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Riding stables by the numbers, 2026
14,952 riding stables in 50 states and DC, spread over 5,761 cities and towns, with 525,812 Google reviews between them. Here is where they are, what they offer, how many board horses, and when they open. Writers and researchers are welcome to use these numbers with a link to this page.
Key findings
- Wyoming has the most listed riding stables per person: 15.49 per 100,000 residents. Hawaii has the fewest, at 1.52. The US as a whole has 4.40, about one stable for every 23,000 residents.
- Stables sit outside big cities. 30% of Americans live in a city of 100,000+ people, but only 12% of listed stables have one of those cities in their mailing address.
- Riding lessons are the service reviews and websites show most often: 8,954 stables (60%). Next come horse boarding (45%) and beginners welcome (31%).
- 6,681 stables (45%) board horses, shown by customer reviews or the stable's own website. California has the most (652).
- Norco, CA has 86.6 stables per 100,000 residents, the most of any US city with 25,000+ people and 3+ listed stables.
- 73% of stables with hours on Google are open on Sunday. 9% list themselves as open 24 hours every day.
- 110 of the 342 US cities with 100,000+ residents have one stable or none listed under their name.
- Stables average 4.73 stars on Google, with a median of 4.9. 84% are rated 4.5 or higher.
The short version
| Stables listed | 14,952 |
| States with a listed stable | 50 + DC |
| Cities and towns with a listed stable | 5,761 |
| Stables per 100,000 residents (US) | 4.40 |
| Residents per stable (US) | 23,000 |
| Stables that board horses | 6,681 |
| Stables with at least one service shown | 11,443 |
| Google reviews, all stables | 525,812 |
| Average Google rating | 4.73 |
| Median Google rating | 4.9 |
Riding stables per 100,000 residents, by state
The top 15. Population is the US Census Bureau, Vintage 2024 population estimates (July 1, 2024).
| # | State | Stables | Population | Per 100k | Residents per stable |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wyoming | 91 | 587,618 | 15.49 | 6,500 |
| 2 | Montana | 115 | 1,137,233 | 10.11 | 9,900 |
| 3 | New Hampshire | 140 | 1,409,032 | 9.94 | 10,100 |
| 4 | Vermont | 62 | 648,493 | 9.56 | 10,500 |
| 5 | Oregon | 327 | 4,272,371 | 7.65 | 13,100 |
| 6 | Maine | 99 | 1,405,012 | 7.05 | 14,200 |
| 7 | Connecticut | 254 | 3,675,069 | 6.91 | 14,500 |
| 8 | Colorado | 401 | 5,957,493 | 6.73 | 14,900 |
| 9 | Idaho | 131 | 2,001,619 | 6.54 | 15,300 |
| 10 | Utah | 217 | 3,503,613 | 6.19 | 16,100 |
| 11 | Washington | 484 | 7,958,180 | 6.08 | 16,400 |
| 12 | Wisconsin | 359 | 5,960,975 | 6.02 | 16,600 |
| 13 | Ohio | 632 | 11,883,304 | 5.32 | 18,800 |
| 14 | Pennsylvania | 695 | 13,078,751 | 5.31 | 18,800 |
| 15 | Massachusetts | 373 | 7,136,171 | 5.23 | 19,100 |
What riding stables offer
Share of all 14,952 listed stables whose customer reviews or own website show each service. These are floors: a stable counts only when the proof is there, so some stables that offer a service are not counted.
| Service | Stables | Share of all stables | Proof | State with the most |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ways to ride and keep a horse | ||||
| Riding lessons | 8,954 | California | ||
| Horse boarding | 6,681 | California | ||
| Beginners welcome | 4,655 | California | ||
| Horse camps | 2,451 | California | ||
| Guided trail rides | 2,421 | California | ||
| Therapeutic riding | 1,069 | California | ||
| Pony rides | 770 | California | ||
| Riding styles taught | ||||
| English riding | 3,814 | California | ||
| Western riding | 1,897 | California | ||
| Where the ride goes | ||||
| Mountain trail rides | 316 | California | ||
| Sunset rides | 238 | Arizona | ||
| Pack trips | 162 | Wyoming | ||
| Beach rides | 122 | California | ||
- Customer reviews only
- Reviews and the stable's website
- The stable's website only
Across all services, 59% of these counts are backed by customer reviews and 68% by the stable's own website (some by both). We could read 8,022 stable websites (54% of listed stables), so stables without a readable site can count only through reviews. English and Western riding count only for stables that also show lessons. The CSV splits every count by source.
What Google calls them
Every listed stable, grouped by its Google Maps categories. This is how the business is filed on Google, not a judgment of what it offers.
| Google category | Lessons | Trail rides | Boarding |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riding business | 75.1% | 26.3% | 38.6% |
| Stable or boarding stable | 43.1% | 7.5% | 53.4% |
| Other equestrian business | 63.8% | 12.4% | 37.8% |
Read across: the share of stables in each Google category whose reviews or website show lessons, guided trail rides or boarding. A business can be filed as a boarding stable and still teach lessons, and a riding school can board horses.
Horse boarding
6,681 listed stables (44.7%) board horses, shown by customer reviews or the stable's own website. That is 1.96 boarding stables per 100,000 US residents, across 50 states.
Google files 6,288 listed businesses as a stable or boarding stable with no riding category. 3,356 of them (53.4%) have boarding shown by reviews or their website; the rest may well board horses, but we count only what the proof shows. Another 3,325 boarding stables are filed by Google as riding businesses or other equestrian businesses.
Most boarding stables
| California | 652 |
| Texas | 466 |
| Florida | 417 |
| New York | 349 |
| Pennsylvania | 326 |
| Ohio | 258 |
| North Carolina | 250 |
| Washington | 246 |
Ratings and reviews
| Stables with a Google rating | 13,646 |
| Average rating | 4.73 |
| Median rating | 4.9 |
| Rated 4.5 or higher | 84.0% |
| Rated a perfect 5.0 | 41.9% |
| Rated below 4.0 | 4.1% |
| Average, riding business | 4.74 |
| Average, stable or boarding stable | 4.71 |
| Average, other equestrian business | 4.76 |
| Google reviews, all stables | 525,812 |
| Median reviews per stable | 10 |
When stables open
Of the 9,360 stables (63%) with hours on their Google listing:
By Google category: 70% of riding businesses and 81% of stables and boarding stables list Sunday hours. 13% of stables and boarding stables are listed as open 24 hours every day, against 6% of riding businesses. A listing that says open 24 hours describes the business on Google; it doesn't mean rides or lessons run around the clock.
Big cities with few listed stables
Horses need barns, arenas and pasture, and the listings show it: 1.82 stables per 100,000 residents in US cities of 100,000+, against 5.47 everywhere else. Of the 342 incorporated cities that size, 64 have no stable listed under the city's name in its mailing address and 46 have one. The largest with none: Chicago, IL; Columbus, OH; Boston, MA; and Minneapolis, MN. Stables just outside city limits count for their own town, so the nearest one may be a short drive away.
More data
Horse country
The cities with the most riding stables per person, the cities with the most stables overall, and every state ranked.
Horse boarding by state
States ranked by stables that board horses, by count and per 100,000 residents, plus the cities with the most boarding barns.
Big cities with few stables
US cities of 100,000+ residents with one riding stable or none listed under their name, and why.
Download the data
Free CSV files, updated with the directory. Use them with a link to this page as the source (ridingstables.net, data as of 2026-11-08).
How we count
Where the stables come from
We searched Google Maps for horseback riding, riding lessons and horse boarding in 4,246 US cities and towns across all 50 states and DC, then checked each listing against its Google categories, its name, its customer reviews and its own website. A stable is listed only when it offers riding (trail rides, lessons, pony rides, camps or therapeutic riding) or horse boarding to the public. A business Google files as a riding, boarding or equestrian business needs that backed up by its name, its reviews, its Google description or its website. One filed as something else, such as a ranch, farm or camp, needs more than one of those signals together.
What we leave out
Businesses that work with horses but don't offer riding or boarding to the public: tack and feed stores, vets and farriers, horse rescues and sanctuaries with no riding, race tracks, carriage-only tours, show grounds where people watch rather than ride, and private farms with no public service.
Services
A stable counts for a service (guided trail rides, lessons, boarding, welcoming beginners, pony rides, camps, therapeutic riding, English or Western riding, beach, mountain or sunset rides, pack trips) when its customer reviews mention it or its own website says so. Each stable's listing shows that proof: a sentence from a review, or a note that it comes from the stable's website. Reviews and websites don't mention everything a stable does, so every share on this page is a floor.
Google categories
"Riding business" means Google lists the stable as a riding school, horseback riding service, horse rental service, pony ride service, dude ranch or riding club. "Stable or boarding stable" means Google lists it as a stable or horse boarding stable and gives it no riding category. Everything else, such as equestrian centers, ranches, horse trainers and farms, is "other equestrian business".
Population and cities
Population figures are the US Census Bureau, Vintage 2024 population estimates (July 1, 2024), for states and incorporated places. A stable belongs to the city in its mailing address, which is not always the place it sits in: a stable outside city limits often uses a nearby town's name. Per-capita numbers count only stables in this directory, so a place may have more stables than we list.
Opening hours
Hours come from each stable's Google listing when we collected the data, for the 9,360 stables that post them in a form we can read. Posted hours are a guide, not a promise of a ride or a lesson slot, so call ahead.
What we don't measure
Prices, age or weight limits, ride lengths and schedules. They vary from stable to stable and change often, and our data doesn't have them. Ask the stable.
Date and corrections
Data as of 2026-11-08. Know a stable we missed or one that has closed? Email hello@ridingstables.net.