by Cowgirl on October 13, 2011
I finally got a chance to test drive the new horse last night. We have been in the process of building new pens for our feeder calves through the summer, and all of the portable panels for my round pen were being used to complete the half-finished pen. So last weekend we finished up that project, which allowed me to set up my round pen and try riding the new buckskin mare for the first time. I was anxious to see if our craigslist purchase was a good find or a big mistake.
by Cowgirl on September 22, 2011
When we went to pick up the new horses last week, we took my mare Daisy along. Not as a travelling buddy, but because there was a horse sale going on in a town along the same route, and we decided to consign Daisy in it and just see what might happen. We have talked about selling her several times, and buying two more seemed a tad bit excessive, and the trailer was going that way anyhow, so we took her to the sale with a reserve price firmly established in our minds.
I always enjoy reading horse training articles and stories about amazing horsemen. I am always inspired by the things they have learned from the thousands of horses they’ve handled, and thrilled when they share their knowledge with us. Here are some horse quotes from some of the best horse trainers in the world.
by Cowgirl on August 23, 2011
When I was a kid, my sisters and I would go out at dusk and ride horses in the summertime. It was usually too hot during the day to enjoy riding, and though we often rode anyway because the ranch work required us to, the evening rides were always the fun ones. We would ride […]
by Cowgirl on July 30, 2011
When I was a kid, my favorite days were the long summer ones when we spent the day horseback. There was always something to do around the ranch…either moving cattle to a different pasture, checking the wells to make sure there was adequate water, or riding colts always prevented boredom from overtaking us. But I can think of some stories when we just had too much time on our hands.
by Cowgirl on June 11, 2011
We scheduled our trip west this spring so that we would time it right to go along on the big cattle drive up Pass Creek to summer grazing in the mountains. This morning began as every morning does on my parents’ ranch: (my husband would interject, “Slowly!” here—ha ha!) with a big breakfast, a Bible devotional, and some long drawn out discussion about which person is to ride which horse, and what other horses might be taken along in the trailer for substitute mounts, and what horses have been shod and which haven’t
by Cowgirl on June 3, 2011
I was at my folks’ house last weekend, and was looking through some boxes of old photos, and came upon a letter I had written them many years ago when I was a lonely school teacher just out of college, with only horses to keep me from feeling homesick. Reading through it gave me a mix of feelings—happy to remember the fun day on horseback, sad to think that I ended up buying and losing this mare in a horrible accident, and very glad that I had written it all down in a letter so I could treasure the memories more completely.
by Cowgirl on May 31, 2011
I’m thrilled to be starting another year with lots of fresh ideas, helpful horse advice, and some really great horse stories. My excitement stems partially from our just getting back from a good visit to Idaho where my parents live. We had the opportunity to help them move their cattle up to summer pasture in the mountains, and it is an all-day cattle drive, so I have seventeen miles of beautiful photos to share with you, not to mention a bunch of good stories. I love visiting my family out there—the scenery is always beautiful, the air is so fresh and clear, the horses are inspiring, and it just feels good to be around the folks who know me best.
For those of us who had the opportunity to grow up around horses, responsibilities and safe horse-handling practices became lifelong habits. But there are a lot of families with children who are starting from scratch, buying their first horse, and have no idea how to go about handling one. Here are some basic guidelines that kids and beginners should know about horses:
by Cowgirl on April 19, 2011
Spring is right up there on my list of favorite things. There’s nothing more refreshing than new flowers, baby calves, twittering robins, and the earthy smell of overturned dirt. It always gives me a sense of excitement and anticipation of the even better season of summer that’s coming. Spring brings so many reminders of the good things in life.
by Cowgirl on April 9, 2011
“I’m so busy I don’t know whether I found a rope or lost my horse.” A co-worker read this quote aloud to me yesterday from a t-shirt catalog she was thumbing through. As I laughed aloud, I thought, “That pretty much sums up how I feel.” Spring hasn’t really even gotten into full swing, and I am feeling left behind and swamped by undone projects.
by Cowgirl on April 5, 2011
I have a friend here visiting from Australia for a couple of months, and we went horseback riding yesterday. It’s finally starting to warm up here in the midwest, and with warm breezes beckoning, we put on our riding boots and headed out to the farm.
by Cowgirl on March 31, 2011
My grandma was an avid horse lover. Maybe not as horse crazy as I am, because she had too much work to do to spend any time on horses. But I think that horses were always on her mind. I don’t know what kind of fool I’d be if it weren’t for my Grandma, but I sincerely doubt that I’d be the horse crazy fool that I am.
It’s been awhile since I’ve had the chance to just spend the day following my horse around. But today I was thinking back to when I was a kid, when I would be at the barn all day, not necessarily riding, but just spending time with the horses. There’s a lot to be said for getting solid hours of horse time.
by Cowgirl on March 19, 2011
Every body’s got a tale to tell, and if you’ve been as enthusiastic about outdoor activities as I have, chances are you have some scars as reminders of your experiences. I noticed a scar of mine the other day, which made me start thinking about how I got that scar, which made me wonder just how many scars do I have that are horse-related? I have to say, almost all of my scars have a horse story behind them.
Whether you’re paying someone to train your horse, give you lessons, or simply choosing which trainer to watch and follow on RFDtv, it’s important to understand what you’re learning and make an educated choice concerning trainers.
by Cowgirl on February 2, 2011
I’m feeling a bit of cabin fever today. This is our second day of a blizzard here in the midwest, and it really puts a damper on my mood. I did venture outside once, to feed the horses and make sure their water was thawed.
by Cowgirl on December 15, 2010
These days leading up to Christmas are crazy. I feel like a kid on a merry go round that’s going too fast for comfort…or maybe like the frantic engineer on a train that is on unfamiliar track downhill and the brakes have failed…or more exactly, what I really feel is that all-too-familiar adrenaline that kept me in the saddle all those times my horse Rudy ran away with me.
by Cowgirl on November 30, 2010
When I was a kid, we had a paint horse we called Peppy. He was a half brother to both Kokomo and Apache, but he had inherited much more of the Shetland attitude than the other two. He was a naughty pony.
by Cowgirl on November 11, 2010
We recently took a trip to Idaho to visit my folks. We got to ride horses, go on a cattle drive, take a lot of horse pictures, and enjoy the Idaho scenery while there. They were having beautiful fall weather and we really enjoyed our stay.
