Position and control are the most important elements in a cow horse event. You want to be the mirror image while working.

If you draw a wild one you are in the right place at the right time trying to control it, and the cow doesn’t honor you, you should be awarded a new one. If you’re not, then the judge shouldn’t blow the whistle even if it runs right by you.

If there’s no new cow, the show must go on and it’s your job to try to work with what you’ve got. It’s the “luck of the draw”.

Whatever you train your cow to do while you’re boxing is how it will respond going down the fence. If you get it stopped and controlled while boxing then there’s a good chance it will honor you when you step in front of it to turn it going down the fence.

When it’s time to leave, I like to be around the middle of the short wall giving myself enough time to start driving the cow and get in sync with it as it approaches the corner.

I put my horse’s nose right in the cow’s flank. The pictures below show Lyn Anderson in perfect position to drive the cow through the corner and leave just right. (see below)

Getting through the corner is a very important part of the run. If you’re too far behind, it might come off the fence and circle you back to the short wall. That’s very expensive in terms of your score.

If you get too far ahead, you will turn the cow back too soon. But if you leave just right, there’s a really good chance to have an excellent run.

This is not only because you’re right there rating it, but the cow knows you’ve got him in your crosshairs and is less apt to throw you a curve ball.

Unfortunately, there’s no way to predict how fast a cow will run once it’s lined out. They fib to us a lot. Some of the ones you could barely get to move while boxing, run down the fence like their hair is on fire and visa versa.

You want to keep steady pressure on the cow so it smoothly lopes through the corner and lines out down the fence. You don’t want to give it any options. This is not a democracy. You want to put the cow right where you want it.

If you can leave right with the cow, you won’t have to run to catch up, and you’ll be able to rate it down the fence choosing where you want to turn it.

Should you draw a cow with a sensitive set of brakes ie it stops while you’re boxing before you even get to its head, be prepared for it to want to turn when you’ve barely gotten up beside it and same when you circle. It’s really easy to overshoot that kind.

Some horses like to drop their shoulder on the cow side (lean towards it). When that happens, the cow won’t want to turn because it can’t see any place to go but forward, and around the corner you go!

If your cow needs to catch another gear, you can drop back just a bit and putting your horse’s nose towards it’s flank, you can drive it faster.

Fast or slow, accurate rating is very important for control and a good score. When you rate well, you can make your move and sneak past the cow going only 1 or 2 mph more and assure yourself a better turn than if you were playing catch-up and passed it going 5 or 10 mph faster.

Judges never like to see separation between the cow and the horse, that’s what control is all about.

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In a reined Cowhorse contest or a cutting, the cattle are the most important single factor.

In the cutting at least you get to choose, so you only have yourself to blame if you pick poorly.

In the reined Cowhorse contest, you don’t know what you’ve got until it walks through the gate. It might be a Ferrari in overdrive or a gutless four cylinder.

It pays to do your homework watching the herd work portion of an aged event, as you might recognize your beast as it makes its entrance for the boxing or fence, but that’s not always a realistic strategy.

If you’re at a weekend show, the best you can do is watch the classes ahead of yours for characteristics that run through the herd. Watching the open class might make you queasy thinking of all the not-so-good things that could happen to you, but you’ll learn a lot about the cattle that day.

Knowledge is power and armed with it will help you make better decisions. Usually, the cattle have come from the same ranch, are the same breed and have had the same handling and feed, but every cow is an individual.

You’ll get the whole spectrum of personalities over the course of the day, but things like hot weather, drawing late in the afternoon, the ground, or being first or last in your set can have a big influence on the cattle.

How you handle the cow you draw can make a bad one good or a good one bad.

All the studying and preparation that you’ve done may go right out the window when they let your cow in as there’s always a few renegades, but your percentages of that happening are low.

If you do get a wild one, plan on being more defensive immediately. Approach it slowly with caution and when you make any turns don’t allow your horse to move towards it. Give it an opportunity to settle before you get into its bubble.

If it just runs fence to fence, it probably won’t get much better, so get started down the fence as soon as you’ve taken enough of the edge off.

If you draw a slower cow, prepare to be more aggressive stepping right up to it and make some noise if you have to.

Whatever you do, don’t bore the judge on one like that.

I’d enjoy hearing your thoughts before I write the next 2 installments on this topic!

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Riders who are not accustomed to using a romal are sometimes not aware of the penalties awaiting them if they don’t hold it properly.

• The romal should go across the palm and around the thumb or with the thumb on top

• The hand should be closed into a fist over both reins with no fingers in between, and the thumb must be on top.

• The rein hand should always be in front of the romal’s knot, where the two reins meet.

• The free hand must always be to the side (whether left or right), 16 inches from the rein hand or you’re considered to have 2 hands on the reins

• The reins can be adjusted with the free hand at any time, except in the NRHA reining where the rider may only do so while the horse is completely stopped during the pattern. To adjust while “on the move” in the NRCHA, you pull the reins with your right hand to shorten what’s being held in the left hand

• In all western classes, romal or the end of the romal – also known as the “popper” – may be straightened or disentangled anytime during the class, provided the rider’s free hand used to straighten or disentangle remains behind the rein hand.

• Riding in romal reins is different, but with a little practice, I think you’ll enjoy the feel.

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