From the category archives:
by Cowgirl on July 17, 2020
I was offered the chance to read and review a book called “What the Bible Says About Animals”, by Jacquelyn Wilkins, and was thrilled. The book is written in a very reader-friendly, conversational style, in which the author shares her own story and viewpoint, based on numerous verses of Scripture. The book resonated with me […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
by Cowgirl on December 1, 2017
I just got a new book in the mail, called “Cowgirl Lessons”, by Rae Rankin. It’s a sweetly rhyming storybook about a little girl’s adventures on her horse riding lesson day, and it’s illustrated by J-san with whimsical ponies and all the cowgirl details you could hope for in a children’s book. You get a […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
by Cowgirl on November 15, 2016
I started giving horseback riding lessons to two little girls this past summer. With fall approaching, daylight savings time changing things up, and the temperatures dropping, we started feeling like our horse riding time might be nearing an end. So we decided with these warm fall days still lingering here in the Midwest, we would make the best of them! We went on a fun trail ride on a beautiful Saturday morning, and had a wonderful ride.
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
by Cowgirl on October 24, 2016 · 2 comments
Alert all your horse-loving and book-reading friends! CowgirlDiary.com is giving away a new book, just released this month! It is The Tale of the Dancing Slaughter Horse by Victoria Shade, and is a memoir written about her life growing up with horses and learning dressage, finally getting a horse of her own, and finding out that her biggest dreams were never out of reach. If you love reading horse stories, you will really enjoy this book.
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
by Cowgirl on July 18, 2016
As I recently browsed the Nebraska/Iowa Horses For Sale pages on Facebook, I kept seeing a lot of ponies. So I mentioned to my husband that we should get a pony while the kids are still little. He said, “No horses. But I might consider a pony for the kids.” Well, you know….that was a […]
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
by Cowgirl on March 31, 2016
Read up on Penny’s pastern injury! I kept Penny in a stall for a month, doctoring her wound daily and trying to keep it as clean as possible. Every day I would clean the wound with Vetericyn spray, then cut a section of cotton padding, slather it with Nitrofurazone ointment, place it over the cut area, and wrap it with vet wrap. I cannot believe how well the wound has healed, and how she is almost back to full movement in a little over a month.
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
by Cowgirl on January 27, 2016 · 1 comment
I lost my horse Rudy on the 3rd of January. He was almost twenty-eight years old, and ever since he came to live with us in October, I have worried about him. I knew he wasn’t going to live forever, but I had hoped for a few more years, especially now that we were reunited. I had mentally prepared myself for being with him during his last days, but it’s still such a sad reality that even the very best ones die.
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
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.
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
by Cowgirl on September 30, 2015
We have reached another milestone in our horse life: we rode Cletus, our four year old buckskin gelding! If you remember, we bought him as a baby alongside his mother, Penny, in the fall of 2011. Last November, we sent him to the Rosebud Indian Reservation for a crash course in behaving under saddle….the trainer raved about him and said he was the best horse he’s ever trained. So then we brought him home and (due to me being pregnant and my husband being very busy) he stood around in our corral for almost another year. The good news is that we have been riding him this summer!
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
by Cowgirl on August 12, 2015
I love that old song my grandma used to sing, “Pack up all my care and woe, here I go, singin’ low…. Bye, Bye, Blackbird.” Well, in this case, it’s Bluebird we said goodbye to. If you recall, she’s the blue roan Hancock-bred mare that my sister gave me that we had shipped here from Idaho two Aprils ago. I finally decided to list her for sale this summer, and within a week I had several inquiries and one serious buyer.
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
by Cowgirl on June 23, 2015
At the end of May, as we try to do each year, our family went west to visit my parents in Idaho. We spent several days with them, enjoying ranch life, mountain-style farming, beautiful scenery and their many horses. The highlight of the trip was the all-day cattle drive up into the mountains, through the Pass Creek notch, over the Summit, and on to Big Creek where the cattle stay for a few months during the summer.
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
by Cowgirl on November 26, 2014
As mentioned in a previous post, we recently took our two untrained horses out to South Dakota for training. Due to me being pregnant with our fourth child, the training was going to be postponed for another nine months at least, and we really wanted to see these two colts started as soon as possible. So in October they made the trip out to Mission, SD, to spend at least a month with a horse training family.
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
by Cowgirl on May 30, 2014
We extended our stay in Idaho a couple extra days so that we wouldn’t miss their annual cattle drive where they take their cow and calf herd fifteen miles up into the mountains. It is an all-day event, starting early and ending late, and involves a lot of horseback riding and beautiful scenery. We didn’t want to miss it! All week my sister Karmen and I had been getting horses ready. Karmen put shoes on four horses so that their feet wouldn’t wear out on the rocky trail. I rode Donegal to give her a little refresher so she would be well-adjusted to being ridden again, as my dad was going to ride her on the drive and he is seventy years old and still recuperating from his accident that broke ribs last November. Karmen planned to ride her young mule Garnet, and I was going to take Stormy, the young mare I’d been riding all week.
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
by Cowgirl on May 28, 2014
I’m on vacation this week. No, not sunning on some beautiful beach somewhere like most people would think of, but in my opinion this is better—I’m visiting my family in Idaho and spending a great percentage of my time horseback. I usually refer to my folks’ place as a “working cattle ranch”, with emphasis on the “working!” I am not used to this much physical exertion, andevery muscle aches, my arms and neck are sunburned, and I am saddle sore. But this is my kind of vacation!
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
by Cowgirl on April 12, 2014
You can never have too many horses, right? My sister from Idaho called me the other day and offered me her beautiful blue roan mare. I didn’t know what to say, other than, “Please and thank you.” Other things went through my head, such as how will I get her here, it’s twelve hundred miles to Iowa from Idaho, and I already have four horses that I don’t work with as much as I should! But there was no way I could turn her down.
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
by Cowgirl on April 8, 2014
That old Kenny Rogers song came to mind today, as I was thinking over the happenings of my weekend. In terms of horses, you should never be too sure of a horse. Riding horses is always a gamble. There are no sure bets, and you can win or lose with a stroke of luck, good or bad. I always say, “That’s the way the cookie crumbled.” And there’s no predicting it, how events are going to go or what exactly is going to take place. I think the cards were stacked against me in the hand I was dealt on Saturday!
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
by Cowgirl on April 2, 2014
I got a phone call last weekend out of the blue. The guy had been searching online for horse trainers in the area and found an ad I had placed probably eight years ago (before I had kids) when I was looking to take in outside horses to train. He wondered if I could help him with two horses he was wanting trained, and me being the horse enthusiast I am, I said “Sure.” I had to follow that up with a lengthy explanation of how I am a mom of three, work full time, and almost never have the time to ride anymore–but I assured him that I could help him put some rides on these horses of his.
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
by Cowgirl on March 18, 2014 · 1 comment
Cowgirls of yesterday were famous for being bronc riders, sharp shooters, Wild West performers, and Hollywood actresses. They were brave, fun-loving, hard-working, and maybe just a little bit crazy in the head. I love reading their individual stories and lists of accomplishments, and it is so inspiring to look into the history of cowgirls. Not all of them were famous, and it is some of the more obscure stories that I enjoy the most. We’ve all heard of remarkable people like Annie Oakley, Calamity Jane, and Dale Evans. But there are so many more wonderful cowgirl stories out there! Here are just a few quotes and excerpts about some amazing horse women:
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
by Cowgirl on January 28, 2014 · 3 comments
We recently stayed at a swanky hotel in St. Louis where my husband attended a business conference for his work. The kids and I went along just for fun, the thought of spending three days at an indoor-pool-equipped establishment being our main motivation—yes, the long winter is getting to us! While there, my husband got his cowboy boots shined at the shoe-shine station in the lobby. After seeing the transformation from scuffed to gleaming, our son wanted his little boots shined as well. While he sat and got them polished, one of the hotel managers struck up a conversation by asking our son if he had a horse to go with those boots….
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
by Cowgirl on November 1, 2013 · 8 comments
Riding horses is dangerous. So is operating an automobile. So I’m not saying we shouldn’t engage in either activity, but I’d like to point out that when you are around a horse, virtually anything can happen. I’ve seen good horses in bad wrecks, great riders get broken up, and not-very-cautious riders get away with doing some stupid things around horses and get away with it. What we all should keep in mind is that there is great risk involved in riding horses and training horses, and a smart rider will do what he can to protect himself and his horse.
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
Copyright © CowgirlDiary.com2024 All rights reserved.