Cattle Range Riding Weeks

Sunday: Arrive between 2 and 5 pm and settle into your comfortable log cabin. Join your fellow guests for cocktails on the porch at 6.30 followed by a BBQ and bonfire by the river (weather permitting).

Monday: After a hearty breakfast gather by the corral at 9.15 for an introduction to the wranglers and a short demonstration of the riding techniques used on the ranch. Mount up and ride to the ring for a brief evaluation to make sure you are well matched with your horse, tack, and fellow riders. Then it is off on your first trail ride of the week! Return in time for lunch at 12.30, have a bit of time to relax and you are back in the saddle at 2.45, exploring a different area of the vast empty spaces that surround the ranch. Return from your ride between 4.30 and 5.30, which will give you time to shower and change before cocktail hour.

Tuesday: Optional videotaped lessons in the morning. A longer ride into the National Forest for those who are now more comfortable in the saddle followed by a shorter, faster afternoon ride. Cocktails are at 6:00 pm and dinner today is at 6.30 in July and August to accommodate those who wish to join the weekly square dance in Dubois, which starts at 8.00.

Wednesday: Set off into the National Forest to the East Fork basin section of the allotment. Check the fence along the border with the Indian Reservation riding through groves of aspen, hidden meadows and open pine forest. Ride on into the Alkali section of the allotment.

Thursday: Check fences and cattle movements in the Alkali section, perhaps going up high near the base of Castle Rock. You will be riding through vast open meadows, interspersed with pockets of aspen and pine. The spectacular Wind River Mountain range is always in view on one side with the Absaroka Mountains on the other. Make your way back to the ranch in the afternoon.

Friday: A long ride in the morning is followed by a friendly team sorting competition in the afternoon (July, August and September). After gathering the cattle and driving them to the arena four team members attempt to drive ten Highland yearlings in numerical order from one end of the ring to the other in 4 minutes. You will find that the cattle never comply with the best laid plans! Cocktails are at 6:00 pm and dinner is again at 6.30 in July and August so that you can make it to Dubois by 8.00 to watch the local rodeo.

Saturday: An all day picnic ride that takes us high into the National Forest. There is often an opportunity to herd from pasture to pasture depending upon cattle movements.

Sunday: Departure after breakfast and a sad farewell to new found friends.