Equine

There are numerous activities you can choose when looking for a ranching holiday and we hope that you will find the following information useful.  In order for us to tailor make the perfect trip for you we would need to know the following information:-

Your level of riding expertise, the type and style of ranching holiday, and the area you would like to visit.

For the very experienced rider than a cattle drive holiday is perfect but for the less experienced rider then a ranch stay that include horse riding is perfect.  Ranch holidays start from as little as £750.00 per person (excluding flights) and can be combined with either a fly drive holdiay or city and beach stay.  

Ranch Styles.

Dude Ranch

While riding is a big thing, dude ranches are geared to catering for a wide variety of interests and are ideal for those people who want a 'something-doing-all-the-time' vacation. A full weekly programme of Western activities is usually included in your holiday price - such as Wild West shows, rodeo visits, square dances, barbecues and a host of sports and outdoors activities. Many ranches have Child Counsellors during the main season. As guest numbers tend to be higher than at other ranches, meals are usually taken family style - all together. When it comes to riding, abilities can range from novice to experienced at most Dude Ranches making this option a real family vacation.

Working Ranch

The principal activity of a Working Ranch is the raising of cattle and crops but guests have become and important part of the operation. For the best experience, you should be a reasonably confident adult rider and not too fainthearted - remember these operations are involved in rearing beef for the table. We stress that daily activities will probably be unstructured as they are geared around the ranch's annual cycle. Springtime sees more calf work (branding & inoculating) and moving cattle out to summer pastures, they return in September or October. Summertime means checking stock, fences, water supplies etc. Accommodation will be comfortable but rustic and home cooked food. While meat dishes are a main feature, most ranches can provide alternatives with prior notice. This is a great option if you want to experience genuine Western ranch life.

Guest Ranches

These are designed primarily to take care of the guest. Generally horses may be the only livestock so riding tends to be the major activity. Some properties may have cattle work available on neighbouring ranches but more often than not, you will ride and relax. Alternative western activities are available on an informal basis.  While the emphasis is on riding and relaxing, a number of Guest Ranches can cater for families with kids, mainly during the summer holidays. Accommodation and food tend to be of a high standard all located in varied locations throughout Western North America.

Resort Ranch

Resort Ranches are as varied in their locations as they are in what they have to offer. Some emphasis their luxurious cabins, meals and wine list placing riding as a secondary activity. Others may offer full the "Cowboy experience” in delightfully decorated log cabins with gourmet cuisine and a great and varied riding programme no matter what level of rider you are. In addition there is usually a full weekly schedule of activities set around the riding and meal times plus numerous off-ranch activities such as rafting, golf and ballooning. Many resort ranches encourage children with their excellent summer Counsellor programmes giving parents the chance to relax. Needless to say, the kids never get bored!

Ranch Stay Weeks

"On a ranch stay week you will be sharing the life of a working cowboy, taking care of a thousand head of cattle on their summer range. Every day is different; it depends on the condition of the cattle and the time of the year. You will spend 6 to 8 hours a day in the saddle. A typical day begins with a great cowboy style breakfast then they pack a lunch and head out onto the range for a day of rounding up and moving cattle, roping and doctoring the sick calves and looking for strays. After a great day of riding, you head back to the ranch for a big cowboy dinner and entertainment around the campfire"

Cattle Drives and Cow Camps

Become an active part of the ranch team helping to move the herd between the valley ranch and the high mountain pastures for summer grazing. This involves riding independently. Perhaps spending a day or two cutting out a herd, branding the calves and getting started. The pace may be relatively slow as you skirt the herd, moving them along. Two or sometimes three days are needed to get to the spring range. Herds vary in size from two hundred cows with baby calves or as many as seven hundred. You will be an active part of the team, following the instructions given to you by the trail boss. Young heifers are unpredictable - if they run out of the main herd, your task will be to bring them back into line. You will camp at night wherever you are trailing the cattle, nights and days can be cold (the weather is unpredictable in the spring and autumn), but be well prepared and you will have the experience of a lifetime.

If this example is not exactly what you are looking for please Request a Personal Quotation  or contact us and we can discuss ways of tailor-making the perfect holiday for you.

This luxury mobile riding safari, set in the remote Chyulu Hills of Southern Kenya, is an experience guests will never forget.  The ride takes you from low country consisting of semi desert, rolling svanah plainswith Mount Kilimajaro as a backdrop, through acacia woodlands high in to the Chyulu Hills.  The hills - which run for 65 kilometres - consists of a series of volcanic craters with the peaks covered in jungle - like mist forestsunique to this area.  Due to the lack of water in the hills, wildlife is more prolific in the low country where there are 38 recorded species of large mammals including all the big five - elephant, rhino, lion, leopard and buffalo.

Most of the horeses are around 15hh or over but there are four ponies for those who prefer something smaller.  The group dictates the ride speed but most days include long periods of trot and canter and some opportunities to jump.

Accomodation is in large, comfrotable 'East African' style tents, with an en-suite bathroom. bucket showers and low drop toilets.  Hot showers are available at all times and tents are litwith lanterns and torches.  The tents have proper wrought iron beds with good quality linen.  There is also a central dining tent.

This trip includes six breakfasts, 6 lunches and six dinners on a seven day trip, can be combined with a coastal extension and includes Wintec GP Saddles, some south african trail rider saddles and english style of riding.  You should expect to spend 4 to 6 hours in the saddle per day.

This trip is suitable for children over 12, non riders can be accomodated on the trip and is classed as a novice trip meaning you shoud have been riding for some time at a riding school and are competant at a walk, trot, and canter in an indoor or outdoor arena.  You will have done some trail riding (hacking) and may have been on a riding holiday before.

If this example is not exactly what you are looking for please Request a Personal Quotation  or contact us and we can discuss ways of tailor-making the perfect holiday for you.