Isola Stables: an ex-clients detailed feelings, opinions and factual statements
Just my feelings, opinions and factual statements:
Just to clarify: the owner is David Murdoch. Isola Stables is located in Portola Valley. I am an unhappy ex-client talking about my previous experiences there back in 2021-2022. These are my thoughts and opinions.
I
had such a bad experience here due to my "full lease" horse being
ridden by others here that I hired a lawyer to help deal with my awful
experience dealing with David Murdoch at Isola Stables.
I heard from others that David is "offended" by my online writings about the barn which are only
about my actual experiences and opinions. But how about this David: I
was spending a LOT of money at Isola Stables (I have the invoices
and checks to prove it). I fell off countless times and got nervous. You
decided to let others ride Capo while I was still paying for a "full
lease" service.
This is the 21st century. People use social
media. People deserve to know the truth about what happened. Horse
trainers: ex-clients now talk. You are not a king. You are just a horse
trainer. Just like how I am not a king. I am just an amateur rider. I
trusted you David and I regret it. Lesson learned
If you want to flounder in the 1m's with a horse that never receives proper training rides, I guess you can go here. Or you can just jump ship to a more competitive show barn that offers true professional rides and actually get somewhere interesting. Up to you. Even on the Grand Prix circuit back in the day, David was not a very good rider, he was very bouncy and harsh with the horse.
David has tried to remove this review multiple times but it's absolutely true, you can pull the horse's show records yourself. Same horse, purchased through David, left David's program in 2024.
Go take a look at Isola's instagram accounts and see which horse was being shown in 1.1m's as early as 2022 and then goes missing starting in 2024. Same horse joined another barn and with professional rides, wins 1.3m classes in the same year.
The difference? Training rides with pro riders. A better program. If you are ambitious about your riding goals, I wouldn't trust David with your horse. He allows other paying customers to ride your horse when you aren't there. Double-collecting money from you for board and 'training' while he lets some amateur adult rider jump your horse and pay him as well for a lesson. Furthermore, he no longer rides horses and his program does not offer true professional riders. The riders who work for him are not skilled jumpers. Why trust his program when there are better trainers out there who actually ride your horse and can jump?
#IsolaStables #IsolaStablesReview #IsolaStablesExClient