by Jan Fielden

The Colonel was going to move the Yearling Herd out of the Horse Pasture and leave the gate open so they could come and go as they pleased. The time was right, he had the cubes in a bucket and in the truck, and he was on his way. He saw them on the fence line and they started following his truck even though they were on the other side of the fence. The whole little group of the cows, calves, and The Colonel were almost down to the gate that leads in to and out of the Horse Pasture. So far so good.

Suddenly, from out of nowhere here comes Sundance running as if she were going to be fed, throwing her head up and back, tail raised and she was calling her “herd” to come and go with her! Out through the gate she ran and the cows, calves, and even the bulls were running after her. Oops, there is one little calf left in the pasture because he is afraid to go through the gate. Thankfully, its Momma called it out of that pasture. He did like all the little calves do when they go through a gate the first time; he kicked his heels up. The Colonel said it was as if Sundance thought she needed to take her place at the head of the herd. The nice thing was that he didn’t even have to cube them out…she took charge!

The next day of course, they were all back in the Horse Pasture but they didn’t stay long. Guess they just wanted to check on things. Now they have gotten into the routine of going from pasture to pasture. Our animals are creatures of habit here at the Red Oak Ranch.