The South Dakota Cowgirl

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Summer Rodeo Season

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The Summer Rodeo Season is underway and hasn’t been without its share of trials. Over the fourth of July weekend, I went out to Spearfish, SD to make a practice run prior to our first rodeo of the season, which was Sunday, July 1, in Belle Fourche, South Dakota. Weather in South Dakota is often unpredictable, and we were not without our share of it, that weekend. Friday afternoon, a huge hail storm came through, taking out the skylights in the living quarters part of my horse trailer. I had to wait out the storm, in the pickup and let me tell you, hail hitting a vehicle isn’t a pretty sound.

Our run in Spearfish was just decent — a good run to get under our belts. At Belle, we made a nice, off-the pace run.  Hailey Kinsel and her wicked-bad mare, Sister smoked us all with a 16.8 on standard pattern. There’s no video of our run. On that run we clocked an 18.2 which, last August was good enough for a 2nd place win in the 2D at a high stakes slot race at the same arena.

We were then entered to run at Mobridge, SD and Mandan, ND in slack on the 3rd. Mobridge was in the morning, providing plenty of time to get to Mandan, for the after-perf slack. In Mobridge, we made a gorgeous run, that again, was nowhere near the pace of Brittny Pozzi-Tonozzi’s mare and the 16.6 she clocked on a standard pattern. Lord help us!  There are no excuses. However, the ground gave us a bit of trouble at the first and third and it was deep. If you weren’t in the top three in a drag, you weren’t likely to clock.

Honestly, that run was the best feeling run I’ve ever made on that pretty yellow horse of mine. I finally rode like I was confident in us. I’ve struggled with excessive amounts of anxiety over the past couple of years when riding him (as well as in other areas of my life) but, I’m learning that “there is nothing in the future more important than the moment you’re in right now!” So my worries of whether he will fall during a run, stop at the end of the run, or whatever other, “what ifs” are beginning to subside, which is allowing me to do a better job for him. I am grateful for every ride he gives me and try to never take them for granted because I know won’t have him forever. I have to start believing in myself again — where that confidence went, I don’t know, but I’m getting it back one day at a time.

I chose to release out of the Mandan rodeo because the night before, it had come a huge flood and I wasn’t sure that I wanted to risk Avie getting hurt, or driving all that way to have zero chances of winning a check — I mean not that the chances had been great up to that point anyway — but at least we had dry ground upon which to run. As it turns out, I should have gone – they got the arena dried out and the ground was in great condition! Live and learn. Live and Learn.

Up next, was the Prospector Challenge in Rapid City, SD. I made an okay run on Friday (no video).  Saturday, we made a great run! That run earned us our first WPRA money towards filling our Permit! I made a tiny mistake on the first barrel that cost us an even faster time.

Sunday’s run was faster yet, but we tipped the first to win another check towards filling our permit -$928.00 to go friends!  I’ll spare us that video — though if you follow along on my Instagram Story — you saw it, as I shared it there.

Thursday (tomorrow), we’re headed to Mitchell, South Dakota, and then the following Thursday, we go to the Days of 76 Rodeo in Deadwood, SD. That rodeo has always been on my bucket list, so I’m pretty excited to get to run there!

Until next time, 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.

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Comments

  1. Raquel says

    It’s kind of awesome that you are running up against Sister! Obviously that sets the bar high, but it’s still impressive to me.

    Reply

    • ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~ says

      Awe– thanks! I wouldn’t say we are competing against her — we’re entering some of the same rodeos. I’ll be honest, running against people you completely idolize is hard and last year I let it get to me -seeing Lisa and Emily Miller at a lot of them. This year I’m to a place where I’m trying to do my best that day. Our best may be a second off, but if we don’t try, we won’t know and we certainly won’t improve! Thanks for the support!

      Reply

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