Breaking news! I'm an idiot

[skygazer]

Yesterday, I started a thread about going to summer camp, whining about how I never got to go - hell, I got to go for several years. I just never thought of it as summer camp.

It was the best possible type of camp for me - it was a 2-week 4-H summer horse camp. Kids from all over the state with their horses. We camped out at a nearby campground, had riding lessons and clinics, were judged on our horses' condition and fitness, rode trails, jumped hunt courses.

It was an absolute blast and I just never thought of it as "camp."

Duh. :dunce:

[Patiod]

1. I got to do that as an adult

I was called a Dude Ranch!

Seriously. And the other guests used to get off their horses after a trail ride and walk away, but SO & I enjoyed spend an hour helping the ranch hands brush down the horses and put the tack away -- that was as much fun as riding.

One afternoon, SO was too sore to ride, so he spent the afternoon riding around the ranch (NOT on a horse) with the owner, repairing fences. The owner was stunned that a paying guest wanted to work, but SO loved it.

Glad you got to go to camp after all, skygazer!

[skygazer]

2. My daughter and I want to do one of those "City Slickers" types of things

Where you go work on a ranch or do a cattle drive or something. We've both ridden all our lives and think that would be a blast.

But I did get to go to camp! :bounce:

[Patiod]

3. You should so do it!

We went ultra-cheap and sort of off-season, so for part of the time, it was just us and the ranch owner's family, which was great.
http://www.medbowlodge.com/

Some of the ranches out there are pretty big, and have all sorts of great programs like cattle drives. And on others, they're tiny, and you're basically helping out on a family ranch.

I would pick a ranch in a really scenic area, though - we went in the Snowy Mountains of South-Central Wyoming, among these incredible glacial lakes. The scenery changed every day, and was a big part of the appeal. If we ever get any damned money together, we want to do it again in to Northwestern Wyoming or Utah....

[skygazer]

4. That sounds so great

There's some incredibly beautiful country out there. I actually missed my chance to do it for free - my dad has a friend who managed a big ranch in Montana for many years. My dad went out there to hunt every year and our family all had a standing invitation to stay at the ranch which I never did.

Then the ranch got sold to Ted Turner who raises buffalo on it. Last I knew, the same family was managing it but I don't know whether the invitation still holds. I hadn't thought of that for some time - I ought to ask my dad.

But anyway, it always seemed like a lot of fun and a cool mom/daughter bonding thing. :)

[Kali]

6. I've got tons of fence work - come on out!

Seriesly!!!!!1!


I know what you mean - I have been around this working ranch all my life and what would I love to do? Go to a dude ranch and go for horsey rides while somebody else saddles (and cooks for me.) :P

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

5. This Thread Has Been Moved

No longer considered "breaking news"