Only my closest friends and family know that horses are my passion. It’s not a sport one can practice just anywhere and my life lately has been more city dweller and less country girl — for family reasons. However, you can take the girl out of stables but you can’t take the stables out of a girl. I dream of horses, I cry when one is featured in a film and when I get an email like the recent one from McGinnis Meadows Cattle & Guest Ranch in Montana, I start to plan in my head how I could make it work out to go there. This summer.
The ranch is situated on meadows 3,300 feet up with a year round creek running through it and surrounded by timbered mountains. It was homesteaded in the 1890’s by the Davis family and then current owner Shayne with former wife Jo-Anne established a working ranch in the late 1990’s. Cattle moved into the valley in the 1920’s and that’s what makes the property not simply a tourist attraction but a full working ranch.
Personally, I remember riding in NYC as a teenager and young adult. First I tried Claremont, which has been closed since 2007, on the Upper West Side, where they taught me to ride proper English style. But soon after I discovered a place in Brooklyn, the Kensington Stables which taught both styles and I loved riding Western better. In fact, the combination of slightly worn horses, the Western saddles and riding in beautiful, nearly deserted Prospect Park made me trek to Brooklyn twice a week for an hour and a half each way on the train. And I never complained.
This summer, because of Covid-19 imposed measures, the McGinnis Meadows offers a special month-long stay, with three meals a day and unlimited riding — as much as your behind can take. If you’re like me, you’ll love the hand’s on approach of saddling your horse and helping to groom it and also the cattle ranching aspect of it all. I am simply smelling the open plains and it’s making me restless.
The fee for a single would be $6000, for couples (or friends coming together and sharing a cabin) the fee is $9000 per month total, including the three meals a day. And you’ll have to do your own housekeeping (which to me is a plus on a vacation).
Ranch manager Des sent out the following invitation by email:
“In order to maintain the safety standards we've grown accustomed to at the ranch, we will require any incoming long-term guest to quarantine (at the ranch) for 72 hours. After 72 hours, we require a COVID test and when the results come back as negative (24-48 hours) you are released to ride.
During this time, we will be providing all meals to you at your cabin. You are free to walk/hike/bike (if you bring your own) throughout the day. Just no interaction with staff or other guests/interns and no access to common areas until your test comes back free and clear.
This may seem like a hard line, but rest assured, this place is as SAFE as possible. We want to keep it that way and we want you to have as "normal" a ranch experience as you can!
This program is on a first come, first served basis. Dates are flexible (no need to start on a particular week). This is a unique opportunity, which may never be offered again, to have very small group sizes, lots of individual attention and basically, the full ranch experience all to yourself! Any long-term guests who happen to be here if/when Buck comes in July will also have the opportunity to ride in his clinic for an additional $800 fee to Buck. These clinics will mostly be comprised of staff and interns, so it will be quite a private experience!
As the saying goes... Blessed are the flexible, so they will not be bent out of shape! We have had to become flexible and adaptive with our ranch program this season. We hope that all of you understand, and some of you can still experience the ranch this season in our new, limited capacity.”
For more info, and to make reservations, check out the Ranch website and for phone inquires call Janice at +1 (406) 293-5000.