Ranch Wives

The real housewives of the western world. There is a fascinating world of ranch wives on “The Gram”. I follow several of them. I love how they promote and uplift each other, encourage and support their husbands, and show off their funky Western styles. A lot of them even have their accounts set up so you can shop their Instagram. With links posted to literally everything they buy. From their bedding to their kiddo’s clothes you can just click and place an order. I am assuming they get a small portion of the sale or some other incentive. It’s genius and a great idea to look into. Although it’s fun to follow them and I do love their babes supporting babes attitude. There is still a glaring downside I see to this. Social media is a fun and useful tool, but I also like my feet firmly set in reality. Most of these ranch wives portray a very glamourous side of ranching that isn’t realistic to those of us that actually do all the hard work. While you can find me outside with make-up and a messy bun tending to cattle. You will probably never find me out in $200 jeans, a suede fringe duster, dripping in turquoise stones with perfectly curled hair and a manicure. I save my nice clothes for a date night or an event. I also don’t have someone out working with me (or my husband for that matter) to take a gorgeous picture of me throwing hay from a flatbed pickup in the perfect light of sunset. If anything, I have a Ranch Husband who comes out looking hunky to help me feed cows, fix some fence, check the water or work on some equipment. That help happens after a 10-hour shift, plus a 4-hour commute or if he happens to be on a job site that allows them to have the weekends off. Side note is there anything sexier than a hardworking man? The thing that needs to be recognized is that most of these Ranch wives have married into large operation ranches with employees, have a smaller hobby style ranch that is for the love of the lifestyle, or they have a career that provides the benefits and second income needed so that their husband can live out his dream to ranch. All of these are a respectable, healthy and happy ways to live your life. I’m going to keep following them, liking their posts and loving their style. It just needs to be acknowledged that even on the best day a real rancher would be covered in dirt, shit, blood, mud, hay, grease, medications or a fun combo of them all. We drag our tired sweaty bodies in to change out of our work clothes, wash our hands and try to have some quality time with our family before we must run out the door to do the next chore. I clean up nice and I love all things luxurious. Trust me I have a very feminine side. But I can usually work just as hard as any man that I come across and sometimes I might smell just like him too….