Cattle & Trail Adventure Quebec Canada Come on an adventure in Canada in the beautiful province of Quebec, colonized 400 years ago by the French. When meeting the people of our country, you will discover a warm, hospitable, and charming group of people. Located on the high plateaus of Haute Beauce's rolling hills with the breathtaking view of the Appalachians around you, this ranch, which looks like it was taken from a Western movie, will make you live exhilarating moments. Come learn the basics of Western riding techniques. Become a cowboy for a week and learn how to handle your horse while selecting cows and calves in the context of team penning, cutting horses, and authentic cattle sorting. Have fun meandering through our spectacular riding and hiking trails. We will also take you on a tour of our sugar maple forests, which make our delicious maple syrup. Our typical Quebec cuisine will make your mouth water, as our maple desserts have an outstanding reputation and make our home an enviable destination. For an extra special trip, come join us during our Indian Summer (September and October) when Quebec is bathed in reds, oranges, and yellows of every shade while the leaves change colour. People travel around the world for this magnificent experience! Highlights - Personalized discovery of western riding, cattle sorting, and cowboy life - Welcome by a warm and enthusiastic Quebec family, who speaks the typical French language - Trail riding in the heart of forests, maple groves, and unspoiled nature - Participation (if you wish) in daily tasks caring for cows and horses (boxes, feeding, care) - Other activities for non-riders includes fishing, swimming in the river, hiking, massages, and more Guest Ranch Working Ranch Family Vacation Suitable for riders over 210 lbs Center-based ride Meeting: Québec City Airport or Ranch Airport: Québec City Jean Lesage International Airport Transfer: Québec City Jean Lesage International Airport Riders: Min 2 riders Max 8 riders Trip Brochure (PDF) Trip Rating

Packages and Options

Click here for updated current rates.

Gratuity: 10 % (to be paid locally)

    GST (VAT)  5%

Transfer and Other Charges:

Transfers are available from Québec City Airport for 6:00pm on Day 1. Drop-off for 11:00am on the last day.
For St Victor Rodeo Special: Transfer from Quebec airport between 4 and 8 PM on Day 1

Sample Itinerary - subject to changes

Day 1 (Friday): Arrival
Arrival into Québec City Jean Lesage International Airport. At 6:00pm, a member of the host family welcomes you at the airport. You will be driven to the ranch located in the region of Beauce, which is approximately one hour away. Upon arrival, you have time to settle into your room in the cottage. Afterwards, you meet your hosts and dine with them during your first dinner.
Meals included: Dinner
Overnight at the Ranch

Day 2 (Saturday): Introductory Ride
After a good night's rest, a delicious Quebec breakfast is served at your cottage with sweet, salty, and maple syrup on the menu! After breakfast, you will discover the ranch by going to the stables, meeting the horses, and preparing your mount for the day. Your hosts utilize the Monty Roberts' ethological method. They first introduce you to this method with ground work, which will teach you how to bond with your horse while controlling it from the ground. Then, in the riding arena, you mount and ride your horse while your level of experience is assessed by the hosts. After the exercise, lunch is taken with you on trail to enjoy out in nature. You will return from hacking around 4:00pm, which will leave you time for relaxation at the ranch before dinner. With your free time, you can explore the beautiful landscape. Dinner is served with the host family around 6:30pm with local specialties.
Riding: 2-5 hours
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Overnight at the Ranch

Day 3 (Sunday): Day Ride into the woods
This morning, you are ready for an initiation to cattle sorting, the discipline of predilection of your hosts, who are delighted to share their passion with you. The horses are skilled with working with livestock and will help boost your confidence in this new environment. Their agility and responsiveness to the way cattle move will quickly become evident to you. After lunch, you can go trail riding in the woods and admire the beautiful views of the Quebec countryside and its endless forests. By mid-afternoon, you return to the ranch and are free to relax or socialize with your hosts/ group.
Riding: 2-5 hours
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Overnight at the Ranch

Day 4 (Monday): Learning about Maple & Western Games
This morning you can choose to go for a hike or a trail ride in a maple sugar grove, where you may be lucky to see a deer, hares, and many birds. At this point, your guide explains the world of maple syrup harvesting and offer you the possibility to visit a sugar shack. After the trail ride, lunch is served at the ranch. Western games in the afternoon are available if you'd like to join in. This gives you a chance to initiate yourself to disciplines of cattle sorting (ranch sorting, 3 men 2 gates, team penning) and speed games likes barrel racing. All in all, the afternoon equates play and relaxation. In the evening, to extend the warm and authentic moment, admire the sunset at the river and jump in for a swim if that is your desire. For dinner, a barbecue takes place on the ranch terrace.
Riding: 4-5 hours
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Overnight at the Ranch

Day 5 (Tuesday): Cattle Work & Hack to St Victor
After having a good breakfast and preparing your mount, enjoy a ranch-sorting session. At this point you should start feeling a real collaboration with your horse. You can even start a small competition, where the work of two mounts is timed, two by two. Lunch is served at the ranch cowboy style. In the afternoon, you leave on horseback for the village of St. Victor in Beauce, renowned for its western and rodeo festival that takes place every year in July. On the way, you ride through valleys and between fields and in maple groves. You cross over streams and on their banks take a small pause to soak in the beauty of the surrounding nature. After our village visit, we return to the ranch for dinner and enjoy a late-night gathering with our friendly hosts.
Riding: 4-5 hours
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Overnight at the Ranch

Day 6 (Wednesday): Cattle Work
After breakfast, you unite with your horse and deepen your experience of equestrian games with cattle. Herein, ranch sorting and team penning should hide no more secrets from you! Have lunch and again join your horse for equestrian activities. The choice is yours: either experience a session of western training in a quarry or if your prefer, go for a trail ride in the now familiar surrounding sugar forests. During the evening, you are free to do as you wish. One of our hosts would be more than happy to introduce you to Quebec cuisine. Dinner is served at the ranch.
Riding: 4-5 hours
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Overnight at the Ranch

Day 7 (Thursday): Full day ride in the Forest
After a cowboy-style breakfast taken at the cottage, enjoy a last full day of trail riding in the wooded trails of the ranch. These trails are adequate for all pace: walk, trot, and lope. Meander through nature's scenes of lakes, forests, and sugar bushes. Enjoy a lunch at 'Trapper's Camp', a cozy and typical chalet of our region made of wood, before heading back to the ranch in the afternoon. If you have discovered that you enjoy ranch-sorting over trail riding, it is possible to cut short the trail ride and enjoy a last ranch-sorting session. Basking in the ricer is another option. A convivial dinner is served at the ranch.
Riding: 4-5 hours
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Overnight at the Ranch

Day 8 (Friday): Departure
This is your last awakening in the Beauceron region. After breakfast, your hosts will drive you to the airport to catch your return flight.
Meals included: Breakfast

For more information on the sample itinerary of our St. Victor Rodeo Special, click here.

                                Sainte-Clotilde de Beauce area

Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Average High Temperature (°F)	18	22	33	46	62	71	75	73	64	51	37	24
Average Low Temperature (°F)	0	2	13	27	39	49	53	52	43	33	23	8
Average High Temperature (°C)	-8	-6	0	8	17	21	24	23	18	10	3	-4
Average Low Temperature (°C)	-18	-16	-11	-3	4	9	12	11	6	1	-5	-13
Average Precipitation (days of rain)	10	8	10	10	11	11	11	10	10	11	11	11

Source: NOAA


Seasons
Southern Quebec has a humid continental climate with 4 distinct seasons having warm to occasionally hot and humid summers and often very cold and snowy winters. Rain and snow are common throughout the year.

Spring is an appealing time to visit Quebec, when the icy winter weather quickly and abruptly comes to an end. April heralds the beginning of the warmer weather in Quebec, although late snow flurries in April and even May are by no means unheard of. By May, the climate is particularly pleasant. Spring is a particularly short season in Quebec, for no sooner has it begun than summer arrives.

The summer weather and climate in Quebec is extremely warm and this is without doubt one of the best times to visit the area. July and August offer Quebec's hottest summer weather. The summer season is from June to the end of September, when the temperatures begin to drop as fall approaches, although a late summer with unusually hot weather can run well into October.

The trees begin to color up and a chill fills the air when autumn arrives in Quebec. By November, the climate is noticeably colder, affected by strong winds causing a definite wind-chill factor.

The highest levels of rainfall take place during the summer months, although these heavy showers are often short lived and followed by strong sunshine.

Items to bring should based on the season. Quebec can have very cold winters so it is best to bring many layers (wools) and waterproof outerwear. Summers can be quite hot and humid, so make sure to dress accordingly.

What to Bring
-Travel documents and travel voucher
-Passport
-Riding helmet (mandatory- available to borrow if requested ahead of time)
-Riding boots
-Jeans/ riding pants
-Chaps
-Riding gloves
-Waterproof coat
-Long-sleeved shirts -Jacket for cooler evenings (thick winter jacket if traveling in winter/ early spring)
-Comfortable shirts
-Jeans
-Shorts
-Bathing suit
-Underwear and socks
-Pajamas
-Comfortable shoes/ sneakers
-Personal toiletries
-Insect repellent
-Sunscreen
-Personal medication
-Camera and charger
-Water bottle
-Sunglasses

** No trip reports found with the tour ID you provided.

Accommodation
This is a stationary ride, so all nights will be spent at the same location.

Description
You will be staying in a cottage, just down the hill from the ranch. The newly renovated cottage is located near a former dam with a magnificent lake and a trout river, in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains. There are a total of 5 bedrooms and one bathroom. Rooms are based on double occupancy with shared bathrooms. The cottage can host up to 10 people.
There is a Jacuzzi onsite for relaxation.
Free Wi-Fi is available at the cottage.

Room Occupancy
Single supplement will include a private room and a shared bathroom.


Meals
All meals are included in the trip from dinner on Day 1 to breakfast on Day 8.

Meals are home-cooked Quebec cuisine with rich and diverse flavors that will have you asking for more!

Alcohol is not included on the trip; however, guests are welcome to bring their own.

Dietary Restrictions
We can cater to most dietary restrictions if given prior notice.

This trip includes and can accommodate special dietary requests.

Tack:		Western cutting saddle
Horses:		Purebred quarter horses and paints
Pace:		4 hours riding per day | Walk | Trot | Canter | Gallop |
Level:		(3 to 4 out of 5)    Intermediate
Age:		Min 15	Max 80
Weight:		Max 230 lbs
Riders:		Min 2 riders	Max 8 riders

Riding Experience
Riders should be at minimum low leveled intermediate. They should be comfortable at walk, trot, and canter, and confident on horseback.

Pace
We ride for 6 days and on average 4-5 hours per day. Riders have the chance to explore Quebec's magnificent countryside where they have the opportunity to ride at all paces as well as learn about and participate in cattle work such as team penning, horse cutting, and cattle sorting.

Horses
We have 7 quarter horses and 2 paint horses on the ranch. Our horses were raised and imported from Texas and have been trained for cattle work.
 

Passports

Passport valid for at least one day beyond the intended departure date from Canada required by all nationals referred to in the chart except the following:

(a) 1. Canadian citizens holding a Canadian Certificate of Identity, Canadian birth certificate or a certificate of Canadian citizenship;

(b) permanent residents of Canada with proof of status, ie Permanent Resident Card, Record of Landing, Returning Resident Permit or a Refugee Travel Document issued by the government of Canada to refugees who have been resettled in Canada;

(c) 2. citizens of the USA holding proof of citizenship (eg US birth certificate or US naturalisation papers).

Note: As of 23 January 2007 all persons, including US citizens, travelling by air between the USA and Canada, Central and South America, the Caribbean and Bermuda are required to present a valid passport or other approved document when entering or re-entering the USA. Similar requirements for those travelling by land or sea will be introduced as early as 1 January 2008. For further details about the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, visit the website of the US Department of State: http://travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc/cbpmc_2223.html.

(d) persons entering from St Pierre & Miquelon or the USA who are legal permanent residents of the USA and hold a US alien registration card (Green Card);

(e) 3. citizens of France who are residents of and entering from St Pierre & Miquelon.

Note: (a) Children under 18 years must have information with them on the people responsible for their welfare, if travelling alone; this includes a letter of permission to travel from guardian(s), and also a letter from the custodian in Canada. (b) Depending on circumstance and nationality, certain applicants may need to undergo a medical examination in order to receive their visas; this must be carried out by a physician on Canada's list of Designated Medical Practitioners.

Passport Note

Visitors to Canada must satisfy an examining officer at the Port of Entry that they are genuine visitors, in good health, with no criminal convictions, and have sufficient funds to maintain themselves during their stay in Canada and to return to their country of origin, as well as evidence of confirmed onward reservations out of Canada. Persons under 18 years of age who are unaccompanied by an adult should bring with them a letter from a parent or guardian giving them permission to travel to Canada.

Identity/travel documents issued to non-national residents of the country of issue, refugees or stateless persons are recognized for travel to Canada.



Visas

Not required by all nationals referred to in chart above (visitor or transit) for stays of up to six months except the following:

(a) 4. holders of passports endorsed ‘British Subjects’ and ‘British Protected Persons’;

(b) 5. nationals of Bulgaria and Romania;

(c) those visiting Canada who, during that visit, also visit the USA or St Pierre & Miquelon (a French Overseas Territory) and return directly to Canada as visitors within the period authorised on their initial entry (or any extension thereto).

Note: Nationals not referred to in the chart above are advised to contact the high commission to check visa requirements (see Contact Addresses).

Visa Note

The Government of Canada refuses admission to: (a) holders of passports issued by the UK Government entitled 'British Temporary Resident's Passport'.

(a) A single-entry visa is still valid if used to visit the USA. (b) Persons wishing to attend a course of six months duration or less, at any level, do not require a study permit. However, if there is the possibility that you will extend your period of study in Canada, or if you are a full time student and wish to work on campus, you may apply for a study permit.

Types of Visa and Cost

Visitor: C$75 (single-entry); C$150 (multiple-entry). Family: C$400 (for families of six or more persons). Transit: free. Transit visas are necessary for all nationals who require a visitor visa. Although transit visas are not required by British citizens, they may be required by foreign nationals with British passports; check with the embassy or high commission for details. For further information on payment methods, contact the high commission. Prices are subject to frequent change.

Validity

Up to six months depending on circumstances of individual applicant. The determination regarding length of stay in Canada can only be decided by the examining officer at the port of entry, but visas cannot exceed the validity of the passport and cannot be longer than five years. If no actual departure date is indicated within the visitor’s passport, then the visitor will be required to depart within three months from the date of entry. Visitors must effect their departure from Canada on or before the date authorised by the examining officer on arrival. If an extension of stay is desired, an application must be made in writing to the nearest Canada Immigration Centre at least three weeks before the expiry of the visitor visa. Multiple-entry visas cannot be valid longer than passport. Transit visas are only allocated if a national's flight/onward journey is continuing within 24 hours. Single-entry visas can be used multiple times by nationals of St Pierre & Miquelon and the USA.

Applications to:

Consulate (or consular section at embassy or high commission)

Working Days Required

10 days are required from receiving applications, but applications should be made at least one month prior to the intended date of departure. Certain nationals are subject to longer processing times. For urgent applications it is advised to apply in person. Same-day processing is available for applications made in person and 24-hour processing for those using the drop-in service.

Passport Required?
British	Yes
Australian	Yes
Canadian	1
USA	2
Other EU	3
Visa Required?
British	No/4
Australian	No
Canadian	N/A
USA	No
Other EU	5
Return Ticket Required?
British	Yes
Australian	Yes
Canadian	N/A
USA	No
Other EU	Yes

This information is not being updated on a regular basis. Hidden Trails does not take any responsibility for the accuracy of the above information. Please, consult the embassy or consulate for updated info.