To The Punchy Gals

Cowgirl Poetry By Madeline

To The Punchy Gals:

I see you working as hard as those men.

I see your felt hats with pretty feathers and vibrant hat bands.

I see your flashy wild rags and pin stripe shirts.

I see how mad it makes you when the men underestimate your abilities around cattle and horses.

I see your try and grit every time you hop onto a fresh colt or go into a group of mean momma cows.

I see you working 10 times harder for the same validation that a man gets.

I see you putting in the hours and the work when nobody is watching.

I see you solving problems when others are causing them.

I see you pull a calf and nurse it back to health with so much grace and care.

I see you push yourself past breaking nearly every day to get the job done.

But what I don’t see is a desire to give up.

You keep going no matter what anybody says.

When people mouth off to you about your abilities it only makes you push harder and prove them wrong.

You are just as handy as the men in the branding pen.

Your horsemanship is impeccable and the fire in your heart is roaring.

You have so much passion, so much ambition to get the job done.

You don’t leave a task half completed, you only go home or take a break once it’s finished.

I know this because I am one of you punchy gals.

I know what it’s like to be underestimated because I’m a girl.

I know what it’s like to have the boys in the branding pen laugh at you and talk behind your back, while it takes five of them to flank a calf and it still gets right up.

I see you punchy gal, keep on pushin.

You’ll surpass those boys quicker than you know and become the handiest of them soon.

You can do it punchy gal,

Shoot for the moon.