While working the herd is no longer a part of my life, will always be part of who I am. I'm grateful my children get to experience this and make their own memories of horses, leather, moving cattle, watching baby calves learn to walk, and all of the responsibility and rewards that go along with it. There is definitely something very romantic about the cowboy way.
Tacky, Tacky, Tacky
This painting is bringing back all kinds of memories. I used to love to hang out in the tack shed. I loved the smell of leather and dry horse sweat that clung to the saddle blankets. I can still smell it. If I thought I wouldn't get caught I'd sit on the saddles that were resting on the saddle horses. Running my hands along the long leather reins I would imagine myself the cowgirl heroine in a herd of stampeding cattle. Oh the places I would go in that tack shed...
Pony Tail
I used to love having my hair in a ponytail. I would toss it and flick it and wonder if it really looked like my pony's tail. In my mind it most definitely did. I also wondered why pigtails were called pigtails... pigs didn't have two tails, and my hair didn't curl like a pig's tail did...
But oh well. This horse doesn't have to worry about it. He can flick his pony tail all he wants.