Rose and the Wayward Bulls

These bulls were where they were supposed to be, when we got back to the barn!

I was out on our morning training ride with my Fell Pony mare Willowtrail Wild Rose.  We were on the ranch road, and we came upon Bruce loading hay into his processor.  “A gate got left open and some bulls got out,” he said, pointing at the road ahead.  “I thought you and Rose could put them back in.”  I replied that we’d try, with my brain doing an amazingly quick job of listing all that could go wrong.  But at least we could try!

Bruce advised that we should just approach them and get them moving, giving them room if they wanted to do something unhelpful but that once moving they’d probably go where we needed them to.  This was the total amount of information I had about moving bulls.  I had only ever moved bulls before on equines that knew their job, most recently on Mya the Wonder Pony, and that was fifteen years ago!  So Rose and I approached the bull on the road at a walk, and he just watched us.  The two in the borrow ditches on each side eyed us, too.  We kept approaching, and the bull kept watching, not making any sign of moving away.  Soon I heard Bruce come up behind us on foot to add some verbal emphasis with the authority of many decades of experience.  I had thought about swinging a rope but wasn’t sure what Rose would think of yet another new element on our ride.

Fortunately the bull decided to turn and head away, and his friends made the same decision.  Sure enough, as Rose and I followed behind, they moved up the road and through the gate we needed them to go through.  I dismounted, tied Rose, and shut the gate.

At that point Linda arrived and exclaimed, “You moved some bulls, Rose!”  (The picture here was taken several minutes later of bulls back at the barn, nicely where they were supposed to be.)  Rose gladly accepted Linda’s kudos, and I appreciated Linda’s next comment, that the bulls we’d moved were amongst the friendliest on the place.  Good!  Next time they’re out, I’ll try to increase my motivational contributions, with a more assertive voice and perhaps a swinging rope.  But I’ll practice the rope part with Rose between now and then!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

More stories about my life with ponies can be found in my book What an Honor, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.