Cattle Drive Today

So....I arrived at the ranch today to find everybody rushing to saddle up to drive 300 cattle from one pasture to another. So, Willie was there, and we got ready. Everything went relatively well up until we turned to go into the home pasture. A tiny baby calf decided to turn around and make a run for it. Ross headed him out with Shy and he ducked left and proceeded towards a barbed wire fence. Willie wasn't controlled enough to speed up to catch him and when the calf went through the fence it made a noise and Willie spooked. I managed to get him turned around but he took off like a bat outa hell. I didn't know he could move that fast. I couldn't turn him left into the barbed wire fence so opted to try and do a one rein stop to the right. What I didn't know was ( and this is totally my fault) that he had lost a bit of weight on the drive and his cinch had loosened up. When I turned him to the right and leaned on the right stirrup, while also hanging on for dear life, Willie almost came to a stop, but the saddle had slipped around and I came off. What really made me mad was that somehow I let go of the right rein. He took off and one of the other riders managed to catch him. I landed fairly good but I have a sore left leg ( I don't know how that happened, how can you fall right and have a sore left leg!?) My hat flew off in the process and Ross kindly went back to get it for me. He stuck around while everyone else moved the rest of the heard to the corral to be separated from the calves. It is a long way up to get on Wille and it was quite a chore getting him to stand still long enough to get back on. But I managed. I was going to go with Ross to help with the herd but Willie decided he had had enough and I had a great deal of difficulty just keeping him from freaking out. So we headed back to the barn. It was a good experience for Willie, only his second cattle drive, but he is still a very young horse....only 4 years old. I'm just glad nobody including him was hurt. I spent a little while in the round pen calming him.

The lesson I learned was do not trust a cinch pin...always back it up with a cinch knot. I will never do that again. OH and I need to get a cord for my hat!