Cowgirl on Cowpony

I suspect Blips very own Cowgirl has never tried this as it's banned in the UK, at least as a form of sport practised by Western Riders. In Germany, it is allowed but the riding bodies do have lots of rules as to how, when etc. However in practice, 95% of Western riders have probably never been near cattle on a horse, at least without a fence between them. It takes a lot of organisation and cost.

But of course cattle work on horses is the origin of western riding for which the Quarter Horse was bred, so called for being the fastest horse over a quarter mile. Exploding speed is the key attribute together with quick stops and turns, things you need when working cattle. However, you also need quiet, confident horses. Most disciplines at western riding tournaments take place without cattle. Europes biggest tournament takes place near her every 2 years in Augsburg (Americana) where professionals take part, horses even being flown in from the USA.

Today Angie took part in a Beginners course in working with cattle being held at the nearby Bühlhof Ranch which I have Bliped several times as we used it for the visits with Rosie our Quarter Horse for special farrier work in 2013/4. Just this month a riding friend who has his horses there has taken over the lease as the farmer was giving up the farm/stables and he was afraid of it being closed. Norbert, not a farmer but a "normal" employee in a "normal" job, found someone to manage the unit which I suspect has 50+ boarding horses. This person turned out to be Alois Schuster (jr) who we have known since he just came out of nappies. His father has often been mentioned/appeared in Blip, is a farmer in our previous village and had grown up with horses and was a natural horseman himself and though rarely had even used horses to drive cattle from summer fields back to the farm in the village in autumn. Son had inherited these genes, did an apprenticeship at a professional stable and did his trainers licence, Both father and son have a very charming, relaxed and usually quiet style.

Early morning Angie set off with Sultan our Shagya Arab as she wanted the challenge of seeing how a nervous, playful, underemployed scallywag would do faced with these beasts. Rosie would have been boring, much too quiet and unbothered. They picked up friend Kathi and her Quarter Horse Magic and spent a day on the course. They both reported it was a great day. Sadly I was very under the weather laying flat at home until late afternoon but somehow managed to get over for the last 10 minutes of the course where I took a few photos and a short video - posted on Flickr. The lighting in an indoor school is dreadful for camera work, so sorry for the quality.