French Broad Outpost Dude Ranch

Absolutely stunning land and beautiful horses. Cruella de Vil level mean owners (at least speaking for the wife. I had little interaction with the husband) and cook.
I flew all the way from CA to work here, only to get physically and verbally assaulted by the wife. The wife then says she’ll lie and tell everyone I hit her first. Thankfully, I have the recording of that since I felt extremely threatened after she pinned me against a window and scratched up my arms.
Needless to say, I wasn’t having it. She gave me 10 minutes to pack after I’d told her it wasn’t a good fit — while staring at me the entire time to ensure I «didn’t steal anything» (not joking). She wouldn’t even let me make arrangements to get a ride or train and just dropped me off in Asheville while telling me throughout the ride that if I said anything else, she’d make me walk and that I’d be «very sorry».
The owner calls the cook a «spiteful b! tch», called me everything from an idiot to a stupid foreigner (mind you, I’ve been living in the States for over 2 decades). She smiles at the guests but if you violate any of her guest rules, they’ll make sure you’re sorry.
Just read their reply comments on Trip Advisor to all of their negative comments. Their claws come out when anyone gives any criticism and you can see their true colors.
I filed a police report but keep an eye out. Personally, I would NEVER visit a place that abuses its employees. I still can’t even believe it all happened.

Oh, French Broad Outpost you are a beautiful place. Nested at the base of the Smoky Mountains of TN with hundreds of acreage and 45+ horses, no wifi connection, shoddy cell phone reception and quirky people who are there to serve you will make for your own, hopefully good experience. Be prepared for a rustic experience, all the way from the beautiful log cabin rooms to the way we ate our food.
We were there for 4 days and were a were a part of a group which had some of its own agenda but for the majority of the day, we did what the Dude Ranch was famous for– activities with the horses! There was no whitewater rafting of course, since it was November. Shawn and Joanne have their own style and way with the horses, so we were instructed, matched with a horse, and on we went. We did some work in the corral with them, did some trail walking, cow penning (yes actual cows), and did a great mountain trail with the cows. We missed out on one activity because of rain one morning.
The owners were very involved and were always around with us during meals and made sure things were made right. Meals were amazing! From pork chops to roast beef to baked chicken with the fixins and the desserts, wow, homemade peach cobbler, all sorts of cookies, pies… we were in heaven. Breakfast was just as hearty. Thank you, Z! The wranglers were amazing! They made sure we were taken care of when sometimes Shawn tried to push the limit too much. The only thing that was concerning for this group was that sometimes the staff, including hosts humor could get a bit rude, and I don’t know if that was because they don’t socialize much with the regular world often or what, but certain remarks took me aback.
Overall, it was a great experience. I would recommend something like this to anyone.

We just returned from a weekend at the ranch. Had a really great time. It was a travel zoo special and it is still winter time so many of the amazing things that they have in the summer do not go on in winter (ie white water rafting etc) but we knew that. The location and the place were beautiful. For us it was a mother/​daughter weekend (with a friend) and our two girls were the only kids (out of 11 of us) but everyone had a really fun time together. Meals were family style — everyone sitting in the saloon with a fire in the huge fireplace — playing games in the evening. Trail rides were really good — we had an assortment of riders (from novice to experienced) — well treated horses, good food, — owner is a hoot! Would definitely recommend the place.

We based our whole TN trip to the smoky mountains because this place was running a coupon special — $ 400 for two nights for two adults including 5 meals and horseback riding.
I really hope that the imperfections I dealt with were because it’s the off season and we were only there 2 nights.
First off, Shawn, the owner, is a great personable friendly funny guy. You can tell he’s living his dream and it shows. The two cowboys, Bobby and Jordan, were just wonderful. Fun to talk to, fun to be around. The girls, not so much.
I felt like I was struggling to talk to the cowgirls. I feel as though if you’re going to be in a public service such as they are, they should feel a bit more socially confident than they are. That aside I had three major issues with this place.
We got there on Friday afternoon and got handed a 3 ½ page document with about 15 things we COULD NOT do. I felt like I was 12 at summer camp again. Not a joyous feeling. Our packet indicated that the saloon opened at 4 pm on Fri and Sat. Since we were starving at 4:30 and dinner was at 6 we just wanted a couple of beers to stave off our hunger pains. I got told that there would be no one available in the saloon until 5:30 so we wouldn’t be able to get anything. Even though the saloon is literally 10 steps away from the kitchen where 6 people were working. Then they don’t put any extra toilet paper in the rooms, they tell you that you have to use the boot towel to wipe off your makeup, you can bring liquor in but you have to give it to them to lock up in the saloon and they’ll only serve it to you between 7 – 10 pm, and if you want to leave the ranch and you aren’t back by 10 pm, too bad. You’re locked out. Then on the final day they had 6 people working in the kitchen and 8 people waiting to check out. It took them 20 minutes to come and check anyone out. Everyone’s on ranch time which is 10 minutes behind the rest of the world.
This place has everything it needs to be an AWESOME rustic old west dude ranch. The scenery, the cowboys, the horses, but from my experience (in the low season) it wasn’t something that I left saying, «WOW! Now that was cool!»
The horseback riding experience was fantastic though.
In closing, I had a great time, but I feel as though the service could have been a few notches higher. If your guests want a beer at 4:30 you should get it for them… even if it takes an extra five or ten minutes to get someone over there. When you tell people they need to check out and be at the corral in 30 minutes, they need to stop doing dishes and come and check people out. And they need to cut back a bit on the rules. I get it for insurance purposes because there’s always that one a-​hole, but seriously???
If you go in the high season, please write a review — i’d love to know if your experience was different than mine.