The Cowhorse Camp is a three day getaway and horsemanship clinic designed for those who want to grow in their understanding of the Reined Cowhorse and want to get the right start on working cattle from the back of a good horse! The Cowhorse Camp is Limited to 4 Persons in order to provide maximum attention to each rider. We will be providing you Lodging, Meals, Horses and a lot of information and guidance.
Rising K Ranch is dedicated to providing world-class service to aspiring horsemen from all over the world. Nestled at the base of the mountain range connecting Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks in Utah, our ranch is surrounded by juniper and pinyon, with the elevation rapidly ascending to quaking aspen and tall spruce & pine, all surrounded by tall red-rock pyramids and bluffs.
Rising K Ranch is dedicated to providing world-class service to aspiring horsemen from all over the world. Nestled at the base of the mountain range connecting Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks in Utah, our ranch is surrounded by juniper and pinyon, with the elevation rapidly ascending to quaking aspen and tall spruce & pine, all surrounded by tall red-rock pyramids and bluffs.
Lodging:
You will be staying in your own private traditional canvas tent, made comfortable and complete with a queen or twin bed and a porch with a great view of the "Pyramids", the red-rock formations that lie above Rising K Ranch. You may also opt to stay in the 3 Bedroom Guest House on its own 2 and a half acres, about 8 minutes away.
Horses:
You will be provided horses that have been shown in cowhorse events and have won at varying levels of competition. You will also be riding some excellent ranch horses that are soft in the face and love to work a cow.
Day 1: Check-in and Introduction to the Cowhorse Experience
7:30-9:30AM- Check-in will be anytime from 7AM-9:30AM. You may also decide to check in the day before, stay the night in the tent, and simply wake up already at the ranch.
10AM- We will begin the Introduction at 10 AM in the HQ Building, where you will have coffee & donuts as you are handed your books and other materials, and are given an overview of what we will be doing, as well as a brief history of the cowhorse and an introductory lesson on how cowhorses are trained and how they are to be ridden.
12PM- Lunch will be catered to the HQ Building.
2PM- 5PM- Introduction to your primary horse. This is where you will be given the horse you will ride for the majority of your stay and we will make sure you know which saddle and pad is yours and will teach you how to saddle him. We will then head to the round pen or arena and our goals will be to teach you the following things:
1. To be comfortable at a trot. Nearly all boxing and herd work (cutting) is done at a trot, so we will make sure you can both post (rising trot) as well as ride a seated trot for the arena work.
2. Understand your leg, seat, voice, and reins. These are the four means you have for communicating with your horse. We want you to understand how to ask the horse to move any part of his body individually. These individual body parts are the horse's head, neck,shoulders, rib-cage, and hips. If you are ready, this is where we will show you how to do things like collect your horse, open and close gates from horseback, perform a sliding stop, and spin. If you are not quite ready for these more advanced maneuvers, no problem at all! We will simply build up your foundations and teach you how to have balance, feel, and timing while focusing on any one part of the horse.
3. Flag Work. The "Cow Flag" is simply a flag (or feed bag) placed on a long line with a remote controlled pulley system. We use the flag to simulate the movements of a cow. The remote controlled flag allows us to easily teach you how to position your horse on a cow and allows us to teach you to prepare for a horse to move with a cow on his own.
3. To track cattle. This is where we will cut one steer out of the herd and drive him into the arena. We simply want you to put your attention as well as your horse's attention on the backside of an individual steer and make sure you can drive him all around the arena.
4. To Understand Boxing. After you have tracked a steer for a while, it is time to box him. "Boxing" is simply driving the cow forward, stopping him, turning him, and driving him the other direction while keeping him against one side of the arena. Boxing a cow is simply a way of proving that your horse has complete dominance over the cow.
All these things are done at your own pace and there is no requirement or rush placed on you. There are also enough instructors in the arena that one group of people may work on a more basic level while another works on more advanced exercises. The entire time you are here we want you to remember that this experience is all about you and your horsemanship needs. While we will be able to teach you a lot over these few days, and you will grow exponentially due to riding good horses with access to good instructors and cattle, you must also keep in mind that neither the cowhorse nor the horseman is made overnight. We don't rush our horses when we are training them, and there is no need for us (or yourself) to rush you.
6PM. Dinner, like all our meals, will be catered to the HQ building.
For the rest of the evening, do what you like. Your instructors may very well still be training horses in the round pen and arena, so feel free to watch them if you like, or relax in your tent or take a walk or a drive to nearby Kolob Canyon or Cedar Breaks National Monument- It's up to you!
10AM- We will begin the Introduction at 10 AM in the HQ Building, where you will have coffee & donuts as you are handed your books and other materials, and are given an overview of what we will be doing, as well as a brief history of the cowhorse and an introductory lesson on how cowhorses are trained and how they are to be ridden.
12PM- Lunch will be catered to the HQ Building.
2PM- 5PM- Introduction to your primary horse. This is where you will be given the horse you will ride for the majority of your stay and we will make sure you know which saddle and pad is yours and will teach you how to saddle him. We will then head to the round pen or arena and our goals will be to teach you the following things:
1. To be comfortable at a trot. Nearly all boxing and herd work (cutting) is done at a trot, so we will make sure you can both post (rising trot) as well as ride a seated trot for the arena work.
2. Understand your leg, seat, voice, and reins. These are the four means you have for communicating with your horse. We want you to understand how to ask the horse to move any part of his body individually. These individual body parts are the horse's head, neck,shoulders, rib-cage, and hips. If you are ready, this is where we will show you how to do things like collect your horse, open and close gates from horseback, perform a sliding stop, and spin. If you are not quite ready for these more advanced maneuvers, no problem at all! We will simply build up your foundations and teach you how to have balance, feel, and timing while focusing on any one part of the horse.
3. Flag Work. The "Cow Flag" is simply a flag (or feed bag) placed on a long line with a remote controlled pulley system. We use the flag to simulate the movements of a cow. The remote controlled flag allows us to easily teach you how to position your horse on a cow and allows us to teach you to prepare for a horse to move with a cow on his own.
3. To track cattle. This is where we will cut one steer out of the herd and drive him into the arena. We simply want you to put your attention as well as your horse's attention on the backside of an individual steer and make sure you can drive him all around the arena.
4. To Understand Boxing. After you have tracked a steer for a while, it is time to box him. "Boxing" is simply driving the cow forward, stopping him, turning him, and driving him the other direction while keeping him against one side of the arena. Boxing a cow is simply a way of proving that your horse has complete dominance over the cow.
All these things are done at your own pace and there is no requirement or rush placed on you. There are also enough instructors in the arena that one group of people may work on a more basic level while another works on more advanced exercises. The entire time you are here we want you to remember that this experience is all about you and your horsemanship needs. While we will be able to teach you a lot over these few days, and you will grow exponentially due to riding good horses with access to good instructors and cattle, you must also keep in mind that neither the cowhorse nor the horseman is made overnight. We don't rush our horses when we are training them, and there is no need for us (or yourself) to rush you.
6PM. Dinner, like all our meals, will be catered to the HQ building.
For the rest of the evening, do what you like. Your instructors may very well still be training horses in the round pen and arena, so feel free to watch them if you like, or relax in your tent or take a walk or a drive to nearby Kolob Canyon or Cedar Breaks National Monument- It's up to you!
Day 2: Reining and Boxing
Day 2 will be spent primarily on understanding Reining. This is the portion of a cowhorse's skill that shows the horse's total trust and submission to the rider. It is also the part of training that allows us to create proper movements in a horse (and rider) before attempting to apply these same maneuvers to working cattle.
Growing in your understanding of Reining will shed a great deal of light upon much of the "Tracking Cattle" portion of the previous day's training.
7AM- Breakfast. Catered at the HQ Building.
7:30- Get Horses Ready
8AM- Head to the Arena and we will warm up and begin to Lope Circles, Spin, Stop, Change Leads, and Help you in whatever area of Riding you feel most in need of improving.
12PM- Lunch. Tie up your horses and let's eat.
1PM- Discussion on Hackamores and Bits in the HQ Building. This will help you understand what equipment we would generally use for certain purposes
2PM- Continue our Reined Work and begin to apply it to working cattle. The rest of the day will be suited to your individual needs in whatever particular area you want to understand better.
6PM- Dinner. Catered to the HQ building.
Afterwards you may do what you like.
Growing in your understanding of Reining will shed a great deal of light upon much of the "Tracking Cattle" portion of the previous day's training.
7AM- Breakfast. Catered at the HQ Building.
7:30- Get Horses Ready
8AM- Head to the Arena and we will warm up and begin to Lope Circles, Spin, Stop, Change Leads, and Help you in whatever area of Riding you feel most in need of improving.
12PM- Lunch. Tie up your horses and let's eat.
1PM- Discussion on Hackamores and Bits in the HQ Building. This will help you understand what equipment we would generally use for certain purposes
2PM- Continue our Reined Work and begin to apply it to working cattle. The rest of the day will be suited to your individual needs in whatever particular area you want to understand better.
6PM- Dinner. Catered to the HQ building.
Afterwards you may do what you like.
Day 3: The Cutting Pen and Arena
This is a day that will be spent showing you an inside look at training cowhorses. We will be focusing the day on the herd work (cutting.)
8AM- Breakfast Catered at the HQ Building
8:30AM- Get Horses Ready
8:45-10:45AM- Ride at the Cutting Pen. Our intent for this portion will be reading cattle as relates to herd work, especially how to ride slow and easy deep into the herd and cut to shape, driving one cow far out of the herd. In order to achieve this, we will be looking teaching you about the proper angles and how to position your horse and your own body as a rider so as to set your horse and yourself up for success. We will also be teaching you how to be good turnback help.
10:45-11:15AM- Discussion in the HQ Building about bits and hackamores.
11:15-12PM- Dry Work- the "2-0-2-1-2 Drill" for preparing a horse and yourself to cut cattle.
12PM- Lunch Catered at HQ Building
12:45-3:00PM- Furthering our Skill in the Cutting Pen- actually cutting the cattle we drive out and letting the horse work. This is what will get you hooked on riding cowhorses, as you learn the feel of a horse underneath you that is himself hooked on the cow.
3:00-3:20PM- Short Break.
3:20-4:30PM- Final Ride. Work on whatever you feel like or just take it easy for a while on or off your horse. There will be instructors in the arena if you prefer to work on reining or boxing, the cutting pen if you would like to continue on herd work, and there will be wranglers available if you simply prefer to take a leisurely trail ride. (Side note: If you love trail riding, you may also come a day early or stay a couple days extra if you would like to take our "Mountain Ride" that goes up behind and above The Pyramids into the pine and aspen country.
4:30PM- Unsaddle and get ready for Dinner.
6:00PM- Dinner. We will be driving 20 minutes up the mountain to a great steakhouse called "Milt's". You may drive yourself or hop in with an instructor or carpool amongst yourselves as you prefer. Order what you like- supper is on the ranch's tab.
8AM- Breakfast Catered at the HQ Building
8:30AM- Get Horses Ready
8:45-10:45AM- Ride at the Cutting Pen. Our intent for this portion will be reading cattle as relates to herd work, especially how to ride slow and easy deep into the herd and cut to shape, driving one cow far out of the herd. In order to achieve this, we will be looking teaching you about the proper angles and how to position your horse and your own body as a rider so as to set your horse and yourself up for success. We will also be teaching you how to be good turnback help.
10:45-11:15AM- Discussion in the HQ Building about bits and hackamores.
11:15-12PM- Dry Work- the "2-0-2-1-2 Drill" for preparing a horse and yourself to cut cattle.
12PM- Lunch Catered at HQ Building
12:45-3:00PM- Furthering our Skill in the Cutting Pen- actually cutting the cattle we drive out and letting the horse work. This is what will get you hooked on riding cowhorses, as you learn the feel of a horse underneath you that is himself hooked on the cow.
3:00-3:20PM- Short Break.
3:20-4:30PM- Final Ride. Work on whatever you feel like or just take it easy for a while on or off your horse. There will be instructors in the arena if you prefer to work on reining or boxing, the cutting pen if you would like to continue on herd work, and there will be wranglers available if you simply prefer to take a leisurely trail ride. (Side note: If you love trail riding, you may also come a day early or stay a couple days extra if you would like to take our "Mountain Ride" that goes up behind and above The Pyramids into the pine and aspen country.
4:30PM- Unsaddle and get ready for Dinner.
6:00PM- Dinner. We will be driving 20 minutes up the mountain to a great steakhouse called "Milt's". You may drive yourself or hop in with an instructor or carpool amongst yourselves as you prefer. Order what you like- supper is on the ranch's tab.
Day 4: Sunday- Day of Rest and Check Out
No schedule. All horses and instructors will be taking a day of rest. Simply check out sometime before 3PM. Or maybe by now you have already talked to us about staying with us a little longer and doing some more riding, whether that be trail riding or more instruction in the cowhorse traditions.
General Information:
Age Limit: 13 Years Old
Price: $4,500 Per Rider ($1,000 deposit. The rest due upon arrival.)
Cancellation Policy: The $1,000 deposit per person is not refundable. However, if you are unable to make the trip we will allow your deposit to be moved to any other date in the future up to 18 months ahead.
Dates Available:
May 25-27
June 1-3
June 8-10
June 15-17
June 22-24
June 29-July 1
July 6-8
July 13-15
July 20-22
July 27-29
September 7-9
September 14-16
September 21-23
September 28-30
October 5-7
October 12-14
October 19-21
May 25-27
June 1-3
June 8-10
June 15-17
June 22-24
June 29-July 1
July 6-8
July 13-15
July 20-22
July 27-29
September 7-9
September 14-16
September 21-23
September 28-30
October 5-7
October 12-14
October 19-21