Electronic cow

gelandangan · Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 4:37 pm Post subject: Electronic cow

A cowboy mate contacted me and ask if I can make him an electronic cow to help train his cut horse.
WTF is an electronic cow? Scratch

Ok apparently they are to train the horse to hold a dodging cow in line (beats me why)...
Idea

Here is what I came up with.

youtu.be/RX_R4hWmIjI

Vince · Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 8:46 pm Post subject: Re: Electronic cow

You are a wizard mate...that is a brilliant idea, but will it moo?

Grey_Wolf · Member Joined: Aug 06, 2015 Posts: 186

Can't watch the video - youtube freezes my computer. But to answer your question...

...for the practical side of things cowboys on occasion have to sort one cow from the herd. Could be any number of reasons one being to treat a sick animal. That horse has to be able to move with the cow to keep it away from the rest of the herd (not as easy as you may think) then move it into another pen for doctoring or rope it.

On the other hand there are plenty of competitions for doing just that - here it is called sorting. The cowboy has to pull a certain cow from the group and keep it away for a specified time. To train the horses they use a "flag". A flag on a cable that is connected to a motor to move it back and forth - sometimes long runs, some short, back and forth, stop and start. A cow will shuck and jive enough to make you trip over your own feet. A well trained horse will do this without any input from the rider. He just has to hang on!

That is why...

slimjim · Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2018 10:04 am Post subject: Re: Electronic cow

I never would have guessed that represented a cow. It looked like the switch moved it the opposite direction. Is that just the convention Down-Under?

Elvis · Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2018 12:00 pm Post subject: Re: Electronic cow

great discription grey wolf...a good cutting horse is a pleasure to watch.

gelandangan · Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2018 3:00 pm Post subject: Re: Electronic cow

@slimjim,
The reason for the controller switch to be reversed is that the unit is attached upside down at the time on my pallet rack to make the controller facing me.
My power supply outlet is only available on the right hand side and I do not have a battery handy to run it from left hand side.

Grey_Wolf · Member Joined: Aug 06, 2015 Posts: 186

Elvis wrote:

great discription grey wolf...a good cutting horse is a pleasure to watch.

Yes they are. Very much so. My dearly departed Maryann had a couple that were well trained, not world class but the average rider would have a hard time keeping up. Which I think is part of the deal in competitions - the rider has to stay on the horse Very Happy

Elvis · Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2018 10:30 pm Post subject: Re: Electronic cow

it compares to a strong eyed heading dog..... watching a good one work sheep is a pleasure,seeing a good working dog deal to a stroppy eye who wont move by biting her on the nose is funny as heck and gets round of applause but definately a no no on dog trial grounds and the frowning judge tends to mark you down quite a bit,my Father used to put Mums chooks away into chook house with his main bitch,she would just keep back and keep them on balance till they walked through chook house door....