To celebrate my 50 birthday, I wanted to experience a holiday that we had never tried before so booked up for a week riding on the Homeplace Ranch which is situated about 1 hour from Calgary.
Its in a fabulous location, set in beautiful countryside and from the back of a horse you get a real feeling of the ranches' tranquility and peacefulness as you amble through the forests, sun glistening through the aspen and poplar trees, with the majestic rockies as a backdrop to it all. All the stresses of modern life soon leave you as there are no tv's, newspapers or computers. On arrival we met the rest of Saturday's newcomers, a great crowd of people - Joe, Heidi & Peter from Germany, Paddy and Sue from England, Nalko from Japan and 2 fellow Scots, Linsey and Allison. You all ride out and eat together, and eating is a delight as Terry in the kitchen cooks the most fabulous meals. He is up before dawn making the breakfast which we all agreed were magnificent, especially the pancakes which were smothered in maple syrup. If you go on an all day ride then after the breakfast is cleared away, the food for the pack lunch is laid out for us to bag up to put in your saddle bags.

What we loved was the horses roaming around the land surrounding the ranch. Come sun up they would gallop in to the corral, looking for their breakfast oats, get tied up and then the guests would groom (optional) their chosen horse. Then it was breakfast time. After coming back from the ride they would then be turned out to roam the land until they came in for their breakfast.

Brad and Kenny are the wranglers who take the groups out. Brad is a real cowboy, quietly spoken but so knowledgeable of the land and horses and would point out the wildlife and interesting facts as we rode along or when we stopped for a leg stretch. Kenny was the joker and liked to try to chat up the ladies!

The accommodation was clean and spacious. We were in the Coach house which has 2 bedrooms upstairs, a large room in the basement and a shared kitchen (we never used it) and spacious sitting area with games and books for reading and a large veranda which goes right round the house. Each bedroom has an en-suite bathroom attached. We were lucky as we had a bath to soak in at night!

We both loved the whole ranch experience and would not hesitate to recommend the Homeplace Ranch - you don't need to be experienced to go as they have horses to suit all levels. Some of the guests had never ridden before. The staff are lovely and once again we experienced the friendliness of the Canadians.

After two years we came back as promised to the lovely Homeplace Ranch. Again we stayed in the Coach House which is a separate building to the main house. However this time we had one of the two rooms upstairs, which was really nice. You have an open plan kitchen and living room with comfy chairs and sofas which you share with the other room. There are quite a few books too. If the weather is nice though use the huge veranda around the house overlooking the trees and corral.
Of course we never had to use the kitchen as we had all our delicious meals in the main house, cooked by Terry.
The staff at Homeplace was really nice and made you feel welcome.
The best part of course were the day rides through lovely countryside. They choose horses according to the ability of the rider and you normally have them until the end of your stay, so you can get used to each other. This time we had Jasper and Terry, who were really great!
Kenny, one of the wranglers, lead us on great trails. The groups of riders were small so that they could easily be adapted according to the abilities of the riders. On a full day ride you have a lunch stop in a place in the woods were the wranglers make "cowboy coffee" . Quite nice atmosphere...
After riding, you can socialize by e.g. playing horse shoe with other guests. There is no tv or any noise since you are surrounded by the forrest, so great if you want to escape from city life.
Normally everybody was in bed rather early in order to get up for the 7.30 am grooming of the horses. Although this is voluntary (the wranglers groom your horse if you want to sleep a bit longer) it is a great way to get to know your horse.

We really recommend Homeplace to people who love horses even if they are not great riders.
We will certainly be back!

When I was a little girl, I dreamt of living on a ranch like the ones I had seen in the western movies. Cowboys, horses, cattle, a cozy loghome and a beautyful country.
Instead, I grew up in a city in Germany, which definitely isn´t cowboy country.
Fortunately I was able to learn how to ride a horse and after many years in an english saddle, I began to ride western. By now I have my own horse, which is western trained and so a small part of my dream has come true.
But no wide open spaces over here...
So I have done a lot of travelling throughout the US and Canada and I found my "cowboy country" in Alberta.
The Spirit of the Old West, for me that means friendly, open minded people; great hospitality and excellent horsemanship.
ALL THIS I FOUND ON HOMEPLACE RANCH.
For me the ranch became home far away from home when I first came there in September 2002. I had tears in my eyes when I had to leave after 7 great days. Since then I have returned every year in fall, which is my favourite time of the year.
In 2004 I even extended my stay to 2 weeks.
The warm and familylike atmosphere, combined with great riding opportunities, beautyful scenery and wonderful homemade food makes this place so special.

Thank´s to Mac and his lovely crew, my dream has come true. I will be back in 2005!

PS: If I would be a horse, I would like to be my horse or a horse on Homeplace Ranch!!!!!!

From the moment we arrived at the Homeplace, we knew we had picked the right place. We were welcomed by the staff before we even got out of our car. Everyone was so friendly, we immediately felt at home. The lodge was exactly as we had expected - rustic, western themed, woodburning stove very very cozy. The horseback riding was great. Everyone is instructed on the wooden horse, how to get on and all that. Seeing as we were novice riders, we really needed and appreciated the instruction. We were really comfortable on the rides and not nervous at all. The scenery was breathtaking. The food was also amazing, everything from scratch. Anyone is welcomed to go into the kitchen at anytime to get snacks or just to chat and snoop and even get some recipes. Even some of the kids the week we were there were in helping to make cookies. It's really like being at home. We would recommend this ranch to everyone. In fact we are going back!