Tattered Saddle is not only a family-owned horseback riding business. It’s also family-operated. That’s what makes the difference. We are here every day. Living our life. And we invite you to be a part of it…even if only for an hour.

All of our locations have “family-friendly” 1-hour horseback rides!

Meet the Tattered Saddle Family

The Tattered Saddle Family is made up of:

• Kyle, the rail boss (that means he tells everyone what to do)
• Khloe, the barn-mom (that means I take care of everyone – horses, family, and staff!)
• Baby Cheyenne, the supervisor (she also tells everyone what to do)
• Rukus, the mascot (he shows everyone how to have a good time)

My husband, Kyle, does a lot of the hands-on work at our family-owned and family-operated locations. He often tacks horses, leads trail rides and greets guests as a one-man operation! For someone who had no plans on being a cowboy before meeting me, he’s really become quite the hand. He is often the first one out and about in the morning, making sure that the horses get their breakfast. Then, after a cup of black coffee, he is typically the one to tack up the horses being used for the first horseback ride. Sometimes he has a wrangler around to help him out, or – if it’s a big day – Cheyenne and I might be able to go out and help him set up the day. 

I, Khloe, do a lot of behind-the-scenes work for our family business. I answer a lot of phone calls and do most of the social media (I get to help out with hands-on stuff now and then) – but mostly I am “barn mom.” I make sure everyone (horses and people alike) is eating, drinking water, getting their boo-boos taken care of and feeling seen. After spending years tacking and riding horses, building fences and digging ditches, my new position is a strange but fun new world. If you ever come for a family horseback ride with us, you may see me and baby Cheyenne doing last-minute checks on horses and guests before you hit the trail. If you’re very lucky, you may even have me as your guide!

Our baby, Cheyenne, is not even a year old! She Really puts the “FAMILY” in family-operated. She is obsessed with new people and, of course, all things fluffy. She loves Rukus and the horses, and will typically try to reach out and pet them if she is close enough. Typically she is in my chest carrier, staring guests down as I check them in, or grabbing a horse’s lead rope as I help someone mount up. Other times you may see her in her bouncer or wagon, simply supervising and grinning at everyone who passes by. She can’t wait for her first horseback ride!

And Rukus, our Boxer / Cattle Dog mutt – or should I say, our ambassador – greets every guest he sees with a tail wag and a polite invitation to pet him – sometimes before they even get out of their cars! We adopted Rukus from the Larimer County Humane Society back in 2023 and ever since then he’s been living the doggy dream! In Colorado, you may find him running alongside horseback rides on the trail, and in Arizona, he’s almost always hanging out around the barn.

These days, our family’s personal lives are strongly intertwined with the daily operations here at the barn. Kyle and I think and talk about the horses and horseback riding all day long. We discuss the plans for the day, update each other on the horses’ training and health, and scheme up new and exciting adventures and trails for our guests to indulge in. However, we did not always eat, sleep, and breathe horseback riding.

Who We Were Before We Were Tattered Saddle

Kyle

Kyle grew up in Napa, California and spent most of his adult life working in restaurants and bars and teaching line dancing (he’s a very good dancer.) He tells me that he dated a few horse girls in his time, but that I am, by far, the most expensive of them all. Before meeting me and starting a horseback riding business, he had ridden a horse as a young man in boy scouts, but had otherwise lived a mostly horseless life. He is now a wonderful horseman and, if anything, his lack of traditional barn experience has allowed him to innovate and experiment when it comes to our horse care systems.

Khloe

I (Khloe), on the other hand, have loved horses since I was a little girl (yes, I was one of those). I grew up on Long Island, New York where English riding reigned supreme. But I grew tired of riding in circles and, after college, I looked for a job riding horses “out west.” I found a job on a dude ranch, and from there, I was hooked! I kept travelling around the United States, working on different ranches and dude strings. I learned what worked and what didn’t, and I started thinking about how I could do it better.

Anyway, as the good Lord would have it, I was running the horseback riding program for a small ranch in Napa, California when I met Kyle. As our love grew, so did our passion to share the really cool horseback experiences we were having together with everyone else.

We started Tattered Saddle in Livermore, Colorado, and from there expanded to Tucson, Arizona.

Now, we bounce back and forth between the two locations – enjoying mild summers in the mountains near Fort Collins, and soaking up warm winters in the mountains outside of Tucson. Really, we are quite fortunate, and our horses love it, too!

Come Ride With Our Family!

We are still building, changing up our offerings, and enjoying getting to know all of the different folks who come out to enjoy the trails with us. We love giving first-timers a pleasant introduction to the joys of horseback riding almost as much as we like exploring fast or rugged terrain with fellow experienced riders! And honestly, if you ask Kyle or I, the truth is that we don’t really know what amazing adventure we might dream up next. If it sounds fun to us, we think you’d probably enjoy it, too, and that’s really all there is to it!

So, the next time you are in Northern Colorado or Southern Arizona and you’re itching to go on a horseback ride that feels more like an adventure with friends than a tourism trap, come ride with Tattered Saddle! Chances are you’ll get to see Kyle, Cheyenne, Ruckus and Me! In fact, we might even be your wranglers.