Team penning practice

I wasn't sure what this was going to involve. They have a herd of long horn cattle for this, which i had seen on the wagon ride. We all got on our horses. This time, I was on Comet, a chestnut gelding. There was a small pen on the middle side of the ring. Our job was to move the 6 cows into the pen.

Herding cows is way harder! The group was supposed to work together. One person pushed the cattle from behind, and the others blocked them from going back. In this group, I was the only experienced riders, and the rest were having challenges with their horses and confidence. The horns on the cows were intimidating, but i figured they wouldn't put us in danger.

I mostly pushed, cutting back and forth pretty fast. It was a blast! My horse did a great job. Some folks were complaining about their horses not being as good as mine. I didn't tell them that it's usually the horse knows they have a good rider and behave appropriately.

They added more cattle, and we had to separate them out. Everyone was getting the hand of the teamwork needed. At the end, I asked the wranglers if I could do a lope around the ring. They said yes, and I made 2 loops each way, then a walk around. Yay!

This was by far the most fun thing!Read more