Laura and Tanner Rowe along with their three young children raise beef cattle, row crops and horses at their family farm in central Iowa.   On the early summer evening that I visited the Rowe Farm, where Laura had just gotten home from her full-time off the farm job where she works for a large agribusiness.  On the agenda that evening was feeding the horses and a bottle calf, followed by a riding lesson.  Laura grew up riding horses and is passing that love of riding down to her children, Cecilia (8), Benton (7), and Adeline (5).   

When I first arrived, before the photographing started, I had the pleasure of having the three kids show me the treehouse their dad was working on for them.  The excitement in their faces was catching and I couldn’t wait to see what these lively kids had in store for the rest of the evening.  Next, I followed and photographed as Laura and the girls made their way to the barn and the girls mixed up the feed for their horses.  We then walked down through the pasture to find the horses and gather them up for the girls evening riding lesson. 

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Along the way we took a walk past the cattle and back up to the house so Laura and the girls could mix a bottle of formula for one of their bottle calves.  After the calf was fed, it was time for the riding lessons.  At the start of the lesson the entire family worked to prepare the horses - from brushing to saddling them, the kids did it all alongside their parents. 
 
The girls then led their horses to a pasture with a fenced off area for a riding arena.  Adeline, 5 worked on walking her horse around the ring before getting on for a ride.  Cecilia, 8 worked outside of the ring with her mother carefully watching and guiding her daughter in the lesson. Being on the Rowe family's farm on what seemed to be a perfect summer night was a once in a lifetime chance for me.  It was the chance to watch a mother pass a love of hers down to her daughters.  The Rowe farm consists of love for agriculture, country life, horses and family.

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