Complaint Review: Noelle Dukes - Mennifee California

I am a customer of Noelle Dukes, I have been for several years.  I must say that when she chose to rent out the "horse facility" in question... AKA "Kristen's Collection" I was disappointed.  Please allow me to explain.  

I have a young daughter, I did not feel safe leaving her at Kristen's because while there were some stalls and an arena there was also a trailer that was on blocks below the stalls, a residency above the "garage", and a trailer in the "garage"  all of which housed people who all shared the same bathroom, which had two doors that did not lock very well!  Along with the fact that the police were called to settle at least one dispute with one of her many renters on the premises did not make me feel comfortable leaving my daughter there.  I was very excited when we left that place because even though it was a further drive for me I was glad to get away from the creepy vibe.

Please let me address the "water waster" issue.  First of all, I do not know how you can find one responsible party for a water bill when SO MANY PEOPLE live there on the same water meter!!!  From the position of someone who has done landscape and worked with water for quite some time I have never seen something as erratic and poorly planned as Kristen's residence (struggling to find a word that is appropriate for the place).  First of all, the place had autowaterers that worked on and off... they were old and falling apart, the waterer in my horses' stall fell apart and was not giving water to my animal.   Next problem is that there was a metal pipe coming from the ground up to the autowaterer... the pipe under ground was buried about 3 inches and was PVC!  PVC to metal is a horrible mix.  Horses are 1500lbs easy!  One drop of the hoof and the PVC that was not amply buried would break thus causing a flood or horses as horses are would play with the autowaterer and shatter the PVC pipe.  If the facility were properly designed where metal pipes were used throughout and buried at least 10 inches there would not have been a problem with water usage; at least from the horse side of the property, there was always a water puddle beneath the RV located outside the garage. (I wonder how many people can rent out space at one facility before permits are needed)  Needless to say, water usage was difficult to pinpoint with the many people, a grove, pool, and horse facility.  I begged Noelle for a solution and we came up with the simplest thing but one that required the most work... buckets.  They were just another chore but it was better than dehydrated animals.  Her complaint about the "cylinders"... see the original problem of P V C around horses!

The facility was a menagerie of lean on this door to get it to close, slam this gate or it will not shut, using C clamps to attach a feeder, and all sorts of rinky-dink "fixes".  My horse got a gash on his head because the cover for his outdoor stall was at about 5 ft 7 inches off of the ground.  It was broken down and poorly designed.  Lets not get started on the arena, dips and rises like it was a miniature golf course.  I kid you not I saw motorcycle tracks around the arena, then I found the rear fender to the offending vehicle.  Great care was given to the condition of the arena... with the poorly-homemade "leveler" (a piece of wood with re bar).  The gate to the arena didn't even lock!!!

Noelle did not at any point in time tell me that she was raising costs, she did tell me that she was leaving because she needed some sanity and wanted a place where the kids would feel comfortable.  Noelle did leave without cleaning one or two of the indoor stalls because as she was doing this Kristen began berating her and verbally abusing her.  Noelle called me shortly after this and I could tell in her voice that something was not right, she then explained her last encounter with Kristen.  I was so glad to leave that place!

If Noelle has a sense of entitlement that is new to me, she is a young lady that has opened her own business, works very hard to make sure that her students (from kids to adults, she trains quite a few adults) are always learning and moving forward in their riding.  Noelle always was emphasizing the need for proper care and cleaning of the facility, sweeping, raking and cleaning up after horses was something that Noelle constantly did and also taught her riders to do.  The responsibility of riding, leasing, and owning a horse were taught to the students in a very proper manner.  Here is a story of my daughter and how well Noelle works with the children... My daughter was riding at another barn for two years.  I found Noelle and took my daughter to Noelle for two lessons, she went back to the other barn for the last ride that we had pre-paid for and her trainer said, "WOW something has really clicked with you, you are riding better than you ever have!"  I knew then and there that Noelle was a great fit for my daughter and I credit Noelle's hard work and excellent training with that statement from another instructor.  

Kristen may try and insult Noelle, her work ethic, or her abilities but trust me, as a customer of hers... Noelle is excellent.
 

As the one who often had to go and fix the watering system at the facility described I would like to response to the above post.  The automatic watering system at the facility for the horses was made of Schedule 40 PVC. PVC is not the best materiel to be used when horses can reach and break the pipes and is aggravated by aging of the material. The pipes breaking caused major flooding in the stalls so all of the automatic watering valves were removed and replaced with brand new 15 gallon plastic buckets.  These were filled twice a day. While a beautiful facility the actual construction and upkeep on the facility was sub par in my opinion.  Noelle has moved to a more professional space with all of the clients that were with her while she worked at this facility for a year. While the owner of this facility would like to slam Noelle the clients have remained and are happy with the move. The owner of the facility that filed this report should be open about the faults in her ability to run a well maintained professional space.