The South Dakota Cowgirl

Life on the Ranch Through My Lens

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It’s a Beautiful Life

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Even if it is chalk full of insanity right now!

Zach and I spent the majority of the week, halter-breaking our coming yearlings. What is a coming yearling, you may ask? Well, it’s a horse that is by breed registry standards a yearling (for aged events such as futurities- those are for 3-4-5 yo horses- and they are considered a yearling as of January 1) but is technically NOT a yearling yet. We don’t start foaling until around the first of May. The mares usually foal through July, so these babies still have a while until they reach their first birthday. I believe there were 18 of the little furry beasts. Never fear, I have a whole blog planned on how you halter break a colt- complete, of course, with photographs.

The best part about having all the babies rubbed on and loved on, and relatively halter-broke, is that it now frees up a lot of time for us to get back to riding colts. We spent Monday with some colts, and then spent the rest of the week with the yearlings. There’s only so many pens in the corral by the barn, so we’ll free up some space by having the yearlings kicked out to pasture. Which should happen, today! We’re putting my mare, Shuttle and Kelsey’s mare, Hope, out with them to help babysit.

Yesterday I rode Nuke out through the alfalfa pasture to move the cows into a different pasture. Zach was busy with another project when I started out, and he met me partway through on the four-wheeler. He’d have preferred to be horseback too, but it was handy to have him zipping around. I think we got all of them moved, save for about 10 pairs- of which most had very newborn or day-old calves with them. That means, that in another couple days, when those babies get stronger, I’ll get to do the same thing again. I mean, can you really beat riding in a big pasture, on a good horse, while moving cows? I think not.

Today is going to be busy, as usual. There is probably more to do than there is time or daylight! I guess I better get to it!

Happy Saturday!

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.

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