My connections to wild horses
I’ve lived alongside Horse Creek in southeast Wyoming for 20 years.
Horse Creek was named because of its location and accessibility to the bands of wild horses that were ranging here in the early days, according to the community history book Trails, Rails, and Travails. Published in 1988, this book commemorates the pioneer families of the LaGrange community.
Some of the pioneer stories are about my husband’s family. In this column, Alongside Horse Creek, I’ll share some of those stories, together with what is happening now on the ranch alongside Horse Creek, where God has blessed me to be a ranch wife and business woman.
Entrepreneurial spirit
Perhaps my entrepreneurial spirit and grit originated from my Great, Great Grandmother Catherine Lingelbach. She homesteaded in the Pawnee Buttes area (in the proximity of Grover and Keota, Colorado) in the 1880s with 12 of her 14 children. She left the two oldest married daughters and husband (who was a heavy drinker) behind in Ohio. She made a living by capturing wild horses in a box canyon.
Isn’t it remarkable that more than a century later, her descendant is living where wild horses once roamed alongside Horse Creek.
My sister and my mom have often talked about how God puts you where He needs you. That is how the apostle Paul described how God uses us to bring comfort to others.
“He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us,” (2 Corinthians 1:4 MSG).
That verse is the inspiration for the title of this column, Alongside Horse Creek. My hope is that these stories about history, ranching and western living will be entertaining, inspirational, and bring glory to God.
