Little Life on An American Ranch

Chapter 83: first lesson

  Chapter 83, Lesson 1

  Back to the fence of the auction site, Jian Heng found that the auction was not over yet, so he ran over curiously to have a look, and found that the horses were still being photographed.

  Not only are the horses being patted, but there are also horse carts carrying horses here, and the registration office can still see the ranchers registering and waiting to send the photos.

  Unable to hire a cart, Jian Heng hired a small trailer to transport the sheep and the only horse that could not be ridden, that is, the black beans, back to the ranch under the **** of Zhao Changshan.

  Old Lynch watched the black beans get on the transport vehicle and suggested to Jian Heng: "Henry, I have time tomorrow, do you think you have given this horse to the gelding?"

  Old Lynch didn't know why Jian Heng bought this horse. As a veterinarian, in his opinion, the only use of such a horse was to train it to herd cattle and sheep after being gelded.

  As for stallions and the like, in Old Lynch's view, there is no possibility at all, they are simply heaven and earth.

Don't look at how tall the black beans are, the ones in the pasture are taller than the black beans, and there are many horses in better shape than the black beans. The old man thought that if a horse like the black beans could be a stallion, the people who breed them would be blind eyes.

  Originally, the **** horse that Jian Heng rode was a gelding. Jian Heng thought for a while and said, "Let's talk about it later!"

Jian Heng has not considered whether to gelling Heidou now, but Jian Heng is a bit entangled in this issue. It is almost impossible to control a stallion like Heidou without a gelding. Stallions are very irritable. The horse is almost like sitting in the crater, and his life is in danger at any time.

  After the stallion was stabbed, it seemed that he had no more troubles except eating.

  Zai Lie’s stallion changed drastically after being stabbed. He stopped being mad when he saw the mare, and he was able to resolutely carry out his master’s orders.

  In short, whether it is a ranch or a horse farm, as long as there are only two stallions that cannot be used as stallions, the biggest way out is to get a knife and become a riding horse, and the other way is even worse: kill and eat meat!

  But now Jian Heng's life is not very embarrassing, so there is no burden to raise black beans for nothing.

   "If I don't gel now, I will have a gelding in the future. It is only a little less than two years old, and it is a good time for gelding!" As a veterinarian, Old Lynch gave some advice for Jian Heng's benefit.

   Seeing Jian Heng shook his head, Old Lynch stopped talking. He knew that his own words would be enough, since the horse didn't belong to him anyway, so he didn't need to worry about it.

   "What about your car?" Jian Hengduo asked.

  Sr. Lynch said: "I let Brady drive back."

   "What are they doing here?" Jian Heng asked.

  Brady is an employee of Anderson Ranch, and Zhang Jialiang's new friend Dominique is a colleague.

   "I gave them the news, they naturally came to sell horses, seven or eight ponies were all sold, today is really a good day!"

   "Sold out?"

   Seeing old Lynch nod his head, Jian Heng sighed: "Crazy!"

   "It's crazy! Now almost 600 horses have been sold!" Old Lynch was also surprised. In the past, the volume of 600 horses was at least one quarter's trading volume in a nearby town, but this time it was completed in just one day.

   "It's nothing to do with us, let's drive the cattle honestly!"

  What can Jian Heng say, that a group of Chinese robbed rotten cows and went back to deceive their compatriots? Don't talk about it, I blush just thinking about it.

   Before Old Lynch could speak, Jian Heng rolled onto the back of a bay-colored quarter horse.

  Old Lynch took a look and walked to another horse tied to the fence. This was a sorrel Quarter Horse with a white star on its nose. When he got to the horse, the old man in his sixties got on the horse like a young man.

  As for the two sisters, Barley and Wheat, who were riding two Arabian horses, one chestnut and one green, Zhang Jialiang naturally rode Kuat, which was his exclusive horse, and it allowed him to quickly establish a relationship with his own horse.

   Gently pulling the side rein, Jian Heng came in front of everyone. When the five horses got together, Jian Heng began to assign tasks.

  "Lynch, you are in charge of the left-hand side, I'll come to the right-hand side, Jialiang, you follow me, learn how to drive cattle, barley and wheat, you two sisters are in charge of the rear first.".

Jian Heng didn't know how well the two eldest ladies were driving cattle, so he was worried about them, so he divided up the easier work first. Old Lynch Jian Heng knew it well. Although he was old, it was not a big problem for him to be in charge Yes, there are not too many noodles and cattle, only about forty, so the workload is not too big.

   As for Zhang Jialiang, this kid has no experience at all. This time, Jian Heng took it upon himself to give him a good practical lesson in driving cattle.

  Five people got on the horses, and with the help of the auction staff, drove the cattle out of the fence, and the enthusiastic staff drove Jian Heng and others to the intersection in a small four-wheeler.

   "Where are you going?" Old Lynch held the reins with one hand, and his whole body stood on the back of the horse like a javelin, and he could not be seen as an old man in his sixties at all.

  It is impossible to drive the cattle this time on the main road. Firstly, there are too many vehicles, and secondly, the main road is relatively long, which takes about one third of the distance.

   "Take the trail, let's walk along the high-voltage line tower first, and then go straight to the pasture at the foot of the mountain," Jian Heng said.

Lynch didn't say much, he lifted the reins directly, tapped the horse's belly lightly with both feet, and the horse started to move instantly, and saw the old man holding the rein with one hand and tilting the horse's head a little, controlling the horse to move directly towards the cow. The group of cows cut past.

   Moo!

  When the first cow saw the horse galloping towards him, he turned subconsciously. When the first cow moved, the cows behind him also turned in the same direction. The whole herd moved smoothly because of Old Lynch's movement.

   "See it?" Jian Heng said to Zhang Jialiang approvingly.

  Zhang Jialiang blinked his eyes. In his opinion, this is not difficult. Isn’t it just driving a cow with a horse!

   Seeing his expression, Jian Heng didn't discipline him, but directly motioned him to follow him.

People who have never driven cattle think with their own heads, what is wrong with driving cattle? It is nothing more than driving the cattle forward. No, no whip.

  Is this right?

right!

Completely correct! There's nothing wrong with it, that's what cattle driving is all about!

  But if you know what it is to drive cattle, let you really go for it. Let alone a novice, it is not easy for an old cowboy to catch dozens or hundreds of cows.

  First test your ability to judge, which one of the cows in the herd wants to leave the herd, you have to have a prediction.

  You start the horse to chase after all the other cows have run out. A dozen or so are easy. If there are thousands of cows in a normal transition, by the time you drive the herd to the destination, you may lose 10% of the cows on the road.

  Second, you must have good riding skills, and more importantly, good physical strength, so as to ensure that you can run back and forth on the side of the entire herd within a few hours, and perform countless switchbacks.

  The third point is that you have to have a precise positioning, so that your horse can just stop the cattle, and block any position of the cattle that leave the herd, so that it has no choice but to automatically return to the herd.

   Ha! Huh!

  Accompanied by the sound of horse urging one after another, Jian Heng and old Lynch were like two pendulums swinging back and forth on both sides of the herd.

The cattle entered the trail, saying that the trail is actually not that narrow. This road was pressed out by construction machines when the high-voltage line was built. It is wider than the two feet of the iron frame of the high-voltage line, and wider than the official road next to it. Not a lot. It's just that there is no cement, and it is a dirt road. Because the machine is heavy, the ground is compacted and there is not much grass.

  There is no grass on the road, but there is grass on both sides of the road, and the speed of the cattle is not much faster. Let's put it this way, it is impossible for a herd of cows to keep trotting for a long time. They always have to run and stop, and they have to chew the grass on the roadside from time to time. No matter how good a cowboy is, they can't control the instinct of cattle to eat grass.

   Once the road was widened, the workload of Jian Heng and Old Lynch suddenly increased. Some cows ran to the roadside to graze, and some directly stretched their mouths to pick up the young leaves on the branches.

  Seeing that a heifer was about to leave the team, Jian Heng called Zhang Jialiang: "Jialiang, go up and try!"

As soon as Zhang Jialiang heard this, he immediately urged the horse to run to the heifer that was about to leave the team. Just when he thought the heifer was going back to the herd, who knew that the heifer turned around and ran away from behind his horse’s buttocks. past.

Jian Heng had already made preparations. Seeing that Zhang Jialiang did not stop the horse, he directly moved the horse under his crotch. He blocked the heifer's path with a few steps, waved the lasso head in his hand, and the heifer turned around wisely. To the herd.

   "Why is it so easy for you to do it?" Zhang Jialiang asked puzzled.

He watched this journey very seriously and devoted himself to learning. This time, he was full of confidence when he ran up to cut the cow. Unfortunately, he stopped next to the cow. He thought the cow should turn his head, but who knew that the cow just bypassed it. himself, which made him very helpless.

"The eyes of a cow are on both sides. It is the same as a horse. When looking back, there is a blind spot. Your position should be stuck in a fan-shaped interval between the blind spot and its forward direction. This time you are stuck a little too far ahead. The cow saw the gap behind your horse's buttocks, so it is not stupid and naturally knows to turn around you." Jian Heng said while indicating where the correct horse should be next to the cow.

  Cows will not leave the herd until Jian Heng finishes teaching them. Just as Jian Heng was speaking, another heifer tried to leave the herd. Jian Heng drove the cow back while explaining.

Don't underestimate the more than forty cows. The dust on the muddy ground where they ran around was also rolled up. Fortunately, Jian Heng was prepared and equipped everyone with square scarves, so everyone covered them with square scarves. Nose, to block the mud and dust stirred up by the cattle.

   But they couldn't block their noses, they couldn't block their bodies. After walking more than half of the way, when they were about to turn into a straight forest path, everyone seemed to be fished out of a pile of dust.

The most uncomfortable thing is Zhang Jialiang. He has not learned how to ride a horse for a long time, and his equestrian skills are not yet in place. Although there is no problem with trotting, but driving cattle is not trotting. Now his posture on horseback is directly deformed. .

   "Okay, don't follow me anymore, don't worry about it for a while, you can help out by following Mai Mai!" Jian Heng persuaded him.

Looking at his appearance, Jian Heng could tell that there were blood blisters between his crotch being rubbed by the saddle. This was caused by his riding posture or unnatural waves. If you say this thing a thousand times or ten thousand times, why don’t you ride it? It is useless not to experience it. This cannot be given by others. You can only practice more yourself.

   "I can do it!" Zhang Jialiang gritted his teeth and insisted.

   "You can do it today, but you won't be able to get out of bed tomorrow. Listen to me and go to the back!" Jian Heng said.

  Old Lynch glanced at Zhang Jialiang approvingly at this time: "Zhang, you have performed very well, better than many boys who grew up here for the first time!"

  When talking about the young people in the town, Old Lynch couldn't help but sighed again in his heart.

  Jian Heng also smiled at Zhang Jialiang who was approving: "Go to the back and help, don't hold on, listen to me."

   Scratching his head shyly, Zhang Jialiang finally nodded, and turned his horse's head to the back of the herd.

  With the addition of Zhang Jialiang, Barley and Wheat became a lot easier, and the two of them had more opportunities to push up, so that the invisible speed of the cow was slightly faster.

  The five of them hurried on, and when they got back to the ranch, it was almost sunset.

   Zhao Changshan got a little impatient waiting, if he knew the way, he would have been unable to restrain himself and drove to meet everyone.

  Even so, Zhao Changshan stretched his head and waited at the gate of the ranch for almost half an hour, and he was relieved when he saw the herd of cattle emerging from afar.

  Taking a trot to meet the cows, he dragged a long branch in his hand when he came up, standing beside the cows, holding a branch to help drive the cows, while driving, he asked: "Why is it so long?!"

   "This is already very fast!" Jian Heng said with a smile.

   "Why do you have such a painted face?" Zhao Changshan asked with concern when he saw that Zhang Jialiang was sitting on the horse, not only did his face change, but his whole face was covered with sweat and dust, like a clay figurine.

  Zhang Jialiang grinned: "It's okay, it's just that the inner side of the leg is a little scratched!"

   It’s easy to say, Zhang Jialiang is not feeling well right now, think about how it feels like the salt in the sweat flows through the broken skin wound, and now he feels this way, wishing he could do the splits on horseback.

  Jian Heng looked at him and smiled, and jokingly said: "Congratulations, the first step of the ranch life you are looking forward to has been taken!"

   (ps: Continue to ask for votes, support, subscriptions, in short, lying on the ground, asking for anything!)

  (end of this chapter)