Dude ranch vacations are growing in popularity among family travelers, but skillcation trips on ranches are also on the rise, with travelers looking for opportunities to learn a new skill and develop a new hobby while escaping day-to-day life.
True Ranch Collection properties offer experiences like horseback riding, helping care for the herding, working a cattle roundup, learning rodeo skills, archery, hiking with a naturalist, rock climbing, whitewater rafting, and participating in square and line dancing. With properties in places like the Arizona desert, mountains of Wyoming and vast lands of Montana, family travelers are in for a treat.
Every True Ranch Collection ranch offers horseback riding for guests of all ages. Little travelers aged 5 and up can take slow rides, while guests aged 8 and up can opt for faster rides. Helpful ranch hands help match travelers to their perfect horse and then teach technique and safety precautions before heading out on scenic rides. Guests are led along trails ,passing cactuses and canyons, across rivers, through open country, past historic sites, around mountains and to scenic vistas.
Tombstone Mountain Ranch & Cattle Co. offers more than just horseback riding. This ranch features spring and fall roundups where guests can participate in cattle drives, branding, ear tagging and banding calves. At Kay El Bar Guest Ranch and Circle Bar Ranch, guests can check out The Cowboy Way, a program offering horsemanship skills like catching, grooming and saddling horses; riding instruction; trailering and hauling demonstrations; cattle work; a group rodeo; and much more. Circle Bar Ranch also offers a Buckaroo Kids’ program to introduce young travelers to feeding, grooming and saddling horses, and arena skills such as barrel racing and pole bending.
Blackwater Creek Lodge & Guest Ranch teaches guests about the natural wonders and wildlife of the Yellowstone region through a guided hike, as well as learn how to navigate whitewater rapids on a rafting trip. At White Stallion Ranch, travelers can climb beginner, intermediate and advanced routes on boulders and rock faces with the help of an experienced instructor.
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