Big Creek Riding Stables

Big Creek is a great facility with many attributes but management is bad. I boarded there for a few years until purchasing my own place. The facility is not being utilized properly. It has the ablilty to be a great money earner for the park district but management needs to start small and work into bigger and better things. I would use the place to ride at but never again board.

It is truly a shame that the Decatur Park District will not be a little more choosey when trying to find someone to run this facility. Plus, from past managers, you would think they would keep a little closer look on the books. They should never have let this past manager get so far into them before something was said or done. They need to find someone in that office that comes out to visit the facility and look over the financial records as to avoid such problems down the road. The facility itself was getting horribly run down and no one around there was about to take any action as far as mowing, cleaning restrooms, or general maintenance. When they saw the place heading in this direction something should have been said. I was glad to see it getting cleaned up now and the grounds being kept up. This makes a huge difference. Please just use some better judgement when getting the next person in to run this facility. Ask around if necessary, to get input from folks who may know potential candidates. Please don't just take the word of one person, this what gets you folks into trouble.

I am so glad to see that Big Creek is staying open, I am a boader at this facility. I have been at Big Creek all my life, use to show there when I was a kid, It is a great place to be with the proprer management, I thank the Decatur Park District for allowing this facility to stay open, Matter of fact I thank the Park District for all they have done, This place is a great place and will be again,, The Park District has done a great job cleaning it up in the short amount of time that they have taken control of it again, I was really ashamed of how it looked when the old manager ran it , Big Creek had never looked like that, This place has the potintial to bring in lots of shows and make it the place that it needs to be. The way that it use to be. I just am so glad that we don't have to move our horses,The previous mangager put alot of us in a bad way, There was just not enough places for every one to move there horses if they needed to, and that very much concerned me, The previous manger really did this place wrong and started to make a bad name for Big Creek. There has been some managers at Big Creek in the past that people did not care for , but they sure kept the place looking great, And that is the kind of manager that we need back in there, someone who will do good for the place, someone who cares about the boaders and there concerns, not run it down again, Someone who can bring the shows back to the facility. We need that. Thanks again to Park Distric for listening to the people and keeping this wonderful place open. It again will be a great place for everyone, just give it time. Thank you so much I was really worried were all these horses were going to go.

When I boarded there...no routine about turning out, feeding, cleaning stalls. My horse was not even fed the amount of hay that was requested. (which I had purhased) Turn out was willy nilly...if they were in the mood, they turned out, if not...they stayed in. Water buckets not filled up! Stalls are small and the place needs repaired, roofs leak, bathrooms aren't kept clean, they don't trim or mow often enough, office was a total pig pen. They host shows and don't even put their best foot forward..don't trim around the fences or under bleachers, bathrooms unclean, no paper in them, etc. Other boarders are "clickish" too. What a lame excuse for a boarding stable which is too bad because it was a great place, now it is just being let go!

The facility is leased and the current leasee is running the place into the ground. The roof(s) and gutter(s) leak, some of the stalls flood and that is just the start. We are still waiting for the lime that nevers gets delivered. The leasee uses foul language in front of my child. Unwritten rules are made that punish you if you question anything, the other boarders are cliqish and do not welcome new borders. The self board is a joke. The feed is left out, the stalls are alsways dirty and the water in the stalls is always low. My quipment is damged and by all means don't care ask someone to resppect your property becaused you will be the trouble maker. If you truly love your horse,DON'T BOARD HERE!

We were in visiting the area and stopped by to compare the facility to ours at home! WOW!!! What fabulous ammenities. Each barn is equiped with tack rooms and plenty of space for individuals to store tack, feed, etc. 2 arenas which are very accessible and huge!!! The arenas are twice the size of any other facility around. 2 round pens allows everyone room to work young horses. Pasture, pasture and more pasture. Stalls were clean....no cobwebs or dust. Buckets were clean and alleyways were swept clean. Property was clean and well maintained. The facility offers lessons, training, full and self board, and trails at very reasonable prices. Management and staff were very helpful and friendly. They spent lots of time showing us around and answering all of our questions. They made us feel right at home. We spoke to other boarders there that said they loved Big Creek and the managers and said manager was always willing to offer a free helping hand!\ We hope to use it for our overnight stays as a horse hotel.