Sage – Cow Pony Part III

Team members switched places, and I was in the middle slot. We got our cow to the pen again very carefully and… it squirted back. Two members of the team thundered after it and got it turned back. I arrived at the fast patter just in time to be switched to lead horse and rider.

The cow was successfully turned back from the herd. (Spotted Cow was smarter than our instructor had ever been during his faux cow impersonation.) This cow decided it was tired of that stupid herding game going to the pen. HA! It’s little tail switched and immediately took off galloping down the fencerow. (We had learned that the rider has to gallop after the cow when it runs next to the fence line until the cow turns into the pasture.)

The cow was making tracks and I revved up Sage. She bucked. I used major force and away we went at a gallop. Suddenly, Sage woke up, discovered we were chasing Spotted Cow –her cow now, and WE GALLOPED! (HARD GALLOP- Cowboy Movie Gallop!).

I was thinking about how fast Spotted Cow could run, the rough pasture ground and my impending death, but managed not to rein Sage back. I heard cheers from my team mates who were galloping far behind me, “GO SUSAN!”

I heard some raggedy cheers flying in the wind from the onlookers far behind us. Sage managed to almost catch up and we followed Spotted Cow thundering down the entire length of the huge pasture. I told Sage to slow down at the corner, expecting Spotted Cow to give up on this fencerow hardship and squirt away from the fence.

BUT NO! Spotted Cow turned at the corner and kept pelting down the new fence line. I gave Sage a slight body signal to run. This time she knew her responsibility and flew back into our death-defying gallop. Finally about half way down the fence line, the cow turned in and we all stopped to rest. I slowly pushed the cow to the pen. We were at the pen looking in. Spotted Cow had his head in the pen. I knew he was going in this time. Poor little Spotted Cow was tired! I pushed slightly by moving forward one step.

 SQUIRT! Away went Spotted Cow! Sage and I, just like all the movie cowboys, took off instantly in our now familiar death-defying gallop in a narrow outrun pattern. The cow ran for the herd. The riders were waiting excitedly in the line to keep Spotted Cow out. Spotted Cow ran straight at a horse and rider. Moments before, Sage and I, having completed our narrow outrun , was running full speed with the intention to place our body in front of the cow’s nose and become the GATE. We galloped full speed two inches in front of the riders’ line and oh so narrowly missed cutting off Spotted Cow. Spotted Cow almost ran smack into a rider in the quest to get into the circle, but the horse held.

Spotted Cow bounced back, not two feet from thundering Sage. The thought, “Death Comes Quickly” ran through my brain. I was certain Spotted Cow was going to bounce right in front of the thundering hooves of Sage, The Impulsive Cow Pony. I expected to be astride both the Spotted Cow and Sage and be dead.

Sage slid to a stop managing to avoid hitting Spotted Cow and the brave horse that turned the cow. Instead, Spotted Cow bounced sideways away from Sage, and cleverly slipped through a hole where its friends were waiting to celebrate Spotted Cow’s endurance and cleverness. (Cow Hands- zero – Spotted Cow- three..

Everyone gave Sage and I a cheer as someone went in to get our cow. We were given one more chance. Only this time the team was allowed to form a “U”. We herded “Spotted Hamburger” right to the pen again…and “Spotted Hamburger” squirted back to the herd and got to stay. “Spotted Hamburger” won by four points…but I ended up with a RIP SNORTIN’ COW PONY!

The cow clinic ended. Asked what I learned, I yelled “We learned to be a Cow Pony!”