• Accommodation is "Russian rural standard" that includes and outhouse and bucket-based water delivery system. (Although proper plumbing is being installed you cannot come here with an expectation that engineering systems will work although at the moment of writing this they did.)

• You will have to participate in cooking, washing dishes and otherwise take care of yourself.

• Don't ask for discounts. Your contribution of 750 roubles ($25-30) barely covers horse and house upkeep. 

• Catering to you personally is not part of the deal. (Unless you explicitly request to be treated as a VIP client, and and make an additional contribution to keeping this silly project alive.) Although I may do the cooking, please don't think of it as being "included".

• Linen is done in the city of Staritsa, local style, using a lot of cheap detergent, in hard iron-saturated water, thus the level of olfactory and visual freshness will contrast somewhat with what you would expect to find in a 5-star hotel.

• Horses do not want you on their backs but merely tolerate you. They will use every easy chance to yank the reins out of your hands and go eat grass. Be thankful that, with the exception of Surprise, they've had a lot of human contact and will consider you a nuisance rather than a threat. Horses will always follow the line of least resistance and it is up to you to make doing the right thing easy for them. No whining that horses don't do what you want them to. To paraphrase my computer programmer brother, horses do what you make them do, not what you want or tell them to.

• I personally and my friends/guests/associates most explicitly decline any and all responsibility associated with horse-related accidents while the animal is in your possession. We are not insured. We are not licensed providers of horseback rides. We have no official existence. You ride at your own risk. You use the house at your own risk. You will not be able to sue anybody should you fall down the porch or into the pit toilet.

• You, on the other hand, are responsible for animals and equipment while they are in your possession, and for the house when you are there on your own, and for any damage to third parties.

• Mosquitoes and horse flies are bad here in July and August. And then it rains and snows, and the universe it heading towards heat death. Your complaints, from weather-related to existential, will probably be of no interest to me.

• I am not a people's person. For now I not much choice but to eek a living out of you travellers. Please don't expect service with a smile. Or service or smiles to that matter.

• More statements of the above sort are scattered around my sites but please understand the gist.

• Having said the above, I encourage you to to make your wishes, interests, and special needs known. If what you are complaining about is within my control, I will try to rectify the situation. It is your responsibility, however, to make your position known. Trying to maintain that "everything is fine" look they way the Brits do is a sure way to bring a lot of crap out of me, a person who was never meant to be in the damn tourist business.

• This operation is not a "business".  You are covering the cost of horse upkeep. Direct cost that is and certainly not my time. Scale down your expectations.

• etc. etc. etc.

2005

Horse riding, especially unsupervised, may be dangerous! An average of one accident that requires medical assistance per year

Another issue is food. Only vegetarian (vegan) meals are served in this household. Those unable to imagine riding a horse without a barbeque afterwards please go elsewhere. 

Examples of food served at my dacha >>

For a compilation of materials of interest to Russia-bound vegetarians see my www.unclepasha.com/
vegetarian_russia.htm