Alderspring Ranch is a wheat-free zone. Most of us in our family of nine are gluten-intolerant, and so we have a completely wheat-free kitchen. We really don’t miss wheat much anymore. Our 11-year-old daughter has risen to the challenge of recreating the snacks and desserts we used to make with wheat. She is very intense […]
Breaking the Wild Cayuses
A while ago, one of our friends got engaged. Since she was going to be married, she could no longer keep her two horses. They were both Arabians, although only the mare had official papers. The mare was seventeen and cute, with a coat that was long and soft even during the summer. She […]
My Horse April
This is the story of my beloved horse, April. I will tell the tale as I remember it. I was eight years old when our neighbor’s son came to sell us two horses: Shippie and April. I think it was even my eighth birthday, and I had just received a horse blanket. Dad tried her […]
Team Challenge
On the ranch, we own two Suffolk Punch draft horses, by the names of Red and Snap. Basically, they are our volunteer fence-knocking down crew. This, because of immense size and weight (they could cut back a little), is easy for them, and more than one of our vehicles have marks from one of those horses […]
Riding for the Brand
I’m the oldest of seven sisters in Idaho. We all ride for Glenn Elzinga, our dad and boss on a 1700 acre ranch in “the middle of nowhere”. We fall a bit short of the old time cowboys riding for a big outfit, getting meager pay. Really, most of what we do is little stuff, […]
Low Stress Calf Weaning
Weaning is a time of extreme stress for both dam and calf. In most commercial operations, calves are completely separated from dams. Often placed directly on a truck to a feedlot or into “backgrounding” pens, they are then conditioned to eat from a feed bunker and water trough. Unfamiliar feed, the stress of weaning, and […]