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The Open Field Fence Turn Exercise
Article: Jenn Leiker, Copyright ©2006.
At a recent clinic with multiple World Champion trainer and coach Don Murphy, the group was faced with working cattle that were... well, less than willing participants. Having just come from another performance use situation, the cows were a little dull and herd-bound, with little run and even less honor. While everyone would like to have fresh cows to work their bridle horses, snaffle bitters and hackamore horses, the fact is that perfectly fresh cows coming in off a pasture are harder and harder to come by. So what can you do when you have several horses to work, and a herd of recalcitrant cattle?
Don Murphy believes that working less than ideal cattle is actually a benefit to your program. “A good cow horse has to drive a cow, stop a cow, read a cow that doesn't have a lot of honor. He's got to know how to step up there and take charge of the situation. So does the rider.” To that end, Don reached back in his memory to an exercise that he learned from the legendary Don Dodge. He had not used it in years since he has continual access to fresh cattle, but it proved to be challenging and useful over the weekend. Some of those at the clinic dubbed it the ‘Open Field Fence Turn Exercise’.
To set up this exercise, you need at least one rider, and preferably two, in addition to the rider working his horse. To begin with, the riders bring a herd of cattle into the arena and let them settle along the fence where they typically leave the arena after being worked. This is usually not very difficult as the cattle will naturally want to be there. Ideally the cattle will settle in the middle of the short end of the arena. However, if they settle in the corner next to the gate, that's okay too.
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The one or two ‘turnback help’ on horseback will then go to the opposite end of the arena and wait in each corner - a single rider would wait at the center of that wall.
To get started, the cow horse enters the herd and cuts one cow from the bunch. If possible, picking one cow off from the edge is just fine. Depending on how herd-sour and sticky the cattle are, the horse may need to cut two or three cattle from the bunch and let the extra cows make it back to the herd. In a fresh cattle situation, the turnback riders would need to push on the cows to make them want to return to their buddies, but with used cattle that’s probably not necessary. Cutting one cow out of a tough herd may be the biggest challenge in this exercise.
The goal is to drive that single cow down to the other end of the arena. To get the cow ‘unhooked’ from his herdmates, the rider will have to hone their cow-reading skills, learning how to stop the cow to get it’s attention, and just when to push on the watchful cow to make it turn away and think about the other end of the arena as it’s best escape.
The additional challenge to this part of the exercise is that you must drive the cow at a walk. After the cow is successful cut out of the herd and heads in the opposite direction, the rider’s goal is to calmly trail the cow to the other end of the arena, never leaving a walk. The cow horse might need to meander left and right to keep a walking cow from turning back, but if the cow trots or runs straight away, the rider should still walk after it. The idea for this part of the exercise is to let the horse drive the cow relaxed, like you were out in the pasture trailing one on a slow but purposeful drive. “This is one of the best things about this exercise,” says Don, “it teaches your horse that not everything is fast and furious, and there’s a time to slow down and think when working a cow.”
With little pressure on the cow, it will probably find its way to the opposite end and wait there, looking around. The two turnback riders should stay in the corners and wait as well.
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When the cow horse gets to the end of the pen and is ready, pressure is applied to the cow to make it want to return to the herd. Sometimes, seeing a horse in each corner and a third horse approaching is enough to make the cow start to try to get back. If not, the turnback help can gently push on the cow, one at a time.
The tunback’s job is very important in this exercise. Being too aggressive can push the cow through the cow horse. Being too involved in the exercise and matching move for move can make the cow horse start to watch the turnback’s horse instead of the cow. The turnback rider needs to bump the cow enough to get it to move toward the herd’s end, and then back off. He may do some repeated bumping as the cow and horse work back down the arena to the herd, but only enough to keep the cow moving. The turnback help should not stop the cow on the ends; that’s the cow horse’s job.
As the cow and horse zigzag across the pen, the cow has to make only a half turn, or less, to duck behind the horse’s tail and continue toward the herd. The horse, on the other hand, will need to stop hard and make a full half or even ¾ turn each time in order to hustle back in position to stop the cow the other way.
“Make sure your horse gets out past the cow enough to stop it, don't stutter forward – push him out past that cow a little bit and let the cow draw him back through the turn… this will get him stopping harder and making sweepier fence turns.” Don notes, “If he’s hooked onto the cow, he’ll clean himself up with this exercise because he needs to be efficient and do things right to get the job done.”
If your horse has a ‘miss’, where he does not read the cow and get stopped with it, the rider should let him get through the turn, and then hustle him back hard – picking a new line across the cow’s path to give ground if necessary. If the cow breaks to a trot at times, let things slow down, and then perhaps add pressure again with the turnback riders to pick up the intensity. If things are moving along sufficiently and the horse actually blocks the cow to a standstill now and then, let him sit there with it and catch his air, and then tag off the cow to reward him.
An added benefit of this exercise is that the rider gets repeated practice at reading the cow, sitting down to the stop, and riding his horse up and out of turns.
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If the cow is lost as the pressure increases close to the herd, don’t punish the horse or scatter the herd. Just draw up and let him catch his air and relax, then calmly drive another cow out. This is a lot of pressure on a horse, so don’t frighten him or do this exercise too often or for too long. It actually recreates the toughest show situation possible, when a cow comes hard out of the gate and tries to run over the horse. At a show, being in position on such a cow will merit credit. If the rider is able to break the cow down and get it to turn away, it’s a very high degree of difficulty and bumps the score up considerably. It may also be that the judge will blow for a new cow - but if the horse is overwhelmed and constantly out of position, the judge has no reason to award a fresh cow. Setting up this situation at home will build the confidence of both rider and horse for any future challenging show experiences.
What starts out as a way to use not-so-fresh cattle becomes a way to produce a cow horse that tries hard and teaches himself how to stay in position. He knows how to get up and out of hard, fast turns. He also learns how to make a great open field turn, without leaning or shouldering in. That can only produce a better fence horse. “If your horse learns how to handle this,” smiles Don, “he starts to know he can handle anything.”
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About Don Murphy
3-time AQHA World Show Champion, Multiple Snaffle Bit Futurity Finalist, and Cow Palace Champion Don Murphy has trained 23 AQHA World Champions and coached numerous trainers and non pros alike to success in the reined cow horse arena, including members of his immediate family. His late wife Melene earned numerous titles under her husband’s coaching and their children, Nelle and CJ, continue to dominate in several events. Nelle Murphy has won both the NRCHA and National Reining Horse Association Non Pro Futurities along with three AQHA Amateur and three AQHA Youth World Championships. CJ has earned one AQHA Youth World Championship, along with five AQHA Amateur World titles. In 2005, he became only the second gentleman to win the AQHA World Championship Show’s All-Around Amateur title and he ranks among the top amateur ropers in the United States. The Murphys have earned well over 2,000 points in AQHA competition in roping, working cow horse and reining.
Bio info from NRCHA.com.
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