Cow Working with my Quarter Horse

[smaggi]

I'm so excited! Next weekend I'm signed up for a cow working clinic with Joe Wolter. When he was young he used to work for Ray Hunt and spent a lot of time with Bill Dorrance. I have a Ranch Roping video with him and he is really great. He is known for his gentle demeanor with both people and horses. I will try my best to get someone to take some pictures.

http://www.joewolter.com/framework/about.php

I am going to use one of my Quarter Horses, Cisco.

[Keket]

That's so exciting, smaggi! I love your Quarter Horses! Cisco is such a cutie!

I'd love to do cow work with Coquette, my Quarter Horse. It's bred into her. Of course, a lot of Quarter Horses are just naturally cowy.

[smaggi]

That's so exciting, smaggi! I love your Quarter Horses! Cisco is such a cutie!

I'd love to do cow work with Coquette, my Quarter Horse. It's bred into her. Of course, a lot of Quarter Horses are just naturally cowy.

Yes, although not every Quarter Horse is bred and trained for cow work, there are a lot of them that are very cowy.

[Keket]

It's too bad you're so far from me, smaggi. It would be great to have a big Quarter Horse meet-up!

[KateWooten]

there are a lot of them that are very cowy.

you know I barely ride western ever, if I can help it, pure dressage and jumping, and being very english, I've never taken a horse anywhere near a cow. But .... whenever I'm out on my little grey pony, if we come across cows .. he just can't take his eyes off the, All alert and bug-eyed - not snorty or scared, just mesmerised - I really think he'd just jump into the field with them and start sorting and cutting them if he could !

[smaggi]

Are you talking about your Quarter Horse, Kate?

[KateWooten]

Yeah - joePony - he's half Quarter Horse, and I think it must be genetic, because it's certainly nothing I've done, and I've had him since a young'un. Seems like Quarter Horses are naturally inquisitive when it comes to all things cow !

[Kalypso]

Yes, she's talking about JoePony, her half Quarter Horse!

Your cow-working seminar thingy sounds fantastic! all those cows, all those Quarter Horses...hey, I live in Ohio, too....wonder how far it is from me? ;)

[evilgiraffe]

Yes, although not every Quarter Horse is bred and trained for cow work, there are a lot of them that are very cowy.

Not my friend's Quarter Horse though, Shyanne runs away from cows! Not sure if she got chased by a stroppy one when she was young or something, but she won't go past a cow at anything less than 500 yards :rolleyes:

I'd love to see a good Quarter Horse working cows though, I've seen some videos on youtube and they're fantastic!

[Harry Hobbes]

Next weekend I'm signed up for a cow working clinic with Joe Wolter. OUTSTANDING!

He is definately world class...
I'd love to see a good Quarter Horse working cows though...Both Buck Brannaman (http://brannaman.com/bbcspage.htm) and Martin Black (http://martinblack.net/clinics.php) will be conducting clinics in France this year - with cows...sounds like an opportunity. ;)

Best regards,
Harry

[Cochise]

Sounds fabulous. I'm not jealous. Really.
Of course, I'm jealous! Have a fabulous time and I can't wait to see the photos. :)

[smaggi]

It was an amazing clinic! I have sooo much to think about now. The very first thing that we did was drop the reins and ask the horse to walk and let him go anywhere he wanted so we would find out where he wanted to be. My horse went 5 times out the back gate to stand beside the cow pens and we started on the other side of the arena. He talked about how we should think about where the horse wants to be and use that to help make your idea his idea.

At one point in the clinic we put the cows in the center and had to cut out one cow and circle him outside the herd in both directions. I already taught Cisco how to leg yeild before, but Joe showed me how to shape my horse using the leg yeild to put him in great position to move either direction with the cow. We also worked on straightness while working.

We also worked a mechanical cow. Before other instructors told me to push him through the turn. Joe had me shape him and patiently wait on him instead and eventually the cow pulled him through the turn. The turns naturally got faster and faster as he got more hooked on the cow. (Pushing him through the turn with the outside leg used to distract him so his attention was moving away from the cow and he couldn't focus.)

Cisco likes to be right on top of the mechanical almost touching it. Joe told me to let him instead of holding him back.

Cisco likes to bite the cows when he is working and he also helped me with that problem.

We also did some ranch roping. I asked Joe to help me improve my swing so he watched my swing overhead and on each side and he said "Looks good to me" I couldn't believe it. I was so happy. I really improved on my heel shots a lot.