Cathy and Phil - honeymoon at the Ranch

The desire to visit a ranch probably started when I (Cathy) was a child whilst watching the old western movies with Mum on a Sunday afternoon.  The best bits were always when the cowboys led by John Wayne galloped across the plains on their trusted steeds ready for a shoot out at the OK Corral.

I managed to convince Phil that spending our honeymoon on a ranch would be a brilliant idea.  After all, they had tennis courts, a gym, swimming pool and other facilities just in case he didn’t take to the riding.

We spent some time looking on the internet at various different options and The White Stallion Ranch jumped out at us having all the things we wanted including plenty of riding catering for all abilities, hot weather, beautiful scenery in the Arizona Desert and vast open spaces.

When we arrived at the ranch we were immediately struck by how nothing was too much trouble.  There was champagne in the room to greet us and this was the start of what we felt was one of the best holidays we have ever had.

The Wranglers were fantastic.  They treated everyone with the same courtesy, friendliness and respect and really made the rides interesting and fun whilst keeping us all safe from the Indians!  We were particularly impressed with the Wranglers ability to remember everyone’s names considering how many guests they were dealing with.

Lindsay, one of the Wranglers nominated Phil who was usually at the back of the ride on Major, the very responsible job as chief look out for possible attacks from marauding Indians.  We did have one or two lucky escapes!

Booking the honeymoon was the first thing we did as part of our wedding plans so it was only natural to then have a western theme throughout our wedding!  We had a civil service in a Hotel dressed up in western outfits and entered the service to the sound of the Magnificent Seven music.  After the honeymoon we had a hoedown for friends and family with everyone dressed up in western gear, it was great fun!

It would be easier to say what we didn’t enjoy about the ranch except that we would have nothing to say!  The food was exceptional, definitely not the place to go if you want to loose weight.  The horses were clearly very well looked after and cared for.

I had a couple of massages whilst I was there which can be highly recommended, absolute bliss.  We did intend to use the gym every day and did actually manage it on one occasion!  The rest of the time we were riding twice a day, going off on an all day ride into the National Park, having great fun trying to get three errant steers in a pen or racing up and down the corral whilst trying to navigate cones and barrels, all in all having a fantastic time with our horses, Papago and Major. 

We will definitely be making a return visit!