Notes From a Cowgirl

The last six months or so have been packed full of first time experiences for me. Since I’ve been absent from writing for the last 10 months, here’s some of what’s happened. I left the good old homestead and started my junior year of college 9 hours away from home.The first semester on my own had a huge learning curve, but I came out on top, stronger than ever. I saw two trucks of piglets! Look at those cute little oinkers! September marked my first PBR event. It was fun, even though bull riding is my least favorite rodeo event. I prefer horses and ropes and stopping the clock over bovines feeling frisky because the guys moving them between pens were overly fond of their cattle prods . I had the opportunity to look down at giraffes. Of course, I had to be about 12’ off the  ground during a behind-the-scenes zoo tour. All on my own, I found a picturesque park where I now love to go on walks. My dad and brother gave me a...

A few days ago I was watching TV when an insurance commercial came on. Let me tell ya, I had an epiphany and it had nothing to do with buying insurance. Towards the end of the commercial, piles of crushed cars were shown, and I thought, “We’re doing everything wrong.” People in the industrialized world make so much trash. We live in a throw-away society. When something breaks or a newer model comes out, we throw out the old without thinking twice. Cars have only been around for about a hundred years and think of all the crushed cars and pieces of cars we so frequently see. Is that being responsible stewards? I could research waste and give you statistics, but I don’t need those numbers to tell me that something is wrong, and I don’t think you do, either. When I was younger my mom  was constantly reminding me to not waste food and recycle everything I possibly could. As I get older, it's clearer and clearer how important that lesson was.  I ...

There is no way I could ask for a better mom. Here are a few reasons, in no particular order, why she’s so great. 1) She cares immensely for any student who needs her help and doesn’t stop trying until the student is helped. 2) She’s the kind of person who talks to young people like they’re valuable human beings, not like they’re “just kids.” 3) She will say something is “not good” instead of outright labeling something as bad. (I think that’s her way of giving something or someone the benefit of the doubt.) 4) She has a million and one things to do every day but makes time to help me take care of our animals. 5) Including the animals, she has a million and two things to do every day and usually makes a homemade dinner or leaves instructions about exactly what to do. 6) She encourages her children in our passions and strengths. (For years she told me I should major in something to do with writing. After opening my eyes, I see that she was right all along.) ...

My spring semester recently started and I’m pretty excited about it. So far I really like my classes and I’m extra, extra excited for Intro to News Writing. You may or may not already know that I’m transferring to another college this fall (2015) in order to major in Agricultural Communication . Everyone is directly affected by agriculture; all people eat and most wear clothes. The agriculture industry as a whole needs more effective communicators. I don’t know where my degree will take me, but this Intro to News Writing class is bound to pay off. And it’s fun, too! Last week the professor gave everyone in the class one of these awesome notebooks. For an aspiring communicator, this little notebook is a huge deal! Like my classmate said, it's like our own handy dandy notebook.  (Did you get that reference ?) So far, I’ve been amazed at the detailed information we’ve been learning. News writing isn’t just writing things down and publishing them; the...

This is my boy, Wiley.  He's 6 years old, about 14.3 hands tall, and I've done everything with him. Wiley has given and constantly gives me the chance to apply what I know and learn even more (with help from a few people). I was the first person to touch him, first to halter him, first to get on him, and still the only one who has ridden him.  I used to want to be a horse trainer and Wiley was my experiment. I no longer want to train horses for a living, but Wiley will always be the first horse I started.  Wiley was the perfect training project because he's a mustang. I got him when I was 15, so my mom legally had to be the one to adopt him from the Bureau of Land Management.  The picture above is Wiley's BLM brand. The first large symbol that looks like a backwards, handwritten four means that he was captured by and property of the U.S. government. After the first, the other markings are Alpha Angle symbols. The second grouping of one...

As you know, I’m a college student. You probably also know that college can be hard work. Finals were last week so this morning I checked to see if my grades had been posted online. Seeing my grades made me realize that my effort really WAS worth it! I had some difficult work this semester but I was persistent and ended up having the highest grades of my college career.  A couple weeks ago, just before finals, I was starting to feel the stress of the end of the semester. I realized that I couldn't do everything at once and had to focus on getting one thing  done at a time. Now that the fall semester is over, I've been having a great time. I've been riding my horses… baking… (Try this delicious recipe for  Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies ! You'll be glad you did!) walking with my dog, Missy… and even taking some fun pictures of frost!    I hope you, too, can find some relaxation at Christmastime!  ...

I’m one of the lucky ones who got to grow up as a horse girl.  I started taking lessons just before I turned 8 and bought my first horse when I was 12. This horse, Zoee, is my pride and joy. When I bought her, she was a 14 year old Arabian mare who foaled several times and had barrel racing training (read about barrel racing here ). Zoee and I worked very hard at turning her into a horse that could run barrels and do well in pleasure (slow) classes. A few years ago we were in a discipline rail class with over 30 other horses (read about discipline rail  here ). Many of these horses were obviously show horses, not middle-aged-barrel-Arabian-turned-pleasure-horses. I rode in the first group of about 10 horses and Zoee was great. She listened to my commands without delay and was actually slow , in a good way! To my surprise, our performance stood out enough to make the cut and perform in the final group of horses. That class was one of the most nerve-wra...