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 30 days in the feedyard... Finally, out of DRs and getting the finishing touches |
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 May 1 2007, 07:33 PM
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Advanced Member
Group: Members
Posts: 1,497
Joined: 16-November 03
From: Kansas
Member No.: 15,674
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Hey all...
I just got a new horse in training, and I thought I'd chronicle how he develops in the feedyard.
I'll be riding him every other day, and he'll get the full weekend off every two weeks. So I'll post whenever another day is done.
Augie is a 6 yr old, was ridden 3 months as a 3 yr old, then not again till my son Nick took him on about 2 months ago. Nick took his sweet gentle time, being busy w/ work and such. He taught him to tuck his head, give to the leg and pick up the correct lead, and got about 30 days on him all in all.
Well, day one in the feedyard, Augie decided that no, he does not know how to sidepass, and what do you mean I gotta give my head.
I didn't use him for riding pens, but we had tons of pen moves to make (F11 to 404, 18 to G19) and I rode him while we were doing that in the afternoon. The gates across the feed alleys are tuff, 4 of them with chains you gotta reach for, and swing to the feed bunks where it's hard to get a horse placed. He watched for a couple of them, got his bearings, and then we tried one.
Seeins he didn't wanna sidepass, I had to maneuver him to the gate, unhook the chain, then use the gate to spook him backwards or over, and then lots of kick and tug till him and me had that gate maneuvered into place.
Now came the "hold still while I latch it" part. Thank Goodness not all of the cowboy crew rode off on me. 2 guys stayed till I had it latched, and Augie got a good boy and a pet.
We maneuvered about 3 more as we had time, and he was getting a little better at it as we went. Finally found the left lateral, which got him quite a few more pets.
Other than that, I basically tried to sweet talk him into being at the right spot at the right time. We lost a few head here and there. But the rest of the cowboys were right there to catch any serious screw ups, and generally let me work my horse as well as I could.
He walks at a creepy crawl, and constantly has to jig to catch up to everybody. Enforced a couple of head tucks towards the end of the day and left it at that.
The most amazing thing was watching the light bulb come on at one point...
We were bringing another bunch up an alley, and you could just see ole Augie say "... Hmmm... The cowboys are here, and the cows are there. Hey!!! I can help!!!"
He's a big horse, almost 16h. And seeins he's been doing nothing for all his life, he hasn't had any opportunity to build coordination for those long ole legs. I doubt that he'll ever develop much quickness.
Mostly I'll be working on developing a work ethic and obedience.
[ 05-25-2007, 04:22 PM: Message edited by: GreyHorse ]
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May 1 2007, 07:33 PM
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Advanced Member
Group: Members
Posts: 1,497
Joined: 16-November 03
From: Kansas
Member No.: 15,674
|
Hey all...
I just got a new horse in training, and I thought I'd chronicle how he develops in the feedyard.
I'll be riding him every other day, and he'll get the full weekend off every two weeks. So I'll post whenever another day is done.
Augie is a 6 yr old, was ridden 3 months as a 3 yr old, then not again till my son Nick took him on about 2 months ago. Nick took his sweet gentle time, being busy w/ work and such. He taught him to tuck his head, give to the leg and pick up the correct lead, and got about 30 days on him all in all.
Well, day one in the feedyard, Augie decided that no, he does not know how to sidepass, and what do you mean I gotta give my head.
I didn't use him for riding pens, but we had tons of pen moves to make (F11 to 404, 18 to G19) and I rode him while we were doing that in the afternoon. The gates across the feed alleys are tuff, 4 of them with chains you gotta reach for, and swing to the feed bunks where it's hard to get a horse placed. He watched for a couple of them, got his bearings, and then we tried one.
Seeins he didn't wanna sidepass, I had to maneuver him to the gate, unhook the chain, then use the gate to spook him backwards or over, and then lots of kick and tug till him and me had that gate maneuvered into place.
Now came the "hold still while I latch it" part. Thank Goodness not all of the cowboy crew rode off on me. 2 guys stayed till I had it latched, and Augie got a good boy and a pet.
We maneuvered about 3 more as we had time, and he was getting a little better at it as we went. Finally found the left lateral, which got him quite a few more pets.
Other than that, I basically tried to sweet talk him into being at the right spot at the right time. We lost a few head here and there. But the rest of the cowboys were right there to catch any serious screw ups, and generally let me work my horse as well as I could.
He walks at a creepy crawl, and constantly has to jig to catch up to everybody. Enforced a couple of head tucks towards the end of the day and left it at that.
The most amazing thing was watching the light bulb come on at one point...
We were bringing another bunch up an alley, and you could just see ole Augie say "... Hmmm... The cowboys are here, and the cows are there. Hey!!! I can help!!!"
He's a big horse, almost 16h. And seeins he's been doing nothing for all his life, he hasn't had any opportunity to build coordination for those long ole legs. I doubt that he'll ever develop much quickness.
Mostly I'll be working on developing a work ethic and obedience.
[ 05-25-2007, 04:22 PM: Message edited by: GreyHorse ]
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May 1 2007, 08:14 PM
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Newbie
Group: Members
Posts: 251
Joined: 8-April 07
From: California
Member No.: 41,998
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Good Job Greyhorse
Nice to see you posting your thought processes as you go along.
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May 1 2007, 08:14 PM
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Newbie
Group: Members
Posts: 251
Joined: 8-April 07
From: California
Member No.: 41,998
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Good Job Greyhorse
Nice to see you posting your thought processes as you go along.
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May 2 2007, 09:43 PM
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Advanced Member
Group: Members
Posts: 1,497
Joined: 16-November 03
From: Kansas
Member No.: 15,674
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I decided to ride Augie again today, seeins yesterday he didn't really do much. I thought it might be good to get him not quite fresh and a little more ready to think.
Today, we shipped first. To fill you in, shipping means a couple of hundred 1100-1200lbs steers in a 10ft wide alley, which have to be put on the scale, 30 at a time. The alley is concrete with iron rails. No room for mistakes.
So I ended up doing my part of the shipping a-footback, while Augie was tied to the fence, watching all his buddies go back and forth pushing cattle onto the scales. Lots of clanging, whooping and hollering, fast moving horses and cattle.
I was glad that he didn't set back once, even tho he sure enough didn't stand still.
It took us about 1 1/2 hours to ship, then I rode my fresh, rattled horse back to the barn for our morning break.
10 min for coffee and biscuit, and back onto my rattled horse to ride pens.
Remember now, we've only found the left sidepass yesterday, and only got 2 head tucks.
That's is on the front of my mind. I'm waiting for the perfect opportunity to force the issue about the right sidepass. And second priority is getting a little better head tucks here and there.
Now, the easiest way for a horse to open 60 gates in one day is to let him do it any which way he wants to. Which means, the head will be up over the fence, sometimes even over the gate, no chance for tucking any where. But the tuck at the lateral is the one that will actually build the most valuable muscles.
So... lateral first, so I can maneuver him to where I can use the gates to develop the giving of the nose.
I was in luck on the first alley. All the gates faced to the left, meaning I didn't need the right lateral. Augie had a good opportunity to get the hang of the gate thing and not have to deal with any "who's the boss" issues.
I got to the next alley, and all the gates faced right. It took us probly a good 5 minutes to open the first one, but he finally got it. Meanwhile my pardner, Jesus, got about 2 pens ahead of me, and I know that if I need to pull something it'll be a pain in the butt for him to ride back.
And Augie pokes at the walk. So I look at the cattle, and trot when I can. Second gate took about another 2 min, and Jesus is now 3 pens ahead of me. I hustle when I can, concentrate as I have to, and sweettalk Augie thru the 3rd gate. He's getting the hang of it now.
The fourth gate is fairly easy, but the fifth one gets a "who's the boss" test. Augie gets a tuning up with my spurs, and we keep hustling, seeins the Jesus is now way ahead.
After the test, he does pretty good. He's getting over the fresh and rattled part, and now is figuring out that this might be a long day.
I did find a heiffer that needed pulled, tried to maneuver her out without pushing Augie too much, but she wouldn't have no part of it.
My pardner took pity on me. When he got to the end of the alley he rode back towards me, checking my pens. I told him about my heiffer, and we ride back to get her out.
Jesus stays in the gate while I find my heiffer. I work her back towards the gate, using our new laterals to let other heiffers run back or past me as I go. I have her just about by herself when we get to Jesus, and he slinks the other two head by. Course, she sees her chance and runs for it, and Augie is looking at her wondering what is going on.
Soooo... another meeting of my spurs and his belly, as I impress on him that this is not a good thing, and he lumbers after her. But he loses her, and we work her out again. This time as we bring her close to Jesus, he takes over for me as the sorting allows, and I breathe a sigh of relief and take the gate. Jesus brings her back again, and I get to use Augie and his new laterals to sort one extra off, and let him watch while the heiffer leaves the pen wondering what's gonna happen to her on the other side.
"Good Boy, Good Boy, Good Boy". He gets to stretch and relax while Jesus closes the gate for us, and we bull **** a little.
We did this for one more pull. Big ole lumbering Augie, trying his best to figure out what he needs to be doing.
We got the morning riding done, and brought the pulls to the hospital.
This was another part where there were lots of riders to do a simple little job, and Augie got to do just enough to get challenged on turning the bunch up the feed alley here or there.
The afternoon was the YeahBaby moment, tho!!!
We had to move a couple of pens. One of them hadn't gotten cleaned out yet, and there were spots where we had to slog thru a foot of sticky gunky mud. Course, the cattle would pick those spots to try to make their getaway to the next corner of the pen travelling on their tromped down mud trails. Easy going for them, hard hard going for Augie.
So here is ole Augie, every step makes this chchchchplop sound, and he sees the lead steer gathering speed for a run for the corner.
He rocks back onto his hindend, totally surprising me and leaving me using my hands to balance on his neck, sucks both front legs out of the mud and does this cutting horse move to jump in front of the steer. I am totally shocked to find myself trying to get back with Augie as he jets in front of the steer and cuts him off.
I managed to get back in synch with him to help him balance thru turning the bunch into the right direction, and was a lot more careful about what to expect from him as he tried out his new cowsense.
He walked out of that pen 10ft tall and bullet proof.
Towards the end of the day, I did a few more head tucks, got some good obedience on 3 or 4, and put him away with a full belly and a good back rub.
[ 05-02-2007, 09:47 PM: Message edited by: GreyHorse ]
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May 2 2007, 09:43 PM
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Advanced Member
Group: Members
Posts: 1,497
Joined: 16-November 03
From: Kansas
Member No.: 15,674
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I decided to ride Augie again today, seeins yesterday he didn't really do much. I thought it might be good to get him not quite fresh and a little more ready to think.
Today, we shipped first. To fill you in, shipping means a couple of hundred 1100-1200lbs steers in a 10ft wide alley, which have to be put on the scale, 30 at a time. The alley is concrete with iron rails. No room for mistakes.
So I ended up doing my part of the shipping a-footback, while Augie was tied to the fence, watching all his buddies go back and forth pushing cattle onto the scales. Lots of clanging, whooping and hollering, fast moving horses and cattle.
I was glad that he didn't set back once, even tho he sure enough didn't stand still.
It took us about 1 1/2 hours to ship, then I rode my fresh, rattled horse back to the barn for our morning break.
10 min for coffee and biscuit, and back onto my rattled horse to ride pens.
Remember now, we've only found the left sidepass yesterday, and only got 2 head tucks.
That's is on the front of my mind. I'm waiting for the perfect opportunity to force the issue about the right sidepass. And second priority is getting a little better head tucks here and there.
Now, the easiest way for a horse to open 60 gates in one day is to let him do it any which way he wants to. Which means, the head will be up over the fence, sometimes even over the gate, no chance for tucking any where. But the tuck at the lateral is the one that will actually build the most valuable muscles.
So... lateral first, so I can maneuver him to where I can use the gates to develop the giving of the nose.
I was in luck on the first alley. All the gates faced to the left, meaning I didn't need the right lateral. Augie had a good opportunity to get the hang of the gate thing and not have to deal with any "who's the boss" issues.
I got to the next alley, and all the gates faced right. It took us probly a good 5 minutes to open the first one, but he finally got it. Meanwhile my pardner, Jesus, got about 2 pens ahead of me, and I know that if I need to pull something it'll be a pain in the butt for him to ride back.
And Augie pokes at the walk. So I look at the cattle, and trot when I can. Second gate took about another 2 min, and Jesus is now 3 pens ahead of me. I hustle when I can, concentrate as I have to, and sweettalk Augie thru the 3rd gate. He's getting the hang of it now.
The fourth gate is fairly easy, but the fifth one gets a "who's the boss" test. Augie gets a tuning up with my spurs, and we keep hustling, seeins the Jesus is now way ahead.
After the test, he does pretty good. He's getting over the fresh and rattled part, and now is figuring out that this might be a long day.
I did find a heiffer that needed pulled, tried to maneuver her out without pushing Augie too much, but she wouldn't have no part of it.
My pardner took pity on me. When he got to the end of the alley he rode back towards me, checking my pens. I told him about my heiffer, and we ride back to get her out.
Jesus stays in the gate while I find my heiffer. I work her back towards the gate, using our new laterals to let other heiffers run back or past me as I go. I have her just about by herself when we get to Jesus, and he slinks the other two head by. Course, she sees her chance and runs for it, and Augie is looking at her wondering what is going on.
Soooo... another meeting of my spurs and his belly, as I impress on him that this is not a good thing, and he lumbers after her. But he loses her, and we work her out again. This time as we bring her close to Jesus, he takes over for me as the sorting allows, and I breathe a sigh of relief and take the gate. Jesus brings her back again, and I get to use Augie and his new laterals to sort one extra off, and let him watch while the heiffer leaves the pen wondering what's gonna happen to her on the other side.
"Good Boy, Good Boy, Good Boy". He gets to stretch and relax while Jesus closes the gate for us, and we bull **** a little.
We did this for one more pull. Big ole lumbering Augie, trying his best to figure out what he needs to be doing.
We got the morning riding done, and brought the pulls to the hospital.
This was another part where there were lots of riders to do a simple little job, and Augie got to do just enough to get challenged on turning the bunch up the feed alley here or there.
The afternoon was the YeahBaby moment, tho!!!
We had to move a couple of pens. One of them hadn't gotten cleaned out yet, and there were spots where we had to slog thru a foot of sticky gunky mud. Course, the cattle would pick those spots to try to make their getaway to the next corner of the pen travelling on their tromped down mud trails. Easy going for them, hard hard going for Augie.
So here is ole Augie, every step makes this chchchchplop sound, and he sees the lead steer gathering speed for a run for the corner.
He rocks back onto his hindend, totally surprising me and leaving me using my hands to balance on his neck, sucks both front legs out of the mud and does this cutting horse move to jump in front of the steer. I am totally shocked to find myself trying to get back with Augie as he jets in front of the steer and cuts him off.
I managed to get back in synch with him to help him balance thru turning the bunch into the right direction, and was a lot more careful about what to expect from him as he tried out his new cowsense.
He walked out of that pen 10ft tall and bullet proof.
Towards the end of the day, I did a few more head tucks, got some good obedience on 3 or 4, and put him away with a full belly and a good back rub.
[ 05-02-2007, 09:47 PM: Message edited by: GreyHorse ]
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May 3 2007, 02:18 PM
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Advanced Member
Group: Members
Posts: 1,724
Joined: 14-November 05
From: Middleburg Florida USA
Member No.: 31,706
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So happy your back GreyHorse ![[Big Grin]](biggrin2.gif) , we sure missed ya! Your story telling makes for an entertaining and great read. I've always learned alot from you. ![[Cool]](cool_new.gif) Patiently waiting for the next update...
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May 3 2007, 02:18 PM
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Advanced Member
Group: Members
Posts: 1,724
Joined: 14-November 05
From: Middleburg Florida USA
Member No.: 31,706
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So happy your back GreyHorse , we sure missed ya! Your story telling makes for an entertaining and great read. I've always learned alot from you. Patiently waiting for the next update...
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![[Jump]](graemlins/jump.gif)
I am loving this! I got goosebumps reading about his lightbulb moment! 
![[Razz]](tongue2.gif)
