Western Equestrian Programs, Training & Services at The Hideout.

Horseback Riding

Since 2008, The Hideout has gradually evolved from a Working Cattle Guest Ranch to a more complete Western Equestrian Destination and Experience. For those looking to experience the unique combination of high-end pampering and an authentic working cattle experience on horseback out West, The Hideout is still No. 1 in North America teaming up and sharing over 200,000 acres with the 100-year old Flitner Ranch, who raises 1200 heads of Black Angus.

In addition to the spectacular trail riding, other activities were added to please the entire family, group of friends or couples that like to travel together but somehow have a different vacation experience in mind.

A Unique Western Equestrian Destination

Over the last three years we not only upgraded our string of guest horses, but we also added a selection of horses geared especially for the experienced rider, who appreciates a horse that is ridden very lightly, well-trained and fine tuned by experienced Hideout trainers. With a focus on natural horsemanship, authenticity and a vaquero / buckaroo inspired culture of lightness in handling our horses, more and more horse enthusiasts of around the world are finding their way to The Hideout.

Our group of wranglers and guides has evolved to mostly equestrian professionals and cowboys, eager to teach riding, horse training and stockman ship skills to all levels of riders. They are open minded and equally interested in their own personal growth as trainers. The Hideout continually invests in advanced academic training and yearly training programs and clinics for the staff during the off season. This allows for us to organize on-premises training and clinics that guests can participate in, taking full advantage of the knowledge of the Hideout staff.

Our clinics vary from Colt Starting, Natural & Authentic Horsemanship, Trail Riding, Reining and cutting, stockman ship, cattle work, etc.

Our horses…

We take pride in having a string of high quality guest horses. At the same time we have a number of horses that are ready for riders who understand how to ride with light hands and subtle clues.

Your horse(s)

We offer a diversity of training at The Hideout, mostly conducted during the off season, for your personal horse. The advantage of The Hideout is that we constantly have not just one, but several trainers on staff. They all utilize low stress training methods, leveraging trust as a foundation, while working with your horse. Your horse will have the opportunity to learn from and train with the different trainers on our team in a consistent, trust based way supervised by our head trainer.

Buying a horse for you

If you would like us to look for a horse, we can make that happen. We will meet with you, as a team, to determine what you have in mind and what we believe would be the best horse for you. We will be open and honest with you at all times.

We pay more attention to the authenticity of a potential horse, the disposition and how healthy it is in mind and body than bloodlines, etc. There are many horses out there that do not come with impressive bloodlines but simply deserve the opportunity to be trained and started by professional hands that build trust. Examples are the mustangs we have in our own string. Ramon Castro, one of our trainers, participated in The Extreme Mustang Makeover Challenge having only 90 days to gentle and train a completely wild mustang and then compete in technical and freestyle events. Ramon finished first in the combined technical events of trail, cattle and reining and 3rd overall in the free style act.

We do require that any horse you buy through our services should spend at least one month being trained by our trainers to make sure it is what you want and we are sure we can give it our “Stamp of Approval”.

 If you would like us to look for the right horse for you, we can certainly do that after explaining how we go about this.

When it comes to horses, we apply the same rules we use to select our staff and lead our organization. Our foundations are “Character, Conduct and Competence”, knowing one can train for Competence but not for Character and Conduct. All our horses need to live up to Character and Conduct and our trainers will teach competence based on trust.