September 27, 2023
Marisol Tarango
You have heard of the Florida Man, but let me introduce you to the Florida Cow. The first cattle in Florida were essentially feral cattle roaming around in the wild swamps and prairies of Florida. They were eventually domesticated over time, becoming known as Cracker Cattle. After the civil war, these roaming herds were gathered […]
September 25, 2023
Jan Swan Wood
For many years, I belonged to a group of women who went on a trail ride and camping trip every September. I’m no trail rider, but my sisters were in it, so it was nice to get to spend time with them and many of the other women who became good friends. My horses were […]
September 20, 2023
Jan Swan Wood
Fall was in full swing on the ranch. I was riding every day, checking through the big calves to make sure nothing was showing a droopy ear or a cough. They were all on pasture with their mothers yet, and it took a lot of miles to get a look at everything. It wasn’t a […]
September 17, 2023
Jan Swan Wood
He came with a mare I’d raised and sold as a yearling. My son and I got her back as a six year old with Johnny thrown in. He was a three year old gelding catch colt, untouched aside from the day he was roped and gelded, and was pretty watchy. Over the winter he […]
September 15, 2023
Tristen Baroni
I’ve found a lot of success by making things more simple. With the way horses work through their nature, simple, with less force is more efficient. If we get to doing too much, too fast the horses will get guarded and be heavy and late. I personally am not a fan of putting my horse […]
September 13, 2023
Marisol Tarango
There are many different ways and traditions to achieve the same end when it comes to tending cattle, and there are many different words for the same thing in the cattle industry across America, even the world. But one thing holds true, a cowboy isn’t much without his horses, and depending on where you are, […]
September 8, 2023
Jan Swan Wood
The 1982 summer herd season had been a little different as to the cattle I rode on. I had the usual yearlings, both steers and heifers, some mother cows, a big bunch of butcher cows out on grass to fatten, and the last big steers I ever rode on. The steers were three years old […]
September 5, 2023
Marisol Tarango
Recently my family took a road trip to visit friends in South Dakota. Traveling from the heartland of Florida through the Pine Belt, the Bible Belt, and the Corn Belt, I saw many different landscapes and more corn than I cared to see. I had been through or flown over most of the states that […]
August 24, 2023
Jan Swan Wood
My Dad told this story from his childhood in the “dirty 30s” and I’ll share it as best I can remember. It was county fair time in their little community in Colorado. Besides the fair, which would have been a little small due to the ongoing drought and desperately hard economic times, there was bronc […]
August 23, 2023
Jan Swan Wood
When my son was five, my Dad had major heart surgery and wasn’t allowed to do anything all that summer and into fall. So, I’d be taking care of the ranch and doing the riding for him. Colin had to go along, but the issue of a saddle horse for him was serious. The old […]