Dude Ranch Vacations

Dude Ranch Vacations

Dude Ranch Vacations. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.

The movie “City Slickers” seemed to connect with a lot of people when it was released 20 years ago. A lot of people suddenly wanted to experience what those three friends experienced. Colleen Hodson is the Executive Director of the Dude Rancher’s Association and says they classify their ranches in 3 different classifications.

HODSON: One would be a dude ranch, a traditional dude ranch. One would be a resort dude ranch and then the working cattle ranch and the working cattle ranch is where you go if you really want to be a real cowboy, you want to spend a lot of time in the saddle, you want to do what the real cowboys do then that’s what you need to be looking at is the working ranches.

She says that the traditional idea of a dude ranch has changed some over the years to keep up with client demand.

HODSON: I think people imagine when they go to a dude ranch that they’re going to go and sleep on pretty uncomfortable beds, perhaps eat some hot dogs with some pork beans and that kind of stuff and that’s just not what it is anymore. I mean anymore we have some pretty upscale ranches. Many of them have added spa amenities.

You can get the flavor of ranch and cowboy life but at a drastically different pace. But what if you really want that “City Slickers” all out experience? Better think about what it is you really want and can handle.

HODSON: You want to make sure you find a ranch that fits what you’re looking for. So let’s say you are a guy and you really want to do the cowboy thing but you’ve never been on a horse, you’re not real active you want to make sure you’re in good enough shape to enjoy the vacation. So you just want to make sure you find the ranch that fits you and that’s what we’re here for.

The Dude Rancher’s Association represents 103 ranches in the western United States and according to Hodson there has been a shift in the clientele.

HODSON: For a long time a lot of our guests came from back east. That’s how this whole industry started was easterners coming out west of course but now we have a lot of our clientele now comes from the western states just because we’re easy to get to, you don’t have to do a lot of big air trips to get there which is pretty costly right now so it’s kind of a drive destination for a lot of people and there’s just nothing like it. There’s nothing (like) taking your kids to a ranch and hanging out with them.

They offer a free guide to dude ranches in the west or better yet check out their website at duderanch.org for more information.

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.

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