A couple of weeks ago, Drifa and I drove up to Reno and spent a few days with Mark Berry (former Parelli instructor) and his family. I was there with a bunch of friends for a cow clinic. What a blast! The cattle make you (and your trusty pony)think a little differently than usual - because someone else (the cow) has an opinion, too. We worked on some handling skills - snappy departures, turns on hindquarters, backing up, sweeping the front end over, etc - as well as cattle moving skills. We moved them here and there, sorted specific ones out and then moved them, held them here... We also had a bit of roping (# of times I roped Drifa (15), roped myself (12), roped a cow (3)). I am pretty darned proud of the (3), though. We used breakaway hondas on the ropes so that we didn't have to wrestle much with the cows. I am never going to be a "real" cowboy but we had a great time and our general skills really improved.
Am still working on the house, but it did pass its final impection last Tuesday! HOORAY!! Move in day can't be too far away :-))))) Penny
