The Land of Cows

Today, Joe, Jack, and I saddled up and headed to the KT. We rode to the cows at the Eastern part of the ranch. When we got there, a small group was watering at the trough. Joe decided that we should practice our horsemanship, sorting cows out and working them to another corral. It was great! We each took turns signaling out a cow, sorting it, and walking it off. We were trying to work on the low stress handling Joe learned from Bud Williams. It was amazing to see how the slightest movements would determine if you would be successful or fail.

For instance, I had separated a cow from the herd and it was standing 20 feet out, looking to get back to the group. I was between it and the other cows. As it turned towards the gate, I moved my horse to be parallel, taking a step forward. That single step put enough pressure on the cow to send it scampering around me and back to the herd. The same thing happened once more. The third time, I asked Joe - "What should I do here? What did I do wrong the last two times?" He told me that I needed to swing the back of my horse around so I'm not stepping forward when I'm positioning myself. In doing so, I would relieve pressure from the cow and encourage it to head to the gate.

To my astonishment, it worked exactly as Joe said it would. I was incredibly impressed and now look forward to the next sorting opportunity to work out my new skills.