Cowboy on Ace...Little did I know when I married Cowboy that I would learn Cowboy Etiquette. I knew table/dining/finer points of etiquette. Was I in for a formal education!
There are definite rules for cowboys when helping one another do cattle work.
Rule #1: When one is helping the neighbor, the neighbor leads out and this is called the circle or the gather. When they get to where they are going to gather the cattle, he starts breaking the riders off and tells them what part of the country he wants them to gather and where they are going to throw the herd together. ( I have gone with Cowboy when it is just the two of us and there is no way I keep up very well, and it doesn't matter what horse. We will have switched horses the next time and I am still behind. Could it possible be me and my riding ability?! My mind knows what I need to be doing, but my body lags behind!)
Rule #2: When the cowboy or cowboys are assigned their section they gather their own specific country and you are not suppose to ride into another's country unless you see something the other cowboy missed, but that could put you behind with your gather. Also it is good to "top" out so the others can see where you are.
Cowboy is taking this very seriously, so I will devote more than one blog to this task. He wants me to get it "right" and with the right terminology. And, of course, I like to digress with a story or two! I have a story that I want to tell and that brings us another rule.
Rule #3: When you gather a pasture, you gather it all and bring everything to the herd and leave nothing behind. He (the boss for that day) will work off the pairs or cows that he doesn't want for the purpose of the gather.
Now for the story. If my memory serves me correctly there were six of us riding that day. It was in the "south" pasture and I had my little area to work. I am sure that it was a straight shot of sorts. As you are well aware, I don't ride often and therefore "tucker" out easily so I am NEVER assigned the "outer" circle. Cowboy does that himself. Back to my story...I found three pair. If you have ever moved, worked or been around cows and calves, they didn't want to stay together and they were constantly trying to "leak" off. I worked my butt off and I finally was able to pick up seven more pair. I was pretty darned proud of myself to think that I was able to keep them together and I was headed in the right direction. (I have trouble with directions much to Cowboy's dismay!) I was busy keeping them all together and had ridden hard, for me, when over the hill came Cowboy. I was so glad to see him and wanted him to know I REALLY could be a cowgirl. When he got to me he said, "We have the herd already thrown together and we don't need these." Do you feel the shock I felt?? Needless to say, I cried! Bill said he was worried because it was taking me so long and that is why he came looking. I got myself pulled together before we got to the herd...
Tonight he said that he should have had me bring them into the herd as it is Rule #3 and he could have worked them off. But common sense says that is silly! It saved quite a bit of time not to. The next blog will be about holding herd.
The "men" and Cowboy's Sweetheart and Cowboy...
He SHOULD'VE taken them! And I think I still would've brought them in, bullheadedly.
ReplyDeleteHere's something for you, Karen. One of the first times I helped the Pluhar men gather, I saw a dead cow and made note of the location. When we got back together, I told them about her and they insisted it was an old cookstove that was laying out there. I insisted it was a dead cow. They sent TWO men back with me to prove it was the old stove!!! Turns out, it was really and truly a dead cow. I was so mad! Gathering can really take it out of a girl...
Oh, Mary, you are so right!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds a bit like gathering with my dad, at least the directions part.... He'd kind of generally wave in a direction and when I ended up where I thought he was waving, I'd usually get called a hammer-head and told I should have known it was the other middle gate.... One time though, I overheard my dad telling one of the neighbors that he didn't really need any help gathering this year.... his girls were all the help he needed. Made all those tears worth it to know my dad was proud of the cowgirls he raised! Thinking about those days makes me miss the back of a horse!!!
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