in advance and we fill up pretty quickly. But we will accommodate walk-ins when we have room. Sure.

Speaker 1

And then your website is.

Speaker 3

Redfernwritingcentercom.

Speaker 1

Perfect, I figured it would be, but you never know, somebody might try and get creative on it.

Speaker 2

I'm in front of KY in there, yeah.

Speaker 1

So what's next for Redfern Writing Center? What, what excitement is coming? Your hopes and dreams for the future, Our hopes and dreams, I mean, we've made.

Speaker 3

We've done a lot of things in the last year that that have kind of set us up, like the cross country course, which we worked with a volunteer from the parks who helped us get to fundraise and we're able to build this course and being able to build this course and being able to build this course, we can do events, so really excited about being able to host some horse related events. We're also partnering with some schools to have schools come out, do some educational opportunities and field trips. We're doing open how, like more open houses. We really are just trying to get more people to the park in general, not just.

Speaker 3

Redfern Riding Center but Shelby Trails Park and that's kind of been a big push all along, not only for the business but for everything for Shelby County and I'm pretty proud of the things that we've done in the last few years.

Speaker 1

You guys have done great and that's a good move. With the kids coming from school, they bring home a flyer and then suddenly you're having riding lessons or guided trail rides.

Speaker 4

Yeah, we're very excited. Simpsonville Elementary is going to be coming out in May, so we're excited to have everyone out.

Speaker 2

Yeah, that'll be fun so at Shelby Trails Park, not just Redfern Riding Center, but at the park itself. Is it just horseback riding?

Speaker 3

Can people go hiking bring their dogs? What does that look like? Horses and hikers? So it's in a trust and it can only be horses and hikers, so unfortunately, no bikes or ATVs or anything. Yeah, part of what we did with redoing the trails was we're trying to get more people to hike out there because it really is a great place to hike. It's not on people's radar.

Speaker 1

Is it the same trails that the horses are going on Like? You might meet a guided trail ride and you just step to the side, I guess yes, 60, 40.

Speaker 3

Yeah.

Park Amenities and Horse Transformations

Speaker 4

And there are some trails that are hikers only.

Speaker 1

Oh, okay, but I didn't know if I was hiking and then I hear beating hooves behind me.

Speaker 3

I would be a wild turkey, or wild turkeys.

Speaker 4

But the beauty about coming out to the park to hike is you get an extra 80 acres that the horses don't have access to. There is an annex on one side of the park that is for hikers only, so if you are nervous about meeting some horses, you can just head on over there and you get to see part of the park that is for hikers only. So you know, if you are nervous about meeting some horses, you can just head on over there and you get to see part of the park that we don't get to see because we're riding horses.

Speaker 3

But it's got beautiful wildflower. I mean it's just gorgeous. Oh really. Yeah, it's really pretty, and there's an archery range up there as well.

Speaker 1

So yeah, oh, that's fantastic yeah.

Speaker 3

Yeah, and if you want to see horses from afar, it's a good place to hike.

Speaker 1

So is there a charge for the archery? I mean, if somebody was hiking and they go out with their equipment, can they just do it? They can just do it. Oh, that's wonderful.

Speaker 3

Hikers are always free.

Speaker 1

Oh, wonderful, Wonderful to know.

Speaker 4

However donations to the park are always appreciated, always.

Speaker 1

Do you have a place for donations?

Speaker 3

Like, as people are, is there like a box, or they usually just come to the office. We have people come and ask about things that they can donate. People have been very generous about donating equipment or their time. Their time is wonderful. We'll take that, so, yeah. Or they can go to the foundation Shelby County Parks Foundation. There you go.

Speaker 4

We have an open door policy in our office, you know. That's why we don't have a whole lot of like just leave your money boxes around, because we want people to come down to the office and meet us. We want to give them a map, we want to show them around, we want to answer their questions right, and you probably have horses of all personalities.

Speaker 1

I know you said you match people with the horse, so probably more. Some horses are more zippy, or I know I would probably want one that was practically dead, just sleepy, just sleepy.

Speaker 4

Yes, so our least experienced horses. This will be their third season with us, so they are very well seasoned. Most of our horses have been with us for six or seven seasons. We have one who's been with us since the beginning. Oh wow, cricket. He's our good kid horse. He's a golden oldie. He's a very special boy.

Speaker 3

You could put a baby on him. He's amazing, oh that's great.

Speaker 3

It's funny because we were talking about this on the way here and we always joke. We don't rescue horses on purpose, but we do get horses from auctions quite often and we were looking through some of the pictures of these transformations that we've made from these horses that were just emaciated and sad, scared, scared and sad and, you know, scared and it's just. It's pretty cool seeing the changes in these horses personalities and bodies and you know these are older horses that may not have been taken care of well and they're so fit you know just just doing guided rides and doing that walking and good nutrition, it's kind of cool.

Speaker 4

Oh, you're doing good work.

Speaker 3

It's really amazing.

Speaker 4

It's kind of cool. Oh, you're doing good work. It's really amazing. I think that's my favorite part of the job. That goes unseen and I'm fine with that, but I just I really do enjoy trans. They're seeing these horses transform from these scared, skinny creatures that we get to horses that are well loved and love their job right, yeah, well, that comes also from your Humane Society background too.

Speaker 1

Yeah, that's so good.

Speaker 2

So this apologies, these two were not on the or this question was not on the list of prepared ones. But how many horses do you have that you're actually caring for through Redfern Riding Center?

Speaker 4

Right now I think we're at 32. Okay, so there are a lot of horses on the property.

Speaker 1

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 4

Later in the summer we're going to be getting some more horses in, so we typically have around 40 horses on the property that we are caring for daily.

Speaker 3

Wow.

Speaker 1

Yeah, and is it just you two, or do you have staff?

Speaker 3

additional, we do have staff. We have staff who feed, we have staff who clean the stables, and then we have obviously guided ride folks that we hire seasonally, yeah, um so so we have quite a bit of help. That being said, when I first started, you're looking at the guys. It was just the two of us um, and, and we, we do run the whole thing, the two of us and sometimes you know, helping out and managing the park and promoting the park, yeah, PR, HR, all of the R's.

Speaker 1

Yeah. Do you have people that want to volunteer, that say, oh, I don't want a job, but I'd love to just help out? Anybody like that.

Speaker 4

We do, we just quote unquote, hired a woman who is going to volunteer on Wednesdays? She's going to lead guided trail rides for us and she just wants to volunteer her time and hang out with our horses and meet people. Oh, that's fantastic.

Speaker 1

Yeah, hopefully you'll get some more volunteers and people that help you out, cause you do such good work.

Speaker 4

And we get a lot of volunteers from our lesson program as well. We have I call them my barn kids. They're not my children, but they I mean. If they could live at the barn, they would be there 24, seven.

Speaker 1

What ages of like of kids. Take lessons All five.

Speaker 3

Five, I mean four to five.

Speaker 1

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3

Up to 85.

Speaker 2

Truly.

Speaker 3

Kids at heart yes exactly, exactly yeah, we had a lot of adults who have ridden as kids who want to come back and you know that's kind of cool to see or a very cool story from this year.

International Appeal and Partnerships

Speaker 4

We have an adult who had never ridden before. He just started riding in november and last or this month, I guess, he went to ire Ireland, and did an entire horseback riding vacation. Oh wow. So, he set that goal for himself to learn how to ride, walk, track, canter and jump yeah, and learn how to jump and he really committed himself. It was really cool and seeing his photos and videos from Ireland were really cool, that is a big commitment, oh my goodness.

Speaker 1

When I was in college I thought, oh, I went. I lived in Indianapolis. I thought, oh, I want to drive the carriages downtown Indianapolis. But I had never been around horses and Mason's probably laughing because I can't even hardly get near them because they're so big. I didn't get past putting the bridle in the mouth, so that was not a job for me but, I, wanted to so badly so I can't imagine going to Ireland to learn. Oh my goodness, that's quite quite something. So, speaking of foreign countries and far away things.

Speaker 2

How, uh, what's the farthest you've known of someone who's traveled to and actually done one of the guided trail rides or been to Redfern Riding Center?

Speaker 4

We've had people from Australia.

Speaker 2

Oh, wow.

Speaker 4

UAE last year, uae all over the world.

Speaker 3

Yeah, yeah and more and more every year. We get more and more people from out of the country.

Speaker 4

I mean just lots of folks had people from Japan, China, I mean just everywhere.

Speaker 1

That's good to know. Mason and I do an international group travel show Not that they came because of us, although I like to think they did. So that's good to know that you know the range of folks that are coming. And then I remember the last time Mason and I were out. I remember asking people where are you all from? They weren't from out of the country, but all said chicago yes, yeah, that's amazing.

Speaker 3

Yeah, yes, we get so many visitors from the midwest chicago wisconsin a lot of that and then a lot of people who are doing the bourbon trail, so they want to add a horse back riding piece, and that's something that I'd really like to get the word out about. More, too, is you know people? Who want to do horse-related activities when they're doing the Bourbon Trail Right and we do have a partnership Before they drink yes, before they drink, Right.

Speaker 4

And we do have a partnership with one Bourbon Tour company where, you know, they bring people out, they do their ride and then they go on and they have their day.

Speaker 1

Oh, that's fantastic. I love partnerships. It benefits everybody. That's amazing, wonderful. Anything else you want to add about your fabulous, wonderful hidden gem?

Speaker 3

hidden wonder?

Speaker 1

We don't want it to be hidden, no, it's actually, when you've got people coming internationally to do your guided trail rides, it's definitely not hidden anymore and you do such a good job. It's so safe and we are so thrilled that you're in Shelby County and Simpsonville, so thrilled. Like we said, there's hardly any. I mean, there are very few guided trail rides in the state of Kentucky.

Speaker 3

We're glad that you are it?

Speaker 1

Yeah, so are we. Well, thank you so much for being on the show with us.

Speaker 4

Thank you for having us Thank you for having us.

Speaker 1

Oh, we love you, guys have a great day you too, thanks Bye.

Closing and Contact Information

Speaker 2

This has been Kentucky Hidden Wonders. Thank you to Justine and Lindsay for coming on the show to talk about Redfern Writing Center and thank you for listening. If you've made it this far, make sure you subscribe and leave us a review. It means the world to us. We'll return with a brand new Kentucky Hidden Wonders episode in two weeks. Bye everyone. Kentucky Hidden Wonders is a Shelby KY Tourism production. Your hosts are Janet Marson and Mason Warren. To learn more about Shelby KY Tourism and to start planning a visit, head to visitshelbykycom.

Head Shot

Janette Marson

Host
Head Shot

Mason Warren

Host
Contributor

Justine Saudan

Guest
Contributor

Lyndsey Estes

Guest