Cowboy/Animal Psychology

A while back I dropped in on my old cowboy friend John just to see how he was getting along. I had not been there more than five minutes before the conversation turned to cow critters and how they reacted. It seems my friend had a new wrinkle on livestock control. John was convinced that a cowboy could either stare down or talk down most any excited animal. I think the concept mostly originated from watching too many movies like “Crocodile Dundee” and “The Horse Whisperer.”

            Anyway, he said that he had already tried it out during the spring roundup and with a little refinement it was going to revolutionize the industry. The idea crystallized for him when a half-grown bovine broke out of the herd during branding. John, who was afoot at the time, saw the animal coming straight for him. Instead of jumping out of the way like any sane human being the cowboy stood his ground and stared directly into the charging animal’s eyes. Things get a little hazy after that what with the noise and dust and what not, but John was firmly convinced that he had exhibited a measure of control over the situation.

            When I left the room old John was still going on about how he was going to train all the other hands on how to do the job. Of course, it was difficult for him to properly illustrate the process what with the support collar on his dislocated neck, the cast on that broken right leg, his left arm being in a sling, and all those IVs sticking out everywhere, but he was optimistic that he had finally mastered animal psychology.