The material and attendant photo illustrations found on this website are copyrighted

The material and attendant photo illustrations found on this website are copyrighted © 2006 by R. J. Sagely. The reprinting or distribution of the whole or any part without express permission of the author is prohibited. This notice supercedes any other copyright notices and dates found herein.

"Tying Off Your Horse and Tying Down Cattle"
compiled and written by Bob Sagely

A continuation of the articles "How Many Ways Can You Catch A Cow?" and "Laying Down Cattle". This one talks about what to do with them after you have them down. Explanantions of how to keep them down for the duration of the doctorin' or brandin', and most importantly, how to safely let them go.

Once you catch a cow with one of the many long rope shots that are available within the vaquero/buckaroo style and bed them down gently you need to know what to do to keep them down until your work on them is done. This article will talk about some of the various ways of dealing with that.

Holding by Horse -

Once you have your cow caught and bedded down, you need to be able to get off your horse to do some doctoring. In a big works branding situation where there is plenty of help and a ground crew is there at your disposal, this is a non-issue. But whenever you, or you and a partner, are working and caring for a bunch you will need to be able to either tie a cow down or set you ropes to have your horse holding the cow down for the duration of your work on it. That means learning about the many ways to set your ropes on the saddle so your horse can do his part to give you a real big hand.

If you are fortunate enough to be prowling the cattle with three riders the guy who misses his loop, or who maybe doesn't even get a shot cause you are so good, is the one to do the ground work while the ropers stay mounted. But often a fella has just a bunkmate or is doing his work solitary and that means having a good horse and being able to tie off to it. This involves arranging the rope around the horn, and maybe even the cantle, in such a way as to secure it to the saddle. If the saddle is well made, fits your horse well and is cinched up decent then you ought to be able to have your horse holding the cow on the ground for you. We'll start this with a two man situation.

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