Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Thanks for the information!  Fascinating, I had no idea so much was involved regarding keeping their leads correct, etc..

I have no idea how my horse will react.  We've run into lots of cows on the trail and she's a bit hesitant at first, but once I start yelling and waving my arms a little light bulb goes off,  "Oh yeah I'm the boss of them!" and she'll go after them with her ears pinned.  She's a bottom of the totem pole kind of horse but she seems to think she's the boss of all species other than horses (dogs, chickens, haha!)

Julienne



Robert R <boxrnr@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

The cow work involved with working cow horse is pretty interesting.  You are in the ring with a cow.  First off, you have to keep it from moving for so long.  Then, you have to move it down the wall a certain distance and stop it, turn it around and move it back.  Then, you have to move it off the wall in a straightish line across the arena.  The biggest trick is staying on the correct lead.  The lead at the canter needs to be the forefoot away from the cow and when you are moving it away from the rail, you have to weave back and forth behind it and come up alongside it to keep it in a straight line so you need a horse that does flying lead changes pretty well.  The horses figure out pretty quickly to change on their own based on where the cow is but it does take some time and experience.  Working cow horse classes also have a reining pattern you do separate from the cow work that doesn't include a cow.  I've never done any cutting.  A good introduction to working cows can be had at barns that have team sorting or penning.  It is a blast and you can get your horse used to moving cows.  My QH mare is a very cowy horse and she is excellent at sorting and penning and would be great at the cow part of working cow horse but she is not built to be able to even do a passable job at reining (she should have been owned by a roper because I think she could stop a Mac truck).  You will have a blast, especially if your mare is bossy like mine.  She was timid around the cows at first until she learned that she got to push them around and make them do stuff and now she gets really excited at the sight of cows.

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