First Cows

As I loaded up my truck and trailer up to go sorting last Saturday, the shine of the clean truck and trailer was dimmed by threatening skies.  I woke up during the night to hear the rain pounding outside, knowing that next morning's adventure would be a wet one.

Did I say wet?  Sunday broke a record for rainfall, the most rain in over 64 years...and I was heading out to go sorting cows!  I grabbed my wet weather gear and headed to the barn to pick up my Cowgirl Pals, their horses...and my horse, Elvis.  

This would be Elvis's first exposure to cows and the activity that takes place during sorting.  I had asked my Frainer (friend and trainer) to ride him on this day, unsure how Elvis would do in the whirlwind of cows, horses, buzzers, etc.

I arrived at the barn and within minutes all three horses and tack were loaded up, a testament to the fact that my Cowgirl Pals know their way around a horse trailer and what tack to haul.  What great traveling pals for sure!  :)

Parking is minimal at Fiddleback Ranch.  Groups are assigned a time to arrive, sort cows and leave before another group arrives and does the same.  On this day we'd arrived ahead of our sorting group, barely fitting my truck and trailer into the parking area where the current group was sorting.  

We'd reserved stalls, giving our horses a chance to settle in.  Once the current group left we would have about 30 minutes to bring our horses out and acclimate them before our sorting bunch all arrived.

A snapshot taken from a video I took, here is Elvis seeing cows for this first time.

He isn't quite sure what to think of them.  He's pretty snorty but my Friend and Trainer (Frainer) does a great job settling him in.

The time goes quickly and soon everybody has arrived and it's time to sort cows.  Here's Elvis's first time working a cow.  He's still not quite sure but he's settled in and does the job pretty well.

Each time Elvis works the cows he gets better.  And the better he gets, the bigger my grin gets!  I'm tempted to take a run but my Frainer is picking up his speed each time they do a run so I decide to take videos and watch on this day.

Here I am with my Cowgirl Pals.  All of us were so proud of our horses, which did awesome on this wet day.  The pounding rains never quit and by the time we returned to the barn to unload we were all soaked to the skin.  Frankly I was so thrilled by the day that I didn't even notice how wet I was until I pulled into the barn at home.

We are all signed up for the next sorting, April 13th.  Like one of us said on the way home, "If we can sort in this weather we can sort in anything"!  What a great bunch of gals to ride with.  AND what a GREAT Frainer I have - thank you Rachel Koehler for introducing Elvis to his First Cows!