Posts Tagged ‘ranch life’

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, […]

Calving Lot Ski Slope

April 10, 2025
Jan Swan Wood

It had been a long winter, having started in November and being cold and snowy clear until March. Wedidn’t need the March blizzard that dumped feet of snow and made drifts higher than our eight foot windbreak fences, but we got it anyway. It was an ordeal just to get the stock fed in the […]

Real Winners at the Draft Horse Pull

March 29, 2025
Jan Swan Wood

Many years ago we went to a draft horse pull. It was held in the winter in a warm facility, and promised to be a fun day off the place. It didn’t disappoint.The horse pull was a big one, as nearly 30 years ago it was a pretty big thing in the region. There wereprofessional […]

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 […]

Teamwork Between a Kid and a Colt

March 13, 2025
Jan Swan Wood

I recently told you about some of the daring ideas that a kid will come up with when teamed up with agreen colt. Son Colin’s filly was two and he was 10. He had officially “started” Callie in August, but he’dbeen sneaking off to ride her bareback in the pasture for months before that, so […]

A Kid, a Colt and Interesting Ideas

March 6, 2025
Jan Swan Wood

Calving was starting and my son was gathering the cows at night while I fed them some good hay in agrass lot. Colin was 12, and he was riding his filly Callie who was a three year old. He had officially“started” her the summer before, but unofficially, he’d been sneaking off and riding her bareback […]

Old Bridles, Good Memories

February 21, 2025
Jan Swan Wood

It’s starting to crack and is too fragile now to use, but I have a bridle that has intrinsic value to me. Itwas my Dad’s. He was born in 1926 and got the headstall and a set of reins for his 13th birthday I believe.He told me the story of going to the Denver Saddlery […]

Spur Marks

February 10, 2025
Jan Swan Wood

My grandsons were playing on the floor, with the middle one, a preteen, being the bull and theyoungest being the bull rider. They got pretty wild before going their separate ways, accompanied byplenty of laughter. It made me think of a story my Dad told about his Dad as a boy, and I shared it […]

The Day Before the Storm

February 6, 2025
Anna Foulger

The day before a winter storm blows in, the cowboy (my husband), the toddler, baby and I load up into the feed pick. Feeding extra before a storm is very important for our cattle, a cow that is eating is a warm cow. After loading up, we head up to the barn to fill the […]

The Biting Cow

February 4, 2025
Jan Swan Wood

There was a veterinarian that I inevitably had to have dealings with who wasn’t at all pleasant to workaround. He was arrogant and always talked down to any woman around, so you can imagine I didn’tenjoy time with him at all. But, he was the local vet and it was a long way to another, […]