Articles About Us

Below are some articles written about us by visitors to the ranch. We hope they will give you a better feel for what our ranch is really like and why we are so different!

Brad Wetzler, of the Rocky Mountain News, wrote:

"… The Focus Ranch is one of the few "working" guest ranches in the country - that means that Reidy's first job is to raise and sell yearling cattle. Second, he feeds and houses people who on their vacations want to learn how it's done and chip in. …There won't be many of those well-worn dude ranch clichés. You won't see a lot of snazzily dressed work hands in full cowboy array; there won't be a square dance with lines full of gingham-clad cowgirls; you won't need to pack the new Stetson. You will experience early mornings in front of a pile of sunny-side-up eggs and pancakes. You'll spend hot, dusty afternoons on the trail…

At night, as you lie in your bunk, muscles sore and trying to go to sleep, you'll probably wonder why you paid hard- earned money to work your tail off. That thought will fade, though, and no doubt you'll soon be asking yourself a different question: "Why do I sit behind a desk all year, when I could be in the mountains, riding horses?"

Jeff Hull, in article for "Private Clubs" writes:

"…Isolated in the mountains outside Steamboat Springs, Focus Ranch is as close as anything comes to City Slickers…. Like any guest ranch, participation is up to the guest. But at Focus Ranch there's plenty of honest work to go around… A day at Focus Ranch clangs to a start with the wake-up bell at 7 a.m. and the breakfast bell at 7:30 a.m., when you eat hearty before the work begins. It's not necessary to ride all day - the surrounding mountains make for great hiking, and a trout stream runs through the ranch. But if you choose to ride, the wranglers head out after the cattle at around 8:30 in the morning… The riders come in for lunch, then rest and relax until the after- noon ride hits the trail. A hearty, all-you-can-eat dinner is served between 6 and 7… With the beauty of the Rocky Mountains, it sounds a little bit like heaven…"

USA TODAY … "10 Great Places to be a cowboy"

Focus Ranch, Slater, Colorado….Terry and Maureen (Ripple)Reidy run the operation , which is busier than most ranches from May to October: Hard -to-handle yearling cattle are moved cross-country from pasture to pasture- some in Medicine bow national Forest-every few days…"