Satnan: Penning columns, I know; penning contests, that's another thing

Thursday’s judging schedule listed team penning at the Coliseum.

I had no idea what that is, so I thought I would check it out.

It turns out that I am not alone in not being aware of team penning; I was among an unfortunately small gathering who either were familiar with penning and the competitors, or shared my curiosity for the sport.

Here is how team penning works, in layman’s terms: A team of three people on horseback must separate three same-numbered calves from a herd of 24 (there are three 1s, three 2s, and so on through 8), chase them to the other end of the arena and into a livestock pen. The riders do not know what number they will be cutting and penning until the clock starts and they approach the herd. And they cannot allow any calf of another number to cross a line a little short of the midpoint of the arena.

Oh, and they must cut and pen the designated trio in less than 60 seconds. The team that pens its three calves fastest wins.

It’s not nearly as easy as it sounds. That said, I picked up on the basic concept quickly and soon was engrossed in watching the teams’ differing strategies.

Before the team gets the start cue from the announcer, the cattle are “settled” into a space at one end of the arena by two other riders. Now, I could not get close enough to hear them, but it seemed like the calves were conspiring against the riders.
 
Something like: “Hey, No. 2 — no, the other No. 2. Make a break for it up the left side. No, your left, not my left. Then we’ll have No. 8 try to squirt through the middle. Ready? Break!”

At the end of the preliminary runs, I went down to the arena floor to talk with Howard Smith, of Trimble, and his daughter, April.

“We run 300 cattle back home,” Howard said. Working those animals is the best practice he and April can get for penning competitions, he said.

Through the morning runs, riders worked with different teams, but Howard and April were inseparable.

“My daughter and I stay together,” Howard said. “We pick up one other person, but we stay together.”

April said they have been penning together for about 10 years. While she said the biggest challenge is communicating with team members during the ride, Howard said it is “just getting (the correct calves) out of the herd.”

April also stressed the role that the horses play. She said her quarter horse, Shooter, is trained for cutting.

“He can read the cattle and will set himself up to cut and push them out,” she said. “They do the hard work; I just hang on for the ride.”

Next up was the “9 Class” competition; each rider is rated 1 (novice) through 4 (“That’s like a professional,” April said), and the team members’ ratings, when added together, cannot exceed 9. It quickly became clear that the most frustrating phrase a penning team can hear is, “No time, wrong number across the line.”

Other novice fans wandered into the Coliseum, and they started to get the hang of the rules and objectives within a few rides. It really is a fascinating sport, and I am looking forward to checking it out again.

April is looking forward to the day when she mentions team penning and people don’t ask her if she is a rodeo rider or whether she ties calves with a rope. Penning “is not on TV much, so people have no idea what it is,” she said. “It is an old Western practice to sort cattle out in the field, and we’re still using it.”

It also is like many sports that people are more familiar with. As Howard said, “You just work with your team to get it done.”