Ranch Stays in Montana

Montana is horse country in the plainest sense: the animal still earns its keep here. Guest ranches fill the valleys, Paradise Valley near Livingston among them, working cattle outfits run stock across the eastern prairie, and trail stables ride out into the Flathead and Gallatin national forests. From the Rocky Mountain front to the high plains, the terrain changes but the arrangement doesn't: horses are how you cover this ground, and riders of any level can find an operation built around that fact.

The western half of the state belongs to the mountains (the Missions, the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness), and to the pack-trip outfitters and guest ranches that work them. Riders follow historic trails into country no road reaches, learning backcountry horsemanship the way it's still practiced. Whitefish, Big Sky, and Darby anchor these operations, each a short haul from forests and alpine meadows. Riders after structured instruction or show-ring miles will find riding academies and boarding barns around Missoula and Bozeman, covering both English and Western disciplines.