Wild at Heart

TABATHA ZIMIGA IS RAISING THREE KIDS, RUNNING A 1,200-ACRE HORSE RANCH, MENTORING THOSE IN NEED AND PLAYING HERSELF ON THE BIG SCREEN

- SAM GILLETTE

There were countless times earlier in her ranching career when Tabatha Zimiga would walk into a livestock sale and draw stares from the men around her—at her blonde hair or the skull and flower tattoos covering her neck and arms. “They’d see me and think, ‘She can’t ride a horse,’ ” recalls Zimiga, who has been running the 1,200-acre Flyin’ N ranch outside Interior, S.Dak., since her fiancé’s death six years ago. “Now,” says the 37-year-old mom of three, “everybody knows who I am.” It was that reputation that drew filmmaker Kate Beecroft to Zimiga’s door around 2020, after an acquaintance told her, “If you want a story, go to exit 127.” When they met, Zimiga had one question: “You want to see some cowgirl s---?”

Her spirit—frank, fearless and unapologetic—inspired Beecroft’s movie East of Wall, in which Zimiga plays herself alongside daughter Porshia, 18, and actors like Jennifer Ehle and Scoot McNairy. A blend of fiction and biography,