Redneck Games

I try not to get too cowgirly -- I hate it when people think I automatically LOVE country music and cowboys just 'cause I'm a horse person --- but sometimes the , uhhh.... agriculturally-inclined people have it right. It's a little embrassing to admit, but I've been having lots of fun this winter COW-SORTING!!

You work in pairs, one partner blocks the gate while the other partner cuts the cow from the herd. Each cow wears a number unless it's the "dirty" cow, meaning that you don't want that cow to go to the other side of the pen. You get the number of the cow as you enter the arena, then you work your way up the numbers until you run out of time. Each time you get a cow to the correct side of the pen, you trade places with your partner so that your horse has to cut cows but also block the gate from cows drifting back and forth. People do keep your score, but I've just been going to have fun that I've never paid attention to how I've been ranking.

Sweet P. LOVES to cow-sort. This last time she actually pushed the cows for me -- I just had to show her which cow we were "chasing", and she moved it to the other end by herself. I put my reins down and just hung on. She even reached out and bit two cows on the rears if they didn't move fast enough for her. Finally -- a sport where her pushy, dominant-mare attitude is a benefit! We have found her true calling! :)

The first video is with a fellow boarder at the barn I'm at, and the second video is taken with one of my students and her horse Bill.

Who's going with me next??