USA Ranch holiday recommendations, preferably in Montana?

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SpruceRI

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A friend of mine wants a trip of a lifetime, to a ranch for a holiday in the USA. He's picked out Montana as his place of preference.

He's particularly keen on a 'getting back to basics' trip, riding all day, preferably driving cattle and sleeping under the stars.

He's an experienced and brave rider so doesn't want to be with a bunch of complete novices who want to walk all day!

Can anyone recommend any ranches or Travel Agents that offer this type of holiday? And preferably, have any of you been on one like this?


Thankies :)
 
Yay I'm from Montana, you'll love it! Find something in the Bitterroot Valley if you can, its beautiful and loads of mountain hacks :D

Never worked on a holiday ranch but I know there are a few around there perhaps in Corvallis on HWY 93

Good luck hope you love it :D
 
Funny you should bring this up as I was having a look the other day at ranch holidays in Montana (I'm a secret cowgirl!). I can't afford to go but maybe *one day* :D
Anyways, this place in Montana struck me when I was browsing as it seemed to have the most horse stuff to do on it and you get to work the cattle too!! A plus side is eating with the cowboys :D This is where I would choose if I ever got to go...

Dryhead Ranch (2nd from the top)
http://www.ranchrider.com/montana.asp

RanchRider is a UK company too here in Leicestershire.
 
Best advice I've had re: US ranches is avoid the dude ranches and organised trips etc. They'd be better off contacting working ranches in person for the more authentic experience.
 
teapot said:
Best advice I've had re: US ranches is avoid the dude ranches and organised trips etc. They'd be better off contacting working ranches in person for the more authentic experience.
Click to expand...

If you did decide to do that, I could reccomend a few :)

You might have to work for you food though!
 
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We regularly go to Montana and stay on a ranch but it is a dude ranch. The wranglers are excellent though and cater for all levels of riding so I never feel held back by people who don't ride much. I tend to go out on the four hour rides and the scenery is stunning and the pace is fast. But no cattle driving (apart from team penning competitions in the arena - great fun!!) or sleeping under the stars. I hope your friend finds somewhere suitable, it is an amazing part of the world. :)
 
TX ranch on the Montana Wyoming border http://www.txranch.com/ real back to basics working ranch, no electricity mobiles etc, sleeping in tents under the stars and honest to god tales round the camp fires whilst listening to coyotes!!!!

Best time I have ever had there, the owners Hip and loretta Tillet are so lovely, welcoming and funny and they have a huge range of horses there. You can get involved as much or as little as you like but mostly on the horses by 8 and off at around 6 having spent around 4+ hours working the cattle, rest of the time is spent finding them and rounding them up.

Will never forget my experiences there, galloping flat out down the side of a canyon to go after a couple of loose cows and also sitting on a true cutting horse cutting the cattle was amazing :D

Talking about it makes me so want to go back!!!!!
 
Thanks Sidesaddle girl - think RanchRider came up on my Google search.

Thanks Nicicb - but think friend wants to 'rough it'! ;-) (I'd prefer a nice comfy bed and hot shower if it were me!!!)

Letslip - thanks for the recommendation, that sounds like the sort of holiday my friend is after.

Mosmum/teapot - can you recommend any non-dude ranches that you know of?


Thank you everyone... my friend will be chuffed with all this information :)
 
Yep but I should probably contact them before giving out details as they don't usually do tourist-y stuff. They tend to hire on hands in the spring and sometimes keep a few on through the winter but the majority find other work for the winter. I'm not sure about the sleeping under the stars bit- the ones I know of generally sleep in the bunk house but I guess you could take a tent if you don't like snoring LOL
 
My friend did a cattle drive holiday. She was exhausted, wet through, and had never ridden a horse to exhaustion before then. She had a good time but the accomodation was very basic and there was no where to wash for days.

Anyway I went to Arizona on a Dude ranch and it was fantastic. Nothing like you would expect. We had proper western lessons by very good teachers, which included barrel racing, we did team penning, mountain rides, fast rides, believe me it was not boring at all.

Fully inclusive, meals amazing, accomodation spotless, we even had a gym and a pool. Horses very well looked after and go when you ask them too.

Its the White Stallion Ranch btw. Brilliant weather as well which is what you need when going that far.
 
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