This is a family-owned and run ranch; children and grandchildren abound. Sweet Grass does have shoulder seasons with a few children plus a week or two for adults only, but the ranch has always encouraged kids. In fact, it started out as a kids' camp, with children between the ages of nine and 19 coming for the entire summer. After Bill and Shelly had four of their own, they decided some adult company would also be welcome!
While there is no formal children's program, there are a great deal of different riding programs and activities with kids in mind. There is no minimum age for riding; instead the little ones are willing led or ponied until they gain a measure of comfort and control. The ranch is also blessed with some wonderful kids' horses, who love children. However, children do need to be able to listen to the wrangler and exercise some control over their horse to ride independently.
Teens will have a great time with cattle work, playing "tag", swimming horses, trying a bareback ride, going to the natural waterslide, inner tubing the Sweet Grass River, taking an overnight trip, and just spending time with fellow teens or younger staff members.
Both children and adults are welcome to participate in any of the rides, cattle work, fishing (both river and pond, with a boat for the kids), hiking, a game of pool or cards, evening campfires, cookout dinners, moonlight rides, paintball, volleyball, softball or horseshoes. Although there are no supervised children's evening activities, all riding is supervised.
If you have children, it's assumed you'd like to spend some time with them on your vacation - but we also assume there are times they would prefer a ride without adults, and vice-versa! As such, the variety of riding options allows guests to choose whether they want to ride with children or parents, or with a group of just children or adults. We also do our best to accomodate "family ride" requests, so parents have the opportunity to spend some quality riding time with their children.