What makes Beartooth MT Ascent so unique? Traditional substance abuse recovery programs consider the major flaw of the addict to be that of inherent selfishness. With over 20 years of experience in helping struggling teens and troubled young adults, we have found that participation with ranch activities enables the individual to overcome their self-absorption and find gratification in team effort. It is through this type of extreme social interaction (ranch work) that the comfort zone is deconstructed and the young adult is forced to rebuild a self that is willing to sacrifice his immediate needs for those of others. The young man will arrive at BTMA, as on foreign soil, and immediately perceive a cultural atmosphere that is based on an appreciation for character strength and work ethic. The instinctual need to assimilate with a new environment will force the young adult to earn the respect of his peers by performing his share of the work load. While typical programs are saturated with recovering addicts who relate to each other by sharing stories that exaggerate their drug history, the young men at BTMA are not interested in their former ways of life: they have all found something that offers greater fulfillment. The boys in our bunk house brag about horses that were unable to buck them off, or how many cows they managed to rope consecutively, not how many beers they consumed the night before.

As an integral part of our therapy, new arrivals are trained not only by our experienced staff, but also by each other. When a young man learns the difficult skill sets required to perform all aspects of ranch work, a sense of pride and accomplishment is planted which only blossoms when he shares that knowledge with others. The young man becomes a leader and develops a sense of place and purpose: his sense of identity is contingent only on his role within our community. We believe that this approach, that of giving back for a greater good, is both commensurate with our spiritual beliefs and is a fundamental phase in the development of strong men who can potentially start families of their own. Explicit is the transformation through which the young man’s mentality states “I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me,” rather than “I can’t,” or “I am no good at anything.” When this happens, he has surpassed his habitual surrender to failure and has found within himself the resources capable of living a life with a sense of dignity.

The various tasks that are a constant at BTMA include horsemanship, cattle wrangling, heavy equipment operation and repair, agricultural technology, and welding. The young adult will be exposed to alternative vocations that are not available in urban environments, sometimes mastering several, if not all of them. Many alumni have utilized the knowledge that they have extracted from our program and have gone on to find lucrative professions. We are consistently getting updates from graduates who express their gratitude towards the program and our staff, stating that the life experiences they gained from their stay at BTMA are priceless and highly treasured.

Some of the facilities that are offered at BTMA include:
-Large Indoor Equine Arena
-Roping Corral
-Welding and Mechanical Shop
-Fitness Center with Boxing Ring
-“Cow-Camp”

On our large scale working cattle ranch there is always work to be done, a variety of job skills, life skills and educational opportunities to be had by all the young men. Because ranch work is seasonal the work never gets to boring, and yet is repetitive enough to allow mastery of the new job skills that the young man has learned.

At Beartooth Mt Ascent we provide ranch work and animal care challenges appropriate to our setting as a working cattle/horse ranch and young adult life/job skills program.  Equine therapy and Natural Horsemanship combined is effective and demonstrates how certain learned, negative behaviors are ineffective. Young, hot-tempered boys get nowhere with a horse by yelling, pushing, shoving, or hitting.

Once a young man can demonstrate to himself that persuasion is achievable through emotional control that demonstrates love and leadership to the horse, the horse will no longer see him as a predator and will come to trust him as his partner. Through gentleness and care for the horse, he begins to realize that there are better ways of communicating to people than the ones he has been using in his daily life. What is more, the young man learns that the results of this new way of communicating are so much more satisfying.

The lessons learned from Natural Horsemanship and Equine Therapy

1.  My aggression will provoke your aggression, which in turn escalates my aggression.
2.  You can change my behavior and reactions by changing your own.
3.  You create your own behavioral problems and solutions.

Nowhere is this better demonstrated than in the care and training of horses and equine therapy, where the struggling young man can witness the positive effects of their change in behavior first hand, and to their immediate benefit.

Ranch Work + Equine Therapy =Transformed Lives

A Life Changing Experience for struggling young men, parents and the entire family.

Please note: Our program is located on a remote rural ranch in a back to basics, frontier style buildings without any frills. If you are looking for luxurious accommodations for your son in a resort like setting this is not the place to send him!

If you want your son to appreciate and not take for granted what has been provided for him by you, then our Ranch is the place to help him grow in appreciation and thanksgiving for all that he has received in his life. Young men that engage in our program leave here with a deeper respect for authority, self-discipline, and a new work ethic that will help them be successful in holding down a job or going to college.