Team penning is a great family sport & a fantastic way to get out on the weekends and enjoy your horses. There's no special equipment required - just grab your favorite horse, and your peers in the sport will be glad to show you the ropes.
The best part about team penning is that it is truly a family sport! Youths participate in classes for their age group, where they can have some fun, and learn with their peers.
This little girl sure is tearing up the ring! Gaining confidence and skill, their riding becomes second nature, and the excitement is contagious!
PLEASE NOTE: IT IS NOW LAW IN ONTARIO THAT CHILDREN <18 WEAR A HELMET
Three team members are randomly selected from the days' entries. In each heat you'll be with a different team, and you'll quickly learn from the many talents in each group!
The team must get three cows with a designated number into the pen, located at one end of the arena. When it's time to start, the team waits at their end of the ring....
.....while the cows are settled at the other end of the ring, and bunched together, in preparation for the run.
There is no 'roughing' of the cows allowed with team penning. There are a set of rules, and everyone must follow them.
The cows are finally settled.....
The team is given the signal,
and they leap across the timer barrier and head for the cows....and the race is on, with
only 1.5 minutes to pen 3!!
Teamwork is the key - you can see the rider in front pointing out some of their cows, to save time when they hit the herd.
There are three positions in the group .....
The "CUTTER" goes into the herd, to root out the teams' three cows. He's the front man, and it's his (or HER!) job to get into the herd quickly and quietly, and cut out the three calves that are wearing the team's designated number.
Careful you don't start a stampede!
If the cows try to split and run, your two other team mates, the "TURNBACK" men leap into action. It is their job to keep any cows other than the desired three from crossing a penalty line further up the arena.
This is a stressful job, as you can see! But they seem to be handling it all in stride!
Here, the "cutter" is using the 'fourth partner' in the team - the rail!
By pushing these cows up the fenceline, he'll drive them out of the herd, and one of the turnback men will 'scoop' them up and push them to the pen - hopefully breaking the two apart and sending the 'trash cow' back to the herd.
A good run depends on knowing just how hard, and exactly where to 'push' on your calves!
Here, a turnback man is pushing just right, sending #4 packing, and splitting #5 down the fence to the 'pen', where (hopefully) he'll settle, and await the teams' other two cows...which his partners are busy cutting out, as he works this set.
This is a sport at which women can truly excel. Here, you can see having a fast horse can be a real bonus!
The last of the three cows are cut, and here, a rider is racing back up the ring with the third cow.
It's time to pen the calves.
The 'grand finale'.....penning the calves. There are three positions which will effectively drive the cows into the pen -hopefully without losing one!
The fellow at left is the "pusher", responsible for driving the
cows into the pen, without letting them duck out around him & head back to the herd.
The rider at right will hold up just off the end of the opened gate - he's
the 'wing' man, and is responsible for blocking the cows so they can't duck out as they
enter the pen.
Most importantly,
the 'hole' man blocks the opening near the wall, (the favorite choice of fast moving
calves) so that the cows don't blow past the pen, through the hole, and back down the wall
to the herd. The pusher must be careful he doesn't push too hard, and blow the
calves past the hole man!
Here, a great shot of the 'wing' man doing his job - he's alert and is ready to block the calf trying to escape around the wing. The brown calf on the right was a 'trash' cow that came with the bunch, that the 'pusher' has seperated at the last moment.
What we all strive for - a fast, clean round, with three cows in the pen, and all three riders with arm raised to call 'time'.
With a lot of cooperative effort, a bit of luck, and some good riders and horses, your team will work together, have the fastest time, and maybe, even win a bit of cash at the end of the day!
MANY THANKS FOR PHOTOS
courtesy of
Team
Penning.Com
with fabulous shots from California!
CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO THE
BANCROFT ONTARIO
TEAM PENNING PAGE.
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