The first story is to give the character of this young girl.
Third-Grader Commutes to School by Mule...
Newsday.com: Third-Grader Commutes to School by Mule
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Newsday.com
Third-Grader Commutes to School by Mule
By JAMES MacPHERSON
Associated Press Writer
March 16, 2005, 11:52 AM EST
BISMARCK, N.D. -- Saje Beard's half-hour commute to class is the envy of her
four classmates at a one-room schoolhouse just south of here. Most mornings, the
third-grader makes the trek on Ruth the mule.
"She's called many things, but Ruth is what we call her in public," Saje said of
the 4-year-old gray mule. "Actually, that's my dad's joke. She's really nice and
gentle. And she sure is smart."
Saje, 9, is an old hand at maneuvering mules. She's been doing it since she was
in first grade.
"I feel more safe with her riding a mule than having her ride in a car or on a
bus," said her father, Marty Beard.
At the Manning School, about 15 miles south of the North Dakota capital, Saje
"parks" Ruth by tying her with a bowline to a tree near swing sets and monkey
bars. Ruth then gets some leather hobbles attached to her front legs, a routine
Saje began after her other mule, Shirley, got loose and ran home from school
last year.
Saje's classmates, who are in kindergarten through fourth grade, help take off
Ruth's saddle and tack. It's stored in the school's cloakroom, next to
basketballs and other playground equipment.
The five children then run to the school's flagpole to recite the Pledge of
Allegiance and sing the national anthem. The mule, named Ruth, prances and kicks
up dirt as the children sing.
"It's cool," Lucas Irving, 10, said of his classmate and her mode of
transportation. "She's cool."
Saje would ride Ruth every morning, but her dad won't let her if the temperature
is below zero -- "even if she insists."
Saje proved just how much she's willing to endure on a recent trek to school in
below-freezing temperatures and strong winds.
"My cheeks are burning," she said, "but that's OK."
Saje gets up at sunup to prepare for school. She brushes Ruth and feeds her
grain, then hoists an old saddle that weighs nearly as much as she does over the
chubby mule.
"Come on Ruthie, come on mule," she says as she leads her mount to the front
yard.
Saje raises her foot above her head to reach a stirrup, pulls herself up and
swings the other leg over. She pulls down the coonskin hat her father made and
gives Ruth a gentle nudge in the ribs.
"Let's go girl," she says.
Saje has corn and sweet peas stuffed in saddlebags for Ruth's lunch, and for
treats during the school's three recesses. Her homework and a tuna fish sandwich
are in her backpack, tied to the mule.
Saje and Ruth follow a gravel road and pass dozens of horses from other farms
during the two-mile trip. Ruth is fitted with special carbide-studded shoes to
make the already sure-footed animal even more so, especially on ice.
Mules are known for protecting themselves and their riders. Marty Beard said the
mule would likely attack anyone who hassled Saje along the route.
"She would probably implant those special shoes on their forehead," he said.
The trip home always is a little faster: Ruth knows she'll have some grain
waiting, so she picks up the pace without prodding, Saje said.
Kris Beard, Saje's mother, said even some of their rural neighbors find her
daughter's mule commute unusual.
"It's not strange for us, but for other people it is quite different," she said.
"We're very fortunate to live here."
Copyright © 2005, The Associated Press
NOW THE GIRLY HUNTER AT AGE 15
Cougar News
The blog of the Cougar Rewilding Foundation
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« Panther deaths in 2010 near record
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15-year-old girl shoots cgr near Bismarck, North Dakota
Dec 28th, 2010 by CRF
http://www.bismarcktribune.com/news/local/article_74c68284-11f7-11e0-af21-001cc4c03286.html
The Bismarck Tribune
15-year-old Bismarck girl shoots mountain lion
By BRIAN GEHRING, Bismarck Tribune
Saje Beard has had a few adjustments to make this year.
It is her first year attending classes at Wachter Middle School after going to Manning School, a country school near her home 15 miles southeast of Bismarck. Many of those days, she rode to class on a mule or on horseback.
Now she is going to have to adjust to being known as an experienced mountain lion tracker and hunter.
The petite blue-eyed, blond-haired 15-year-old shot her first mountain lion Dec. 18 near her home. It was a dandy — a 122-pound male that biologists estimated to be 3 years old.
Saje said it was quite an adventure that started after a phone call from her neighbor, Billy Woodworth.
The Woodworths looked out their sliding glass door that Saturday to see the cat looking back at them from 30 feet away.
Marty Beard, Saje’s father, has hunted mountain lions, raccoons and other furbearers with his hounds for most of his life.
The dogs are treeing walkers, a type of coonhound descended from the English foxhound.
After getting the call, Saje said, she and her father gathered up the hounds and went to Woodworths’ farm about a mile away.
Mountain lion sightings in this area have been more common in recent years. The Missouri River corridor is prime habitat for the cats as they move out of the Black Hills of South Dakota.
Mountain lion season in Zone 1, which includes the Badlands, closed in November after the quota of 10 animals was reached.
The season in Zone 2, the remainder of the state, has no quota and closes March 31.
Marty Beard said it didn’t take much for the dogs to pick up on the fresh scent that Saturday.
Saje said she has been tagging along with her dad on coon hunts from when she was old enough to walk, but this was her first mountain lion hunt.
An experienced deer hunter, Saje shot her first whitetail buck last year on the last day of the season; it measured a decent 5×6.
“I think I was more excited to shoot the mountain lion,” she said. “I wanted to get him mounted instead of the buck.”
About a half hour after she and her father released the hounds, trailing them through the woods in McLean Bottoms, they knew the dogs had the mountain lion, Saje said.
“I told Saje they had him at bay on the ground,” Marty Beard said, “but by the time we got over the next hill, they had him treed.”
A treed or cornered animal can be dangerous, so there were a few details to go over before taking the shot, Marty Beard said.
If the mountain lion jumped from the tree — a big cottonwood in this case — the dogs would be on it and anything could happen.
“And this one was ready to jump,” he said.
Then things happened fast, Saje said.
“Dad told me ‘OK, don’t shoot me or the dogs,’” she recalled.
Her father then gathered up the dogs and started to tell her to cock the hammer back on the 30-30 Winchester, aim for the head and squeeze the trigger, she said. He did not get that far.
“He didn’t get most of the sentence out,” Saje said.
Anyone, most especially a 15-year-old, would be thrilled at such a hunt. Saje said she wasn’t prepared for the notoriety that came with shooting a mountain lion that weighed as much as she does.
Turns out neighboring ranchers have had problems with the cat in recent months, including a confirmed calf kill and one report from a woman out walking her dog in the Briardale area, Marty Beard said.
The day after she shot the animal, Saje said, 40 neighbors visited to see the big cat and congratulate her.|
“One lady gave me a big hug and thanked me for saving her life and one man said ‘Thank you; it’s been around here so long we’re sick of it.’”
So for a 15-year-old girl who spends her spare time team roping and shoeing horses, shooting a mountain lion ranks right up there with taking third this year at the Wrangler Team Roping Finals in Billings, Mont.
“My first thought was, ‘It’s huge,'”she said. But there was more to it than that, she said.
“Our family and the Woodworths have been hunting together down here for generations,” she said.
“Billy’s grandfather and my great-grandfather hunted together … and I actually got to shoot him (the lion) with my great-grandfather’s gun,” she said.
“That makes it even more exciting.”
Posted in Hunting, N. Dakota
NOW THE WORKING GIRL
bismarcktribune.com
Nailing the Next Stage | Gear
LIZ JOHNSON, Bismarck HiHerald
6-7 minutes
Senior Saje Beard has been around horses her entire life thanks to her father and mother. “I love the work of it and my dad taught me so much,” she said. “It is a hard job but I have gained the physical aspects needed to work now.”
Senior Saje Beard has taken over her father’s horseshoeing business as well as competing in roping competitions.
For 27 years Beard’s father ran a business that shod horses for clients surrounding Bismarck-Mandan and now Beard has taken it over along with competing in team roping events.
Beard’s business is ran mostly during the summer months when more people are riding and competing with horses.
“A lot of people don’t keep up on the maintenance of their horses’ feet during the winter months because they are not using the horses as much,” Beard said.
Traveling with her father since she could walk, Beard watched and learned the technique to shoe a horse properly.
“I just went with him everywhere and the more I went the more he taught me,” Beard said.
Her mother, Crystal Beard, has watched her daughter grow up with all of the horse aspects in her life.
“Her father really has taught her so much,” Crystal Beard said. “All of the horse stuff has come from him and she couldn’t of had a better teacher.”
Saje Beard has acquired all of her father’s clients. So during the summer she can shoe anywhere from four to five horses an hour.
“Most of the people only have around five horses for me to shoe at a time,” Saje Beard said. “There are some weeks where I have stables of horses, that have 40 horses, to do and I break those up into about three days.”
Saje Beard plans on going to college in the fall but will be keeping the business alive by shoeing as much as she is able to.
“I am not sure yet what I want to do but I am not going to quit shoeing,” she said.
Along with the business, Saje Beard also team ropes almost every weekend during the summer.
“I am really busy most of the time,” Saje Beard said. “I have to practice along with the horseshoeing. Mostly it just depends on the week and how many clients there are.”
Saje Beard has been on a horse from the time she was 9 months old. Her father would take her along on his horse and eventually she progressed competitively.
“She has done so well in the event. She doesn’t compete in the high school rodeo but does as many open events as possible,” Crystal Beard said.
Saje Beard and her family have traveled all over North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana and some in Minnesota to team rope.
“The farthest we traveled would be about 12 hours away,” Saje Beard said. “It was a big competition and we wanted to see how well we could do there.”
Having three horses to compete on and another two that are being trained, Saje Beard spends everyday working with them and making sure they stay in shape.
“My uncle has a big indoor arena near Menoken that we are able to use,” Saje Beard said. “We rope almost every night for about four to five hours.”
Competing in the jackpot ropings has come with big rewards for Saje Beard and the rest of her family.
“I won my first saddle this past year and I have a few buckles,” Saje Beard said. “My uncle puts on a muley roping every year and I won about three grand at that one.”
By competing in the team roping and in running a business Saje Beard has gained many skills that she will be able to use in the future.
“She does well in school and then she does so much with the horses,” Crystal Beard said. “I am so proud of her and all of the things she has been able to do. I worry at times because she is competing and working in a men’s field, but I know she can take care of herself.”
SHE IS NOT GRADUATED FROM COLLEGE AND I'LLHAVE TO CHECK OUT WHAT SHE IS DOING NOW TO MAKE THE NEWS.
Third-Grader Commutes to School by Mule...
Newsday.com: Third-Grader Commutes to School by Mule
News Sports Business Entertainment Photos ShoppingNY
Newsday.com
Third-Grader Commutes to School by Mule
By JAMES MacPHERSON
Associated Press Writer
March 16, 2005, 11:52 AM EST
BISMARCK, N.D. -- Saje Beard's half-hour commute to class is the envy of her
four classmates at a one-room schoolhouse just south of here. Most mornings, the
third-grader makes the trek on Ruth the mule.
"She's called many things, but Ruth is what we call her in public," Saje said of
the 4-year-old gray mule. "Actually, that's my dad's joke. She's really nice and
gentle. And she sure is smart."
Saje, 9, is an old hand at maneuvering mules. She's been doing it since she was
in first grade.
"I feel more safe with her riding a mule than having her ride in a car or on a
bus," said her father, Marty Beard.
At the Manning School, about 15 miles south of the North Dakota capital, Saje
"parks" Ruth by tying her with a bowline to a tree near swing sets and monkey
bars. Ruth then gets some leather hobbles attached to her front legs, a routine
Saje began after her other mule, Shirley, got loose and ran home from school
last year.
Saje's classmates, who are in kindergarten through fourth grade, help take off
Ruth's saddle and tack. It's stored in the school's cloakroom, next to
basketballs and other playground equipment.
The five children then run to the school's flagpole to recite the Pledge of
Allegiance and sing the national anthem. The mule, named Ruth, prances and kicks
up dirt as the children sing.
"It's cool," Lucas Irving, 10, said of his classmate and her mode of
transportation. "She's cool."
Saje would ride Ruth every morning, but her dad won't let her if the temperature
is below zero -- "even if she insists."
Saje proved just how much she's willing to endure on a recent trek to school in
below-freezing temperatures and strong winds.
"My cheeks are burning," she said, "but that's OK."
Saje gets up at sunup to prepare for school. She brushes Ruth and feeds her
grain, then hoists an old saddle that weighs nearly as much as she does over the
chubby mule.
"Come on Ruthie, come on mule," she says as she leads her mount to the front
yard.
Saje raises her foot above her head to reach a stirrup, pulls herself up and
swings the other leg over. She pulls down the coonskin hat her father made and
gives Ruth a gentle nudge in the ribs.
"Let's go girl," she says.
Saje has corn and sweet peas stuffed in saddlebags for Ruth's lunch, and for
treats during the school's three recesses. Her homework and a tuna fish sandwich
are in her backpack, tied to the mule.
Saje and Ruth follow a gravel road and pass dozens of horses from other farms
during the two-mile trip. Ruth is fitted with special carbide-studded shoes to
make the already sure-footed animal even more so, especially on ice.
Mules are known for protecting themselves and their riders. Marty Beard said the
mule would likely attack anyone who hassled Saje along the route.
"She would probably implant those special shoes on their forehead," he said.
The trip home always is a little faster: Ruth knows she'll have some grain
waiting, so she picks up the pace without prodding, Saje said.
Kris Beard, Saje's mother, said even some of their rural neighbors find her
daughter's mule commute unusual.
"It's not strange for us, but for other people it is quite different," she said.
"We're very fortunate to live here."
Copyright © 2005, The Associated Press
NOW THE GIRLY HUNTER AT AGE 15
Cougar News
The blog of the Cougar Rewilding Foundation
Feed on
Posts
Comments
« Panther deaths in 2010 near record
Nebraska: Hunter lets Pine Ridge cougar have his deer »
15-year-old girl shoots cgr near Bismarck, North Dakota
Dec 28th, 2010 by CRF
http://www.bismarcktribune.com/news/local/article_74c68284-11f7-11e0-af21-001cc4c03286.html
The Bismarck Tribune
15-year-old Bismarck girl shoots mountain lion
By BRIAN GEHRING, Bismarck Tribune
Saje Beard has had a few adjustments to make this year.
It is her first year attending classes at Wachter Middle School after going to Manning School, a country school near her home 15 miles southeast of Bismarck. Many of those days, she rode to class on a mule or on horseback.
Now she is going to have to adjust to being known as an experienced mountain lion tracker and hunter.
The petite blue-eyed, blond-haired 15-year-old shot her first mountain lion Dec. 18 near her home. It was a dandy — a 122-pound male that biologists estimated to be 3 years old.
Saje said it was quite an adventure that started after a phone call from her neighbor, Billy Woodworth.
The Woodworths looked out their sliding glass door that Saturday to see the cat looking back at them from 30 feet away.
Marty Beard, Saje’s father, has hunted mountain lions, raccoons and other furbearers with his hounds for most of his life.
The dogs are treeing walkers, a type of coonhound descended from the English foxhound.
After getting the call, Saje said, she and her father gathered up the hounds and went to Woodworths’ farm about a mile away.
Mountain lion sightings in this area have been more common in recent years. The Missouri River corridor is prime habitat for the cats as they move out of the Black Hills of South Dakota.
Mountain lion season in Zone 1, which includes the Badlands, closed in November after the quota of 10 animals was reached.
The season in Zone 2, the remainder of the state, has no quota and closes March 31.
Marty Beard said it didn’t take much for the dogs to pick up on the fresh scent that Saturday.
Saje said she has been tagging along with her dad on coon hunts from when she was old enough to walk, but this was her first mountain lion hunt.
An experienced deer hunter, Saje shot her first whitetail buck last year on the last day of the season; it measured a decent 5×6.
“I think I was more excited to shoot the mountain lion,” she said. “I wanted to get him mounted instead of the buck.”
About a half hour after she and her father released the hounds, trailing them through the woods in McLean Bottoms, they knew the dogs had the mountain lion, Saje said.
“I told Saje they had him at bay on the ground,” Marty Beard said, “but by the time we got over the next hill, they had him treed.”
A treed or cornered animal can be dangerous, so there were a few details to go over before taking the shot, Marty Beard said.
If the mountain lion jumped from the tree — a big cottonwood in this case — the dogs would be on it and anything could happen.
“And this one was ready to jump,” he said.
Then things happened fast, Saje said.
“Dad told me ‘OK, don’t shoot me or the dogs,’” she recalled.
Her father then gathered up the dogs and started to tell her to cock the hammer back on the 30-30 Winchester, aim for the head and squeeze the trigger, she said. He did not get that far.
“He didn’t get most of the sentence out,” Saje said.
Anyone, most especially a 15-year-old, would be thrilled at such a hunt. Saje said she wasn’t prepared for the notoriety that came with shooting a mountain lion that weighed as much as she does.
Turns out neighboring ranchers have had problems with the cat in recent months, including a confirmed calf kill and one report from a woman out walking her dog in the Briardale area, Marty Beard said.
The day after she shot the animal, Saje said, 40 neighbors visited to see the big cat and congratulate her.|
“One lady gave me a big hug and thanked me for saving her life and one man said ‘Thank you; it’s been around here so long we’re sick of it.’”
So for a 15-year-old girl who spends her spare time team roping and shoeing horses, shooting a mountain lion ranks right up there with taking third this year at the Wrangler Team Roping Finals in Billings, Mont.
“My first thought was, ‘It’s huge,'”she said. But there was more to it than that, she said.
“Our family and the Woodworths have been hunting together down here for generations,” she said.
“Billy’s grandfather and my great-grandfather hunted together … and I actually got to shoot him (the lion) with my great-grandfather’s gun,” she said.
“That makes it even more exciting.”
Posted in Hunting, N. Dakota
NOW THE WORKING GIRL
bismarcktribune.com
Nailing the Next Stage | Gear
LIZ JOHNSON, Bismarck HiHerald
6-7 minutes
Senior Saje Beard has been around horses her entire life thanks to her father and mother. “I love the work of it and my dad taught me so much,” she said. “It is a hard job but I have gained the physical aspects needed to work now.”
Senior Saje Beard has taken over her father’s horseshoeing business as well as competing in roping competitions.
For 27 years Beard’s father ran a business that shod horses for clients surrounding Bismarck-Mandan and now Beard has taken it over along with competing in team roping events.
Beard’s business is ran mostly during the summer months when more people are riding and competing with horses.
“A lot of people don’t keep up on the maintenance of their horses’ feet during the winter months because they are not using the horses as much,” Beard said.
Traveling with her father since she could walk, Beard watched and learned the technique to shoe a horse properly.
“I just went with him everywhere and the more I went the more he taught me,” Beard said.
Her mother, Crystal Beard, has watched her daughter grow up with all of the horse aspects in her life.
“Her father really has taught her so much,” Crystal Beard said. “All of the horse stuff has come from him and she couldn’t of had a better teacher.”
Saje Beard has acquired all of her father’s clients. So during the summer she can shoe anywhere from four to five horses an hour.
“Most of the people only have around five horses for me to shoe at a time,” Saje Beard said. “There are some weeks where I have stables of horses, that have 40 horses, to do and I break those up into about three days.”
Saje Beard plans on going to college in the fall but will be keeping the business alive by shoeing as much as she is able to.
“I am not sure yet what I want to do but I am not going to quit shoeing,” she said.
Along with the business, Saje Beard also team ropes almost every weekend during the summer.
“I am really busy most of the time,” Saje Beard said. “I have to practice along with the horseshoeing. Mostly it just depends on the week and how many clients there are.”
Saje Beard has been on a horse from the time she was 9 months old. Her father would take her along on his horse and eventually she progressed competitively.
“She has done so well in the event. She doesn’t compete in the high school rodeo but does as many open events as possible,” Crystal Beard said.
Saje Beard and her family have traveled all over North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana and some in Minnesota to team rope.
“The farthest we traveled would be about 12 hours away,” Saje Beard said. “It was a big competition and we wanted to see how well we could do there.”
Having three horses to compete on and another two that are being trained, Saje Beard spends everyday working with them and making sure they stay in shape.
“My uncle has a big indoor arena near Menoken that we are able to use,” Saje Beard said. “We rope almost every night for about four to five hours.”
Competing in the jackpot ropings has come with big rewards for Saje Beard and the rest of her family.
“I won my first saddle this past year and I have a few buckles,” Saje Beard said. “My uncle puts on a muley roping every year and I won about three grand at that one.”
By competing in the team roping and in running a business Saje Beard has gained many skills that she will be able to use in the future.
“She does well in school and then she does so much with the horses,” Crystal Beard said. “I am so proud of her and all of the things she has been able to do. I worry at times because she is competing and working in a men’s field, but I know she can take care of herself.”
SHE IS NOT GRADUATED FROM COLLEGE AND I'LLHAVE TO CHECK OUT WHAT SHE IS DOING NOW TO MAKE THE NEWS.
