Note: Walking a few blocks over even packed dirt terrain from registration office to housing and back to dining hall

Arrive To: Arrive at White Stallion Ranch between 3:00 and 5:30 PM; check in at Ranch office. Ranch personnel will provide information regarding dinner and orientation.

Dinner: Get acquainted reception and evening meal

Evening: Country/Western dance lessons

Lodging: White Stallion Ranch

Meals Included: Dinner

Note: Walking up to one mile over course of the day over packed dirt, even terrain.

Breakfast: Breakfast in the Ranch's dining hall

Morning: The White Stallion Ranch's owner, Russell True, will tell you how his family purchased the Ranch, how he learned to manage it and how his own children are planning to run the Ranch in the future. He'll also tell you about the history of rodeos.

After his talk, he'll take you on a tour of the ranch, including behind-the-scenes areas that most people don't get to see, including the tack room, feed room and the all-important kitchen!

Lunch: Lunch in the Ranch's dining hall. Most of the time, they serve delicious homemade cookies for dessert - everyone makes sure they get one or two of them at the end of the meal. By the way, the food is scrumptious!

Afternoon: After lunch, everyone will go to the corrals to meet the horses. You'll learn about the different breeds of horses and see their many different colorations and markings.

You'll also receive general safety instructions for holding, leading and grooming a horse. Part of this session will be hands-on.

The horses are so much fun to watch! In the cool of the early morning and evening hours, they romp and play in the corrals behind the casitas. If you go up and stand by the corral fence, several horses will come up to you, wanting to be patted and talked to. They're really delightful creatures, and respond to your attention with obvious requests for more of the same!

Dinner: Dinner will be in the dining hall

Evening: Wild West Show

Lodging: White Stallion Ranch

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast Trail Ride and Cookout/Natural Horsemanship Class/Caring for the Ranch Animals/Hay Ride/Evening Star Party

Note: Riding gentle horses on easy trail ride (if you wish; van transportation available). Walking up to one mile over course of the day on even packed dirt terrain. Walking over Ranch grounds as needed; walking and standing to Star Party area (short distance) over relatively even terrain.

Breakfast: This morning, you'll meet at the corral, get on a gentle horse and take off on an easy trail ride.

A cowboy breakfast cookout will be a great early morning experience - there's no food better than that cooked in the great out-of-doors!

Morning: After riding back to the Ranch, there will be a Natural Horsemanship demonstration

Lunch: Lunch in the dining hall

Afternoon: After lunch, you'll have an opportunity to see how the ranch animals (including the long-horned cattle!) are cared for. You'll learn about feeding them, grooming them, shoeing the horses, and lots more - and get a chance to help groom and feed them as well. Later, enjoy a late-afternoon hay ride.

Dinner: Dinner in the dining hall.

Evening: This evening, you're in for a real treat. Almost everyone has looked at the stars and the moon (and planets, too, if they knew what they were looking at!), and sometimes it's difficult to see those things well if there are city lights making it so bright that you can't observe as you'd like to.

At White Stallion Ranch, there aren't any "city lights" to get in your way. As soon as it gets dark, you'll walk out to a selected area where you'll be able to view the heavens just as the early Native American residents of this desert setting did - the stars, moon and planets will all stand out, and there will be more stars visible than you could possibly imagine existed.

Adults and children will have an opportunity to view the magnificence through telescopes as well as binoculars (we'd encourage you to bring some; even inexpensive ones make viewing more pleasurable). A local astronomer will tell you about what you're seeing, how and when it's best to look for certain stars and planets, and how to expand the experience if you choose to do so after returning to your homes.

Lodging: White Stallion Ranch

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Note: Walking up to one mile over course of the day on packed dirt, even terrain.

Breakfast: Breakfast in the dining hall

Morning: This morning, there will be an "Indian Horse Painting" class, where you'll have a chance to paint your horse with Indian designs.

Lunch: Lunch in the dining hall

Afternoon: This afternoon, you'll have a hands-on roping clinic, followed by a team penning demonstration.

Dinner: Dinner in the dining hall

Evening: After dinner, there will be a "Critter Show" featuring some of the unusual living creatures that have adapted to the Sonora Desert climate. Most of them can be held (including the tarantula!) and enjoyed. The presenter will tell you what the critter had to do to be able to live with such temperature extremes and so little water.

Lodging: White Stallion Ranch

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Field Trip to Desert Museum/Western Arts and Crafts/Final Evening Bonfire with Cowboy Singer

Note: Walking up to one mile over course of the day on packed dirt and paved terrain. Standing during museum visit. Sitting outdoors in evening around a bonfire; we recommend a chair cane if you have trouble sitting down on the ground. www.amazon.com - enter chair canes into search box.

Breakfast: Breakfast in the dining hall

Morning: Everyone will board one of the White Stallion Ranch's vans and drive to the amazing Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.

The facility exhibits more than 300 live animal species, including mountain lions, prairie dogs, Gila monsters, hawks, bighorn sheep and hummingbirds in natural habitats.

Paths lead visitors through landscapes containing more than 1,300 species of plants indigenous to the Sonoran Desert region, including desert grasslands, cactus and desert gardens.

A pollination garden complex shows interactions between insects, birds, bats and plants, and a fenceless enclosure allows javelinas to explore hillsides and take mud baths.

A simulated walk-through limestone cave features a collection of regional gems and minerals. A display about how the planet has evolved with explanations of erosion, volcanic and seismic activity and plate tectonics also is featured.

This is an absolutely incredible place to visit; kids and adults will be fascinated by the variety of exhibits and things to do.

Following the visit, the vans will travel back to the Ranch for lunch.

Lunch: Lunch in the dining hall

Afternoon: In the afternoon, there will be some time to learn some western-style crafts, followed by a final late-afternoon trail ride.

Dinner: Dinner in the dining hall

Evening: After it gets dark, everyone will go outside and enjoy a real western bonfire, hear a cowboy singer present some songs (and you can sing along, too). There will be time for some socializing and a program closing afterwards.

Lodging: White Stallion Ranch

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Note: Walking a block or two from housing area to dining hall and check-out area.

Depart From: Check out no later than 11:00 AM. Independent departures anytime after breakfast.

Breakfast: Breakfast in the dining hall will be the last meal included with the program.

Meals Included: Breakfast