Wiley Cows and a Savvy Horse
- July 16, 2024
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- Jan Swan Wood
Posted in: Featured, Ranch Life, Uncategorized
I’d gotten the call to go daywork for a ranch I’d not worked for before. I knew the manager, or at least
I’d met him a time or two, but had never been on the ranch. The ranch was located in a beautiful piece of rough country with timbered ridges, brushy draws, canyons and badland breaks. I chose my good Kelly horse for the day and arrived at the place first thing in the morning after a nearly 40 mile drive.
The manager was just getting out and getting chores done when I got there, so I unloaded Kelly and
tied him to my trailer. The manager’s name was Lee and he was telling me how many days he’d ridden
trying to gather this bunch of cagey Brangus cows. He said they were brushy and would head for the
roughest country as soon as they saw a rider.
When we walked out so he could catch his horse I knew for certain that he hadn’t been out trying to
gather the cows, as his string of saddle horses was hog fat and out of shape. None of them had seen any wet saddle blankets for a long time. I had a feeling that my hard fit, tough, Kelly was going to get the
brunt of the work.
He finally got a chunky palomino gelding saddled, wiped the dust off his saddle, and climbed on. We left the headquarters and soon started the climb into the country where the cows ran. Once in the pasture, I saw some of them slip off into the draws with their big, shiney calves as we rode to the west side. I had my own ideas about how we ought to gather, but I wasn’t the boss, so kept my mouth shut. By the time we reached the west fenceline, I’m sure every cow in that pasture knew we were there and had a game plan all worked out.
We split up and I went north. I started pushing cows down the deep draws and canyons as I went along. Lee had pointed out a little butte in about the east, center area of the pasture, that we would work the cows to before pushing them on northeast to the next pasture. So, with that in mind, Kelly and I carefully worked every draw and thicket. Kelly had a nose like a hound and he found cows who were hiding so well that I would have missed them. To say these cows were smart and brushy would be an understatement. We’d find a dozen pairs standing like statues in a thicket that didn’t appear to be able to hide a muley doe. When they knew they were spotted they’d blow out of the thicket and head down
country. They weren’t really wild, just spoiled.
After many hours, I was pretty sure I had the north half of the pasture gathered and clean. Kelly’s nose wasn’t finding anymore hideouts, and I had a pretty big bunch going ahead of me down a shallow canyon toward the butte. The little canyon joined up with a bigger one and Lee appeared with a small
bunch of cows that joined mine. His horse was sweaty, but nothing like Kelly, who though he was fit as a
racehorse, he had worked hard in the rough country making our gather. I was pretty sure we didn’t have
all of the cows…
The cows headed down the crooked canyon at a brisk walk. The east side of the canyon was steep, with brush and rocks sticking out of it, while the west side was less so. The cows were staying in the canyon, though, and not trying to head back west.
We came around a little bend where the lead cows had been out of sight for a few moments, and Kelly and I both saw the leaders taking a hard right into another canyon at a high trot, which was going to
cause us to spill them all if they didn’t get stopped. Getting by the cows in front of us wasn’t an option,
and before I could make a decision, Kelly took matters into his own capable hooves.
Now, Kelly was an incredibly broke horse with few flaws. One of his idiosyncrasies, though, was a bit disconcerting. He would see a wreck starting and would flat cold jaw and go to fix it, whatever it was, to the best of his ability. No obstacle was sufficient to deter his determined attack and all I could do was stay in the middle and try to arrive with him.
Kelly whirled by Lee and his horse and up that steep canyon wall he went. He was scrabbling for footholds and lunging up with rocks and dirt raining down on Lee. I had my arm hooked under the saddle horn and was leaned over his neck and maybe was asking him if he’d gone crazy. We finally topped out and he caught another gear and across the flat we went. We slid to a stop at the top of the next canyon wall, then he plunged off of it, coming to the bottom in a cloud of dirt and rocks right in front of the cows and calves who were in a lope, thinking they were getting away. They were absolutely astonished at our sudden appearance. Those cows flopped their long ears at us, shook their heads, and after a bit of milling, turned back, their escape foiled completely.
At this time, Kelly thoughtfully let me be back in charge and he walked along behind them, catching his breath and blowing the dust out of his nose. I think he was pretty proud of himself for saving the gather. Smug might be the word. My heart rate eventually returned to normal.
Lee was in place to turn the cows the right direction at the junction of the canyons, and he was a sight
to see. He and his horse, both a little sweaty due to lack of conditioning, were absolutely coated in dirt. He said that several rocks had about brained him as they’d fallen off the wall from above. He asked me if I was that crazy all the time and I assured him I wasn’t, at least all the time, but that Kelly might be and he didn’t want to have to regather cattle he’d already worked so hard to gather the first time.
The cows didn’t give us any more trouble and we soon had them counted through the gate into the fresh pasture. As expected, we were short quite a few, but, Lee didn’t want to have to go back and look for them that day. He said his horse was tired, so we left the pairs on water, and rode back to headquarters. I couldn’t figure out what his horse was tired from, as I don’t think they’d combed much of the southern half of that pasture, but who was I to argue. He was paying me by the day and lined up another week or more of work that he needed me for. Day working dollars in my pocket, I loaded Kelly up and headed for home.
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Posted in: Featured, Ranch Life, Uncategorized
About Jan Swan Wood
Jan was raised on a ranch in far western South Dakota. She grew up horseback working all descriptions of cattle, plus sheep and horses. After leaving home she pursued a post-graduate study of cowboying and dayworking in Nebraska, New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota....