Careful what you pray for!

[Wags]

For the past couple of days I've been praying that I will be able to catch my cows.

I came home from my daughter's karate class tonight to discover that Maggie (not the one I wanted to catch first) was all tangled up in string hubby had left within reach of her horns when setting fence line. Apparently God thinks I need to tame her first.

I managed to snap a lead line on her halter while I was cutting her free and right now she is tied up inside the shelter. Matilida is in the corral area too, as she wasn't about to leave sister's side.

Now that she is tied up at almost 8pm I'm not sure exactly what my next step will be other than I'm not about to untie her at this point other than to let her have a chance to drink a little more water. (I led her to water before I tied her in the shelter.)

Any suggestions on how to handle the over night would be greatly appreciated.

[copperhead]

About the best you can do is throw her some hay and maybe a tub of water and just keep her tied up. She should be fine, it sure doesn't hurt them to learn to stand tied. As long as she can get up and down, I wouldn't worry about her, (too much,
P.J.

[Wags]

Do you think she could go over night without water - say 9pm - 5am?

When I go back out in a few minutes I will give her a little more line so she can lay down.

[Wags]

Quick update - Maggie is doing well, not fighting the rope, but still not allowing me to touch her. She has learned that is she takes a step or two towards me that I will release the pressure on the halter chain under her jaw.

With a bit of patience and persistence I managed to get a lead rope snapped on to Matilda's halter this morning. Haven't tried tying her up yet - she freaks about the rope, so I'm going to give her a few hours to get used to having it on her before I catch and tie.

[Wags]

Maggie still doesn't like to be touched, but her half sister Matilda will allow me to touch her anywhere as long as there is good food (alfalfa pellets or apples) in front of her. She stood like a champ without moving for the AI tech - and it appears she is now bred. (It's been 30+ days)

Maggie will be bred in Jan/Feb - and until then I will just keep working with her and hoping to finally get through to her that I'm not going to hurt her.

If anyone wants to read more about what I have been doing to tame these two you can read through the "Dexter Cattle" posts on my ranch blog.