Welcome to the Ranch!

Rheaghan riding her horse, Peanut, bareback with my daughter, Kyla, riding Dolly.

This summer Cross Creek Cattle Company is happy to have hired a local cowgirl to train and work with our horses.  Rheaghan Pavlock is the newest member of our ranching operation.  She has been around horses most of her life.  She is a member of the Grimes County Mounted Posse along with my children.  Rheaghan competes in Ranch Hand rodeos and speed events.  She is looking forward to making some money and gaining more experience by working with our nine horses.

We have a variety of horses.  From old faithful horses on which you can do anything to a young broke colt that needs to learn some manners.  This colt needs a lot of attention and work to fine-tune his skills.  We also have one mare that was abused in her past.  She needs to learn to trust people.  She has made progress in leaps and bounds since first coming here years ago, and we hope that this progress will continue.

Rheaghan is doing a great job so far.  Riding, round penning, grooming, washing, feeding, cleaning stalls, cleaning the tack room, etc. are all responsibilities that she oversees.  Her favorite part of the job is riding horses, of course.  We have a variety of places to ride so it is always interesting.  Creek bottoms, hills, wooded pastures, an arena, pens, and open pastures all make for fun rides.  It is good for both horse and rider.

Just last week, Rheaghan was riding with my daughter, Kyla.  They came up out of a creek, which happens to be in our wildlife refuge.  Both the horses started snorting and side-stepping, which caught Rheaghan’s attention.  She looked harder into the brushy overgrowth.  There was a feral sow with ten piglets bedded down.  The horses must have caught their scent.  You never know what to expect around here.

Rheaghan finds Spur, our relatively young colt, the most challenging aspect of her job.  He likes to challenge her authority, and she has to constantly remind him that she is the boss.  Rheaghan hopes that by the summer’s end Spur will be a changed and better horse.  She knows that she has to put a lot of hours under his feet to attain that goal.

A perk that she loves after a hard day’s work is a smoothie.  Made out of homemade goat milk yogurt and frozen fruit, smoothies are a treat that make the heat feel more tolerable.  When she is sweating in the sun, the thought of a smoothie in the afternoon keeps her going.  I am glad that I can reward her hard work with something as simple as a smoothie.  And, Cross Creek Cattle Company is glad that we have Rheaghan for the summer.

If you haven’t read Cowgirls Don’t Cry, Part One, you might want to begin with it.  Otherwise, I will continue with a story about my nine-year old daughter, Kyla.  I don’t know if living on a ranch her whole life or living in a family with four brothers has had more effect on Kyla’s life.  Regardless which circumstance was more influential on her character development, Kyla is one tough cowgirl.

Kyla with her horse, Dolly.

As a little girl, Kyla was never really interested in playing with baby dolls or house.  I think she was too busy being a big sister to her three younger brothers to want to play with a fake baby.  As soon as my husband and I teach our children how to do something, we allow them to do it with little supervision.  Kyla has been helping me clean our house for years.  She is a wonderful cook and loves to bake.  As young as five, Kyla has been occasionally surprising me with breakfast in bed or starting the pot of coffee for me in the morning if she woke up before me.

Kyla is a gem.  I could not ask for anyone better to be my daughter.  In addition to knowing how to do domestic chores, Kyla helps work cows.  She helps butcher wild hogs.  She goes fishing and never needs anyone to bait her hook or remove hooked fish.  She milks goats and bottle feeds their kids.  Kyla is really going to be some lucky man’s dream come true in many, many years to come, if I have anything to say about it.

Kyla also loves to ride horses.  She has gotten bucked off a horse once.  She slid off its back and landed on her two feet in the middle of the pen while striking a gymnastics pose.  You know what I mean, she threw her hands up in the air when she stuck her landing.  Everyone who witnessed it was quite impressed to say the least, and the people who only heard about it have their doubts that it really happened.  It did.

The other day she was riding her horse, Dolly, while Grandma Cathey was teaching Kyla to post in the saddle while Dolly trotted.  Kyla was really getting the hang of it.  The whole lesson was to teach Kyla to really learn to move with her horse.  Kyla was feeling so comfortable moving wtih Dolly that she let go of the reins.  The saddle horn held the reins for Kyla.  Anyway, she lifted her hands to her sides and lifted her head up to the sky like she was flying.  It was really a beautiful thing to see.  Horse and rider moving as one.  Rider trusting horse and having a splendid time pretending to fly.

Kyla decided to fly faster and clicked up Dolly into a lope.  However, Dolly did not want to lope and began crow hopping.  Well, Kyla’s body was still in a trot and she lost her balance.  Unfortunately for her, she was thrown right into the green metal arena fence.  “Thud!”  She did not bound to her feet this time.  When Cathey and I reached her, Kyla was still laying on the ground almost afraid to move.  She snapped at us, “Don’t touch me!”

She was able to explain that her left thigh and her entire back ached.  When she agreed to let us touch her and help her to her feet, we inspected her back.  Already a long purple bruise was appearing along her back from the small of it to the shoulder blade.  Green paint from the fence stained her brand-new white shirt.  She really hit the fence hard!

Despite her shock and soreness, Kyla wanted back on Dolly.  She rode around just to show Dolly that she was not afraid and that she was the boss.  My heart swelled with pride.  I have raised one tough daughter.  Just like Cathey, Kyla is another cowgirl who doesn’t cry.