Henry tries team penning

 This weekend it was Henrys turn to go for a pony party and try something different. He got to go to a team penning clinic and learn how to chase cows. We were up before the sun on Saturday, to travel up to chittering to be ready to ride before 7.30.

Arrived with the sun

It was a cold morning, but Henry was mostly happy to load up in the dark and eat his hay. When we got there he was a little unsettled until we went for a walk around to get the lay of the land then he tucked into his brekky hwile I tacked up. We met up with our friend and walked down to the arena together. 

Henry spotting the cows

As we came down the hill we heard the cows, then we saw the cows. lot of cows! henry grew about 2 hands and turned into a snorting, prancing dressage horse. He had a look then settled a bit and I was able to palm him off on someone while I had a wee before I got on. Getting on wasn't easy, the mounting block was quite close to the cows, so standing was an issue. Also he was still pretending to be taller that he actually is. I ended up doing a bit of groundwork and that re-engaged his brain enough for me to get on. 

Moving cows on foot

We walked around and I kept him busy, even managed a little trot. he stood politely while we were introduced and splint into two groups. Because he had never seen cattle before, I was told to hop off and introduce him on foot. He was quite ok with this since I was on the ground to protect him, and he relaxed a little bit. 

Cow watching

To start, we were taught how to  move the cattle around. To move them forward, go to the hip. To stop them or turn them, go to their head. Some cattle have a bigger bubble than others, some you have to get close to, and others you can't. those are the tricky ones. Then we each had a go at moving the cattle on foot. It's much like moving a horse around and it felt fairly natural to me. 

Then we re-mounted and had a go on the horses. Henry was NOT CONVINCED. He was very nervous and would have preferred to leave thank you very much! He was a good egg and tried so hard though, and we didn't put very much pressure on him. Instead of trying to do actual team penning, the clinic for us became existing with cows. As the clinic progressed he did relax a bit, and I could stand him on a long rein. He was on high alert but stayed with me the whole time. 

Moving cows

He got really good at pushing the cattle back into the starting position after the other riders had penned them. He was in his safe space and he seemed to clue onto how to move them. He didn't want to get near the holding yards with the masses of cattle though. 

We did finish up going into the other half of the pen and he tried to be brave but was quite overwhelmed. We ended on a good note and lots of praise. 

While it was fun to try something new and I am so proud of how hard Henry tried, I'm not sure cow sports are for us. We will give it another go though, to see if Henry feels a bit better about cows!