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Girls Horse Camps         Summer Horseback Riding Camp

Summer horse back riding camp for girls in Montana! Western horseback trail riding at it's best; horses here are equipped to take you into rugged areas of Montana's backcountry. Our main focus in this session is western leisure trail riding and a 3-day horse pack tripping. We also include day hikes to remote lakes and peaks, campfire nights filled with guitars and singing, canoeing and a real wild west rodeo!

Our overnight, sleep away girls summer horse camp adventure is based in the southwest corner of Montana in the Centennial Valley home to the Red Rock Lakes Wildlife Refuge and located on a historic stage route to Yellowstone National Park. The Centennial retains the same ranching and wide open, wildlife-rich character as it did a century ago. It's vast grasslands and wetlands are ringed by the majestic Centennial Mountains.

Mel & Chris Montgomery of Centennial Outfitters are our hosts, horse guides, historical educators, campfire guitarists, dutch oven cooks and inspirational friends. Mel grew up around ranchers, cowboys and "old-timers," and he learned their ways, his roots to the valley are deep and he knows these mountains better than anyone. Chris's passion is in researching the history of the valley. Together with the local historical society Chris assisted in publishing a book about the area, Centennial Valley, a Journey Through Time, 1820-1930.

At the Montgomery homestead, our horse camp base, we'll be fitted to helmets, horses and equipment on our first full day in the valley. Mel will personally select a horse that best suits each person's riding ability, size, and special request. A sunset horse ride introduces us to our horse, equipment, and to the valley as we receive gentle pointers on basic horsemanship skills from the kindest cowboys and cowgirls you'll ever meet. We'll return to base camp to a hot campfire meal, guitar and stories by the campfire.

Our 3-day western horse pack trip adventure starts the following morning. After yoga and breakfast at base camp, we'll gather our personal gear... sleeping bags, tents, clothing, food, etc and make our way to the stables to round-up the pack mules and our horses for lessons in saddling and bridling. Then, we learn how to wrap our gear and hay in canvas pieces called "manties" and finish it off with knot tying to secure the loads on the mules.

After lunch, we'll mount up and ride up-up-and-away into the Centennial Mountains, along the continental divide, through wildflower fields, and across crystal clear spring fed creeks. We'll set up our wilderness base camp just below the "Amphitheater", a beautiful cirque of rock walls that cast a lovely shadow across a moist grass meadow below where our horses slowly wander and graze as the sun slowly slides over the mountains edge into another alpenglow evening in Montana's backcountry. We'll set up our sleeping tents, prepare dinner in the cook tent, and start a campfire for another night of group entertainment and camaraderie.

On our second day, we rise with the sun for yoga and a hearty breakfast before mounting up for a full-day exploratory horse ride, taking off from our tent site and climbing to peaks above the Amphitheater for top-of-the-world views of the Grand Teton Range in the far distance. We may hike to a peak if conditions permit or opt for a long round-trip horse ride through alpine meadows seeking to leave only hoof-prints and take only pictures. On our day ride we select a new route each time to maintain the most pristine environment possible, sometimes this means through the wild woods, across down trees, through left-over snow fields and into country that most folks will never have the opportunity to see. Mountain riding on the back of our sure-footed friends prevents us from safely going faster than a trot most of the time. However, if trail conditions and circumstances allow, girls that have proven their horse riding skills may be allowed to gallop at select times and locations.

On day three of our pack trip, we'll pack up our gear and saddle up for our descent back to the valley and the Montgomery homestead for our final evening together at our Montana home away from home.

After a last good-bye hug to our horses, we continue our adventures together in Idaho, canoeing on the flat waters of the Henrys Fork of the Snake River for a river day full of sun and Alpenolympic water fights. View nesting osprey, mysterious underwater grasses and moose in the willows, as well an occasional American eagle.

Our final Yee-Haw together is attending the Wild West Rodeo! Pull your hat down tight as we watch a real western rodeo and events that include Barrel Racing, Bull Riding, Team Roping, Breakaway Roping, Bareback and Saddle Bronc Riding.

If you are artistically inclined you should consider adding on our Montana Photojournalism Camp to this session for 3-weeks with Alpengirl! This option will allow you to "focus on" and further enjoy the mountains, visit Yellowstone National Park, soak in hot springs, go rafting and end the adventure with your own photography and creative writing portfolio in hand so that you can share and remember your 3-weeks of adventure in this special place.

Group Size: Due to land use permits and conservation practices, we must limit the number of stock animals in a group. Therefore, we can only allow 8 girls to attend MT Horse Camp. However, the total group size for the session is 12+. The Montana Mini Camp girls are a part of the 12+ girl group. Mini campers will be on foot rather than in-saddle during the 3-day pack trip, all days on the itinerary are shared as a larger group of 12+ girls.

Riding Experience: Girls attending our horse camp should be eager for lengthy mountain rides uphill and along high rugged scenic divides. Girls attending should be comfortable around horses, but don't necessarily need to have had riding experience - girls are matched with horses according to experience. This session is NOT intended for girls who are apprehensive about horse riding. It may also not be suitable for girls who are very experienced riders that desire daily riding challenges. The average teen girl with moderate to no riding experience will be best fit for this session.

The best thing about this trip - besides the fact that All Alpengirl trips ROCK is... "It has the most horse riding of any of the Alpengirl camps."