by Cowgirl on November 2, 2015
Last week we had a special visit from my parents. They drove all the way from Idaho to Iowa pulling a gooseneck trailer with six horses in it, dropping off two at our place, staying overnight and spending the next day with us, then continuing on their way to two other siblings’ homes to deliver the rest of the horses. After 50 + years of ranching, my parents are finally retiring, selling their ranch and cattle, giving away most of their twenty-some horses and mules, and buying a house in town and a travel trailer to enjoy some southern winters and visits to grandkids.
by Cowgirl on March 29, 2012
It’s springtime, and babies are being born, and it makes me start wishing and hoping. No, we don’t have any expectant mares this year, but my folks out in Idaho have several mares that are bred to this Hancock bred blue roan stallion, Handmade Forever, for his first foal crop. They purchased the stud colt and two fillies from Keith Munn’s production sale two summers ago, and are really excited to see how this young stallion turns out. I’m looking forward to lots of baby pictures and celebrating spring as it should be.
When we purchased our new horses a few weeks ago, we knew we would have some work to do to get the foal registered and the papers edited to show our ownership of the mare. Whenever you’re buying a horse, it’s important to understand the registration process and what the requirements are for registering a horse. Some horses just aren’t registerable, and it’s important to know the difference, because a horse that is registered has added value. If you’ve never owned an American Quarter Horse and if you’re unfamiliar with the application process, this blog post might be a help to you.
by Cowgirl on September 13, 2011
News flash! We have new horses! We saw a classified ad, made a phone call, took a road trip in the rain, wrote a check, went back with the horse trailer, and look what we got: a sweet little buckskin mare and her four month old stud colt! This should come as no surprise if you know us well—we have been looking for a buckskin horse for about four years, and have skimmed through countless horse classifieds in search of the perfect one. And in true horse-collector’s fashion, we bought not one, but two!
My mom used to sing this song to us when we were little, and I loved this version by Catherine Raney, from the movie Flicka. I wanted to show you the horse photos that I took last week on my parents’ ranch in Idaho, and thought this song would best accompany them while you browse through them. I never met a horse I didn’t like, but some of these are plain gorgeous.
by Cowgirl on April 24, 2011
One thing I love about horses is their individual personalities. Just as every person in the world has his own characteristics, every horse is wired differently. And just like every good group of friends has a goofball in it, the horse bunch I grew up with had its own class clown, Gunner.
by Cowgirl on November 24, 2010
I was visiting with my dad the other day about horse stories from my childhood. I don’t remember some of the earliest things of course, so my dad was filling me in on some history of horses I remembered but didn’t know a lot about. It is so interesting to hear another viewpoint on things that I only remember from a child’s point of view, and I love thinking back on those old days.
by Cowgirl on November 22, 2010
My folks have a really nice Quarter Horse mare named Steel Hickory, whom they bought as a three year old and have gotten some of their best foals from. But for some reason, she hasn’t had a foal the last two years, and she has spent the whole time living fat and happy on their irrigated pastures.
by Cowgirl on October 13, 2010
I talked to my sister on the phone today. She was excited to share her big news with me: she bought a stud colt and two fillies at a production sale last weekend! We had a good hour of “horse talk” and she told me all about every horse they looked at.
by Cowgirl on September 2, 2010
I was just a kid when I went to a Pitzer Ranch sale for the first time. I believe it was actually an all-school field trip—that will give you an idea of the rural place I was raised in and what we did for fun back then! I remember sitting in the stands and calculating in my head how much money I had in my bank account and how much of my allowance I would need to save weekly in order to buy a colt of my own. I have always been inspired by the Two Eyed Jack horses.
