Things You'll Need:
- Enclosed pen or corral
- Cattle
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Step 1
Introduce your horse to the cattle by allowing it to carefully observe the other animals from a safe position, such as the other side of a fence. You'll find that each horse will respond differently to the presence of cattle--some will be drawn and curious, while others will act nervous and hesitant. Wait to see how your horse responds before you begin the training.
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Step 2
Ensure that your horse knows all of the proper commands before you train it to work with cattle. It is particularly important that your horse responds well to the stop command and can change the pace of its gait through subtle leg pressure changes on your part. Using an unpredictable horse to work with cattle is asking for disaster.
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Step 3
Put your horse into a pen with a single cow to determine if it can be near the animal without spooking or becoming dangerous. See if the horse approaches the cow without fear, or if it retreats to the opposite part of the pen. Keep the two animals together until your horse relaxes and accepts its new roommate.
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Step 4
Bring your horse out with other horses who have been taught to work with cattle. Your horses will take its cues from the other horses, and once it sees that the others are not afraid of cattle, it will learn to relax.
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Step 5
Ride your horse out into an open field with cattle to see how it responds. If your horse realizes that there are no fences and it can retreat at will, it might be more willing to approach the cattle out of curiosity. Once you are able to navigate your horse through a dense herd of cattle without incident, you will be able to train the horse to spend an honest day's work among the beasts.
