It's the luck of the draw when it comes to reined cow horse, but that doesn't mean you can't turn around a difficult situation.

Article by Sandy Collier with Tonya Ratliff-Garrison
Photos by Tonya Ratliff-Garrison

SIZING UP THE SITUATION SWIFTLY AND MAKING SPLIT-SECOND DECISIONS IS A MUST IN REINED COW HORSE. So is using every trick in the book when things go wrong.

Unlike many events, the cow you draw in the fence work can make the difference between a championship buckle or a long ride home empty-handed. There are no picks, and riders get the cow they're given unless the judge whistles for a new one.

But even though the rider never really knows what's in store until the subject is shoved into the pen, there are ways to make the best out of what is given.

The Journal asked AQHA Professional Horseman Sandy Collier for her tips on developing a strategy on herding the cow you're dealt.

Calling for the Cow
DRAWING A SORRY COW DOESN'T MEAN ALL IS LOST.

If your strategy is good and your horse is well broke, a lot of times you can make a bad situation good. What it boils down to is making a bad cow a good cow. To do that, your horse has to be broke enough to be in all of those places that you need it to be. An inch here, an inch there can make the difference between whether you turn before the middle marker, which is a penalty, or let your cow off the fence, which won't add to your score.

Good Cow
A good cow is a cow that comes out, sees your horse, acts a little bit inquisitive and then stops and turns away. You don't want one that comes out, sees your horse and goes toro, toro, raising its head up, its tail up and away we go. A good cow also has a nice eye and a nice hair coat. It's not too fat or too thin.

But you rarely ever get a perfect cow, so at home I try to work every possible kind of cow over the course of the year. I also ride in different arenas, because cattle work differently in every arena.

Decisions
It all comes down to making the right decisions: sizing up the cow, choosing your penalties and planning your run. You might need to box more or less, take more turns on the fence if your horse isn't a good circler, etc.

You'll need to learn how to handle the split-second decisions where you can go from plan A to plan B to plan C all in one breath because that is how fast it happens. And you really need to know your horse and have done your homework on him so he can change plans quick and easily.

You also need to realize that sometimes when you draw a bad cow and there's no hope of getting a new one, from that moment on you're donating your entry fee. That doesn't mean the class is an entire waste. You can use the opportunity to school your horse.

Boxing the Cow
IN BOXING, YOU SHOW YOUR HORSE'S ABILITY TO HOLD A COW AT ONE END OF THE ARENA. It's also the time to evaluate the cow, teach it to honor your horse and work it enough to ensure the right speed down the fence.

Evaluating
When a cow comes out and sees my horse, stops and looks at it, then I know I have a cow with some feel to it. However, you can be fooled when you start boxing such a cow. Just because it's doing well in he box doesn't mean it's not going to come off the fence under your horse's neck or turn before the middle or get all the way down the fence and make one turn and call it quits.

Everything can be going really good in the box and just completely run amok down the fence. There are just no givens in reined cow horse.

Honoring
If the cow comes out and goes from wall to wall to wall and never acknowledges there is a horse in the pen, it is not honoring you. What you want is the cow to respect your horse enough to turn when you're in the right position.

I had one of those a few years ago and I got so into forcing that cow to honor me and look at me before I went down the fence that I ended up with not enough cow to finish the run. I exhausted my cow, and that's a 3-point penalty.

When that happens now and I know I can't credit anything boxing and if I'm probably not going to get out run, I just go down the fence. That's one of those calls you have to make. I then leave the box in a neutral situation - I haven't been credited for my work but I also haven't been penalized, and my cow still has some energy. Going back and forth and back and forth until you've got a cow that is tired and stupid just isn't going to impress anybody. However, you've tired your cow out, and you've made her dumb.

Working
If I have a cow boxing well, I want to show my horse off and get the cow a little bit tired and honoring my horse and then start down the fence.

There are times when the cow is pretty wild and quick and you need to work it longer even though you're not in a credit situation. You're just trying to get your cow worn down a little more before you go down the fence.

That's another judgment call. You obviously don't want to go with a cow that's going to outrun you horse, but you don't want to get in a negative situation either where your cow is too tired. So you just sort of stay in working position and go back and forth until you think, "OK, I can probably catch him now."

You haven't taught the cow to honor your horse at all, and your horse can seem a little pushy if you box too long, but at least the cow is worn down enough to where you can get it turned before the end of the arena.

Unworkable
The judge gives you a new cow for two reasons:

1. You get behind and drive the cow and it won't move or lope down the fence.

2. The cow won't honor your horse.

Every once in a while, a cow will come out and come right at your and be very bold and aggressive. When that happens, the judge won't automatically give you a new cow unless your are in the right place at the right time and try to block that cow and prove to the judge that 's it's unworkable. Then he'll give you a new cow. However, these can also be winning cows. You never want to give up until the judge whistles you off or you won't get a new one. If you can handle a cow like this, it can be a big credit.

While boxing this type of cow, you need to be on your toes, get your horse over and get the cow stopped, all the while thinking more defensively. You need to move away from the cow, give ground across the arena and get in front of it, being ready to give ground again.

If our cow is a dog, you must get behind it and try to drive it. Make some noise if necessary.

You won't get a new cow if the judge thinks, "You know, if she got behind the cow, it would probably lope." Or "If she got over where she's supposed to be, that cow would probably turn." Even if you think the cow is overly aggressive and is going to jump over you, you have to get over there and have it jump over you.

I won the AQHA World Championship Show on that kind of cow. I turned a cow that absolutely jumped right through my lap and over the back of my horse. My horse didn't miss a beat and just went and got it again. I could have gotten whistled off of it, but I'm glad I didn't. It was very exciting.

Fencing the Cow
THE TRANSITION FROM BOXING TO STARTING DOWN THE FENCE CAN MAKE OR BREAK YOUR WHOLE RUN.

If you are lagging behind the cow when you leave ant that cow comes off the fence underneath you horse's neck, that's really hard to recover from.

If you leave and the cow just takes off and you're not quite quick enough, it can get such a lead on you that by the time you overtake it you're going twice as fast as the cow. It's then hard not to go by it and get at least a 1-point penalty for going a full-length past the cow.

Or you could be too quick out of the corner and end up turning the cow before the middle marker which is another 1-point penalty.

All of those things can happen if you don't read the situation right and if your horse isn't broke to that little spot right where you leave to go down the fence and doesn't listen and wait on you.

Leaving the Box
Most horses get anxious leaving the boxing situation and start down that long wall. He wants to go because he knows he is about to go fast, and he doesn't wait and listen to you.

I spend a lot of time at home making a horse do that. If he leaves the corner and pushes on me to go faster and sooner than I want, I shut him down, lope down and do it again. He then gets desensitized to leaving the corner and wait on the rider.

If you leave with the cow, you won't have to catch it, and then if it decides to come off the fence, you're right there. But if you leave behind the cow, you don't have any options but to chase it down, and the cow is then controlling your run.

When I leave to go down the fence, my strategy is usually to get a nice long run for the first turn and a fairly nice run back for the second turn that is maybe not quite as far.

If you have a cow that will make three turns, that's pretty good and pretty safe. If the cow has already shown it is getting weak and not giving you enough speed to credit your circles, then you are probably better off taking two turns.

If that's the case, make sure you go real long to your first turn and come back and get your second turn somewhere near the middle, so you don't end up having to circle by the cattle chutes. It's not too easy to lose the cow to the fence down there.

First Turn
If you nail that first turn - I mean, really, really nail it, - a lot of things can be overlooked. As a judge, that first turn is a huge portion of your run contend. In other words, if you boxed great and you circled great but you miss your first turn, you can't mark very high. I don't care how good the rest of your run is.

You can do everything right in that first turn and have a cow come off the fence and head into the arena. But, it usually happens when the horse goes past the cow or doesn't get out of the turn quickly.

Losing the cow will happen less if your horse is trained to pick up his shoulder up and jump out and away and trap the cow against the fence again.

If you went by the cow, it's a 1-point penalty for each length your horse runs past it.

But if you were in the right place at the right time, and you didn't go past your cow and you still lose it off the fence, you shouldn't receive a 1-point penalty for loss of working advantage.

The Loop
If your cow comes off the fence, then you need to use the loop to bring it back and make your second turn (see graphic on this page). Otherwise you'll charge down the middle of the arena with the cow and either have to do an open field turn, which very few horses and even fewer riders do well or you'll find yourself at the end of the arena without a right turn and you'll have to drive your cow all the way back up again to turn left and try again. Unfortunately, what a cow does once, it will usually not do twice.

There aren't many cows who can take four runs up and down the fence and still have enough to circle.

What's best if they come off the fence like that is to force them to make a loop. You just circle and push the cow back around to the fence. Then you are shaped up for your right-hand turn.

The loop in itself is not a penalty unless you lose working advantage. With the loop, you are sort of resurrecting your run.

If you need to make the loop then you need to make sure you are the cause of that cow looping back and getting set up and going down the fence. That way, you are in control and the judge won't penalize you for loss of working advantage as you set up your next turn.

In the first turn, you're going the fastest, so it's the toughest one to nail. But sometimes the second is the hardest to set up.

Circling the Cow


ALTHOUGH THAT FIRST TRY IS SO, SO IMPORTANT, FINISHING STRONG IS IMPORTAN TOO. For a high credit run, you need a good deal of difficulty at the end. You want to nail those circles by having your horse moving along fast and tight.

In a high degree of difficulty where you're going to mark a high score, you want to go to the middle with a lot of cow.

Again, that's one of the places where you show your horse.

If you have a strong horse that doesn't circle real strong, you need to take another turn on the fence. Don't try to go to the middle with a lot of cow because there's nothing worse than seeing someone going around and around like they are at the end of a whip trying to get there and they can't.

It is best to put your last turn in the center of the fence and circle in the middle of the arena. That way, the magnet of the out gate isn't quite so strong, and you stand a better chance of getting your cow circled.

Losing the Cow
If you're circling and decide to change directions when the cow is aimed toward the fence, there's a really good chance it's going to beat you to the fence. If it does, you have to go scoop it off the fence again, and that's a 1-point penalty for the loss of working advantage.

You can avoid that penalty by changing directions when the cow is aimed toward the middle of the arena. Then, you've got more room to catch it if you lose it.

But if you do lose control of the cow and it gets to the fence and you have to pry it off, step in front of it to bring it off the fence. Also, remember which way you already circled.

Miscalculating
There are a few things you can do if you miscalculated your cow. A lot of times, cattle will run down the fence and act like little pups. Then, when you go to circle, they grab another gear.

If you start to circle and the cow pours on the coal, you can kind of come around with it and turn it back on the fence again. It's like your sort of made a loop again.

THere's nothing that says you can't do this, and it sure beats running around and around trying to catch the cow.

The other thing that you can do is switch sides.

If you start off circling to the right and realize it isn't going to happen because the cow is getting way ahead and veering right, you can switch over to the other way first. You're not in a penalty situation if you head right up into that circle and switch sides. You're still OK, and you've saved potentially going around and around and around to get your cow caught.

Sometimes you'll be circling and have gotten all the way around and find yourself ahead of the cow and end up turning it back before you really meant to. If you are quick and slick enough to turn you horse right there and go back and circle the other way, it doesn't appear that you overshot and you may not get a 1-point penalty for loss of working advantage.

That's one of the those things that you have to be real quick on your feet.

Fallen Cow
If our cow falls down or lays down when you're circling, you must still ride around it even while it's on the ground in order for the judge to whistle a complete patter. So if the cow won't get up, go ahead and just go around the cow. You have at least fulfilled that part of the pattern.

You're not going to be credited for circling, but you're not going to get zeroed for quitting before your prescribed routing.

Show Often
HOW WELL YOU READ THE COW AND YOUR ABILITY TO GET YOUR HORSE TO THE RIGHT SPOT AT THE RIGHT TIME INFLUENCES THE AMOUNT OF CONTROL YOU HAVE IN YOUR RUN. You must interpret the action as it unfolds and react to it immediately. But to develop split-second responses, you have to show.

Practicing at home, your friends' houses or your trainers' isn't the same as showing. You have to go to your horse shows and do it.

AQHA shows are very affordable. We take a lot of our young horses and non pros to AQHA shows to get them put together without spending a fortune.

Even is you draw a bad cow and have had a bad run, think of it as a learning experience.