The First Branding of 2021

May 25, 2021 by ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~ Leave a Comment

Branding season 2021 is in full swing here in the ranch country of South Dakota and I’m happy to say we’re having so much fun. I’d love to say that life has gotten better since 2020, and of course, in some respects it has. The world is a little less crazy, to be sure. However, we’ve lost not one, but two stallions from our horse herd since the first of the year. Heartbreaking, to be sure. We’re grateful for their replacements, but gosh dang it all!

Cowboys Doing Work

I don’t guess for most of you I need to explain what’s going on in the following images – you’ve been around for a while, so I’ll just share them, and let you bask in their beauty.

Branding season 2021, smoke and hot irons, wide angle lens, ranching, ranchlife, the south dakota cowgirl, south dakota cowgirl photography — Smoke and hot irons make for quick work.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this glimpse into the first branding of 2021. I’ll be sharing more of these images on my Instagram in the coming weeks.

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.