Mercer Island Saddle Club

JJ is an excellent teacher: TO: Any interested party

I post this review as an endorsement for horseback riding and in particular for those in the Seattle area looking for a close-by choice to learn about horses and riding. Mercer Island Saddle Club (MISC) is a nearby choice. Within the framework of Mercer Island Saddle Club one can own, board, ride and learn about horses. One of the finest teachers there is J.J. She is very well versed in what it takes to become a proficient owner or rider. J.J. is even better at teaching those concepts for those who may have a serious interest in becoming a “horse person”. Her integrity and skill are what makes me recommend her to all who may contact me about horseback riding. After all, I have been a member of the Mercer Island Saddle Club for more than ten years and I have had the opportunity to view the best and the worst of what has come and gone through the barn aisle.

What makes J.J. such a success is her care, compassion and skill with horses. It is clear in how she rides, handles and teaches with her horses, and others people’s horses, that the horses’ needs comes first. Naturally, with that philosophy firmly in place the rider will have a good experience. This combined with J.J.’s sense of the limitations and abilities of any particular student make her skilled at making a good match between horse and rider. Not a “client keeper” she is realistic and compassionate when it comes to recognizing and helping a student to see that sometimes riding is not the best choice for them. Having observed all these characteristics of J.J. through the years, I would not hesitate to recommend her to anyone, my family, my friends, and all who show any interest in learning about horses at the Mercer Island Saddle Club.

horse.grrl review is abusive, should be removed: First, the waiting list to get a stall at Mercer Island Saddle Club is closer to 10 years long, which should offer an indication of the demand for this facility. The wait list time period is one of many, many, facts that horse.grrl got wrong in her "review," which reads more like a teen tantrum than an educated opinion based on reality. Her (highly inaccurate, apparently angry and just plain silly) comments about a trainer at this facility should be removed from this site. The nastily false comments she has written carry a libelous tone. My years of experience at this facility and with this trainer show horse.grrl to be factually incorrect, point by point, on many, many of the allegations she makes here. That she felt the need to write these things is disturbing. If this is how she interpreted the lesson she maintains she observed, then she knows far less about horsemanship, horse care and riding than she would have us believe.