Working Partners

Thirsty Soul surveying a group of yearling cattle to be worked on Thursday.

Tuesday through Friday of this past week represented one of the first really big cattle working weeks of the spring season. 

Dale assisted a large ranch north of us with working (vaccinating and deworming) yearlings they were moving to summer pasture.  They worked them in groups of 250 to 300 and by the end of the week had moved a few thousand head.  Dale used Spike on Tuesday, Al on Wednesday, Thirsty Soul and Fist Pump on Thursday and Some Touch on Friday.

Special Al.

The long days of cattle work that make up the spring and the fall are one of the key cornerstones in our program.  Horses are asked to work long 10-14 hour days in conditions that test their physical and mental stamina. They must contend with varied working conditions from 1000 acre prairie pastures you can't see the end of to the heavy brush and pine trees of the foothills of the Black Hills.  They must deal with new horses, working dogs, trucks and trailers, 4-wheelers and ornery cattle of every description.  Horses rarely work at speed but instead must learn to conserve their energy for the hours of walking and trotting and waiting that it takes to get the work done.

Thirsty Soul

Dale will tell anyone that his goal for a horse is to have a "working partner that will do any job I ask of him and do it happily".  We have found that having a horse, especially an ex-racehorse, to get truly tired while doing an interesting day's work teaches them many things:

-They learn to conserve energy. Prancing and jigging and acting like a fool the first 2 hours of a ride come back to haunt you on hour twelve.  Working steadily from start to finish is much easier on everyone.  Horses also learn that when you get to stand still, it is important to completely relax and take full advantage of it.  Our horses know how to chill out and cock a leg even with total chaos surrounding them--it's much more important to rest than worry!

Some Touch and Dale.  Lots of miles in rough country teaches the importance of energy conservation.

-On that note, they also learn what is and what isn't worth worrying about.  Some Touch showed a huge fear of semis his first ride off the ranch two weeks ago.  He spun and whirled, desperately wanting to run away from them.  On Friday, he encountered semi trucks again--only this time it was 6 hours into a 12 hour day.  He started to get worried and then looked around and thought better of it.  He knew he needed his energy for other things.

Crow Creek aka Spike.

-They learn patience.  Cattle work tends to be a lot of "hurry and wait".  You move cattle in from a pasture and then you need to get them worked through the chute.  They might be chasing down an errant calf one minute and asked to stand still for 15 minutes while that calf is branded.

Dale estimate that he and Special Al opened and closed 150+ gates on Wednesday.  You can't teach that kind of patience anywhere else!

-They learn to pay attention.  A horse that has had to run down it's 10th runaway yearling soon learns to watch for signs on its own. It goes back to conserving energy. Horses are smart-they know if they can stop that calf before it gets a head of steam running off, they don't have to work so hard. And so they learn to pay attention to the job and really start thinking about how to make things work better.

Fist Pump

 -They learn to REALLY love to load in a horse trailer!  Some Touch did just that on Friday.  He and Dale had been trailing the newly worked herds to new pastures 6 miles away and then the truck and trailer would pick them up in the middle of the pasture to bring them back to the corrals. By the third herd (and 18 miles), Some Touch positively loved the sight of that trailer and practically went flying in!

Crow Creek, aka Spike, getting some TLC after a long day.

-They learn to be a partner.  Ranch horses aren't just something we ride, they are our working partners, helping us do a job that we simply could not do without them. That creates a different attitude between horse and rider.  We need them and they seem to understand that. Time and time again, they rise to the occasion and get the job done-even in the toughest of conditions.  They learn to think ahead and anticipate our needs. They try so hard to do the job right and you can't help but love them all the more for that.

And at the end of the day, they put their head in your chest and we say thank you--not just to a friend and riding companion, but to a workmate, a helper and an equal partner in the job.

Some Touch and Dale saying thank you.