Life’s simple pleasures: Fox family offers unique horse-riding experiences in remote Wyoming and around the world
Mel Fox and her family own Bitterroot Ranch, a Wyoming-based dude ranch in Dubois famous for its equestrian programs, especially Arabian horse breeding and training.
Mel grew up with horses on a farm at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro in East Africa, and recalls an old neighbor had a beautiful Arabian mare given by the local Arab tribesman as a wedding present for him and his wife.
“They shipped the mare to Mombasa, and then she walked all the way up to their farm in Tanzania,” Mel shares. “This was quite a romantic story to me as a child. My sister had a half-Arabian pony, and I always liked the breed.”
Later, Mel married Bayard Fox, who had purchased the Bitterroot Ranch in Wyoming in 1971.
Bayard’s dream was to live on a ranch in the Rocky Mountain West ever since 1943 when he made a four-day train journey from Philadelphia to Seattle and spent two weeks with his father on a pack trip around Yellowstone National Park.
After graduating from Yale, he joined the Central Intelligence Agency, where he worked for 20 years – mainly overseas – before becoming a rancher.
Here, Bayard and Mel began raising cattle and horses and hosting guests.
In the early years on their Wyoming ranch, Bayard ran a hunting camp in the wilderness. This helped extend their outfitting season by guiding hunters.
After he turned 70, however, he decided raising cattle was easier than packing elk out of the mountains.
He and Mel were able to make nearly the same amount of income from hosting guests in September to help gather cattle from their grazing permits in the mountains of the Shoshone National Forest behind their upper ranch.
They also have an irrigated lower ranch where most of the horse herd winters.
Bayard passed away in September 2024, but his legacy lives on.
The family business now includes Mel and Bayard’s son Richard Fox, as well as his wife Hadley, another Yale graduate, whom Richard met while guiding a safari in Kenya.
Arabians
Mel notes when she first arrived on the ranch in Wyoming, there were several types of horses of poor quality, and the two thought they could improve the herd with Arabian genetics. Their first breeding stock was acquired from a Wyoming neighbor who also had a horse farm in Texas.
“Our neighbor acquired the racing sire Sambor, and he later sold us TC Mr. Lucky, a pure Polish Naborr son,” Mel says, noting one of her favorite riding horses for many years was an Abu Farwa grandson.
“This led us towards the Crabbet horses,” she continues. “The focus of our breeding program has always been to produce solid family horses with good minds. We purchased Indian Sundown, bred by the Duchess of Rutland and imported from the United Kingdom (UK) to cross on our mostly CMK mares. He was 15.2 hands high, and size was becoming important in enabling us to provide mounts for a wider range of guests.”
In 2003, Bayard and Mel visited a riding center in Spain and were taken to Diego Mendez’ La Aldara Stud by their hosts.
“We were very impressed with the Spanish Arabians. They were big, athletic and also had quiet temperaments,” Mel shares. “We purchased a few straight Spanish mares and acquired the Spanish stallion Granizo.”
“I’ve purchased stallions from the East Coast and from Canada,” she adds. “The Arabians have been great for us. They last a long time and are good with cows, personable and very athletic.”
Today, Mel says the family’s Arabian mares are mostly CMK and straight Spanish, with an emphasis on good gait, kind temperament and a willingness to do what is asked of them. They can all be ridden when they aren’t being used as broodmares and they are used for all kinds of work on the ranch.
Their guest ranch is one of the rare places where visitors have the pleasure of riding well-trained and responsive Arabians in varied terrain.
“We’ve been breeding Arabs pretty much for our own use ever since 1983,” Mel says. “There isn’t much of a market for them here, as this is Quarter Horse country so I am not interested in raising Arabs to sell. At one point I thought any of them with potential as an endurance horse would sell, but I had a bad experience with the first one I sold. He ended up in a not-so-good home.”
Now, the ranch has about four to six foals a year to replace the older horses.
Ranch wranglers work with young horses and train them using the non-confrontational techniques of Linda Tellington-Jones, who visited the ranch and hosted clinics there for nearly 20 years.
“The wranglers ride them for a couple years, and then we let guests ride them – initially the better riders,” Mel says. “Then, as the horses get older they can be ridden by nearly anyone. Not all of them work out well, but most of them do.”
Ranch work
Mel explains when visitors come to the ranch, they analyze their riding level and split them into groups based on ability.
“My son, daughter-in-law and I are all certified riding instructors, and the less experienced riders have the option of lessons with Hadley,” she notes.
“We do a lot of riding on our U.S. Forest Service permit and a lot of cow work. In July, August and September, the cattle are up on the forest, and we have to check on them and move them,” she says. “The permit encompasses 50,000 acres with three segments.”
Therefore, Bitterroot Ranch offers a weeklong range ride once a month to move cattle from one section of the forest to another. They also organize a team sorting event every week so guests can get an idea of what it’s like to work cattle.
“Because we have this vast area, we never quite know where we are going to be riding and moving cattle. We have a cowboy who lives in a cow camp up there during the summer, and guests can help him check on the cattle for a few days, as well as participate in the fall roundup,” she states.
“For this, we have a limit of 18 guests. We divide them into three groups of six, and off we go to bring in the cattle,” Mel adds. “It usually takes us a week. We are not just doing nose-to-tail trail rides. This gives guests a real job to do, and we have a lot of them who come back every year to help.”
Equitours
Along the way, Mel and Bayard started their international riding experience, Equitours, as a way to diversify their income during Wyoming’s long winters.
Since Mel grew up on a farm near Mount Kilimanjaro and speaks fluent Swahili, Kenya’s Masai Mara was the first place they led an international riding tour.
Their language abilities – with Bayard also speaking French, Polish, German, Persian and some Spanish – helped them promote Equitours and maintain relationships with outfitters.
The venture also came about because of Mel’s connection with East Africa – her ex-brother-in-law was one of the first people doing horse safaris in Kenya.
“When I first came to Wyoming, I talked to our guests about riding in Kenya and showed them slides,” Mel says. “My parents still lived in Kenya, so we started going there every winter and leading two or three horse safaris. From there, we developed Equitours, a worldwide ride group. I am heading to Turkey in a few days for a ride. Last year, we went to India, and I eventually hope to go to China. We ride all over the world.”
She notes the people who are attracted to international rides are the stronger riders, who often ride at the ranch before leaving overseas.
Equitours and Bitterroot Ranch clients are 75 percent repeat customers, mainly from the U.S, Canada, UK, France and Australia.
Mel and Bayard first sent their guests on rides organized by Silvia Frech, a Swiss lady who had a riding tour company selling trips in Morocco, France, Portugal, Ireland and Italy. Silvia suggested the Fox family send American customers on rides she organized, so this cooperation venture continued for several years until Silvia retired and the Foxes struck off on their own.
The Kenya safaris were becoming popular in the early 80s and so were other rides around the world. Mel and her family met and established lasting friendships with their Equitours outfitters around the world, and these relationships continue today.
For more information about Bitterroot Ranch, visit bitterrootranch.com.
Heather Smith Thomas is a corresponding writer for the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.
