In the Reined cow horse competition there are three events; herdwork or cutting, drywork or reining and cow work or fencework.

There is a lot of training that must go into a reined cow horse because it is one of the few disciplines that have three separate events in one.

Today we are going to talk about training for the herd work and discuss using a mechanical cow vs. real cow.

A mechanical cow can be a sophisticatedly fashioned dummy, resembling a cow. They are on a cable pulley system, powered by a variable speed motor controlled by a remote control devise that the trainer wears this on his hand. A michanical cow can also be as simple as a flag attached to a rope or cable which is strung around two bicycle wheels, one used as a pulley the other with peddles on it used as the power source (to move the cable that is attached to a wall). Most mechanical cows range from 50-150 foot in length.

In the Reined Cow Horse, training for the herdwork differs from an actual cutting. In a full Cutting , once you sort one cow out of the herd you are to put your hand down and the horse is to take over. Each time you pick up and help the horse it is a penalty. In the Reined Cow Horse herdwork it lives up to its name “reined”, you can rein you horse and help it, the judges are looking for position, timing, and control of the cow.

I use a mechanical cow in my training program. I believe it is a very useful tool. Some trainers believe you should only use cattle to train on since that is what you are showing on. If you have an unlimited supply of fresh cattle, you can’t go wrong training on just cattle. But for may of us getting access to fresh cattle source year around is almost impossible. Even if I had that available I would still use the michanicall cow, or flag, as part of my training.

When we start a horse on cattle or the flag we want to keep it real simple, go when the cow goes and stop when the cow stops. Finding that stop is very important, it’s everything in the cow work. The next thing we want to teach is position and rate on a cow or flag. Teaching the horse that spot he needs to be at all times, to maintain control. Rate- if the cow speed us the horse speeds up, it the cow slows down, the horse slows down, if the cow stops, the horse stops, in correct position and timing.

Using the mechanical cow or flag you can teach all of these elements of training, a horse can learn to watch and read a flag and get very intent and expressive with it. Some of the advantages of a flag is you can control the speed and timing. I spent a lot of time slowly backing through the turns, holding the shoulders up and getting the horse on its hocks before I let them turn. I make sure everything is soft and fluid before I let the turn and go with the flag. If they get stiff and bracey I can stop the flag and soften them up before I let them continue. If a horse is stiff and bracey they can’t perform to his maximum ability. My being able to control the speed and timing of the flag of a mechanical cow helps me accomplish this. I believe you can help to train a horse a great deal on a mechanical cow, a lot of it depends on the person learning how to use it correctly, improper use could take you backwards in you training. While this is a great training tool I would not want to be without, nothing replaces the real thing- a living, breathing, unpredictable cow. A horse must learn to watch and read a cow. I believe they enjoy their work more when there is a cow in front of them. The more stock you get your horse in front of them the more solid you can make them. You must also have cattle to teach a horse to get out of the herd. Even though you can rein your horse in the herd work, I like to have my horses more solid on the cutting than some. Some trainers like to have their horses listening to the rider so they can rein them for every move. It is then, up to the rider to read the cows. I prefer to have the horses lock on and reading the cow because, when a horse gets really solid on a cow, he can tell when a cow is going to move before he even does and my horse can take care of me when we get into the show pen. I can just help the horse if he needs it.

So while cattle are essential in training the cow horse the mechanical cow or flag is a very important tool, especially if we are limited on cattle supply.

It takes lots of time and dedication to train a reined cow horse, but it is the ultimate thrill to show and ride a finished cow horse.

Good luck and God bless
Monty Bruce

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