Meet the Horses of Elkhorn Ranch: A Day in Their Life

Elkhorn Ranch is home to over one hundred horses. That herd breaks down into a few groups:

• Guest horses, ready to carry riders on the trail
• Horses in development, generally age 5 and older, ridden by guides to continue their training
• Colts, ages 2 to 4, who go through light training over several years before they are ready to guide guests
• Mares and two stallions, the breeding herd, along with their baby horses known as foals

Foals stay with their mothers for 6 to 9 months before they are weaned, halter trained, and turned out to pasture for over a year. During that time, they grow up and start learning their way around Elkhorn’s rocky, rugged terrain.

Elkhorn’s horses are cross bred, most often a mix of Thoroughbred, Percheron, and Quarter Horse bloodlines. The ranch also buys horses, but only young ones, generally no older than 6 or 7, so they have time to adjust to living and working in the mountains.

This breeding approach is not accidental. The Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred athleticism combined with the temperament and strength of the Percheron, produces a strong horse suited to riding over uneven, rocky ground.

A horse’s day at Elkhorn starts before most guests are awake.

Morning wrangle. The guides each keep one horse in at the barn overnight and use it to ride out into the pasture at first light, rounding up the herd and bringing them into the barnyard. This activity is called wrangling and horseback guides are sometimes called wranglers. The horses know the routine and usually come in easily once they start moving. A few like to hide, so they wear bells to help find them. Many hang out in small social groups, much like a herd of friends.

Tacking up. Once in the corrals, wranglers catch each horse, tie it to the hitching rail, brush it down, and saddle it. Ride assignments are made, and a guide leads a group out around 9:30 a.m., typically returning between 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Two days a week include all day rides. After the ride, guests get to unsaddle and brush their own horse before leading it back to the corral.

Lunch and afternoon rides. Horses eat lunch while guests do the same. The afternoon follows a similar pattern, with rides roughly from 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. (sometimes shorter).

Night turnout. In the evening, horses are turned out to graze freely. Any horse that is sick or injured stays behind in the barnyard for closer care.