Posts Tagged ‘Guest Ranch’

Traditional

July 27th, 2019 by coveredwagonranch

Some things never change! Here at the Covered Wagon Ranch, we’ve gathered up plenty of cherished traditions in the past century, and are still creating them today.

The Horses

Riding is our oldest tradition. Today we ride on hundreds of trails throughout the Gallatin Mountains. We keep our groups small and our rides personal, tailored to each guest’s Wild West dreams. Of course, happy horses make happy guests, and from a young a age we treat our MVP employees with respect and care. Our colts start training around two or three years of age, and are eased into the world of trail riding. At the end of their career, Kurt and Melissa find them the perfect retirement home to spend the rest of their days as fat and happy “pasture ornaments”.

Meals

Suppertime at the CWR is family time. Guests and crew all sit down together and pass the serving plates, just like we do at home. Which makes sense, as the ranch is a second home to many, and a second family too.

Rest and Relaxation

Second to riding, folks come to the ranch for some much needed self-care. You can find them tossing around horseshoes, toting fly-fishing poles down to the Taylor Fork Creek, shooting pool in the rec hall, or just lounging on their cabin porches. Most nights we pull the s’mores basket out to the fire pit in front of the lodge, and if you’re lucky, you can get Kurt to play his guitar!

Guests

Our guests create their own traditions when they visit us.

Mary aka “Grandma Bling Bling” always gets her Christmas card picture taken with the men of the crew.

Keith requests Twinkies and Scotch be left in his cabin.

Rick and Linda love to spoil Kara, aka Queenie, feeding her treats and welcoming her to their cabin.

Some guests always stay in the same cabin, every year, for decades, or ride the same horse or visit the same trails.

For some guests coming to the ranch is itself a tradition. David comes three times a season, Tiffany’s practically grown up here, and Bill and Lyn have been visiting for over thirty years.

What’s your favorite tradition at the CWR? What’s something you want to see become a tradition? Let us know in the comments section below!

Tags: Guest Ranch, Montana, Traditions
Posted in CWR Life, Our Covered Wagon Guests | No Comments »

Thinking of Visiting a Guest Ranch? 3 Reasons to Give Covered Wagon a Try!

February 2nd, 2015 by coveredwagonranch

Personalized-Everything from the moment you call the ranch to the moment you pull out our gate is personal. You won’t have online booking software; instead you will talk to the owners and be able to ask questions. You won’t have to figure it all out-we can help direct you in any venture you want to pursue once you are here. So part of your family is riders and part of them are hikers-we can handle that. So you’ve never seen a horse before, but you want to ride-Okay done! Your sister is a vegan and your kids are picky eaters-No problem! You are on a family vacation so you want to ride with your kids and eat with your kids-done. This is your vacation you tell us what YOU want to do.
Unique Setting-The ranch sits in the Gallatin Canyon south of Big Sky, Montana. The Taylor Fork runs through the ranch and the Gallatin River runs North to South across from the ranch…known for some of the best fly fishing in the country. We have mountains, high mountain meadows, creeks, ponds, and mountain lakes. We have deer, elk, bison, moose, coyotes, wolves, grizzlies, and black bears. We have Big Sky ten minutes away where you can golf, whitewater raft, zip-line, and mountain bike. Yellowstone Park is 3 miles away, there are hiking trails out of the ranch, and in my opinion some of the prettiest country in the world at our finger tips.
Sense of Community– Once you get here you are family! We are extremely small which allows us to get to know everyone. We have guests that return year after year because of the personalized feeling you get when you are here. Everyone interacts and relationships are formed. If you are an individual, a couple, or a large family our ranch has a place for everyone!

Give us a call we would love to talk to you!

Kurt Melissa & Braxton

Tags: community, customized, family, Guest Ranch, kids, mountains, Personal
Posted in CWR Life | No Comments »

The Story Of “Roxie” – A Real Montana Dude Horse

May 7th, 2010 by Debi Naccarto

“Roxie” came to us as a surprise one very cold January morning, with temperatures hovering around 40 below zero. Yes-you heard me right! Her Mom was “Honey”-a draft cross horse. We purchased Honey the summer before. We thought she looked kind of fat but Honey was a big horse to begin with. Needless to say, after the season was through, the horses were put back up on winter pasture at Raspberry Butte Ranch in Big Timber. Kurt had been traveling up to Raspberry Butte on a routine basis to check on the horses, when one day in January he called to tell us there was a foal in our pasture. Well, those of us who know Kurt know he’s a prankster at heart, so I didn’t take much credence to his call. Besides, we did not breed any horses that year, and horses are usually bred to foal out from May on, due to the cold weather. Finally, I realized this was no joke, and he trailered the mare and foal back to our house in Bozeman.

She was a wreck.

She was covered in bite marks all over her body. When you ran your hand across her body it was covered with scabs everywhere. Her ear was bit off and suffered from frostbite. And all four hooves were separated from the coronet bands. The vet thought maybe it was from frostbite or infection.

The horses and mules didn’t take very well to having a foal around. As wonderful as these animals are, they get very competitive when there’s a new kid in town. The cool thing about this experience is that the mules actually circled Honey and Roxie and protected them from the rest of the herd. Too bad they didn’t start that a little earlier.

Roxie had a long course of treatments and TLC back at Love Lane, and we’re proud to say that she is now 3 years old and doing great. She’s had some minimal training and riding and passed her lessons with flying colors. She has an incredible disposition and is one of the friendliest, most respectful horses I know. If you walk down the driveway, she’ll run up to the fence and walk alongside you like a puppy dog!!

Roxie will be joining the string this summer and work her way into the herd as a Montana dude horse for the ranch. I know she’ll be one of our best in a short period of time!