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glenatronDear diary, today I stayed on my horse...
Today's job was to pack our horses into the floats, drive over to a ranch a few miles away, and help them separate out 20 pairs of cattle ( meaning twenty cows and their calves ) and move them to some other pasture. The job involved collecting the cows from the pasture, bringing them in to a corner, then keeping them there while the pairs were sorted and guided in to another pasture.
I was back with Chewie, who is pretty much their ideal babysitter horse. That worked well enough for me and pretty well for him now I have realised how much rein I need to give these horses, which is basically all of it, using my weight and just taking the rein a little with one hand to steer or stop. We did a long circuit to move around the cattle and then made a wide line and swept them back over to the area where we would be sorting them.
Having got them to the right place, it was our job to keep them there while a few people changed horses ( the more experienced riders had a couple of colts to get them used to working with cattle ) and while the pairs were chosen and separated out and moved on.
This took a few hours, and although I let a couple of cows past - I think I was the only one that did but I was also covering the fence and there were a few bits where they could sneak through the brush if I didn't get them in time so I don't feel too bad. Mostly we did a reasonable job, especially once we'd got a bit better at seeing what the cows were going to do next. I say "we" - I'm sure Chewie was well aware.
It took until mid-afternoon to sort all the cows- we all got to take a turn at choosing and cutting out the pairs, with Jennifer's help, which we actually did pretty well. Chewie just wanted to chase cows, but we managed to keep things calm and just move the pairs out very slowly and without much stress. It's interesting because moving cows, a bit like working with a horse at liberty, is all about controlling space and angles - finding the balance point that dictates whether the cow will turn or move off and staying out of ( or moving into ) the cow's flight zone to control the movement.
When we got back, they needed to doctor a steer here so Martin took Chewie and with Jennifer and Jake and Pierre, the other two students who have been around for the last month, they roped the cow and set it up so Martin could administer the medication then released it. It was really interesting to see Chewie doing his job properly.
We finished the day on the ground getting started with our roping. I purchased myself a cheap lariat from the little tack store they keep on site and we went off to develop our basic skills. The work I put in at home on building a loop and handling the rope generally paid off because we were all able to work on our swing to start with and after some correction from Martin I was finding I could put the rope over an object on the floor and soon over a roping dummy. Admittedly it was quite nearby but once I started throwing for it I caught it more times than I didn't. I would have had a great average hit rate but I couldn't get it right from one angle- should have quit while I was ahead.
Today was really relaxed compared with yesterday and it has really helped to get me feeling a bit more confident and,in spite of my cow-missing antics, less like a total numpty. We are all inexplicably sleepy given that most of our day consisted in sitting around looking at cows.
Today's job was to pack our horses into the floats, drive over to a ranch a few miles away, and help them separate out 20 pairs of cattle ( meaning twenty cows and their calves ) and move them to some other pasture. The job involved collecting the cows from the pasture, bringing them in to a corner, then keeping them there while the pairs were sorted and guided in to another pasture.
I was back with Chewie, who is pretty much their ideal babysitter horse. That worked well enough for me and pretty well for him now I have realised how much rein I need to give these horses, which is basically all of it, using my weight and just taking the rein a little with one hand to steer or stop. We did a long circuit to move around the cattle and then made a wide line and swept them back over to the area where we would be sorting them.
Having got them to the right place, it was our job to keep them there while a few people changed horses ( the more experienced riders had a couple of colts to get them used to working with cattle ) and while the pairs were chosen and separated out and moved on.
This took a few hours, and although I let a couple of cows past - I think I was the only one that did but I was also covering the fence and there were a few bits where they could sneak through the brush if I didn't get them in time so I don't feel too bad. Mostly we did a reasonable job, especially once we'd got a bit better at seeing what the cows were going to do next. I say "we" - I'm sure Chewie was well aware.
It took until mid-afternoon to sort all the cows- we all got to take a turn at choosing and cutting out the pairs, with Jennifer's help, which we actually did pretty well. Chewie just wanted to chase cows, but we managed to keep things calm and just move the pairs out very slowly and without much stress. It's interesting because moving cows, a bit like working with a horse at liberty, is all about controlling space and angles - finding the balance point that dictates whether the cow will turn or move off and staying out of ( or moving into ) the cow's flight zone to control the movement.
When we got back, they needed to doctor a steer here so Martin took Chewie and with Jennifer and Jake and Pierre, the other two students who have been around for the last month, they roped the cow and set it up so Martin could administer the medication then released it. It was really interesting to see Chewie doing his job properly.
We finished the day on the ground getting started with our roping. I purchased myself a cheap lariat from the little tack store they keep on site and we went off to develop our basic skills. The work I put in at home on building a loop and handling the rope generally paid off because we were all able to work on our swing to start with and after some correction from Martin I was finding I could put the rope over an object on the floor and soon over a roping dummy. Admittedly it was quite nearby but once I started throwing for it I caught it more times than I didn't. I would have had a great average hit rate but I couldn't get it right from one angle- should have quit while I was ahead.
Today was really relaxed compared with yesterday and it has really helped to get me feeling a bit more confident and,in spite of my cow-missing antics, less like a total numpty. We are all inexplicably sleepy given that most of our day consisted in sitting around looking at cows.
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Date: 5 Feb 2009 15:50 (UTC)DAMN!
- Crump