bulls and trail riding? Behavior?

[birdsong]

I traveled the night before an event that was a distance…so decided to camp over. I followed my friend through a gate past big trees in the pitch dark toward an arena where I was staying the night…alone.

Next morning I hear very strange noises and peeked out my window to see that I was surrounded by BULLS…very large ones!! I was camping in the pasture with very big rodeo bulls…about 20 of them and they had surrounded the trailer out of curiosity. Thankfully my horse was in an enclosure.

I had never really heard that sound before though I grew up around cows. And yes, they stood there pawing and snorting all morning…so thats what all the big lumps under the trees were when I pulled in the night before!! oh my!!

[Holly_Jeanne]

One of the main reasons

Neighbors bull (Charolais)is one of the main reasons why I moved my horses to my middle field last night. Neighbor (who I love by the way), put his round bale feeder about 10 feet from my pasture. That makes sense as it was near the shade tree that his cattle love. The only problem is they are rubbing on and leaning on our shared fence. I had been putting my horses in the paddock at night but I’m getting nervous that the cattle will eventually bring down that fence. I didn’t want 1) the bull to get in and decide the horses needed to get out of his territory in the middle of the night or 2) my horses to get out into their huge pasture and decide they wanted to stay there. :lol: So far, I haven’t seen this bull do anything aggressive and he’s been that field for a long time but, I don’t make any challenging moves or bother the rest of the herd.

[saddleup]

We often ride on a nearby mountain that has cattle free ranging on it in the summer. We’ve been chased twice by a bull, and believe me, it’s not anything you want to have repeated. We give them a very wide berth now.

[Dressage_Art]

[QUOTE=Auventera Two;3538983]
If he looked like a Red Devon or a Red Shorthorn with a white face, it was probably a Hereford. http://www.owlsbarn.com/ron%20hereford%20bull.jpg. Or could have been a Simmental http://www.simmental.com.au/images/06_Brisbshow_GCB_P.jpg but they’re more rare than Herefords.

What did his cows look like?[/QUOTE] He looked close enough to both pictured. His cows were all kind of colors and shapes. He even had a very light tan cow with very long horns lying away from everybody else, but none of them were black and white cows though.

[Dressage_Art]

[QUOTE=saddleup;3539286]
We’ve been chased twice by a bull, and believe me, it’s not anything you want to have repeated. We give them a very wide berth now.[/QUOTE]
How did that happened and how did you get away? Can bull outrun horses?

[Gestalt]

I think of bulls like stallions, they can be very dangerous. My grandfather was gored to death by a Jersey (dairy bull), the bull chased him to the fence and jumped over it after my grandfather vaulted the gate.

The worst problems I’ve had riding on BLM property is with the wild range cows. Those are some mean b*tches! And they’re fast. :eek: As long as you’re not trapped in tight corners, your horse should be able to out run them. The farthest a cow has chased me is about 500 ft, they don’t want to get too far away from their calf.

DA, bulls shouldn’t keep chasing you after the initial charge. Just be aware of keeping space between you and them. When I see cows on the range I usually pick up the trot and stay out of their way.

[Sithly]

I’d be very, very cautious. There was an incident here in my state a couple years ago. (I can’t find the article online, so I’m a little hazy on the details.)

Short story: There was an annual organized trail ride that went through a huge pasture with some pretty rough terrain. The cattle were on the other side (way out of sight); they thought they were safe to cross. A bull showed up and charged the horses, knocking two of them over the edge of the trail and down a small cliff. I don’t think anyone was killed, but there were some very serious injuries.

[ToiRider]

@Auventera Two;3538264

Well, There was a saying on the dairy farm where I worked - there is nothing in the world more dangerous than a full grown Holstein breeding bull, never ever trust them. Obviously each bull’s personality and breeding will affect his temperment, but as a general rule, I would never trust a Holstein bull, followed by Herefords.

My Uncle worked at my Grandparents dairy farm, and he was almost killed by a black Holstein bull. He was laid up for the better part of 6 months. He was spreading straw in the barn when the bull attacked.

I used to show Herefords at the county fair in 4-H. One day, a HUGE Hereford bull got loose in the 4-H barn. The 4-H kids were scrambling to close the barn doors, to keep the bull contained. The bull starts RUNNING down the aisle, straight at an oblivious woman pushing a baby carriage who was just staring at the bull. I literally threw myself in front of this woman (to save her child, NOT the woman) and got him turned away. I have always wondered how close to death I came.

As an aside, there is nothing more oblivious (and stupid) in my opinion that a parent pushing a baby carriage through a livestock barn. What the heck are they thinking? I once had to go into a standing stall (at the fair) to release my friend’s horse who was being attacked over the wall by a strange horse in the stall next to it, causing the attacked horse to become very stressed. As I was untying the horse being attacked, it reared up and nailed me in the chest with both front feet. I was unable to back the horse from the stall so I could escape because, you guessed it, there was an oblivious parent with a baby carriage standing directly behind the horse, gawking at me as I was being trampled. I was a dumb teenager; the parent had no excuse! The person finally moved after I started screaming at her.

Anyway, I would NEVER trust a bull, unless I knew it very well.

[saddleup]

One time the bull charged and followed us for about 500 feet. He was a mature bull, and huge. The other time it was clearly a young bull, and he had lots more energy. We outran him, and stopped to look back…and he started running at us again! So we galloped off. We were on public land, but it was leased out for the cattle to graze for the summer. We definitely have learned to keep alert for bulls and then avoid them.

[Auventera_Two]

Cows and bulls can RUN and they can JUMP! :eek: One of the coolest things I’ve ever seen was a young heifer clear a 4’ stall gate from a stand still. She sat back on her butt, tucked her knees to her chin and hopped over it. Of course this was a 16+ hand cow but geeze louise. Then she did the whole snort and throw your head and flag your tail business just like a horse was that was all proud of itself for outsmarting the humans.

Cattle are surprisingly athletic. I guess there was a reason that oxen have always been beasts of burden for pulling and working fields, right alongside horses. In a lot of ways I think they’re more suitable for work than horses are.

Google “bull riding” and look at all the photos. Sheesh. Those things can move!

[pAin_t_Misbehavin]

[QUOTE=Auventera Two;3541289]

Cattle are surprisingly athletic.[/QUOTE]

Yeah they are.:yes: I’ve seen them slither through wire fences like snakes - so don’t stop running just because you’ve beat them to the fence!:eek::lol: