Live your wild story underneath the wide sky.
The mission of Wide Sky Adventures is to create opportunities for connection to equines, the natural world, local food, and self that are positive, fun, and accessible for all.
We provide a safe substrate for people to make the changes they need to pursue purpose and find inspiration — whether practical learning and skill-building or internal, deeply-dug changes that can happen most readily with immersion in pause, quiet, and the wide Montana sky.
Join us! Visit wideskyadventures.com to learn more.
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photo by @merydonald
Reconnect with yourself. Pursue your purpose.
Wide Sky Adventures provides opportunities for connection, growth, and learning through equine-supported experiences in nature.
Get away and recharge | Swing your leg over a horse and ride into our serene camp to reconnect with yourself through a writing, somatic, painting, food, or Equus retreat.
Build valuable skills | Come learn and develop your skills with our horsemanship classes, introduction to packing trips, and cattle working experiences.
To learn more about this year’s retreats, workshops, and more, visit wideskyadventures.com
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photo by @merydonald
Choose your own adventure.
Create your own experience with all of the ingredients for a good time: horses, beautiful country to cover, and cows to work.
We offer trail rides, cowgirl/cowboy experiences, and ranch pack trips. For a truly custom experience, we can also bring our horse and mule string to you. We are happy to cater your experience towards learning or relaxation, or both!
Contact us for more information:
wideskyadventures.com | [email protected]
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photo by @merydonald
🍃 The windy season brings change🍃
Wind shapes landscapes. It can cause soil erosion, and deposition. It brings clouds, thunderstorms, and also precipitation clears the clouds covering the sun. It brings changes.
Today when I hear the wind whistle through our windows, I look out to our ponies, their noses tipped to the south, rumps to the wind, sideways rain pelting.
I came on here to let you all know that we have been brewing a pretty big change. We are closing a chapter and starting a new one. Wide Sky, on this landscape, with our amazing equines, as we have shared it, will be coming to a close. I am proud of what we have built together - the opportunities to embrace growth and grit, the highs of connecting with people, place and equines. I feel the change with excitement… although bittersweet because we will miss our community in Montana.
What next? My husband accepted a job working at a ranch in California. It is an incredible opportunity with a great group of people. Our family will be moving late February! After the move I will be taking a little time to be more present as a parent, recenter, and work on a few side projects that have taken the back burner for a while before deciding what the next leap will be for me.
We are bringing a few of our family horses with us, but we’d appreciate you sharing our posts as we try to find good homes for our beloved herd. We have quite a few retirees, and a handful of good, sound horses - all of them will be difficult to part with.
I’ll still be posting here for a while, and we will just be a little farther west, on a new adventure that will inevitably involve equines, wild places and good people ✨
Thank you all for your support throughout the years.
Blessings.
Horsemanship/Stockmanship event recap
“There are no mistakes, only moments of opportunity.”
That was the invitation extended to every woman who showed up to our 2nd Annual Horsemanship & Stockmanship Workshop.
Participants from across the West, and even one from as far as Germany (!), came together for 4 days at Wide Sky Adventures, building skills, moving cattle, and learning the kind of lessons only horses can teach.
Want the full story? Comment “HORSE” below 👇
A huge thank you to @thiswidesky for hosting us, to our incredible facilitators @ericamannix , @kelsynelsy , and @cheritrousil for sharing their expertise and hearts with this amazing group, and to @chia.thrane for keeping us nourished with delicious meals all weekend long 🧡
📸 @mariahg_photography
✨STAFF APPRECIATION POST! ✨
🌿Laura Michalak 🌿
Laura is a Wrangler at Wide Sky. Her meandering path across the country as life-long horse enthusiast led her to this job. She wholeheartedly believes in the business Abby has built and enjoys sharing her passion for horses with others by facilitating meaningful horseback experiences. In her free time Laura enjoys horse packing, stargazing, and snuggling with mules.
In addition to being a wrangler who takes ranch interpretation to a new level (why not ride backwards if it gives you good eye contact?!) and a skilled horsewoman, when you are around Laura you are guaranteed a a heartfelt laugh, and a contagious level of stoke for whatever we might be doing- from cleaning the outhouse to heading out on a pack trip. We have had a full season blessed with Laura’s radiance, and we’re all grateful for the tornado level of work ethic she brings to the job at Wide Sky.
#bigskycountry
#wideskyadventures
#ranchgirl
#montanalife
We celebrate all you gals whose hearts grow bigger, courage grows stronger, grit dives deeper with horses in your life ✨
Happy National Day of the Cowgirl!
#nationaldayofthecowgirl
#cowgirlboss
#cowgirlup
#montanalife
Last week we had a great time riding and getting to know @carly_twig . She leant her skills to help us move a small bunch of cows and bulls to sort before testing bulls. Then we went for a ride out to the eastern portion of the ranch.
We swapped horse care and vet tips and stories and I got to hear about the awesome work she does for @coloradohorserescue , a well- run horse rescue in Longmont, CO. Part of their program is dedicated to soft landings for retired dude horses- something I feel passionate about, as I don’t think animals who give their hearts and soul to their jobs should end up in the kill-pen pipeline. For those of us who enjoy horses, what we do with them after they are no longer useful is a a good question to consider, and also ask places where you ride. It’s great to see people doing this good work!
Check em out!
#retireddudehorse
#annieproject
#ranchlife
✨Staff Member Highlight!✨
Jacki Franklin grew up in Wyoming with a whole herd of siblings, and a whole herd of horses, enjoying the free-range life.
After a 30-year ride with the Postal Service, Jacki is happy to be back out in the sage and cedars with horses and mules, helping out with whatever needs to be done.
Appreciating the beauty in our natural landscapes, seeing new country, being with horses (mules!) sharing these resources and advocating for the land are things that make her happy!
Jacki has her own small herd, grows some weed-free hay, and gets together with her huge family as often as she can.
Living just over the hill from us, Jacki takes good care of our herd, helps with guiding rides, as well as campground setup and takedown. Jacki is a working machine and powers through any tough ranch chore or veterinary challenge like she was built for it. We are so grateful for the positive energy and know-how Jacki brings to the team!
☀️Wide Sky Staff Highlight ☀️
For the next few weeks we are going to take one day per week to highlight one of our fun and dedicated staff members!
This year is the best year yet, with all of our operations, horse care, wrangling, random ranch work, composting toilet, tent and camp setup and take down and all of the miscellaneous tasks running more smoothly thank ever, thanks to this dedicated crew.
⭐️Rachael Leitnaker⭐️
After two years out west working as a ranching apprentice, Rachael has joined the team at Wide Sky Adventures to fine tune her horsemanship skills and find community amongst other women in ranching. Originally from Ohio where she grew up on a cattle and grain farm, she is on a journey to expand her knowledge and skills in regenerative agriculture, and to become a better steward of the land. Outside of riding horses and working cows, she loves painting, wild foraging, and learning about all the native birds and wildflowers. Here at Wide Sky, Rachael is one of our behind-the-scenes gals. Her work here ranges from cleaning pens and stringing fence, to making sure every detail is in order so that your stay is comfortable, and enjoyable. You can also find her working just across the way at Blake nursery here on the ranch!
We are so lucky to have Rachael working for us! She does everything with a smile and incredible attention to detail. Not to mention she’s got skills to organize our staff into an effective stockmanship formation moving yearlings out and up some big hills 💪🏼.
A weekend of purposeful intention, powerful reflection, and deep connection. At the Women’s Resilient Leadership Retreat, we explored somatic-based practices, learned in community with other brilliant women, and experienced the profound wisdom of working with horses in the round pen and on the trail.
From the morning birdsongs to the afternoon thunderstorms, and glorious sunsets, we will treasure every moment of learning and growing together @thiswidesky .
#wellbeingforeverybody
#montanaretreats #womensleadership #humanbeingbasics #wholepersonhealth
