Rocking Z Guest Ranch

The most beautiful place! My daughter and I felt so welcomed. Horses were so fun and well trained. Loved the classes and staff. Best week ever. Felt like part of the family and made lifelong friends. I highly recommend this for anyone that has the love of horses, beautiful views, and the big sky.

This is a fabulous family home, authentic, full of heart and soul, the family team and their rangers are absolutely amazing for all levels of competence. 3 fantastic meals a day included, home made fantastic quality food. The horses are super responsive and so well looked after, it's a really amazing experience. The scenery is out of this world too. Absolutely amazing experience.

Wow! The Rocking Z Ranch was a purely authentic insight into the lives of 5th generation Montanan's. Their history, culture, horsemanship, wonderful family & home is generously shared with their guests. All of which is surrounded by the most breathtaking mountain landscape, that no words, or pictures, could ever do justice! One thing that really shone out was the love this family has for its horses. Horse welfare is front & centre of their work. Myself & my Sister (and our fellow guests) got to experience amazing horses who were selected carefully to fit our experience levels. My dream of loping across a prairie was well & truly achieved! If you’re looking for polished, then Rocking Z isn’t for you. If you want to experience true Montanan ranching & way of life then this is the ranch for you. We got to work the cattle (so much fun!!), experience barrel racing (more fun!!), wagon driving (with two beautiful Belgium drafts), loads of beautiful trail riding (as well as an all day ride out & picnic), a trip into Helena to the famous Murdock Western Store, Parelli Natural Horsemanship games, & optional horsemanship workshops, e.g. biomechanics & free reining. The accommodation was great, the food was outstanding & the company incredible! On our trip we were lucky enough to meet great people, from around the world, who we belly laughed our way through the week with. We were spilt into ability groups, which meant that everyone got the riding experience that they desired. I opted for a faster adrenaline ride on one afternoon, which was a thrill ride…for sure! We were really, really looked after by the team at Rocking Z Ranch! They really do care about your experience, & add a few surprises along the way to show you just how much!! Patty, Zach, Maria, Anna, Julia, Justy, Bo, Mary Beth, Maddie, Margaret, Landon & Sue thank you so much for making my dream the most incredible reality! ❤️🤠❤️

I loved my stay at Rocking Z. I did a one-week horsemanship course and learnt so much about their approach to horses and their psychology, which was, next to the trail rides, the best part of my experience. Patty and Zach were great hosts, they always shared great advice and stories. Maria and her cooking were excellent!! They always accommodated our food preferences and the food was simply delicious. The ranch and the surrounding nature are just beautiful and the room was very cool western style.

I (solo traveller from Europe, 29F) spent one week at the Rocking Z ranch in July and it was fantastic. It was my first ranch holiday and I never rode western before (but am a leisurely English style rider), so my expectations were to learn a bit and spend time with horses in a beautiful scenery. They were more than exceeded! I can’t stress enough how skilled, experienced, and kind the instructors, Anna, Maria and Justi, were. Having teachers at such a high level for an entire week was more than I could have hoped for. Without hesitation, I would love to attend training clinics offered by any of them individually. A reason I chose to come to rocking z was that they started the week with horsemanship before riding. Their horses’ wellbeing is central to their approach to teaching and transpired in everything we did: from groundwork to barrel racing, saddling, the biomechanics of riding, cow work and trail rides. Their horses were a joy to be around and ride, reliable and responsive, suitable for beginners and experienced riders. It is such a privilege for both beginner and experienced riders to be taught by the rocking Z team. The team at rocking Z also went out of their way to accommodate personal preferences, regularly checking in with the guests if there were specific activities we wanted to do. I got to canter bareback, do liberty groundwork with an amazing horse as partner, and learned so much I want to take home with me. The wranglers who took us out on rides and worked with us in the arena were great riders and instructors. The rooms were very comfortable and the desserts tasted like heaven! I eat vegetarian and it was no problem for them to accommodate that. The family did their best to give the guests a movie-like experience, with a music evening and taking us to a rodeo. Patty and Zach built an amazing place. The only downside is that once you’re there you don’t want to leave.