A midwest GUEST RANCH holiday vacation spot:

TRAVELING WITH YOUR HORSE? Curly Horse Ranch will be offering a new group of services. We noticed when we were traveling with horses last summer there were few places to stay with horses. We are planning on building a few cabins and pipe gate corrals next to them for folks traveling with horses.

In addition to providing a place to stay with your horses, we provide Cowboy Bunk & Biscuit [Bed and Breakfast] services.

Eventually we will offer an informal Working Guest Ranch vacation experience. We are not completely up and running yet, but pictured below is when we made an exception for a new curly owner - this picture was her having a saddling, grooming, and riding lesson with Claudia:

What better way to introduce folks to the wonderful traits of the Curly horse. Curlies are hypoallergenic; people who are allergic to regular horse hair are usually not allergic to Curlies. This allows some people with allergies to enjoy working with Curlies!

We are located in South Central Iowa, not far from Interstate 35. (We are on the way to everywhere!)

We are close to John Wayne’s birthplace, the Bridges of Madison County, Lakeside Casino, and Stevens State Forest. Stevens State Forest has three levels of horseback riding trails; beginners, intermediate, and advanced.

We live in a valley and are surrounded by wooded hills. A creek runs through the property and you can see wild turkey, deer, fox, beaver, and coyotes. We wake to the sound of birds and go to sleep listening to the frogs croak and the owls hoot. We plan on having a fire pit so visitors can sit by it at night and listen to nature and enjoy the peace.

For beginners we will have saddling, handling, and riding lessons. In the spring we will have foals to imprint train. We can also demonstrate round pen training for those interested.

It will be awhile before we are fully up and running, but we are working hard to get everything in place. Check with us when you are going to be traveling through. We are looking forward to meeting you all!

more Cabin photos (Summer 2007):