What is a "cowy" horse and where to find one

a cutting horse working a cow

The first time you sit on a cowy horse the world opens up and a whole new realm of possibilities come into view. Cow sense as a trait can be broken down into 2 sepereate category’s, the “Holly shit its a cow!” flight response and the “I’m gonna eat that cow!” fight response. Before we get onto where we can find a cowy horse we need to explore what that term means and what the differences in the two separate character traits are.

What is Cow sense?

Cow sense in a horse is purely – The innate or born ability of a horse to predict a cow’s movements in real time. Now this isn’t to say that you will have a foal out in the paddock cutting out a cow like some Metallic Cat colt, although every cow horse breeder seems to believe their weaners are out the back cutting cows in their spare time. The innate ability can be in any horse but just as there is more than likely a child with the ability to run as fast or faster then Usain Bolt stuck in some backwards 3rd world country, not every cowy horse will have its talents realised.

What Makes a Cowy horse?

A cowy horse is born not made! However this is by no means the end of the story. A cowy horse is born interested in cows the same way that a sheep dog is born interested in sheep. The truly exceptional part comes from the trainer and horse combination. Under the watchful eye of a quality trainer the sky is the limits for a cowy horse as the trainer guides them to perform their exceptional innate talent. Always remember, the cow sense comes from the horse and the movements and quality of the expression of the horse in regards to a cow comes from the training.

HOLLY SHIT IT’S A COW!!

The first type of cowy horse, scientific name- (holyfuckenshitius) (pronounced- Holy, fucken, shit, ius) is the flight response dominated horse, if your horse looks at a cow the same way that it looks at a plastic bag flapping on a fence post then you probably have one of these. The holyfuckenshitius can test a trainers patience as you very well might spend more time trying to get your horse near the cow then you do working it. Not to be mistaken for a $500 “cheap buy on Facebook marketplace”, these kinds of cowy horses are generally the flashiest to look at when trained properly if you can be assed with their snorting and blowing every time you look at them funny.

I’M GONNA EAT THAT COW!!

The Second type of cowy horse, scientific name-(imafuckeneatyum) (pronounced- ima, fucken, eat, yum) is the fight response dominated horse, this kind or horse generally can be a bit wooden headed and or tough as nails. If you have trouble convincing your horse to do things without flogging on them or telling them not to try and bite the cow then this could be your horse. The imafuckeneatyum can be a super asset to the team as they are are generally an easier horse to get along with as a finished product and can often be trained well enough that anyone can jump on them and have a fairly good experience. However they don’t seem to develop the style and expression that can come from a well trained holyfuckenshitius.

Where to find a cowy horse

Both types of cowy horse can come from any kind of breeding program and from any breed of horse for that matter. However the more cowy horses are generally either an Australian Stock horse or a Quarter horse. I wont get into breeding as it’s to big of a subject but just know that there is definitely certain lines that throw to one side or the other more often and you should look at horses with similar breeding before choosing a horse that’s right for you.

This being said the best place to find a cowy horse is more then likely at a stock horse or quarter horse stud, or if you have a healthy bank balance, all roads lead to Tamworth for the Nutrien Classic.

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