Feelin' COWY

Learn how to use cattle work to improve your horse’s overall responsiveness with tips from trainer Ben Baldus.

- BEN BALDUS, WITH ABIGAIL BOATWRIGHT

Even if you don’t compete in events like cutting or working cow horse, or have a horse that was bred to do cow work, including cattle work into your riding routine can be a great training tool for you to have. While exposure to cattle is always necessary if you plan on showing in an event that uses cattle, outside of the show ring, working your horse around cattle can help him become well-rounded and ready to tackle anything that comes his way when you’re trail riding.

However, before you head off to work a cow, here’s some advice that’ll make the experience most beneficial for you and your horse.

Why Cattle Work is Helpful

Riding your horse around cattle is a great way to evaluate how he reacts when you up the degree of difficulty during training. It also helps you know which maneuvers you need to work on the next time you ride. For example, in a class like reining a horse has to be able to go from a large, fast circle to a small, slow circle. Working a cow helps you evaluate how well your horse rates his speed in a scenario where you have to go from one speed to another within one stride. If your horse doesn’t slow when you ask for the initial cue, you can spend more time at home reinforcing your shut-down cue. Another thing to test is how responsive your horse is to leg and hand cues.

It can also help freshen up a dull horse. At any point in the arena, your horse has to be ready to go and needs to have a purpose behind what he’s doing— he can’t just lope around the arena and hope he’ll keep up with a cow.