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Steamboat Springs — Cowgirl Adventures was created for women like Esther Lidstrom.

The New York native had just bought a house in Colorado when she found the Northwest Colorado business that allowed her to realize a long-held dream.

"Since I was a real little girl, I wanted to be a cowgirl," Lidstrom said. "That was it. Very simple."

Christy Cramer and Sheila Davis gave her the chance during their first Cowgirl Adventures in 2008. The two built their business to help women improve their horse skills during an authentic Western experience. The program is perfect for those who have Lidstrom's dream, Davis said.

Women often share a special bond with horses, she said.

"Even little girls, they fall in love with horses before they fall in love with men," Davis said.

Cramer and Davis met during the Sombrero Ranch horse drive in 2007. They went to lunch at Tequila's and got to talking about an adventure business and scribbling down notes.

"It all started on a napkin," Davis said with a laugh.

Cramer teaches horseback riding at Circle C Ranch near Boulder. Davis works at Yampa Valley Electric Association in Craig during the week and works at the Sombrero stables at Howelsen Hill on weekends. The two have set up three rides, one in Craig after the horse drive, one at Browns Park and one at Williams Fork. Women of all skill levels can participate.

Davis' mother, Gail Ogden, cooks meals for the group. The women have a steak fry one night, where they tell stories and learn about one another, she said.

"It enriches your life more and more," Ogden said. "It really does."

Interest has been steady, Davis said, and they've gotten business mostly through word of mouth. Cowgirl Adventures has paid for itself, she said.

Cramer and Davis have had women come in for the Craig event in 2008 and 2009 but haven't done the other two yet. They can accommodate six women per event. At Big Gulch Ranch in Craig, one of the Sombrero Ranches, the women work horses after the drive in May. They ride alongside cowboys and cowgirls

and experience a rustic ranch.

"The way the women arrive for the trip, their hair is all done and their makeup is on. : By the time they finish, I don't think they've brushed their hair, and they're just so relaxed," Cramer said.

The women go to a working ranch, and they work. They saddle and care for their own horses and go on long rides across the ranch.

It's amazing for the women to experience sprawling ranch country, Cramer said.

"Just being with the horses on a 20,000-acre ranch where there's no buildings and your phone doesn't work and nobody needs you, it's such a treat," she said.

Lidstrom said she was pleased to get down to work with the horses.

"We were busy the entire time," she said. "So we would get up in the morning, and off we'd go, and we'd be back and forth for meals and stuff like that, so there was never a time when you didn't have something enjoyable to do. You're always occupied."

The women get the opportunity to bond with each other and with their horses. Lidstrom rode "a beautiful little palomino" named Oliver.

"I think of him, and I look at his picture, and I'm hoping that I get to see him again," she said.

Lidstrom, an artist, has always loved painting animals. She moved to Golden to be closer to horses. She found Cowgirl Adventures when she came out to look for the horse drive in Northwest Colorado.

She remembers a moment when she was working horses in the corral.

"I was so happy when I was doing that, and I told the gals afterward, you know, the thought came into my head of standing in my grandma's kitchen when I was 6 years old, and she said, 'What do you want to do when you grow up?' and I said, 'Grandma, I want to be a cowgirl,'" Lidstrom said.

She said she felt her grandmother watching her.

Other women have had hit emotional milestones during Cowgirl Adventures, Davis said. The experience shows them what they can accomplish and leaves them with a sense of confidence.

That's part of what Lidstrom walked away with.

"It was like I finally did it; I'm finally here," she said. "You want something bad enough, you just live what you have to do to do it, and that was a great sense of satisfaction to me. : It was like I'm doing the right thing."