Hi there Pig Pen!

June 6, 2013 by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~ Leave a Comment

Anyone that knows me, knows that I kind of like to ride a pretty horse. And I like them to be clean with pretty, combed out manes and tails. When I first moved to South Dakota, I wouldn’t have been caught dead on a horse with a speck of mud on him.

Armstrong County Gumbo has changed all that for me.

You see, it’s kind of like God’s natural glue. It sticks to you and whatever else. I’m convinced it’s buried itself into the paint of my pickup, The Beast, as she is affectionately called.

Sunday we went to a branding. I knew what horse I was going to ride on Saturday, but I had to go to town so I didn’t get to see him much- other than to see that he looked the color of Gumbo. He’s yellow, folks. YELLOW. Not brown. Not camo. But he clearly thought he should be one of those colors! He was such a mess that I needed four hours and a water hose to clean him up. But, I didn’t have four hours. I had about 20 minutes.

I said gumbo is like glue. Poor guy- I was using a metal curry comb (because that’s about the only hope one has around here of removing any sort of gumbo) and his hair was coming with it. So I gave up and did the best I could where the saddle would go. I figured the rest would have to wait.

Needless to say I caught flack for him being a disaster area. All. Day.

Wanna see what he looks like?

Yeah, I rode a horse that looks like that for a day. Will I ever do it again? I can’t say that I’ll do it on purpose. I don’t like catching flack!

I may post after photos if it ever warms up enough to give him a bath!

Happy Trails!

About ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~

Jenn Zeller is the creative mind and boss lady behind The South Dakota Cowgirl. She is an aspiring horsewoman, photographer, brilliant social media strategist and lover of all things western.

After a brief career in the investment world to support her horse habit (and satisfy her mother, who told her she had to have a “real” job after graduating college), she finally took the leap and stepped away from a regular income; trading the business suit once and for all for cowgirl boots, a hat, and jeans. She has not looked back.

When Jenn first moved to The DX Ranch on the South Dakota plains, she never imagined she’d find herself behind a camera lens capturing an authentic perspective of ranching, and sharing it with others. Jenn has always been called to artistry, and uses music, writing, images, home improvement, and her first true love of horses to express her ranching passion.

Horses are the constant thread and much of her work centers around using her unique style of writing to share her horsemanship journey with others in publications such as CavvySavvy, the AQHA Ranching Blog, the West River Eagle, the family ranch website, and her own website.

Using photography to illustrate her stories has created other opportunities -- Jenn’s brand “The South Dakota Cowgirl” has grown to the level of social media “Influencer”. This notoriety has led to work with Duluth Trading Company, Budweiser, Wyoming Tourism, Vice, Circle Z Ranch and Art of the Cowgirl, to name a few. She also serves as a brand ambassador for Woodchuck USA, Arenus Equine Health, Triple Crown Feed and Just Strong fitness apparel. Her photography has been featured by Instagram, Apple, TIME Magazine, The Huffington Post, and Oprah Magazine. Jenn’s work has been published internationally, has been seen in several books and has graced the covers of several magazines.

Jenn became a social media influencer by accident when she started to explore Instagram as a way to share her life on the ranch with folks that don’t get to experience it. It’s grown into an incredible platform that she uses to empower women, create an environment for self improvement and share life on the ranch.

When she’s not working, she loves to drink coffee, play with her naughty border collie named Copper, start ranch colts, and run about the country chasing cans. Her mother still thinks she doesn’t have a “real” job.