Yesterday I shared part 1 of our Montana Ranch Trip and today I'm back to share the rest of our trip. This day I was super pumped because we were going on a cattle drive! Now, this was not one of our original activities that we had signed up for, but after talking to several other guests they told us it was a must so we made the change.
I had ridden horses during summer camp as a kid, but it had certainly been a while and the Mr. and never ever been on a horse before! We got introduced to our horses (Mr. had Hawkin and I was riding Cash) and then got a little lesson on how to handle and direct the horses.
We had to prove that we could have them go where we wanted them to by maneuvering around some cones, etc. and then we got a short break before heading out to where the cattle were.
As we left the pins and started walking along the trails it was gorgeous. Wild flowers everywhere and I couldn't believe we were just walking along in the pasture. Everyone's horses kept stopping to eat and our guides told us it was like a giant, never-ending salad bar for them. Ha! They told us to try to not let them eat while they were "working," but that didn't always happen.
When we came over a hill and saw the cattle by the lake it as such a picturesque scene.
So we got a lot of training on how to ride a horse, but then we were kind of thrown into the cattle drive part. All of the sudden next thing we knew we were helping lead the cattle to a different pasture.
It was pretty simple because as we walked behind them they just kept walking along, but once in a while a stray would get separated from the herd and one of the more experienced ranch workers would give us instructions of how to get it back.
I must have taken close to 100 pictures and endless video. It was just so surreal to be on the horse with cattle right at my side and this gorgeous backdrop that seemed to go on forever!
I felt like a real cowgirl and it was SO MUCH FUN!!!
I mean, I seriously could be convinced to move to Montana and do this full time.
The Mr. got into it also and ended up feeling pretty confident in his horse riding abilities by the end of our cattle drive.
We spent close to 2 hours on the cattle drive and I could have done it all day long!
When it was time to head back we grabbed lunch and then I did an archery lesson while the Mr. did mountain biking and then we both went on a little hike around some of the ranch property. 
On our hike we saw two deer just pop out of nowhere and run right across the path we were taking!
It was getting overcast, but still so pretty to look at. No houses, no roads, no cars, no stores...just so quiet and peaceful!
That evening there were lots of fun activities planned on Main Street. Cowboy Cal showed us all sorts of rope tricks...
We got to brand leather coasters to bring home...
And we just enjoyed our last night of vacation. It was so nice to experience simpler times and a slower pace for a few days. We came back home and jumped right back into school events, soccer tournaments, cheer and baseball practices and our normal crazy busy life.
The whole time we were there though we kept saying how much we though our kids would enjoy a trip like this. All of the activities and outings were so much fun and something we'd love for them to get to experience. I'm going to be looking into other family friendly dude ranch type vacations for us because it is something we'd love to do in the near future!
No comments:
Post a Comment