I should’ve been a cowgu-url. I should’ve learned to ro-ope and ri-i-ide! Wearing my six-shooter, riding my pony on a cattle dri-i-ive. Stealing a cowboy’s heart, singing those campfire so-ongs – oh, I should’ve been a cowgirl!
Pardon the alteration of Mr. Toby Keith’s song – had to be done, seeing as how I have no actual desire to be a cowboy. So show of hands, who else can say they’ve done everything on that list??? No? I can! Well, except for stealing a cowboy’s heart...but that wasn’t included on the Jillaroo course curriculum, so I haven’t learned how to put that part into practice as of yet. But I did everything else, including strapping a toy gun onto my horse’s saddle so I could have a six-shooter. In case you are utterly and completely lost, allow me to announce that I am now a Jillaroo, otherwise known as an Australian cowgirl. For the past week I have been on a real working farm about an hour out of Tamworth, Australia, learning how to rope, ride, muster sheep and cattle, lasso, crack whips, train horses and even how to sheer and butcher a sheep. I slept in a bunkhouse, ate every meal around a campfire, rolled around in the dirt to catch sheep and wrestle calves, and perhaps most shocking of all, took 3-minute showers - gasp. Some people take these courses for holiday, while others take them for work experience or actual training for working on a farm. It’s a good thing on a resume for someone wanting to work in the Outback.
Since I was away from civilization and therefore without phone or internet connection for the entire eventful week, this blog entry can and will be fairly long. But don’t worry – I included pictures for you visual folk out there!
Day One – 18 Aug 2008
* 9:00 a.m. pickup from our hostel
* Quick stop at a second hand clothing store for work clothes
* Introduction and a cup of tea over campfire on arrival at the farm
* A grooming and saddling up lesson
* A lesson on Natural Horsemanship riding followed by a 2.5 hour ride including bush survival and local bush tucker
There are eleven students in my group, plus the farmhands and the family who own the farm and head the course. Most of my group, farmhands included, are 20-somethings from Australia, England, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Holland, and America. The bunkhouse is separated into two areas, one for students, one for staff, both connected to a common bathroom. The staff does all the cooking, but each of the students has been assigned chores each day, such as dishes or cleaning the bathroom. Every day starts with a 6:30 wake up call, and every mealtime is spent around a campfire with open-air oven cooked meals.
After our morning lessons and lunch, we were each given a horse which will be ours for the duration of our stay. They gave me a pretty white "intermediate rider" horse named Cheeky. They teach Natural Horsemanship here, which is different from the Traditional Horsemanship that I’m used to. No western saddle, no kicking the horse to go faster, and different reign commands than I’ve learned before. Will definitely take some getting used to.
My first impression of Cheeky: Nice horse, shies away from me when I try to touch her head, but follows my basic riding instructions pretty consistently. A little slow downhill and uphill but I’d rather her find her footing than for her to feel rushed and stumble, so I let her take her time.
Day Two – 19 August 2008
* Catch and saddle the horses
* A two hour Natural Horsemanship lesson
* A horse shoeing lesson
* A whip cracking and lassoing lesson
* Play some Natural Horsemanship games with horses
* A barrel race on horseback
* Mustering sheep on horseback
* A talk on sheep health and husbandry, demonstration of tail trimming and neutering a lamb
* A sheep shearing lesson
* Slaughter / butcher a sheep
It was COLD this morning – BRRR! Still, the staff somehow managed to get us up soon after our 6:30 wakeup call. We caught and saddled the horses by ourselves for the first time today, then left them to eat for a two hour Natural Horsemanship lesson, followed by a horse shoeing lesson and whip cracking and lassoing lessons. I’m a pretty good whip cracker if I do say so myself, but lassoing will perhaps be an aquired skill.
My Second impression of Cheeky: She’s Cheeky with a capital “C”. Lets me touch her face now, but still shies away sometimes. Hard to ride when she wants to do her own thing, and she’s also hard to control around other horses. Wants to be in the middle rather than around the edges of the arena like my group was supposed to, which meant that I spent my entire trotting and cantering practice correcting her, not getting any actual trotting and cantering practice. I'm not planning on sending her Christmas cards when all this is done, I can tell you that much.
But I suppose it was a worse day for the sheep we sheered and slaughtered. Lamb stew on the menu for tomorrow…yum!
Day Three – 20 August 2008
* Finish butchering the sheep
* A two hour Natural Horsemanship lesson
* Fencing and yard building
* Pasture improvement
No horseback riding today, but it was a taxing day with heaps of manual labor involved. It makes sense to me now why they started a bit slower this morning (we stayed by the shed and learned how to butcher the sheep we slaughtered the night before) and allowed us a bit more time to relax in the evening. It was definitely needed after tree felling, clearing pastures, and working on building a chicken coop. If anyone thought they’d just be shown how to do these things and not be expected to grab an axe and and shovel and put their backs into it, they were dead wrong! I’m glad we were so hands on though – despite the sweat, dirt, and sore muscles, I learned quite a bit today and had fun to boot! Plus, it was nice to take a semi-nap in the beautiful outdoors during our break!
Day Four – 21 August 2008
* Catch and saddle the horses
* Play some Natural Horsemanship games with horses
* Mustering cattle on horseback
* Yarding and drafting cattle
* A talk on cattle breeds and husbandry
* A lassoing competition
* Wrestling, branding and marking calves
* A demonstration in using working dogs
Yes, that’s right – today I mustered cattle on horseback and roped and wrestled a calf! Yeehaw! It was also our longest ride of the week. We packed our lunches to eat around a mountaintop campfire after we finished mustering the cattle, then headed back to the farmhouse.
Third impression of Cheeky: When checking her back hoof, she brought the side of her metal shoe down hard on my foot and then lifted her tail with the clear intention of farting in my face. On the ride, she attempted to bite and kick several horses. While mustering cattle, she reminded me of a shopping cart that constantly wants to veer right which you have to overcorrect to go left. As if all that weren’t enough, when we finished the first leg of our trip, she tried to headbutt me. Oh, joy. 
BUT I sensed a clear turning point on our ride back. I think I’m becoming more comfortable with this way of riding, and Cheeky and I were able to work pretty well together by the time we reached the farm. Despite the rocky start (or maybe because of it), I left today’s riding with a sense of accomplishment. I think I feel much better about my ability to keep her under control for tomorrow’s riding.
Day Five – 22 August 2008
* A lesson on maintaining saddlery
* Catch and saddle the horses
* Play some Natural Horsemanship games with horses
* A ride where we take the horses for a trot and canter
* Return to Tamworth YHA around 6:00 p.m. for a big night out
On Wednesday night Becky and Laura hid the radio so that the staff couldn't turn it on to wake us up so early on Thursday. Thinking ahead, they also hid the dinner bell, pots and pans, and anything else that could potentially be used to make noise. In retaliation, the staff made sure that Friday morning we woke to the loudest ruckus of clanging and banging I've ever heard at 6:30 a.m. It was quite funny.
Last day impression of Cheeky: Still a stubborn horse, that’s for sure. But I think now that I’m both more comfortable with this way of riding as well as getting used to her quirks, it was a pretty good day for both of us. Her biggest problem today was getting antsy and wanting to get going when she knew her turn was coming up for barrel racing or cantering practice. I had to reign her in every single time, and not without a struggle. Tim (our instructor & owner of the farm) showed me a few techniques to use with her, and so after getting used to the idea that I would be spending a fair amount of time getting her under control, my riding with Cheeky became more of a fun challenge than a frustration. And as soon as she did what she was supposed to do, I rewarded both of us with some exhilaratingly fast riding. 
This day was not without its problems for others, however. During cantering practice, Kate (my new American friend through IEP) fell off her horse. Because she lost consciousness for a moment, she was sent to the hospital by helicopter to get checked out. Diagnosis: mild concussion and a bruised rib. She was walking and talking, but understandably sore and tired by evening. Thankfully, it was her last day and so she didn’t miss out on anything except for our Friday evening out in Tamworth.
Meet some of my new Jackaroo and Jillaroo friends:
Clockwise, starting with top left: Stephen (American), me (American), Andre (German), Danica (Australian), Jannik (German), Tracey (British), Laura (from Jersey?), Becky (Australian), and Marleen (from Norway?). There were more people not in the picture.
And there you have it - my Australian farm experience! Now that I'm back in the city, I still have an urge to look for some cattle to muster. Ah, well. Perhaps a few more Outback adventures will be in store for me during the next three months of my trip.
