Pushin' Cattle

On the 5th of April we had the opportunity to head 18 miles up the road to help bring in 200 head of cattle down from their winter pasture. It was very exciting, but very nerve wracking. Since I was the only there who had NO idea what I was doing, my only goal was to stay out of every ones way. All of the base staff have at one time or another taken on ‘pushing jobs’ for the extra income and also to help build relationships with the community. Also many of them were raised on ranches or farms, so they have tons of experience and as a result take their job seriously.
It was a gorgeous day cold but not windy so it wasn’t freezing. We had to be up and out the door by 7am which was FUN as you know I am such a morning person. But it was a beautiful sunrise!
After unloading, Jo and Danielle took off after the strays and while the rest of us started to push the cattle down the pasture towards the road, it was slow going at first but once we got them moving they moved at a steady pace. Until we came to a bridge. Cows don’t like anything that makes weird noises, and since bridges make their hooves sound hollow they came to a complete standstill. We had to holler at the cows and then crack the reins on ground, normally this is a long process, but we cheated and had hay dropped in front of them to encourage them. It still took a long while, with the cattle pushing each other and then falling and skidding on the bridge. The trick is to get them to go across semi -calmly, so that they wouldn’t take off over the side of the bridge…which was a long ways down. It’s like making 200 three year olds go in the same direction for 18miles….they get distracted very easily. After we crossed the bridges it was easy going though and Laura said it was the most uneventful ride she had ever had.
It was a beautiful ride; the biggest problem I had was my lack of experience. Gloria, my ride, is a cowhorse. Since she is experienced with pushing cattle and cutting (that separating the younglings from the herd) she thought that the person riding her would know what she was doing….hahah. So we had a discussion the ENTIRE time. Every time she would see something wrong with the herd she would want to take off, literally galloping across the prairie, I would have to firmly rein her in, and then she would give me attitude because she was stuck with “an old lady”. I swear she rolled her eyes at me more than once. But we learned…I mean I learned, horses are much smarter then we give them credit for a lot of the time, and when in doubt, just hang on!