Posts Tagged ‘horses’

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 […]

Hot Horse Help

August 26, 2026
Jan Swan Wood

It had been a long process getting some corrals rebuilt after tearing them out and changing the design. I’d worked on the project every time I had some time and was making progress, though it was slow. All of the railroad ties were set and the west side of the leadup alley to the squeeze […]

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 […]

Louisiana Swamp Cowboying

June 29, 2026
Jan Swan Wood

In 1948, my Dad’s family sold their eastern Colorado ranch and started the process of moving to western South Dakota. The livestock were sold so they didn’t have to be moved. Restocking the new ranch would be done after a headquarters was established to receive livestock off of the railroad. My uncle and his wife […]

A Cowboy Gets Western

May 12, 2026
Jan Swan Wood

Back 20 years or so, before everyone and their dog had a cell phone, cell towers were few and far between and cell service was very spotty over the whole country, but most particularly in rural ranchingcountry. Most people in the ranching country didn’t bother with one or only had one for when they wentto […]

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 […]

Pretty Shadow Cowboys

January 27, 2026
Jan Swan Wood

The word had been put out in the area to keep an eye out for a heifer missing from a ranch a little out ofmy neighborhood. Yearling heifers can sure cover some country when they take the notion, so I had been watching for her. I was still riding on about 1800 head of cattle […]

Saddle Horse Warthog

October 28, 2025
Jan Swan Wood

Back in our steady day working days, my then husband and I had two royally bred mares who were just phenomenal saddle horses. His was a bay Thoroughbred called Holly and mine was a bay roan, speed bred Quarter Horse called Lily. They were tough, reliable, honest mares that were a true pleasure to do […]