Posts Tagged ‘American west’

Worried by a Heifer Dragging a Rope

September 28, 2026
Jan Swan Wood

Some years ago, I was heading to the eastern part of the state to announce pedigrees at a horse sale. I was going across the big, open country of the Cheyenne Reservation, admiring the river breaks and goodgrass from the highway. Further along it drops off quite abruptly from the prairie down to the river […]

When a Stud’s Bad Heart Saved His Life

September 24, 2026
Jan Swan Wood

When we were running a band of mares and breeding some outside mares, we had two stallions. Thesenior stallion was Duncan, who we got when he was in his 20s and used until he died at 28. The otherwas Spider, a stud we’d raised. Both were gentlemen to handle, well broke, and just plain nice […]

Horse Market in a Drought

August 27, 2026
Jan Swan Wood

The drought has sure carried over to other segments of the livestock industry. I went to a well established horse sale today featuring the weanlings of a group of breeders, plus yearlings and ridinghorses. It’s a highly advertised sale, very attractive catalog, nice location and strong reputation, I’ve goneto it many times and last year […]

Water Horse

August 19, 2026
Jan Swan Wood

Being the youngest of the family with quite a gap between them and me, I was usually alone andperfectly capable of finding ways to entertain myself. I roamed the ranch and knew every bend of thecreek, draw, gully and ridgetop on the place. My friends were the dogs, cats, horses and other livestock.There was a […]

Refuge in a Lightning Storm

July 24, 2026
Jan Swan Wood

The summer before my freshman year of high school, I was riding on some cattle on the Klingler Range that bordered my family’s ranch. I started riding on summer range cattle when I was 12, on that very piece of ground. The deal was that I had to keep all the riding, including daily bog […]

Bull Power

June 24, 2026
Jan Swan Wood

It was turn out day for the bulls on the ranch I worked on way back when. The bulls were all maturebulls of Simmental and Charolais breeding and they were big boys. Most weighed up in the 1700 to 2000 pound range, but several were even bigger.One purebred Simmental bull must have weighed 2400 plus, […]

Lily and the Boggy Crossing

March 26, 2026
Jan Swan Wood

We were riding on about 1800 steers and 300 cow/calf pairs on a summer range that was split into fourpastures, running for miles east and west but not very wide. The cows were in the furthest east one andthe steers in the others. Dividing every one of those pastures was the most treacherous creek I’ve […]

The Crazy Horse I Had to Own

February 27, 2026
Jan Swan Wood

The first time I ever saw the horse I stopped in my tracks. He was the vision of a using horse that hadlived in my head for several years. The guy who owned him was using him in the sale ring at the cattlesale. As the day went on, I watched the roan gelding without […]

Born Broke Horse

September 5, 2025
Jan Swan Wood

It had been a busy spring and early summer. Foaling was over so it was breeding season for our mares and two studs. The outside mares added to the workload, plus it was a dry time and I was irrigating the hay ground and pastures on top of fencing projects, a big garden, and getting […]

Marital Strife and Working Cattle

August 25, 2025
Jan Swan Wood

My folks had a great working relationship and built a family and a ranch together over the years. Dadworked outside, Mom worked inside, except for her yard and big garden. It was an equitable arrangement that served them well. Mom would drive a feed pickup or drive the pickup pulling one of the hay wagons, […]