Spring Round Up - Wanna Come?

I thought you horsey folks would like to know about this...in case you are already planning your trip (escape?) to Montana ;) It happens toward the end of April. As soon as I know the dates for 2011, I'll post them here! I can't wait and hopefully will have my big honkin' Danny Doo Doo Head up here by then and can join in...can you imagine??!

Montana Horses Annual Horse Roundup and Drive

Each year, Montana Horses hosts a Spring Roundup that's right out of the Old West, with a horse drive from the hills around Willow Creek back to the home ranch on the Missouri River. Participants (limited to 20 guests) help roundup several hundred head of horses from their winter range, then trail them thirty miles back to their summer home -- right through Three Forks! Some riding experience is required. The better you ride, the more fun you'll have chasing the cagey horses through the sagebrush.

In the afternoon of Day 2 in the three-day event, the horses run down Main Street, Three Forks to their holding pasture for the night.

Surrounding the event, join the activities throughout the day, including a cowboy poetry and western music show at the Ruby Theatre, featuring the Gallatin Valley Junior Fiddlers and Kail Mantle. Then, dance the night away to old fashion cowboy swing.

The Mantle family has been in the horse business for generations. Since the 1800s, Mantles have been running horses in the Rocky Mountain States. All counted, the Mantle family runs several thousand head of horses in Montana. Montana Horses leases its good string of gentle horses to guest ranches, trail ride outfits, kids camps, outfitters, hunters, and vacationers throughout the northwestern states.

Each fall the herd runs free in the hills around their Missouri River home just as wild horses have run for hundreds of years. In the spring these horses are healthy and rested and ready to go back to work.

Every year they are joined by the best cowboys in the country as they bring in the bunch. You are invited to join in their tradition. The drive lasts for 3 days.