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Cutting/Penning questions

4K views 30 replies 4 participants last post by  rob 
#1 ·
Im going to try to explain this the best I can. Im hoping rob will find this thread and help me out. He seems very knowledgeable.

A little info on my horse – 10 year old QH gelding. I bought him 3 months ago from a cowhorse auction. I don’t know alot about him but he seemed pretty snappy on a cow and hes bred well. I have no idea what he did in the past but I know hes from the states. He’s not pretty. He’s not built well. But this horse can cut a cow! Ive never rode a horse that wanted it so bad! He will be my team penning horse.

Now, in the sale they listed him as a “Team Penning Prospect.” This was not why I bought him. Now that hes at home and ive been working him I can tell that they threw on some beginner that didn’t know how to ride and all they wanted was to go fast.

He wants to rush out of his turn(he will literally turn and then take off, not uncontrollably but all he knows is fast!) and push with his shoulder and not lead with his nose and stay back on his hocks.

So my question is. Do I do the “2 bump” where I stop him square on his end (first bump) then when he turns and he wants to have that forward motion bump him back and make him back up?(second bump). He’s learning that if he sticks his nose out there and leads with his shoulder hes gonna get in trouble from the bump and he’s staying on his hocks. Ive been doing this method on my dry work and on a cow. It has been working! But I just want to see if there is a different method I should try.

I have another question to. In everyones opinion what is the best way to turn a cutting horse into a penning horse? I have just been taking him to sorting and teaching him to step to a cow and just teaching him the position. He isn’t ready for penning yet I think.
 
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#2 ·
hi nicole,the bump method will work,but you have to hold him and turn him at the right time.do you have a flag or mechanical cow to use,cause it would be easier to fix this if you can slow it down.
 
#4 ·
ok,firstthing is thank you for the compliment,2nd,dont worry about looks,some of your best cowhorses were ugly,but they could work,and3rd,if you didnt buy him for a penner,why did you buy him?
 
#5 ·
He wants to rush out of his turn(he will literally turn and then take off, not uncontrollably but all he knows is fast!) and push with his shoulder and not lead with his nose and stay back on his hocks.

I have another question to. In everyones opinion what is the best way to turn a cutting horse into a penning horse? I have just been taking him to sorting and teaching him to step to a cow and just teaching him the position. He isn’t ready for penning yet I think.
Rush as in unbalanced? Turns or roll backs?

If you don't know if he's been cutting, it will take a few runs to figure out. A cutting horse will make a good hole horse but getting them into the herd to seperate and push will be the hardest part. They don't want to push, they want to hold.
 
#7 ·
Rush as in unbalanced? Turns or roll backs?

If you don't know if he's been cutting, it will take a few runs to figure out. A cutting horse will make a good hole horse but getting them into the herd to seperate and push will be the hardest part. They don't want to push, they want to hold.
I wouldnt say he's unbalanced. I think that he has been rode in fast gear for a long time and all he wants to do is run out of his turns with alot of forward motion by barging threw the turn with his shoulder. I dont know if that made sense.

So far ive found my biggest difficulty with trying to turn him into a penning horse is just getting him into the herd at an faster speed than a walk. Even at a trot he wants to “zig-zag” in. So ive been doing lots of riding just getting him between my hands and legs then I started just trotting a straight line into a heard and parking him in the heard against the wall and stopping and petting on him. Thats helped...

Im not competing off this horse yet. I wanted to just ride him all winter and take him to practices instead of throwing him into a show.
 
#8 ·
ok,to stop the shoulder dropping,dry work or on a slow cow,stop flat,take cow side rein and leg to hold him straight.scoot offside leg back so he cant swing his hip out,when cow turns,tip his nose in that direction but keep tension on it so he dont step forward.at same time,scoot offside leg back up by girth and squeeze with heel or spur.keep that leg in him until he makes a 180 turn.if he sweeps and dont drop shoulder,that is what you want,then bump him to control speed.get back with me on other horse
 
#10 ·
ok nicole,take your cutter and one cow in the pen.alot of rating and tracking.cow picks up speed,you pick it up,keeping him always looking at cow.when this goes well,track and pick a spot on wall where you want to turn this cow but remember,stop flat,rock back and sweep.then put several cows in pen and let him trot thru them,them trot thru and push one out by itself.
 
#14 ·
Every Friday we go 2 man sorting at an arena down the road from ours. Thats where im teaching him to step to a cow. Sorting is becoming huge and im really hoping that one day penning will be a thing of the past and sorting will be more popular up here in Alberta. I know its already like that down in the states. I personally like sorting WAY more than penning.
 
#19 ·
we use 11 or 12 head here,the extras being trash cows,and thats our average time here.but at 1 aqha show,i used my top horse in the open and got a 10 header in 36.4.my daughter even said it was luck.
 
#26 ·
As much as I love sorting, penning is still huge here in southern Alberta and we don't have much sorting available to go to. One arena has been doing three man sorting weekly over the winter but it runs at the same time as a penning practice that is run by a 5 rated rider who coaches us during our runs. So we have been doing the penning instead.
The smallest I have sorted in is 60' pen and the average time was in the 40-50 second range on ten head. Some of the top riders were faster of course though.
Sorting is a great way to slowly introduce a horse to the type of cattle work required in penning. When I bought my mare she was all go so I only sorted on her for a year and then slowly introduced her back to the penning.
 
#28 ·
Thanks Rob. Zena was never blown up she was just all go. lol
I am also lucky that I have 110 cow calf pairs outside my door that I am responsible for. Both of my penning horses have to play ranch horse during the week, including occasionally roping the odd cow. This keeps both of them very responsive to their rider and also shows them it is ok to go slow until asked for the speed. But I know very few people who compete have that kind of luxury.
 
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