Riding Diary - 56 - Cutting

Horse: CD

Time: 2 hr

Ride: You know when life is just really, really, really amazing? May is coming in like a lion - in the best way possible. I texted Coach to ask him if I could FINALLY get a cutting lesson in now that exams are over. He replied with "Ya, we're working cows, see you at 11." uhm, gulp. I showed up with Laura in tow (TB of LV Horses), and so we got some pictures and even a video to share with you guys today!! Exciting times.

We watched him ride for awhile, and then I jumped on CD and warmed him up. Coach never lopes his horses before he works them on the flag or cows, he believes that trotting produces just as much "warm-up" but doesn't create as much brace in the horses. I always forget how freaking hard it is to extended trot a horse around, and around, and around, and around. I cannot sit CD's extended trot, like Coach would prefer me too, so I atleast got to post a bit. Holy moly.

Then, we did some dry work. I always "forget" how to sit when I'm cutting and it takes a minute for me to sink down into the saddle and remember where i'm at and how I should feel. Our stops, backs and rollbacks were feeling really good, and so we moved onto cattle.

Game Plan...

Okay, so I just walk into that herd...

Gulp...

Coach gave me a little bit of a pep-talk beforehand, it kind of sounded like...

Him: You'll be fine, go in there with your hand up, be focused, pick a cow, go for it, and then once he sets up, hand down, hold on, be calm, use your legs.
Me: Uhm, Okay.... *gulp*

Honestly, it's a blur haha, a really fun holymolyiwanttodothisforeverandever blur. Our first cow was good, Coach was my turnback guy, so he was able to help me set up really well. CD is a strong, strong turner, and has a really deep low stop, and so if I'm not calm and really sitting, I get jostled around. Coach kept telling me I really needed to use my legs effectively. When I felt like CD wasn't where I needed him to be my hand would creep up and i'd get the "HAND DOWN, RIGHT LEG, RIGHT LEG, USE YOUR LEGS, HAND DOWN" from Coach. It's definitely a different style of riding, not using your hands AT ALL, and will take a lot of getting use too.

Picking my cow...

Hey cow, lets do this!

There's the quickness that will take some getting used too...

Furthermore, on the flag, a cow never really "runs off", sure I've loped a bit and trotted more to catch a flag, but coach was always there to kind of control the pace for me. He can't really control a cow, although he could help me hold it, so it was a lot more running and catching up than I was used too, definitely a lot more quicker-paced than it looks when your watching the pros do it. haha, but I guess the pros are a lot better at cutting, holding and reading their cow than little 'ol me is, so that probably also effectively lessens there "run like a bat out of hell to catch a cow time".

we're figuring it out...

By the third cow I felt like CD and I were setting up and working together a lot better, and Laura even got a video of my third cow, so let me know what you think!!

For Next Time: I definitely need to work on sitting down, and being calm, as you probably saw in the video there were a couple turns where CD almost lost me. I have a lot to learn about using my legs effectively, and learning how to read cows but all-in-all, I think my first time cutting live cows was pretty fricken awesome! What a rush, I just want to do it over and over and over again.

yay, one hot, sweaty, happy mess!!