Posts Tagged ‘Ranching’

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 […]

A Horse Who Makes Few Mistakes

June 26, 2025
Jan Swan Wood

My son started him for a friend when Boston was three years old. He was still a stud. My friend saidthat when he made his first mistake she’d geld him. He started like a dream and it appeared like he readahead in the school book between rides, as everything was so easy for him to […]

A Boy’s First Time Roping at a Branding

June 12, 2025
Jan Swan Wood

Little cowboys tend to think they’re big enough to do big cowboy things pretty early in life. My sonColin was sure no exception. At three he thought he was big enough to help rope and doctor yearlingcattle and was pretty put out with me because I didn’t agree. When he was five he asked if […]

Extra Spicy Calf

May 27, 2025
Jan Swan Wood

When I finished high school, I sold my cows and left home, as had my older siblings. I sure missed having my cows but that was how it had to be. When I got engaged and my soon to be husband and I had a ranch job on the agenda, I bought some little dairy […]

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 […]

Drought Breaking Rain

May 7, 2025
Jan Swan Wood

Several decades ago I was performing at a poetry and music gathering in southeastern Wyoming. Awoman approached me who was probably nearly 70 at the time. She asked me if I had any kinfolk by thename of Swan from eastern Colorado. I told her that my family was from there and had moved to SouthDakota […]

A Cowboy’s Horse

April 22, 2025
Jan Swan Wood

My Dad had a weakness for a horse with a fast walk. I swear, he’d have bought a horse from a gypsy peddler if it just walked really fast. So, sometimes he got burned due to this weakness of his. As he gotolder, he didn’t allow for his aging body and limitations and when looking […]

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 […]