We Ride Sport and Trail Magazine February 2018 | Page 22

Remember, as a stockman, you are supposed to be the smart one. It is up to you to change to accommodate the animal.

I have had the good fortune to observe people working livestock from northern Alaska and Canada to Central America, from Oregon and California in the west to Kentucky in the east. Everyone used the same basic principle. That is, to go out and chase the animals from where they were, to where the people wanted them to go. By now, you probably realize that I don’t think that is the best way to work animals. The traditional method of driving livestock consists of trying to frighten the animal away from the person, hopefully in the direction the person wants it to go. Using fear and force to move animals is very stressful to them. My method takes the animal’s natural behavior into consideration, but makes us change our natural behavior.

There are certain things animals want to do as long as they are in a normal mental state.

1. They want to see what is pressuring them.

2. They want to move in the direction they are headed. This may seem obvious to you, but if this is the

case, why would you move behind an animal to make it go when moving into the animal’s blind spot

will cause it to turn to see you?

3. They want to follow other animals.

4. They have very little patience.

Proper position on your part and nothing more is enough pressure to allow you to move livestock any place they are physically able to go. By you being in this position, the animals will want to move in the desired direction. Excessive pressure will put the animals into a panic condition where none of these things apply.

Loud noise that is directed to the animal is almost always excessive pressure, especially yelling, revving

the motor on your 4-wheeler, etc. It is not only

stressful to the animals, but it is detrimental to your

objective. They are quite willing to accept general

noise such as banging chutes and normal motor

sounds.

As pressure is applied to move the animals, some of it must be released when they move. Either by you stepping back, or by the fact that they moved ahead and that takes some of the pressure off. Do not lose contact with the animal by releasing all of the pressure. Constant pressure with no let up, or excessive pressure is what panics animals.

Do not apply pressure from behind an animal. Now listen to what I said.

“Do not APPLY PRESSURE from behind.”

You can walk along behind livestock all day and not cause any problem as long as you aren’t pressuring them. There is always a correct position. This spot moves as the animal moves. The angle you move in relation to the animal determines if you will maintain the proper position. The speed you move is important, but not as important as the angle.

Read your animals. They will tell you what your position should be.

Don’t try to anticipate what the animals will do as this will put you out of position and likely cause the very thing you are trying to prevent. “Whatever you anticipate, you will create”.

Moving back and forth while getting closer to the animals will tend to cause them to move away from you.

Moving parallel to livestock in the same direction the animals are going will tend to slow the animals down