Posts Tagged ‘cowgirls’

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 […]

Finn the Cowdog

January 27, 2025
Anna Foulger

A brisk early morning of twelve degrees as I put on my shotguns (chaps) and gloves, getting ready to bring the heifers in to do Bang-s vaccines this afternoon. Finn, my handy little border collie, is waiting by the door ready to go out, anxious to work some cows today. Working cow dogs are a […]

Working on the Turn Around

January 25, 2025
Anna Foulger

Working on the turn around is such a fun point in training a horse. The softness and correctness you have come to, to be capable of asking a horse to turn around correctly is really a great place to be with any colt or horse you have been working on. A turn around is a […]

Riding the Unkind Horse

January 21, 2025
Anna Foulger

There is something to be said for the unkind horses. The horses that you want to be good, but everytime you go to swing a leg up, you can’t help, but wish you were anywhere else in the world. Now I’m not talking about the broncs of this world, because believe me when I say, […]

The Bum Calf Down the Fence

January 17, 2025
Anna Foulger

How bad do you want it? How hard are you willing to work? Train? Rain or shine, early mornings, late nights, kids in tow, that’s how bad it has to be. The all consuming drive that keeps you up at night, thinking of ways to work on the maneuver, fix the problem horse, ride the […]

New Saddle Christening

January 10, 2025
Jan Swan Wood

My first custom saddle was a pretty exciting thing for me. Having ridden all sorts of saddles over theyears, I was finally getting one made to fit just me. I’d studied the options the maker was offering andhad, on paper, created the saddle to fit my needs perfectly. The saddlemaker was an artist at his […]

Wives of Ranches

January 8, 2025
Anna Foulger

Waking up early, I bring the baby to the living room, place him on his sheepskin and start on breakfast while the toddler sleeps in a few extra minutes. Eggs, bacon, coffee boiling, toast, as the pitter patter of toddler feet come racing down the hall, “mama, breakfast?” she asks as I serve up plates […]

Pretty Simple Man: Special Breakaway Horse Heads to NFBR

November 19, 2022
Ruth Nicolaus

When Rickie Engesser competes at her first National Finals Breakaway Roping this December, she’ll be aboard an unlikely horse. Lavaca Sting, “Rollo,” a twenty-year-old gelding, will be her mount for the biggest breakaway stage in pro rodeo. Rickie, who lives in Martin, S.D., never intended for Rollo to be her main mount. While in college […]