Category Archives: horse riding

Horse Safety for Kids and Beginners

Posted on May 23, 2011 by Cowgirl

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: Continue reading →

Posted in Basic Horse Info, Horseback riding, horse advice, horse riding, horse safety, life in the country, riding horses | Leave a comment

Gunner

Posted on April 23, 2011 by Cowgirl

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. Continue reading →

Posted in Horse Stories, Horses I Have Known, Quarter Horse, cattle work, horse bloodlines, horse memories, horse riding, riding horses, riding horses bareback | Leave a comment

Wide Open Spaces

Posted on April 5, 2011 by Cowgirl

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. Continue reading →

Posted in Horse Stories, Horseback riding, Nebraska Sandhills, bits, cattle work, country lifestyle, horse memories, horse riding, riding horses, riding horses bareback | Leave a comment

Friendship With Horses

Posted on March 22, 2011 by Cowgirl

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. Continue reading →

Posted in Horse Poetry, Horse Stories, Horse Training, Horseback riding, bonding with a horse, country lifestyle, horse memories, horse riding, riding horses | Leave a comment

Scars

Posted on March 19, 2011 by Cowgirl

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. Continue reading →

Posted in Horse Stories, Horseback riding, cattle work, country lifestyle, horse advice, horse injuries, horse memories, horse riding, riding horses, riding horses bareback, training colts | Leave a comment

Can’t Slow Down!

Posted on December 15, 2010 by Cowgirl

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. Continue reading →

Posted in Horse Stories, Horseback riding, bits, horse memories, horse riding, horse vices, riding horses | Leave a comment

Peppy

Posted on November 30, 2010 by Cowgirl

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. Continue reading →

Posted in Horse Stories, Horseback riding, Horses I Have Known, cattle drive, cattle work, country lifestyle, horse memories, horse riding, horse vices, riding horses, riding horses bareback, training colts | Leave a comment

Headin’ West

Posted on November 11, 2010 by Cowgirl

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. Continue reading →

Posted in Horse Stories, Horseback riding, cattle drive, cattle work, country lifestyle, horse riding, riding horses in the mountains, vacation | Leave a comment

Riding English

Posted on November 1, 2010 by Cowgirl

When I was sixteen, I wanted to learn to ride English. Growing up on a cattle ranch in the midwest was not condusive to getting a refined education in horseback riding. I learned the hard way—my sisters threw me up in the saddle and I did my best to stay on. But I did a lot of reading as a kid, and lived in a world of complete horse craziness, and in my Western-only world I felt there was a void. Continue reading →

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Good Ride on a Bad Horse

Posted on October 6, 2010 by Cowgirl

I’m a little baffled today. We brought a couple new horses home to train over the weekend, and last night was the first chance I got to work with Toby. He’s a solid Paint, nine year old gelding, supposedly greenbroke but too nervous and wild for my brother to ride, so he sent him to my place for some training. Continue reading →

Posted in Horse Stories, Horse Training, Horseback riding, bits, horse riding, horse training methods, riding horses, round pen, training colts | Leave a comment