I rely heavily on Trip Advisor, so I want to add my review about the Bar Lazy J. We’ve been to three guest ranches, all fairly similar (small, kids’ programs, etc.) and all wonderful, and the Bar Lazy J stands out in several ways. Most striking is the relationships that Jerry and Cheri have with their staff. Their head wrangler has been there for seven years (!). His (and his wife’s - you’ll get to hear her sing - wow!) little ones know Jerry and Cheri like grandparents. Several of the staff live there all year round, and they all travel together and are true friends. This creates an environment that’s exceptionally warm and comfortable and makes you feel more like a literal guest than a customer. I hope to see them off the ranch as well as on, and I probably wouldn’t buy a horse without Scotty’s advice.
Being, um, rather wordy, I wrote a few sentences about each of our experience with horses in the form they give you to help them choose your horse. I can’t get over how well matched I was to my horse. I really can’t. And yes, I tried to buy him, and I’ve never owned a horse. From me, the one who loves the horses that make other people nervous, down to our 7-year-old, who’d never ridden a horse before without being led - and we were secretly taking bets on whether or not he’d go for it - we were all well matched. Our little guy even loped! The terrain is beautiful and varied, and “bushwhacking,” where you spread out and wander through the sage bushes looking for antler sheds, is a much fun as loping.
As to the children’s program, my review title says it all. If we hadn’t been having so much fun ourselves, we would have missed our kids. They made friends the first day and were with them constantly after that. You can definitely spend as much time with your kids as you want, but our kids were in constant bliss and wanted to be not only with their friends but with the kids’ counselors/wranglers. I kept saying “where are my kids??” - who I’m used to being pretty attached to us - and Jerry would give me a satisfied smile. Wherever they were, they were really, really happy and really, really safe and well supervised.
Finally, having a cabin right on the river (I think all of them are, except for one) is heavenly. You can sit in your screened-in porch or, even better, in the log chairs and swings they have all along the river. Go for an adventure ride, then come back, open a beer (even if you’re not a beer drinker 
), and sit and watch that river. Or you can do what I did, which is torment one of my great new friends by tangling up his fishing line every day.
Thanks, Jerry and Cheri, Chad and Tammy, Sue and Dale, Scott and JJ, Drew, Kirsten, Ethan, Jessica, Eddie (yum), and everyone else - and the fact that I can remember all their names says everything about them!
