Riding Programs

Circle Z Ranch

Circle Z is known for its excellent horses, many of them ranch raised, and its great variety of trails.  We have 165 miles of trails which run along and through the Sonoita Creek, meander through sand canyons and climb up through our mountains where the scenery is breathtaking.  Riders are assigned a horse for their stay.  The horse (one of over 100 in our string) is chosen to meet the needs of each guest and their riding experience.  Basic instruction is offered, at no charge, from our experienced wranglers.

We offer riding every morning and afternoon, except Sundays.  Whether a novice or experienced in the saddle, the ranch accommodates all guests with a ride to fit their skill level and preference.  Guests can join a one hour ride or a regular two hour ride; a slow ride is for those who want to walk, a medium ride includes loping in appropriate places.
Trailer rides, saloon rides into town, lunch and breakfast rides, team penning, games on horseback are regular events at Circle Z.  Children must be 6 years old to ride.  They ride with other children with wranglers assigned to work and ride with children.  Younger children can have a ride in the corral area on our pony, Chiquita.

Flying E Ranch

We are known as the Riding Ranch with great horses for every rider. Our 20,000 acres of rolling high desert hills, afford endless trails to ride or roam, with beautiful scenery in every direction. Our wranglers make every effort to insure guest enjoyment of our wide open spaces, from the back of a horse, comfortably.

We offer the beginner scenic ride and suggest this ride for our novice riders and the riders who just want to take things slow and easy. Our intermediate ride offers a walk & trot for the more experienced rider and the looping ride is offered to the more advance rider. Each ride is two hours and you may choose a 9:30 AM ride and/or a 2:00 PM ride. Only one ride on Sunday at 10:00 AM.

The best view on earth is from the back of a horse. We hope to see you on our trials.

Hidden Meadow Ranch

• Trail Riding – The ranch is completely surrounded by 2 million acres of forest service land. With access to fifteen trails.
• 1 hour, 1 ½ hour, 2 hours, and three hours
• Half day rides
• Full day rides
• Packed lunch rides
• Packed breakfast rides
• Off property rides – We trailer our guests, and horses to different locations, for different riding experiences. Locations we trailer to include: The Black River, Mt. Baldy, and Mt. Escidilla.
• The nature of the horse orientation – Before every guest’s first ride our wranglers take them through a thirty minute orientation. Our orientation covers: the nature of the horse, parts of the tack, and how to control our horses.
• Riding lessons – Our talent wranglers teach a variety of riding lessons on the beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. We also offer barrel racing lessons.
• Arena games – Games we play include: egg and spoon race, ribbon race, stick race, the slow game, and many others!
• Team penning – Two months out of the year we offer team penning. This is where our guest ride in groups of three and sort out three cows, and drive them to a pen.
• Round pen demonstrations – Guest get to watch, learn, and participate in the training our young horses. We train our horses using the natural horsemanship method, with the round pen.
• Over-night pack trips – On these trips we pack all of our equipment in on horseback, and the guest enjoy a scenic ride into camp. Where camp is set for them including a chef to cook their meals!
• Leather working – We do the majority of our own tack repair here on the ranch in our tack shop. Guests are invited in to make a dog collar, a belt, a bracelet, a book marker, or what ever else they can imagine out of leather.
• Roping lessons – Our talented wranglers will help our guest learn to throw a rope at anytime. Our roping dummies and ropes are right in front of the barn.
• Saddling lessons – We teach guest the finer points of saddling a horse, and encourage them to help in this process.
• Grooming lessons – Our horses are always in need of grooming, and we help teach guest how to groom our horses.
• Mock cattle drives – Since we do not keep cattle on the ranch, year round, we developed a different kind of cattle drive, which our guest have really come to enjoy!
• Hay wagon rides – We have three hay wagons: one that fits four people, one that fits twelve people, and one that fits twenty four people. We do rides to our trout pond (with or without Margaritas), and in the pasture to help feed the horses.
• Carriage rides – Our carriage is a custom, hand-crafted single carriage that fits up to three people. We use this for our happy couples who get married at the ranch.
• Sleigh rides – Our beautiful restored antique sleigh is a great way to enjoy beautiful wintery views, and a steaming cup of hot chocolate.

Rancho De La Osa Guest Ranch

Situated in the high Sonoran Desert with access to over 135,000 acres of trails, Rancho De La Osa offers a variety of controlled pleasure rides, as well as specialty riding programs. One day you could find yourself riding over rocky uplands and grassland desert to round up Longhorn cattle.  The next day you could be out riding a mountain trail, perhaps packing a breakfast or lunch with you.   Whether you're a complete beginner or an experienced rider, we have a horse and ride suited to your ability. Our daily riding program offers two scheduled rides per day, each of approximately two hours in duration.  Private riding lessons are available on request.

We also schedule two specialty riding programs – our Cowgirl Camp and Couples’ Round Up, several times each year.  Both are five day, four night programs, which include more time in the saddle, individual riding instruction, and basic horsemanship skills.  Scheduled dates and detailed agendas for these programs are on our website, and we can offer these programs exclusively for groups of 8-12 adults.

White Stallion Ranch

White Stallion Ranch offers a variety of horseback activities suited for the most inexperienced rider to the advanced.  Our six day riding program (no riding on Sundays) includes a gentle, walking scenic ride morning and afternoon, sometimes on the flat desert or up into the foothills.  Later in the morning and again in the afternoon, there is a fast ride with some beautiful lopes through the desert.  One of the most popular activities is the Cattle Team Penning which we do Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons.  This horse and cattle game, held in the arena, is an option to the regular afternoon fast ride.  For the "die hard" riders we have a 7 hour all day ride on Tuesday and Thursday into the Saguaro National Park.  This is a  picnic lunch ride. We have a breakfast ride on Tuesday and Saturday to our beautiful desert site.

In addition to all of the rides, we are also proud to offer a one hour horse whisperer session with our head wrangler, Carol Bachman for anyone  wishing to improve their relationship with horses.  There is no charge for this program.  We also offer several clinics during our season and you will find these detailed in our Specials section of our website.  Daily riding lessons are available in a  group or private setting and there are barrel racing lessons by request.  There is an extra charge for lessons.  It this is your first visit to the ranch, a slow ride is required before testing for the the fast rides.