Who Would of Thunk It???

Oh my goodness!!! We had an absolute blast yesterday!!! So the official theme of the clinic was "Cow Rating," as taught by Gail Wilinson, a professional cutting horse trainer. It was actually all about how to rate, pick, and sort your cattle, and then how to hold them, and move them down to the awaiting pen (basically it was team penning), and not about cutting cattle, so we actually all did pretty well. I will apologize ahead of time to those of you who are familiar with team penning/cattle sorting, and to those of you who are not, because I do not remember the correct terminology for any of the things that we did, except for what a sweeper, wing person, and hole person are. I also am sad to say that I was unable to get any pictures, because we all three had to compete as a team, so I couldn't very well say "Hold it right there! I need to get a shot of this!" LOL!!! I did just get an e-mail from the owner of the barn, that said that there was a photographer there taking pictures (I had no idea!) and that they will post them on their site as soon as they are available, so stay tuned.

(Picture of Bo last August) "Cow horse? I ain't no stinking cow horse!!! I am a purebred Arabian, Mel!!! Since when do I chase cows around!!"

Let me start off by talking about Bo Bo. This was his first time being around cattle, other than the time that he and Amber chased two cows back down a trail and into their pasture, about eight years ago. While he did really well, it was not because he paid attention to the cattle and what they were doing, it was only because he is so well trained, and was able to move off of my legs telling him where to go. In other words, Bo is definitely not "cowey," but I think that he will learn what it is that I expect him to do, without me having to ask so much, because he is smart. This being said, his strong point was not being the horse that went in and picked out the three steers...he did better at holding the line, or keeping the herd at bay, and holding the cattle that we had sorted out until it was time to move them to the pen. So, for future penning competitions/clinics, Bo and I will be the sweeper (the horse that helps push the cattle down the arena and towards the wing person/pen) and the holder.

(Kristina and China last September at the Trail Challenge) "Aren't we just too cute???!! Don't worry out there, we've got your back!"
Next we had Kristina and China, (we were really not worried about China's performance because she is a Paint), and she definitely lived up to her breeds heritage. Like I said, it was hard to watch each other out there, because we were all working as a team, but Kristina and China just got right in there and moved those steers! China was not timid at all, and she proved herself, under Kristina's guidance of course, to definitely fit in to the "cowey" category. Kristina and China seemed to be the best at sorting the cattle and then helping to move them down the arena, and also at taking up the wing position (the horse to the right of the pen, who keeps the cattle from slipping between the pen and an open space, and dashing back to their herd), or the hole position (the horse to the left of the pen, that effectively blocks that cattle from slipping between the wall and the pen, and running back to the herd. This horse and rider work alone, without the help of the other two horses/riders ,until it is time to run the cattle into the pen).

(Waska last July) "This is really dumb! Now lets go chase us some steers!!!"Lastly, and the most surprising of all, we had Amber and Waska, who had only been around cattle one other time. Honestly, we weren't expecting great things from Waska, because he is 1/2 Arab and 1/2 Saddlebred, and I don't know about you, but we have never heard of either of those breeds being "cowey." So...you can imagine our great surprise, when he and Amber approached the herd of 14 steers, and Waska dropped his head down, pinned his ears back, and started cutting them! Totally unbelievable!!! Gail even came up to Amber, not once, but twice, and said that she needed to get him around cattle, because "she had herself a really cowey little gelding there." Obviously then, Waska and Amber proved that they were capable of doing any of the positions that were asked of them, either sorter, holder, sweeper etc...

In retrospect, team penning/cattle sorting definitely works better if you have a horse that knows, or likes what it is doing, but the riders skill level, as well as the difficulty or ease of the cattle that you have to sort, is really what makes up a good team. We will definitely be doing this again!!! Oh...and just so you know, whoever came up with the one and a half minute time limit sucks...lol!!! I think that you should have at least three minutes...one minute per cow!!

Also, for those of you who are wondering how many times we were able to sort/pen, it was twice without cattle, and three times with the cattle.

Again...sorry that there are no pictures, but I will see if I can get some off of the farm's website once they are up.

Have a great Monday! I am off to write up yet another paper proposal, and to go check out a library book on team penning/cattle sorting...lol!!!