I tell ya what-these beef cows are stressing me out. I should be used to it by now, though. They've been loose 3 times this week, and of course-my dh wasn't home each time.
Yesterday we dropped Hannah off at the riding stable and took the guide dog to the store for training. When we got home, the bull was out trying to reach the fruit trees.
Thankfully, the other 3 were still in. Someone had forgotten to turn the electricity back on when they turned horses in. That person will remain unnamed. LOL

Anyway, I blocked the driveway w/ my car. I sent Susanna up to the house w/ Abbie, as she likes to chase the cows. Alyssa was awake & crying, so I had to hold onto her. Jonah & I herded the bull like that and thank the Lord (I was praying for help!) we were able to get him in without any mishaps.

Today, we put them in the beef cow summer pasture, which is 5 strands of high tensile wire that is charged. I am very glad to not have to deal w/ the temporary 1 strand of wire anymore.
We tried to separate 2 of them to put them in with the horses, but that didn't work. The bull jumped over the gate, which was 2 feet taller than him-and he bent it. He jumped into a different pasture, so he wasn't loose. So, they're all staying together and will be having several other steers added to that pasture, too.

We wanted to put heifers in there, but since we can't get the bull out of there, that won't do. They're not old enough to be bred yet. So, they'll stay with their mothers, who will naturally kick them off as they start calving (they got bred later than usual). Not all these cows are ours-we share pasture w/ a dairy farmer who also has a beef herd.

This morning has been quite eventful w/ moving cows and also moving 3 of the horses to the summer pasture. We fenced in our front yard w/ temporary fence (not charged) for another horse(Copper) & the pony. These 2 have not yet been accepted by the other 3. Plus, the pony can't have grass for long periods of time as he foundered with his previous owners & is susceptible to that happening again if he gets too much grass. Here's Copper:

Here's the pony-he belongs to Susanna. She named him Tootsie Toes. I just love this little guy. I just want to pick him up and squeeze him. I'm sure he would think that was undignified, though. He's such a funny boy.



Hannah was working with Copper(6 yr old QH gelding) this morning and got dumped off. I ran over as she quickly got up and said, "I'm ok, Mom-that was my fault." I was so proud of her for not getting frustrated. Then she got back on & had a great training session with him. He's her gymkana show horse (barrel racing, pole bending, etc) he's young and is still learning-and so is she.

Yesterday, we went to see Casey, our 4 yr old Palomino Quarterhorse. We sent him to a trainer. We did all his ground work, but we wanted a professional trainer to do the riding part. He is doing so well. The trainer uses the philosophy of natural horsemanship and he is amazing with horses. We go there once a week and he lets Hannah help out w/ Casey & other horses, too. She is learning so many awesome things from this patient & gentle man.

We worked out a trade with him to also work with Hannah & Copper. So, we trailered Copper to his place yesterday and he rode Casey in the ring & worked with him while Hannah was on Copper in the ring. He is helping her learn how to be a team with her horses. He talked about having a partnership with your horse rather than a dictatorship.
She's seen a lot of dictatorship cases at the riding arena she helps at-there's a lot of women there who seem to feel they need to prove to the horse & themselves that they're tough. I've been around horses since I was a teen & worked w/ race horses for several years (harness racing) and have seen a lot of that from men and women. It's so sad to see. And it's so unnecessary.

I'm just so thankful that Hannah is seeing a better way-a beautiful way of learning & living with horses-the most amazing animal (in my opinion). Our trainer, Don used to work with troubled horses & troubled teens together and he is such an amazing teacher. Hannah loves having him teach her-she's learning things she's never even heard about before-us to!

He reminded her not to get frustrated when a horse seems to forget something they've already learned. He said, "you know how to clean your room right?" She nodded. Then he said, " Is your room clean right now?" She laughed and shook her head. He smiled and said, "see? You know HOW to do it, but you don't always do it or do it right. Same with horses."

To tell you the truth, I'm being reminded of child training watching him train horses. I'm learning some things, too.

Hannah's assignment w/ Copper this week is to work on Copper's work ethic, fine tune his neck reining & get him more confident around cows. He is bred to do cow work, but I don't know if he'll be doing that. Maybe in the future.
Don also gave her some ground work exercises for her to do with him that promote teamwork. It's so exciting to watch all this stuff. Every single thing Don does is done for a reason-he is constantly assessing the horse & adjusting what he does based on that. When he was working w/ Casey, he told us how Casey was going to respond to everything he did-and he was right every time.
One of his first questions to us was, "So, what do we have to do today?" His answer was "We don't HAVE to do anything." Then he said, "What are we going to do today?" His answer was, "As much as we possibly can."
I really liked that. It puts the training in perspective. He also ends every session on a positive note for the horse. He said yesterday he'd rather praise a horse when he doesn't know why he's being praised than punish a horse when he doesn't know why he's being punished. I love how he is totally not phased by a horse's "mis" behaviour.

The first week of Casey wearing a saddle, he did a little bucking. Don told us he didn't mind-he's going in the direction I want him to & he's going forward-he's just putting in a little extra effort. I don't care what he does as long as he keeps going forward.
I've never seen anyone not get upset in some way by what horses do-he doesn't show any negative emotion whatsoever.
I also really like that he concentrates on training the horse to have confidence in stressful or scary situations. That's important to me since he's going to be ridden by children. Casey doesn't spook at anything anyway, but he's getting more and more confident and we all noticed how much more calm and cool he is. If I didn't know he just started training, I'd never believe he'd only been under saddle & rider for 2 weeks.
Here's an older pics of him as a 2 yr old:

Here he is, 3 yrs old:

Here he is w/ Hannah doing ground work with him:

I miss having him home-can't wait until his training his done & he's back. He's gone for 2.5 more months. Hannah will probably show him Western Pleasure. He's a little tall for barrels (in my opinion)-barrel racing can be hard on the stifles. Plus his hocks are closer together than I'd like for a barrel racer. Copper's hocks are nice & far apart-and he's shorter. We'll see how he shapes up when he's all trained. We'll get Don's input on that, too.

P.S.  Can you see the pics on this post??