Wild, wild west

Matt Cheff must know everything there is to know about horses, or at least that's the impression my mom, her friends and I had after a two-hour horseback riding adventure with Charlo's Cheff Guest Ranch and Matt Cheff as our guide.

I must admit, when my mom, Cathy, from the suburbs of Pennsylvania, said she wanted to visit me in Montana with two of her similarly East Coast, suburban teacher friends, I didn't quite know what to expect. While Montana is the host of unlimited fun activities for me, one who likes to hike, bike, whitewater raft and the like, I wasn't sure what these ladies would come up with for entertainment over the course of seven days. Relief and excitement were the emotions on hand when they asked me if I wanted to join them for a horseback riding trip into the Mission Mountain foothills.

"Perfect!" I thought.

What better way for my guests to experience the magic of these rugged mountains without having to trudge around for miles up hill?

"It was such a beautiful day - it was gorgeous," my mom said after the excursion. "There was one point when we came into this opening, Deb (Macioge) and I looked at each other and both said the same thing... When you think of Montana, this is what you see."

Not only was it a beautiful day, but it was an educational experience for us all. Cheff talked about the land, the tribes, his family's horses, and the seasonal changes and challenges of running an outfitting business.

"Horses can tell your body language before you even get on," he said. "They don't read your mind, but they definitely pick up on it."

After he said this, as if on command, it seemed that each of our group's eight members softly stroked their steed's mane, hoping to make friends.

"They have really good night vision and a photographic mind, so they always remember where to go," he told us as we trotted along. "If you take a horse up a mountain and go back 10 years later, it will go the exact same way and that's the way they'll always want to go back home."

It was true, even through some rocky, rooty and steep sections, our horses knew exactly where to step. Whether at the front or the back of the line, they calmly and melodically sauntered through cedar groves and grassy hillsides alike.

"I was amazed at how sure-footed those horses were," my mom said. "They knew exactly where to go."

With more than 75 years of experience, the Cheffs are one of the oldest outfitting families in Montana, and business is still a family affair. They own herds of 120 cattle and 200 horses.

"It was interesting," Cathy Bintliff said. "There are no days off. The animals require your every day care."

In addition to guiding day trips, Matt Cheff wears many other hats.

"We do our own breeding here," he said. "We train some to pack, some to ride, and some do both."

The guest ranch can accommodate sleeping arrangements for about 20 people a night, host weddings and other special events and offers plenty of variety in activities for everyone. Hundreds of acres of private trails lead guests into the Mission Mountains on foot, bike or guided horseback riding adventures. Fishing, canoeing and swimming can be done on the ranch's private pond, or the idyllic scenery could be the backdrop for an afternoon of reading, writing, painting or photography.

As the summer season winds down, Cheff is already gearing up for a fall of back country archery and rifle hunting trips into the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Starting next month, trips to the Cheff's private hunting camps typically accommodate four to six people and last between eight and 10 days.

It seems the two-hour trip was just a taste of what our outfitters had to offer, but even that small dose of the American West was appreciated by my guests, and the mother-daughter group from Portland who joined us for the ride. While my personal experience was rather relaxed, apparently, that was not the case for us all.

"My horse was seriously the craziest horse ever," nine-year-old Julia James said. "He didn't like to be alone and if a horse got ahead, he would run to catch up to them."

"I liked the running," Allie O'Brien, 13, said.

"I liked it when he went in the water," James added.

"Yeah, the water was pretty cool," O'Brien agreed.