October 26, 2022
Jan Swan Wood
It was time to wean two of our colts. They were both well able to carry on fine without their mamas, so one morning Colin and I caught the two mares, left their colts in the corral with an old babysitter mare, saddled the fine ladies and loaded up to go to my folks place […]
October 11, 2022
Jan Swan Wood
He actually belonged to my sister who got him after she was going to college. Lark was an appendix registered gelding that looked more Thoroughbred than Quarter Horse. He’d run AA on the track before he got so hard to ride that no jockeys or exercise boys would get on him, thus ending his race […]
October 5, 2022
Jan Swan Wood
It was a dry winter on the ranch I was working for in New Mexico. What grass there was didn’t have much kick left to it. The chunk of country another cowboy and I took care of, mostly just the two of us, had everything from calving cows, yearling steers, and most of the bulls […]
October 3, 2022
Ruth Nicolaus
A very special horse is among the 2022 inductees in the Casey Tibbs Foundation. Captain’s Darkie, “Doc”, owned by the Steffes family and ridden by sisters Nikki Steffes Hansen and Kristi Steffes, is recognized as one of the greats. The Steffes family purchased the horse from Malcom and Nola Price of Wasta, S.D. as a […]
September 24, 2022
Jan Swan Wood
Having owned and doctored lots of horses over the years, I’ve developed a pretty fair file of practical vet experiences. A lady I knew some years ago had good horses, knew how to ride them well, and she made a good living starting young horses and riding for a feedlot. Due to lots of irons […]
September 22, 2022
Jan Swan Wood
In my writings, I’ve mentioned the buckskin mare, Penny, who helped raise me. She and I were foaled on the same year, her in June, me in November, so we literally grew up together. She was orphaned before she was old enough to wean, so was raised around the corrals and was an absolute pet. […]
September 20, 2022
Ruth Nicolaus
The most unlikely candidate became a trick riding horse for three young sisters. Shyla, age sixteen, Layna, twelve, and Clara Navarre, age seven, daughters of Corey and Melissa Navarre, each started their trick riding careers at the age of seven on a little Shetland pony named Thunder. But Thunder, who came to the Navarres of […]
September 16, 2022
Jan Swan Wood
Penny and I were foaled/born on the same year. She was a June foal, me a November. When she was four and I was a coming four, my oldest brother put us together and she took good care of me. She was the kindest, sweetest, gentlest horse ever and she spent her years hauling me […]
September 7, 2022
Jan Swan Wood
The cavvy on the New Mexico ranch I was on numbered around 85 head of geldings with some studs thrown in. Catching a horse out of the milling mass every morning could be a challenge if the horse didn’t want caught. I’d gotten my string to where they’d stop and turn toward me without much […]
August 27, 2022
Jan Swan Wood
The drought that summer had hung on until the dams were getting low. Oddly, there’d been enough rain to keep the grass growing, but there had been no runoff into the dams. I watched the water close where the cows ran on summer pasture. But, when water goes bad it happens fast, so just a […]