Bulldogging Baby
Baby Doll Combs (record). Ball O’Flash (record).
Baby Doll Combs, owned by steer wrestler and Rodeo Champion Willard Combs is thought to be the best Steer Wrestling horse, or “bulldogger” that ever rode the circuit. During her seven peak years of rodeo competition from 1953 to when she died in 1960 she earned over $400,000 in prize money, which in today’s dollars would amount to around $2,965,000. In 1957 Willard Combs won the Championship Steer Wrestling title on Baby Doll, and that year, the cowboys who took second, third, fourth and fifth in the standings were also riding Baby Doll. Famous Rodeo Cowboy, Bill Linderman said that Baby Doll knew bulldogging better than some of the cowboys who were riding her. When she died at a Kansas Rodeo in 1960 from a ruptured spleen, Willard Combs had her shipped back to his ranch in Oklahoma to be buried. Standing at the graveside, when she was laid to rest were many of the cowboys who had ridden her. Baby Doll was inducted into the PRCA Hall of Fame in 1979 with their very first class of inductees and is remembered as one of the greatest Rodeo horses of all times.
Pine Country Feed Fall Gallery
Today we would like to highlight all the new fall goodies we have at Pine Country Feed! Here is just a taste of fall here is Pine, Colorado!
Cowgirl Smart
If it were entirely up to you there would be time for coffee every morning on the porch, the dog would be welcome in the Board Room and your children’s laughter would be the loudest noise you heard all day. If it were your choice people would always be treated with respect and the longest part of the day would be the ride you take over the range as the sun is just beginning to go down. Not everyone is asking your opinion but in the areas you control, you respond first with kindness, you give a little more than is expected, you make it a point to sit with the old man on the board walk to hear his stories about a long ago war. You’ve never seen anything quite as beautiful as the darks eyes of your mare peeking out from under her mane, and you make a point of letting the people you love know that you do, and you’ve no plans of quitting. You’re a cowgirl and it’s the little things that matter to you, because in the grand scheme of things they are all that you can count on.
Summer Ride
English: Heligan: Oak “Georgian Ride” in the Lost Valley. For more information see the Wikipedia article Lost Gardens of Heligan. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The weekend is almost here and it looks like the weather is going to be nearly perfect. Blue skies, warm breezes, 80 something, and perfect for a summer ride. The best way to spend your weekend is on the back of the most beautiful animal God has blessed us with. When you are in the saddle you can forget the world around you, you can feel the mountains surround you, and you can get lost in the beauty of a sweet summer day. We love to get the horse out and ready to follow the trail wherever it leads. We look for treasures along the way. We might find some old antlers a deer lost some time ago, we may come across a crystal clear stream we have never seen before, we might happen on a raspberry bush full to the sweetest raspberries you have ever tasted. We never know what we are going to find as we ride but we always now what we will bring home.
We always come home with a smile, a feeling of contentment, and the enjoyable serenity that only a summer ride in the mountains can bring.
New at Pine Country Feed
Here’s a new product we are carrying for your dogs and cats! Stella and Chewy’s freeze dried Raw Diet. Your animals will love this food! Makes a great treat too!
100% complete and balanced nutrition.
When you check the list of ingredients in our Dinners, you’ll see it reads like a “who’s who” of wholesome, healthy stuff. Like raw, naturally-raised meat, poultry or fish, sourced from USDA-inspected facilities. Organic fruits and vegetables such as cranberries, carrots, apples, spinach, broccoli and beets. Healthful, direct-fed microorganisms (probiotics), natural tocopherols, chelated trace minerals and taurine. Plus essential vitamins and minerals. And for your complete peace of mind, every ingredient is sourced from reputable suppliers. What you won’t see are any of the usual suspects, like grain, fillers, artificial preservatives, colorings, added hormones or antibiotics. We don’t even add sugar or salt! Check out their website for more information: www.stellaandchewys.com
Wedding Wrap-Up
Bridal bouquets have become as individual as the bride herself. Style has moved away from the foam holder set-up and moved to the gathering of open ended stems, giving a canvas to an entirely new stream of creativity. Stem wrapping is taking the world of wedding flowers to new heights, presenting yet another means of adding the personal touch to your bridal flowers and those of your maids. A more rustic wedding, on a ranch, a cabin, a barn, or outdoors in the mountains or lakeside can feature bouquets wrapped with burlap or leather strips and “fastened” with antique jewelry charms, vintage buttons, or a pounded silver and turquoise brooch. The tack on your horse drawn carriage can be decorated to match your bouquet wraps and your groom and groomsmen can wear boutonnieres bejeweled with the same vintage jewelry or buttons. These bouquet wraps will bring a sparkle to your walk down the aisle and that sought after wow factor in your photographs, and the high country pop the discriminating bride is looking for.
Bulldogging Baby
Baby Doll Combs, owned by steer wrestler and Rodeo Champion Willard Combs is thought to be the best Steer Wrestling horse, or “bulldogger” that ever rode the circuit. During her seven peak years of rodeo competition from 1953 to when she died in 1960 she earned over $400,000 in prize money, which in today’s dollars would amount to around $2,965,000. In 1957 Willard Combs won the Championship Steer Wrestling title on Baby Doll, and that year, the cowboys who took second, third, fourth and fifth in the standings were also riding Baby Doll. Famous Rodeo Cowboy, Bill Linderman said that Baby Doll knew bulldogging better than some of the cowboys who were riding her. When she died at a Kansas Rodeo in 1960 from a ruptured spleen, Willard Combs had her shipped back to his ranch in Oklahoma to be buried. Standing at the graveside, when she was laid to rest were many of the cowboys who had ridden her. Baby Doll was inducted into the PRCAHall of Fame in 1979 with their very first class of inductees and is remembered as one of the greatest Rodeo horses of all times.
Ready to Rodeo
Evergreen Rodeo Drill Team (Photo credit: oddharmonic)
We are ready to kick up our heels and spend some time getting immersed in our western roots. We’re looking forward to some breathtaking bull riding on Friday night, an event that is sponsored by Pine Country Feed. Bull riding is all about the thrill, which is right up our alley. There is nothing quite like the cool mountain air, stars in the sky, hang on until the buzzer goes evening that you can only find at the Evergreen Rodeo. Come early and stop by the Pine Country booth where you’ll find the sassy style you have come to expect from our store. The Evergreen Rodeo is the official beginning of the western summer, so put on your hat, pull on your boots and get your fist around a turkey leg – it’s rodeo time!
How ‘bout Them Cowgirls
George Strait, at the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
She don’t need you and she don’t need me, She can do just fine on her own two feet
And she wants a man who wants her to be herself, And she’ll never change, don’t know how to hide
Her stubborn will or her fightin’ side, But you treat her right and she’ll love you like no one else
Yeah, how ‘bout them cowgirls.
George Strait
Cowgirls are really just women who have decided what they want and figured out how to get it, without pretense or politics. They have it over so many other women because they learned a long time ago that if we really want to win, there will be a whole lot of people walking with us across that finish line, because winning isn’t something you do alone but with a crowd of people who have run right alongside us from the first lap to the last. Join some of the greatest cowgirls in the world at the Evergreen Rodeo this weekend, and stop in at the Pine Country Feed booth to take home a little piece of cowgirl for yourself.
Upstairs and Downstairs
At Pine Country Feed we are particular about the brands we carry. We are proud to stock Purina, Mazuri, Manna Pro and Kent to help keep your equine companion healthy and well nourished. We carry small pet feeds like Evo, Active Care, Red Flannel and Pinnacle to name only a few, and it doesn’t stop there. Our wild bird products include suet, black oil sunflower, nyjer and hummingbird oil as well as some adorable, functional birdhouses and feeders for your yard. We talk a lot about our cowgirl boutique because we love to bring you the best and brightest in western wear and home décor, and the same goes for the feed store. Only best for the best people we know – our fabulous customers!
Then there is This
Warm weather is the call of the day – the time when faces turn to the sun and hearts to the carefree days of late spring. Coffee on the porch in the early morning, a mid afternoon venture through the back pasture astride the mare that always knows just how you feel, the first taste of quiet, breezy evenings when the sun seems reluctant to sink behind the hills. We are determined this year to experience the moments instead of the seasons, to relish the whispers and cling to the reminders that life is a fleeting fancy that should be treasured for its possibilities. We are blessed with the wealth of family and friends and the joy of today and we wish all of you the wonder and warmth of the late, sweet spring.
Cowboy Stampede
Out on the range, when there’s nothing to answer but the call of the wild, and the only clock you have is shining overhead, things seem to make sense. The little things start to matter more and all the other stuff kind of gets lost in the dust. Taking stock of what we care about, what makes us say “this was worth it” has a lot to do with why we own Pine Country Feed. We care about giving people what they came for, meeting needs and alleviating frustrations, helping people create a life in a place they love, and giving them the service they deserve in the midst of a world where nobody has the time. We love living in the mountains, we love the smell of horses and worn leather gloves, and we love our customers, people who have made the choice to put in the work to have what some people couldn’t begin to imagine. Thank you for letting us be a part of your lives and thank you more for being part of ours!
Progress?
Stagecoach in Boulder parade (Photo credit: Jerry W. Lewis)
What were we thinking when we went from the Stage Coach as a main means of mass transportation to the “bigger than the state of Delaware” bus. Buses have gotten so big they have to put an accordion fold in the middle of some of them just to be able to get around a corner. Their size alone seems to give them a sense of entitlement, like ownership of the road, both their lane and yours, comes from the fact that they could run you into a ditch without even feeling it and the amount of fuel they use is heart breaking. In the era of the Stage Coach, the passenger traveled with three, at the most four other people, and most of them wore hats, so you didn’t have their dandruff falling on your shoulder if they dozed off on the trip, and a lot of them were carrying guns, so the fear of hijacking was pretty much alleviated. An occasional hold up, wheel break, or washed out bridge was inevitable, but it just made the trip fodder for the next letter home. The cost of fuel was minimal, water and feed, and during your trip you usually got to stop for a cup of coffee at a ramshackle but cozy place where they were glad to see you and happy to do what they could to make the rest of your journey a pleasant one. If you didn’t mind having your bones rattled and being covered with dust, the Stage Coach was a very civilized way of getting from here to there – not fast, but fuel efficient and these days that is the name of the game.
Cowboy Culture
So you’re wondering why in a world where speed and riches are everything I would choose to be a cowboy. Why would I choose to work until I’m blistered and bruised and covered with dirt, and what is it about me that makes me think it’s okay to wear jeans for my work clothes and jeans for my church clothes and jeans when I take my best girl to dinner. You wanna know why a guy like me, with a Masters Degree in Business, would spend long nights in the barn during calving season, and longer days in the winter getting hay to the herd on the upper forty, and why I would rather shake hands with a man whose palms are worn by the reins of a horse than one who has a cell phone attached to his ear. You can’t figure what makes someone like me tear up when I see a soldier salute the flag and why I think of a summer afternoon on the porch as paradise, why I wouldn’t think of leaving the house without my hat. The answer is a simple one, but it’s the only explanation I can think of. Truth is … I was born this way.
Refined Sipping
A photo of a cup of coffee. Esperanto: Taso de kafo. Français : Photo d'une tasse de caffé Español: Taza de café (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
We have decided that coffee, at times, should be sipped, not from oversized mugs that give the drinker a wrist cramp, and certainly not from an ecologically sound recyclable cup made from previously recycled materials that were retrieved from landfill in a third world country, but from an actual porcelain cup with a saucer, accompanied by a small spoon for stirring and perhaps a chocolate cookie that is wrapped in wax paper. Have we become so enamored by our brew that we have come to overlook the joy of the ceremony, the ritual of stopping and drinking coffee in quiet contemplation, letting the steam cloud our specs, and the aroma waft thoughtfully above our head. Next time you get a coffee let it be an event, a moment of non-moving time, when your soul can gather itself in calm, heartwarming repose. Ask your coffee guru to add saucered cups to their repertoire, and if they don’t know what you’re talking about, go somewhere else.
Chicks Only
Spring is coming, actually later this month, and that means two things at Pine Country Feed – new clothes and chicks for sale. Besides our chicks to fill your coop coming in April, we are loaded with great choices to fill your closet – real cowgirl outfitting from Ranch Royalty, Tasha Polizzi, Petrol Next Generation, Cowgirl Tuff and True Grit to name a few, plus knock out jewelry, and bags that will make your mouth water. Step into the coming warm weather in a stunning pair of boots and a jean jacket with just the right amount of bling, and don’t forget the tight and sock combinations that are made to put your legs on the map. Spring, yes, it’s really just around the corner, and Pine Country Feed is the smartest stop on your way.
Common Ground
From the very beginning it was you and her, no cell phones or staff meetings. You and the one who understood that your soul was a priceless thing that deserved a moment of rest, a bit of understanding and a good amount of listening. When all the others didn’t get it, walked away, shook their heads the two of you stood by, undaunted, knowing that your answers would not be found on the bottom line, or even in the policy report but on the solitary journey, through the field, over the ridge to your point of perspective, where reality waits. The place you go together to remember what actually matters, and why you bother with all of this in the first place. She always knows right where to go, exactly what you need to find that place inside that assures you that you know what you’re doing, that you knew all along. She takes you to the place where you can believe again.
Better Together
There is something about horses and kids that make for a great marriage. It is a lovely picture, the mammoth being, meekly deferring to the tiny one, the one that could be swept away with one aggressive snort. Yet they stand together, nose to nose, one in deference to the other, because the horse, in its four legged splendor seems to understand that this smaller than average two legged creature is precious in some way, a treasure of some kind, and their keeping is a tremendous responsibility. It is the gentle and wise heart of the horse and innocent nature of the child that makes the mixture ideal, even magical. See them together and you will feel a smile spread across your lips, a lift of happiness in your step. Their gift is the perfect combination of generosity and delight and they are meant to be together.
Bright Side of the Sun
Image via Wikipedia
The fleetness of time seems to take us by surprise every season, and believe it or not, spring is in actuality just around the corner. If you just finished storing your Christmas decorations, first of all, know that you are in good company, and secondly, be certain that you don’t let the long nights of winter lull you into thinking that the cold will never end. There are great sunny days ahead when time spent outdoors will be everyone’s highest priority. Don’t let the joy of the coming warmth catch you off guard. New boots, something sassy, and a wide brimmed cowboy hat are in order for the warmth that awaits us, and a high on style jean jacket will wrap everything up with some flair. Pine Country Feed Cowgirl Boutique is brimming with flirty skirts and blouses, belts, boots, hats and bags and of course jeans that will take you into the new season with the perfect face the world wardrobe you are craving. Get yourself out of that parka and into Pine Country. It’s time to get your cowgirl on!
After the Gauchos
Image via Wikipedia
It’s long been understood that the best cowgirl on television was Barbara Stanwyck as Victoria Barkley in The Big Valley. She was tough and wiry and could ride a horse and rope a calf with any man and still manage to keep her hair in place and her ranch hands, as well as her grown children in line. Amazingly, she managed to do it all in those hybrid skirt pants called gauchos which showed off her eighteen inch waist but allowed her to avoid the side-saddle thing. Today, thankfully, cowgirls wear jeans. The “bring in the herd, run the corporation, have dinner in the city” jeans that today’s women require, and even more thankfully, Pine Country Feed has that figured out. The jeans they carry are made for women who live real lives and want to look great doing it. Choose from Ranch Royalty, Cowgirl Tuff and True Grit to name a few – companies famous for jeans that work because they’re working jeans -whether your work is running a ranch or running the world. And coming soon, you’ll be able to order from the Pine Country boutique at Circle H Ranch, on-line, 2am, in your jamas. It’s a wonderful world!
As Legend Has It
Image via Wikipedia
The great thing about the days before video cameras and fast assimilation of information is that you could make your personal history be anything you wanted it to be, which was exactly what Calamity Jane, Wild West legend, did. Much of Jane Canary’s life as she tells it is unfounded or uncorroborated, including her romance with Wild Bill Hickok. Jane had a tremendous crush on Wild Bill and after his death made claims that he was the father of her daughter Jane, whom she had given for adoption to Mr. and Mrs. Jim O’Neill with only a couple problems. There was never any record of a baby or of an adoption, or of the O’Neills. She was a true frontier woman, however, able to shoot and hunt, and basically care for her five siblings when they were left orphaned at the death of their parents. She did everything she could to put food in their mouths, working as a dish washer, dance hall girl, a cook, a waitress, an ox team driver, a nurse and a prostitute. She claimed her nickname, Calamity Jane, came from her single handedly saving Captain Egan during a cavalry battle after which he gave her the name. There was never a record of his rescue, or the battle she claimed to be fighting in, or any record of Jane ever fighting in a battle alongside the cavalry at all. It was believed by most that her warning to men that they would come up against “calamity” if they messed with her is what actually gave her the title. Despite her penchant for exaggeration, or even outright lying, Jane was popular in western culture. Though illiterate and “imaginative” she was pretty, warm hearted and generous to a fault, and one of the west’s most industrious, hard-working characters on record.
Presidentially Speaking
Some of the most sensible beings ever to grace the White House grounds are the horses of the Presidents. When the country was just beginning, horses were the best means of transportation, and many of our presidents have been land owners, country folk, who loved a daily ride for the exercise and the chance to clear their heads. George Washington started the tradition by bringing his horses to his presidency, always white horses and always six. He kept them in gleaming condition and was even known to brush their teeth. Thomas Jefferson was said to love to ride, but he never mounted a horse before wiping its back with his handkerchief to remove any unwanted dirt. All of the presidents who rode during their time at the white house paid for their own horses and their feed, and purchased their own riding accompaniments. Ronald Reagan may have been the greatest lover of horses in modern times. He was partial to Arabians and he and wife Nancy rode at their California ranch whenever they broke away for a vacation. There is something about a leader who understands the value of a horse. Winston Churchill once said, “There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.” He was a smart man.
War Horse
The recently released film, War Horse, directed by Steven Spielberg and adapted from a children’s novel written in 1982 by Michael Morpurgo, tells the story of a horse loved and raised by a boy in England prior to and during World War I. There is always a fear in animal movies that the film will endear a creature to the audience then snatch it away in a poignant ending scene. There is a tendency in film makers and some writers to believe that children need to face the harshness of life by dealing with the death of a pet. This hopelessly shortsighted philosophy has ruined many a novel or movie over the years for those of us whose hearts are shredded most easily by the suffering of an animal. It is our pleasure however, to inform the hesitant movie going public, that though the story of the War Horse named Joey, does take the gallant creature through seemingly endless difficulties, facing the full onslaught of a devastating war, the audience is rewarded with a victorious ending, which makes it worth the price of admission. There is nothing more gratifying than beating the odds, and Joey’s story lets us beat them soundly.
