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Ranch weeks, what is that?
The Dryhead Ranch has a variety of ranch activities: cattle drives, horse drives, branding, weaning calves and horse colts, mini-horse drives, fencing, looking for strays, checking water holes. We are all about horseback riding vacations and horses... but more than that the Dryhead Ranch is an authentic working ranch not a dude ranch. We own our small piece of Montana heaven just under the eastern slopes of the Pryor Mountains.
It is nice not to be required to have a permit to ride on government land, or hire a ranch manager to operate the ranch. We own our cows and horses. We operate the Dryhead Ranch as a family, going on the third generation. This is our way of life, we look forward to sharing the whole ranch lifestyle with you.
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A ranch week is excitement, variety, challenge and perfect summer weather all in the same week. Our day begins as the sun rises over the Big Horn Mountains around 4:30. Coffee is on at the cookhouse and the cowboys are walking to the corral, rope in hand, to catch their wrangle horse. The cook is coming to the cookhouse to start breakfast. The dogs are up, the temperature is perfect and you have a moment to ponder the peacefulness and the beauty of the Dryhead Ranch, where you have come to experience the Montana ranch vacation of your dreams.
Early in June the wild flowers are out in all of Montana's Big Sky Beauty. Our buffalo jump is a short walk down the canyon where 500 years of history awaits your imagination from buffalo bones to arrow heads and teepee rings. You will feel a part of this unique piece of history as you look at the place that gave the Dryhead Country its name.
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You can help wrangle horses. What is that? You can get up early and ride out the gate with one of our cowboys to bring in all of the riding horses so that we can choose fresh horses for the day. Ranch weeks are the only time that you can be a part of this awesome thrill.
Breakfast is at 7:00, then we rope out your horse for the day. After you saddle your horse we will ride out the gate with guests and cowboys --- then is when the possibilities become endless.
The days schedule might be to gather cows and calves to brand or go to the far pastures to put out strays. We might be missing horses or find fences down and that is the spontaneous challenge of the day.
We promised one of the best horseback riding vacations you will ever come on and it begins with our horses. They are all ranch trained horses. We can rope off from all of them and each horse loves working cattle. You can ride off the trail all by yourself and take pictures until you realize you can't capture what you are feeling. You just have to feel where you are and what you are doing.
The Dryhead Ranch boundaries take in more than 21,000 acres of mountains, canyons, open grassland meadows and the big sky country Montana is famous for. Springtime bring the birth of baby calves. After our cattle drives are finished our first big job is to brand the calves. As the sun warms your back and your heart races at the anticipation we head out the gate to gather all of the cows and calves and bring them into the corral to separate cows from calves for branding.
Our cowboys rope the calves by the two hind feet and everyone gets a job and we all go to work to get the markings, the )S( brand and the shots given to all of the calves. Tired and sore we then bring the cows into the alleyway and doctor them before we put them back together with their calves. Before dark we take them back to their pasture and make sure everything has found its mother before we can call it a day.
Summer turns to fall when the big gathers begin. Leaving the ranch early in the morning and coming back at dark means we have a lot of riding outside our fence lines, as well as inside our fence boundaries to ride. This normally takes us several days. We guarantee a unforgettable cattle drive vacation and horseback riding vacation that promises a dream come true adventure.
Looking out over the miles of pasture as 800 head of mother cows and calves coming together from four directions of an 11,000 acre pasture then trailing them 5-6 miles across the width of the ranch to the working corrals at the house is an unbelievable, awesome thrill. This is a site few can describe but it is an even harder thrill to express when a group of strangers, who didn't know each other a few days ago, have worked hard to accomplish a job well done and through it all became friends and part of the Dryhead family.
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Our mini-horse drives are an exciting part of our summer-fall ranch weeks. Our young horses and mares with their colts are tucked into remote corners of the ranch. Our mini-horse drives rotate these horses to fresh pastures and give our cowboys fresh colts to ride and train.
We created this, twice in a week, activity on a mini-horse drive week to help inexperienced riders learn to move horses that normally move very quickly.
Once the mares and colts are gathered, we hold them in a corner of the pasture until they calm down and relax, we then start the horses out slowly to walk them toward the ranch. We will move these young horses through open country and you will be a part of the gather and the learning how to keep them safe as well as get them where we want them to go.
You won't be able to sleep that night for the thrill of it all.
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We offer a real cowboy experience.
One that you will never forget.
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Dryhead Ranch, Montana ~ Office: 1062 Road 15 Lovell, WY 82431, USA, dhr@tctwest.net |
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Google Voice Number
307-200-9661 (within the US) Phone: 307-548-6688, Cell Phone: 307-272-6688 |
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