Meadow Crest Farms Pony Rides, Rescue, Lessons, Boarding

This place is fantastic! Sharon, the owner, is wonderful with both animals and kids. She works incredibly hard to keep this place going. Sometimes people come into the barn and are put off my the skinnier horses, but the reality is it's a horse (any any other animal that needs it!) RESCUE. Some of the horses are skinny because they've been starved before they were rescued and horses only fatten up so quickly! This place is an amazing place for lessons and pony rides and you will definitely get your money's worth. Lessons and pony rides are how she keeps this rescue running. Sharon and her husband Robert will go without before the horses do so before you judge a book by it's cover, let Sharon share with you how passionate she is about caring for these animals. Boarding is cheaper here than most, if not all, of the places anywhere near here. On the farm they currently have 60 rescued horses, 2 donkeys, a llama, a baby cow, some goats, some sheep, 2 kinds of chickens, bunnies, guinie hens and now 2 dogs. Plus two people-friendly skunks! The standing motto seems to be ""We take animals that people have given up on and people who are misunderstood."" If you don't feel like trying to fit in at a fancy-smanchy barn that charged $700 a month for board and requires a uniform to ride... then this is the place for you! We welcome anyone who is willing to learn and you can even work your lessons off! Times are tough financially for everyone right now and Sharon understands that more than most because she has to stretch any money very far to make ends meet. It's definitely worth carving out half a day to come visit and let Sharon show you around the place! more

Sharon is an amazing woman. She tries VERY hard to keep everyone satisfied. She has a lot to do in a day. She offers the working program where if you can not afford to pay for lessons you may work them off. That's an awesome opportunity i don't know any other barns that even offer that. Many people are on here complaining that Sharon works them to hard. to those people. Sharon will accept payment at any time! If you don't want to work for your lessons then by all means pay for them!. Stop whining about doing work when the problem can be solved by you paying for the lessons. more

sharon is an AWESOME trainer. anything people say bad about Meadow Crest Farms there wrong. sharon tries her hardest to keep meadow crest farms running and to keep us happy. all of the horses are healthy. some are only skinny because they were just rescued. I used to ride at this barn and and when i was there idont think about anything but the farm and if the horses are fed and if they have water wich they always do but i like giving them treats. last year we had some differculties in gass money so i had to go to a different and closer barn. so that horse had to be put down on my b-day wich was depressing. the pasture horses always are fed watered constantly, they never run out of it. sharon does have some bad days but everybody has them. i started as a beginner and going to finish as an expirenst rider (hopefully). sharon is a very welcoming person. on my very first day there sharon told me i can not be shy at her barn. so i came up with barn family. also on my first time at the barn we played a little fun show with the horses and that made me feel welcome. more

Sharon is one of the best trainers i ever had or met. She is just amazing. She has helped me and so many other financially and emotionally. Her horses are so friendly and nice. And for those of you that say that she is not taking care of her horses its a lie. Me and some of my friends have stayed over night there several times and the first thing we do is feed and water all the horses. Some of them are skinny due to age or that she just recently got them. When we clean the stalls she expects nothing less than your best. The prices are honestly not bad compared to most facilities. Sharon will give as much respect as you give her. She dose not appreciate being told what to do in her own barn, and she can get mad sometimes, but come on shes just human. At Sharons barn we are all just one big family. more

I walked thru here with a friend of mine. Why are so many horses so skinny you can see their ribs and hip bones? I'v been involved in horses for many years, but new to computers. I checked out the site and WTF kind of money does she think she is asking for these ""rescues"" . Why would anyone go to a rescue place and pay the price of a reputable breeder with a well trained horse? Is she trying to keep these horses or find them homes? Most people that go to the humane society to rescue a pet they know they can AFFORD, not pay like they are at a breeder, Longmeadow Rescue which is like a mansion compared to this dog house. Their horses ave $300-$1000 for well trained registered ones. What in the heck makes this woman think average people would go to this place to pay the prices on her ""rescue"" horses? I only saw 3 on her page that were homed. Gee, I wonder why in 12 years she has only 3 rescue horses sold. Does the word HOARDER come to mind? What other reason would you charge such a high price for low quality, un-trained horses? Wake up and smell the coffee lady!! Get your so called rescue horses much better homes than you can give them. I wouldn't pay 1/2 of what she prices these poor horses. Get a clue. Your forcing these horses to stay by asking laughable prices when just the low quality of the place would scare off any one that could afford such dumb azz prices. Maybe someone should take a real look at the shape of these horses, then they could go to a REAL rescue, be priced right, and GET A HOME!! What a scam!! more

The women who owns this barn has good intentions and knows what shes doing with horses but the conditions of the barn are not great she is trying to improve them but i don't know when or if she will ever really improve i do know that half of the bad comments are not true and half of them are extremely true. I do think it would be in the horses best interest for them to go to a different barn but its not up to me so i do not recommend going to this barn it deserves to be shut down i also believe that a lot of the horses are under a lot of stress because of the owners bad temper. Also many of the horses are very underweight and i don't think that years in to having a rescue horse that they should still be underweight, also the trainer is a really good trainer but isn't very good with kids if they make one mistake she yells at them like its the end of the world. A lot of the pony rides that she has kids and horses work are usually in freezing weather or super hot weather. A lot of the time she uses money she could be using to buy stuff for the horses for pointless things. My sister and I worked ten days in a row from 9am to 11pm in the stalls and didn't get many lessons back in return like she promised. I think as kids when adults promise things and work hard and get all excited that the adults should keep their promise but shes not very big on that. Also the lake that she lets kids swim in is disgusting and the outdoor arena is horrible as well as the indoor i mean when u ride at night you can barley see where you are going because she has barley any lights. She is never on time and keeps people waiting for hours. I don't and do understand why she took on so many horses. She cares but she doesn't deserve to stay running. If she doesn't figure something out i don't know how those horses life's end. The Horses in the big pasture barley get water and or food because they eat all the grass so fast. Also they dont have any shelter and there are HUGE jumps in the field the horses could hurt themselves jumping over. The mini pen has about 10-15 mini horses in it and there is very dirty water that they are forced to drink! When there is a shorting of hay the horses are forced to eat very little hay or all just grain. In the bedding area there is a tarp and when you walk in to get bedding it is very hot and very hard to breathe! The chicken coop is very disgusting and is never cleaned out. When you walk around the barn and stables you will see poop everywhere from the horses hoofs and nobody bothers to clean it up. more

I met Sharon today and loved her. Just in the short time my children and I were there to watch a ferrier, we learned quite a bit. Sharon is so full of interesting bits of information about taking care of all kinds of animals, not just horses. There were many girls that volunteer there and you could tell they had the utmost respect for her. They were ready at a moment's notice for anything she needed help with...watering the horses, feeding them and the rabbits...etc. For kid,s these days, that was quite impressive. While my children and I are not experienced around horses and the smells of the farm were different to my kids...that didn't even phase them...they totally want to go back and help as much as Sharon will let them. I disagree whole-heartedly with the negative comments because we didn't experience any of it and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I'm glad there are people out there, like Sharon, because it makes the world more interesting and the animals that were rescued have a chance to have a better life. more

I absolutely love this barn, the horses, and most of all, the owner, Sharon. I'm from a barn in Illinois, and i had to move down to Missouri, and I've been too multiple barns till I came here. Sharon gives you so much individual attention. She's extremely intelligent, and knows so much about horses. I've never met someone with this much passion for what they do, in my life. Everyone here at this barn, was welcoming, and down to earth people. The horses here are amazing. I love everything about this barn. more

Sometimes people judge by the cover vs. what they find inside and that's a shame. I hope the last reviewer doesn't live his or her whole life like this because they're going to miss out on some valuable experiences, valuable friendships and opportunities for faith, hope and love. more

If I could give this place 0 stars I would. This place is just terrible and needs to seriously be shut down. When I visited this barn it was with a friend, the only reason I went was to see just how bad all the reviews were. Upon arrival I noticed all the mud pens, mud and dirt is fine but not when the horses/ponys are all knee deep in it. The front pasture was full of mini's that had bad mats in there man and tails all with large amounts of feces in the pen. The outside pastures had huge rusted metal tubs that I am assuming was garbage just left out. The fences were all poorly managed if at all, most were falling down or had huge holes and were barb wire. The 3 things though that really got me, and made me question how this place was even still up and running were 1. Horses being kept in horse trailers! because lack of stalls. Yes there were 3 horses kept in a horse trailer with the windows closed because there was no where else to put them! 2. Huge Clydesdale being kept in one of those dog pens those 10x7 or 10x10 pens, that is not fit to hold a large horse or any horse at all its for dogs... and lastly they kept a horse with stangles in the arena that everyone was riding in. Letting all the other horses ride near it. This place is terrible and there is no other word for it. Report this place and if you board there I suggest you move for sake of your horse! more

I don't know much about Meadow Crest Farms...yet...so I gave it a neutral rating. What I do know something about, however, is 501(c)3 companies. And I can tell anyone who cares to read this that the people who posted comments regarding Meadow Crest Farms' lack of 501(c)3 status don't know the first thang about what they're saying. A 501(c)3 status simply means that the organization is either a government organization or has non-profit tax-exempt status. That's it. Period. It has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the organization, group or business. Which means that anyone who uses that as a ""negative"" for Meadow Crest Farms either [1] is really stupid, doesn't know what it means, but heard someone mention the lack at Meadow Crest and decided it was worth using to launch a personal crusade, or [2] is intentionally misusing the term, hoping that no one else knows what is means and will fall for their slanderous comments that use that lack of 501(c)3 status as a basis for bad-mouthing Meadow Crest. Either way, since I know that they absolutely either lied or misused the term in ignorance, and I'm betting it's the first reason, I have to wonder how much of the rest of their post is also an outright lie or a ""misuse"" of information. more

this place is horrible! my sister, friend, and I started working out there in '08. the conditions that i saw most of the horses in were terrible. if the horses were injered, sick, or just emaciated they could not fight with the stonger horses and got the last pickings from the round bail sitting in the ankle deep mud. almost all the horses, ponies, and foals have rainrot. i fell in love with a horse there and after cofrounting sharon about how we wanted to purchace him. she demanded we give her a downpaiment, and told us we had to pay for the bord when we hadn't even purchased the horse yet! she jacked up the price about acouple hundard dollars, and after we finally got the horse to my farm we haven't been back sence. this is a horrible place that needs to be shut down. more

You say she's a respectable stable owner? Do you know for a fact that she has all of her horses UTD on coggins and vaccinations? I think you don't. Only the ones who ""travel"" do. Or so she says. And they're only UTD on their coggins, unless she's figured out how to forge the paperwork. For those of you who board. Have you ever asked for all of her paperwork on all of her horses before bringing your horse into her barn? I know I would especially since I know what has happened there in the past. How many of you know about her on going case with strangles? Yeah it happened a few years ago, but strangles lives in the ground for 7yrs. You can only bleach the ground so many times and guess what.... It doesn't kill all of it. Also there are several strings of strangles. A horse who has had it before can get a cold from it, but never get the virus again. That cold can be passed from one horse to another and if a horse who's never had strangles before will get the virus rather than the cold. POOF! Another outbreak of strangles. more

I love this place! Thanks to Sharon, I've met a lot of friends who love horses, just like me! Almost everyone where I live are scared of horses :) I've seen rescue horses that have been brought in, and believe me, they DO improve! The people are like my family! With the rude comments, some people aren't sure if they want to board, or take lessons, or whatever at Meadowcrest. But, you know what they say, don't knock it until you try it! more

this is the best place ever. if you have heard anything and you believe it, as they always say, you never know if you will like it till you try it. so all of you need to really try it. i love it. its the best place i have ever been and people are always taking good care of those horses, they have food water and everything they need. the horses are great to be around and are very loving. all they want is people to love them back. i can say that since i have been down there, i have had the best experience ever. if you havent been down there i believe you should. its a great place and defantily need to go down there. so take a chance and try it. you will love it. i did and it was the best. more

i have worked for Sharon for a while now and i love it!! For everyone who says she dose not take care of her horses is a lie! when i go down there and work we clean all the stalls feed water and groom the horses DO get there feet done when its needed ! ive seen her do it many times! shes an absolute sweetheart when me and brittany are workin she allways buys a snack even when we dont ask for one . ive met amazing people down there sharon is very fun to be around. and saying all her horses are caked in mud is also a lie , she got two new horses that she rescued and the ONLY reason there not in a stable is because of the 30 day quarantine because if there sick she dosent want to get the other horses sick. Sharon is an amazing teacher,, when me and brittany first started lessions she taught us how to sadddle what kind of saddle fits what horse what all parts of the saddle are called what kind of bits are what makes the bits different. more

Honestly enough is enough!! Im tired of all the bashing. more

First and foremost I take exception to Meadowcrest Farms calling itself a ?rescue?. Any facility or person that ?adopts? intact animals is NOT a rescue facility. I know for a fact that in Nov. 2009, Sharon SOLD three intact colts. I had vet appts. (of which I was paying for) for two of the colts to be gelded and she cancelled the appointments and sold them. This facility is not a 501c3 non-profit organization and your donations are NOT tax deductible. Meadowcrest is not registered as a rescue group with the state of Missouri. Any reputable rescue group would have these credentials. The following comments are a result of actual observation by myself, as I was a boarder there for 2 years. These are not speculation or heresay but actual truths. Many of the horses at Meadowcrest are rescue horses but they do not get any better physically or mentally at this facility. My advice is to please rescue a horse from this place and take it away immediately. Why do I say that? Some of the reviews say the horses are not mistreated. I guess it depends on your definition of mistreatment. I actually witnessed Sharon screaming at horses, hitting horses, threatening to hang her donkey Donetello because his hooves were so long and she was having trouble trimming them. The hooves were long due to her lack of trimming, not because he came from a rescue situation. Is it considered mistreatment when horses stand outside in fetlock deep mud for months? Or, get no vet care unless it is an emergency? Or, get no hoof trims unless a potential adopter is interested in a horse? Is it mistreatment when her husband refuses to feed the pasture horses round bales because he?s mad at Sharon? Or, almost everytime you go out to the place, especially in the summer and horses have no water? I personally filled water buckets and troughs many, many times because the horses had NO water. Stalls are poorly cleaned if you are a boarder. Rescue horses stalls were very rarely cleaned. My mare is a rescue and is very susceptible to thrush but for 2 years her stall was a wet mess. No matter how much I commented and complained, it never changed. My husband had to clean her stall everytime we came out. In addition, we had to buy extra bedding because Sharon refused to put more than a shovel or two in each stall. Her excuse was bedding was expensive. Hmm, as a boarder, wasn?t that what I was paying for? If Sharon is ?all about the horses?, why did she refuse to give my mare needed medication? Her reason was it was too much trouble for her and it was expensive so I really didn?t need to buy it. Her exact quote, ?I just don?t have time to do that with everything else I do!? The final straw occurred when my mare slipped and fell in her stall and I was not told. She is 25 years old and was lame due to the fall. I was told by several boarders that saw the incident. I immediately called my vet and it was determined that the fall was a result of the poor stall conditions. I immediately began looking for a new facility. Other observations: So many bunnies stuffed in a cage that they suffocated, Llamas confined to a stall with goats and rarely turned out, the goat pen with so much mud and so many goats, that goats got trampled and suffocated in the mud, and 2 stallions stall bound and rarely ever see turnout. That is just a few observations, I could continue but space is limited. Meadowcrest has TOO MANY animals. They live in squalor and filth with minimal attention. Adopter beware! more

This is the best place I have ever been to. Yes people say the horses look bad but that is only because they rescued the horses since they are a horse rescue farm. This farm has taught me alot on how to care about horses and how to properly handle the horses. I have learned alot about ridding at this farm all because of the owner and how she takes care of her horses. I have learned so much here and I know how to tell when a horse is being mistreated and there is nothing here to prove that. All I see are people caring about the horses and thier care. more

Meadowcrest Farms is a boarding facility/rescue for animals. Whether its lamas, sheep,ducks, horses, bunnies, mules etc. Sharon takes them all. Sharon, the owner, offers pony rides and petting zoos all over Missouri. She also offers lessons in groups or private. The breeds of horses there range from minis to drafts as well as mules and donkeys. The horses there will do both western and english. Sharon offers both western and english instruction. I first went there because of an ad in the paper i saw back in 2005 when i was only 14. Sharon taught me everything i know and opened me to the horse world.Im currently in Montana for college, and majoring in Natural Horsemanship with a Psychology and Science option and the entire reason im here is because of them and one stubborn mule that i fell in love with on the farm. If anyone remembers the mule Mervin you know the story. This is a GREAT place to open children into the horse world. Some of the horses here were abused or neglected from previous owners that ended up at Meadowcrest and i believe that connecting with these horses is the best way to really begin to understand them. We are a very friendly and open to the public facility and we really hope you stop by! more