Mendes Ranch Trail Rides in Maui, HI

I can not say how pleased I am with this ranch. My daught owns/shows Arabians so she was adamant she wanted to ride by the ocean. She was also, however, adamant that the horses must not be over workded AND well cared for menatlly as well as physically. Mendes Ranch filled all of the above and did not disappoint! We messed up and missed the time scheduled for both of us to ride. Terry could not fit 2 people in before we left but she did fit my daughter in. I never thought I would allow my daughter to be in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with out parent supervision, but I allowed her to go under the circumstances. She had an amazing time and full filled a bucklist item. They were wonderful with her! We highly recomend.

When I booked this ride I was really excited. As a long time rider I was looking forward to riding next to the beautiful water. When we arrived we had to stand around a while for them to be ready. They did offer drinks and water. Once they were ready, they separated you into groups based on your experience, advanced, intermediate and beginner. I would have been the only advanced rider so I stayed with my family and did intermediate. I was just looking for a nice scenic trail ride. They assigned horses based on your size and riding experience. However, they gave my son a small horse and he is 6 feet tall while giving bigger horses to smaller riders. I was initially happy with my horse. Once we headed out on the trails, they were very steep and the horses were sliding making it a bit dangerous for the horses. None of them had much energy which I guess is good when beginners are riding. My sons horse would barely go forward. After we made it to the first scenic overlook and had pictures taken, we passed a horse grazing whose hooves were curled up and could barely walk. I immediately asked about this and was told I needed to speak with someone else. As we headed back towards the barn, you were allowed to run your horse up a hill. I opted not to do this but asked if we could trot. Was told yes so I trotted my horse about 10 steps. After that, she was visibly lame. Once back at the barn I told my guide that she was lame and he pointed to her feet and said once her foot was past the shoe she needed her feet done and would be lame. Ok, I know this is not correct but wasn’t going to argue with him. I also asked about the horse with the curled up feet and was told he couldn’t pick them up. Once again, not true. These horses work 6 out of 7 days 2 rides a day. That isn’t much for a young healthy horse. These horses just appeared to be miserable and not cared for. They were in good weight and not skinny but were being pushed by guys wearing spurs. I’m not sure I would promote this treatment of the horses. Non horse people will not know the difference but horse owners will. I left sick for these animals.

We had a great time on our trail ride at Mendes Ranch! The Ranch is beautiful with scenic vistas everywhere you turn. Rocky and his son Trevor, our trail guides, made the ride fun with their authentic Hawaiian cowboy manners. Polite, friendly and funny. And they really care for the horses who were all very well mannered. It was myself, my husband, and my daughters, 19 and 21 years old. We stopped at 2 scenic spots overlooking the coast line where they took our pics using our phones and we had the option for two runs. It was really a great time and we will most definitely be back the next time we come to Maui.

I can only say that it was the best experience for a first time riding a horse!! Everyone that we encountered on this excursion were great!! Our guide Trevor was a character!!! The views were amazing!! Would definitely do again!!

My husband and I did this our first full day in Maui. Butch and Trevor were so nice and friendly. They guided us thru the terrain and helped us with everything. They let us run our horses twice. They stopped twice and took pictures of everyone using their own cameras. Expect to see peacocks everywhere. We even saw wild cows. I lost $30 on the tour. I hope Trevor or Butch found it because they deserved it.