March 9, 2020
Jan Swan Wood
When my son Colin was a boy, he worked beside me every day, no matter what I was doing. He started drawing a paycheck dayworking horseback when he was about seven years old. He didn’t get a check because he was a cute kid, though he was, but because he was good help and would […]
February 26, 2020
Jan Swan Wood
The first day on the job on any outfit is always kind of exciting, kind of scary. You’re in new country, new people to work with, and on a cowboy job, a new string of horses to get to know. My new string of horses on the New Mexico ranch I’d just signed on to […]
February 23, 2020
Jan Swan Wood
Now that we’ve covered the head/neck and legs/feet aspects of form to function conformation, we will finish out this three part series by talking about the horse’s body from shoulders to tail head, and topline to elbow, stifle and belly. Since the performance horse was meant to be ridden, a pretty important part of the […]
February 21, 2020
Jan Swan Wood
I was getting some groceries the other day and ran into an old friend of many years. Back when I was about 18 I was working for an outfit that ran yearlings all over the country. I was taking care of a big jag of both steers and feeder heifers and this man was my […]
February 19, 2020
Rhonda Sedgwick Stearns
Francis and Violet Sedgwick were as addicted as Mike Coy and many others to running coyotes horseback with hounds; and had the territory, hounds and horses to produce success. Many happy hours were spent enjoying the sport together, and their friendly, gregarious hounds were part of the family. According to Mom’s memories growing-up in the […]
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February 17, 2020
Kristen Schurr
When it comes to riding on the ranch you need to be equipped with the best quality products that can withstand the countless miles and hard work you put in year after year. Here are a few go-to products that not only hold up to daily ranch work but are also true cowboy masterpieces! […]
February 13, 2020
Jan Swan Wood
A long time ago I was in the market for a young gelding. I had summer herd cattle to ride on later in the season, so while at a horse sale the end of January, I bought a gorgeous black Thoroughbred gelding. He had been in training on the track and was a three year […]
February 11, 2020
Rhonda Sedgwick Stearns
Many early settlers in Northeastern Wyoming ran sheep, shearing and lambing in late spring. They suffered devastating financial loss as lambs (even ewes ripped asunder while giving birth) fed starving coyotes. Most mama cows still wore horns, yet their helpless calves frequently fell prey to the predator striving to feed it’s own young. In that […]
February 8, 2020
Jan Swan Wood
In part two of my dissertation on form to function conformation, we will go to the legs on the horse. The old saying “no foot, no horse” is pretty true, and the legs are as important as the foot. I read somewhere years ago that the Bedouin tribesmen would hang a curtain and stand a […]
February 2, 2020
Rhonda Sedgwick Stearns
I’m an old ranch widow, more or less “forcefully retired” from spending all my time with horses and cattle . . . old age does that to ya’! My hilltop home overlooks the region I grew up in and made pony tracks across, with Mom before birth and until I was three, riding good horses […]