On the third day of Karl Lentini’s cattle herding vacation, we got caught in a storm about four hours from the headquarters. The wind blew so hard that our slickers billowed out like sailboat sails. We had to hold our cowboy hats as best we could since the hats would have blown to the next county in the wind. It poured rain- no visibility at all. Then the lightning and thunder started. Karl had the very Western experience of being in a real life cattle stampede with lightning bouncing all around us. Karl writes about the experience here.
My Time at Double Circle Ranch
by Karl Lentini
Day 3: Tuesday Sept. 7 2010
Karl Riding Odie in the Rain
Longest riding day yet. Moved cattle with Wilma and Mike. Took rain slickers in case of rain. Rode Odie again. Odie became very lazy when I tried to move cattle at Split Tank; he just wouldn’t go If I were only wearing spurs…
Odie made me nervous when he took to violently shaking his head. I thought he was annoyed at me but later learned he was trying to shake off bot flies, which aggravate horses in hard-to-scratch places. I nearly called Wilma for help, but just kept on.
As we were riding down a mountain it got very windy, so much that we had to hold our hats on our heads. A storm moved in from the east and hit us as we rode. We put on our rain slickers except for Mike, who didn’t have his. Poor guy got soaked The sky treated us to thunder claps and lightning flashes. I wondered if the armor that medieval knights wore on their horses acted as a lightning rod. It stopped raining and Wilma and I rode downhill to wait for Mike to drive some cattle our way. The goal was to drive them through an open gate in a flat field.
As I waited in my designated spot, Odie suddenly became a whole new horse — his ears went straight up, his massive neck muscles tensed, and his eyes opened wide. He neighed once, twice, and a third time.
Then I saw them…
About a dozen stampeding longhorns, charging right at me.
Most folks would panic about now. Remember, I’ve never done this before. But I just trusted that Odie would know what to do, like run away if we had to. He already had my trust by that point. And I trusted Wilma, that she would never put me in a situation where I might be trampled by stampeding cattle.
At least that’s what I hoped.
I watched, stood guard, and evidently deterred the cattle from running right past the open gate. Saw Forrest and Doug on foot in the pouring rain waving their arms at the steers. Group after group of stampeding cattle came down the hill. It was definitely a sight to see! We managed to herd all the cattle into the gate. Saw Mike come down the hill after them. Something must have spooked them — thunder, lightning, who knows. No one wanted a stampede.
After that thrilling experience we rode back to the barn in the rain. Very rustic. I liked seeing the steam rise up off the wet horses as we took their saddles off in the barn.
Learned that Odie was trained for roping wild cattle, which would explain his utter lack of interest when the cattle were just walking along. I suppose the stampeding steers brought him back to that wild place, where perhaps he expected me to ride him up and rope a steer. Not today, and not this rider.
I understand Odie now, he saves his energy.
great–thanks for showing our son enjoying his stay…..wish we could have been there but too old to enjoy horseback, etc.