Posts Tagged ‘cowgirls’

Crippling Kelly, Blind Fox and Cows

September 12, 2025
Jan Swan Wood

It had been a long, hot and dry summer grazing season and it was a relief when the yearling cattle I’dridden on all summer had been shipped. I was short of horses as I’d lost my top horse to lightningmidsummer and had sent the outside horses home that I’d been putting miles on. I still […]

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, […]

Bad Start on a Good Colt

July 9, 2025
Jan Swan Wood

We were working on a ranch in Nebraska where part of our job was to get a small group of young horses started riding in preparation for a horse sale late summer. The youngsters had been raised there and the unstarted ones were two and three years old. There were a couple of four year […]

School Yard Bronc Ride

June 9, 2025
Jan Swan Wood

My Dad told me a “last day of school” story that I sure got a kick out of. Being a ranch boy, he usuallyhad riding to do either on the way to or on the way home from school, so a saddle horse was his usualmode of transportation. On this fine May day, he had […]

Big Horses, a Toddler, and Leg Hugs

May 19, 2025
Jan Swan Wood

Last week I was at my son and daughter-in-law’s place for a visit and to pair out some cows from the big lot. They were going to be horseback and I was to be afoot leading the little granddaughter on her horse.Getting horses brushed off, saddled and the adjustments made to stirrups used by growing […]

Idle Horses, Mud and First Dates

April 28, 2025
Jan Swan Wood

The teenage years are fraught with anxiety for most kids, and mine were no exception. My folks had finally decided to let me have a date with a boy who had been asking, so, I was on edge despite the boybeing a longtime friend. My folks had to be gone, so I had a lot […]

Rattled Ride On Cutthroat

April 15, 2025
Jan Swan Wood

My time in New Mexico working on a ranch holds some pretty special memories. Some good, some bad, but overall, it was a great experience. Funny occurrences seem funnier now, 40 plus years later.For those who don’t know, when you are working for a big outfit and have a string of horses assigned to you, […]

Guardian Angel Horse

March 27, 2025
Jan Swan Wood

It had been a rather rough winter and spring. A hard winter had led into March blizzard that had beenhard on livestock and people alike. Our cows weren’t calving yet, so we hadn’t lost any calves in thestorm, but when turned out to get out of the mud and drifts in the corrals, some of […]

Hunter/Jumper/Barrel Horse

February 15, 2025
Jan Swan Wood

Back in the olden days when I was young and single, I had a very high powered gelding that I was trying to make a barrel horse out of. Back then you had to just go get some runs on a horse, somewhere, as it was before there were anything like 4D barrel races and […]