Carousel Park Equestrian Facility, Wilmington

I called to schedule my child's 8th birthday party there. I was informed pony rides would be held there on May 19, 2012 from 11-2pm and their sign stated this information as well. However, once my party arrived we were informed the pony rides were canceled. All the children at the party were devastated. One staff member said come back in five minutes and the kids could feed the horses. When we came back in five minutes no staff were able to be found. When I called the office to complain there response was a flat "sorry to hear that". Never plan your chld's birthday party here! Their uncaring and lack customer service skils! I shoud have listened to al the warning about this place.

I love Carousel Park! It has excellant trails for hiking, biking, jogging, or just taking your dog for a walk! I currently ride there and I love it! All of the instructors and staff are very knowledgeable and friendly. Each lesson is exciting and challenging! I learn something new each week. The horses are very well cared for and most of them are very friendly. The horses that are being used in multiple lessons a day are beginner horses that do mostly only walk and trot during the entire lesson. The advanced horses are only used in one or two lessons a day. Apart from lessons Carousel also offers pony rides on weekends. Overall carousel is a great place to come and spend the day no matter what you want to do! oh and be sure to check out Carousel's new website it is awesome! carouselparkequestrian.

I live near and have been taking lessons at carousel park for the last year. The horses seem to me at least, to be well taken care of. While it is true, that they may be overworked, this could be due to financial problems and county cut backs. They just received five or six new horses, and I am hoping this helps to distribute the work load. I know all of the horses by name, and they are very well fed and beautiful. I know that the University of Penn, have come and put down horses in the past. But those horses had cancer. And I know that the employees that work there felt very bad about losing those horses. I love the park and the horses, and I enjoy my time there.

With my dog, I drove from Raleigh, NC to Newark,DE area to pick up a kayak last summer. The people I picked up the kayak from were real dog people and when I asked them where there might be a dog park in the area that I could go to to let my dog run a bit after being cooped up in the car the whole time. They recommended this park, and it was GREAT! He could run some in the field and then go swim in the lake. It was really nice. It was late afternoon, so not too many people out there, but those that were, were very nice. Great park!

The park is fantastic for exercising and socializing of people and dogs. We have had a blast going. My two are older guys, and I keep my female on leash because she has lost her sight and is more obnoxious as a result. But, she still gets some good socialization in. Noah meet and greet all the people, sucks up for treats and then trots around. Bella gets a chance to sniff her butt off. Both get wonderful socialization. Most folks there are aware of their dog's presence and where/what he/she is doing. Not all folks manage their dog as well as they could. But, that is true in nearly any dog park. Keeping aware of what and where your pet is is part of being there. A couple of folks there could use some education. Some humans are not as aware of their dog's demeanor and posturing as they could be, and need to watch the Dog Whisperer - a lot in a couple cases.

The scenery is beautiful, If you want to go for a walk around somewhere pretty, I recommend Carousel Park. However, if you plan to go visit the horses, I suggest finding somewhere else to go. My reasoning is even though some of the horses are in stalls with name plates, they are in the wrong stall. And the other horses are either used for 2-3 lessons a day which is a lot of work for one horse, or else they are not used at all and they just hang out in the field all the time. Another thing, if you have a horse for sale, I do not recomend selling it to Carousel Park. Awhile back, Carousel had a horse that they were going to put down because he could no longer be ridden. Thank goodness a friend of mine found out and rescued the horse. With some nurturing, the horse was rehabilitated and lived for quite some time.

I am now a mom but used to ride at Carousel PARK (with Ted and JoAnn) long before the county took over. I stopped riding around 2002 when an accident made me not able to ride anymore, but enjoyed my time there. I took over training an ex-racer, so I will testify to another's comment as to advanced riders training horses. This horse and I did fairly well in most shows - jumping I completely trained him in and started with dressage, but that didn't take too well. When I was there the atmosphere was nice - nice new facilities, horses - LOTS of horses - certainly enough to find a horse in your ability and personality preference. I would definitely attest to the other comments about Carousel not being the best place to train at if you're looking to higher level advancement or showing, but for lessons or fun, it's a great place. I stopped riding some years ago but still visit the Farm as well as Bark Park. My lab loves the pond and socializing with the other dogs, but as another few people have said - the dogs and the owners could use some basic courtesy 101. You are not the only person there, show some respect. We don't like to see aggressive dogs. If your dog is aggressive, please leave them at home. If they don't have basic manners or social skills, again, please leave them at home. Please use common sense when taking your dog off the leash. Several times I've taken my dog and she's been mounted and aggressively played with. I WILL address it to the owners, and if they don't like it, they can leave. All in all, I like Carousel and take my children to visit the horses and my dog to Bark Park. There is lots of room for her to let loose and run and (most of the time) good dogs for her to play with!

I saw a lot of the negative comments about the bark park before I went today so I was a little nervous. But I'm so glad we went. What a great park! It has a huge off leash area for the dogs to run and the lake was fabulous for my lab to swim in! All of the dog owners we encountered were very friendly and the dogs were just as friendly. I highly recommend and I can't wait to go back!

Love the atmosphere and openness. Great for the family or for just hiking alone. Many trails to pick from and also has a no leash Bark Park for you dogs.

I just adopted a 4 year old female German Shepherd and she loves to play and loves other dogs. A close friend of mine told me about the bark park. Yesterday was my first time. Honey my dog and myself had a blast. I don't understand all the bad reviews. Everyone there was warm and friendly towards me and my dog. There wasn't a single mean dog there or person. I plan on going back everyday with my dog.