Listening skills

Let me start by saying something that might get me in trouble in certain parts of the country.

Cows… can be some of the rudest animals on earth.

Now don’t get me wrong — I don’t actually hate cows. But they absolutely intimidate me. They’re big, they’re stubborn, and they have this look in their eye like they know perfectly well they outweigh you by about 1,200 pounds.

Back when my dad was dating a woman who loved ranch life, we were out helping with cows and horses all the time. Feeding, moving them, checking fences — the whole deal.

One day I got to ride the most well-trained horse I’ve ever known in my life. His name was Skippy. This horse was supposed to be a dream. Calm. Smart. Responsive.

Supposed to be.

Apparently Skippy and I had very different feelings about working cows that day.

The cows weren’t listening to anyone. They were wandering wherever they pleased, looking at us like we were the dumb ones for trying to organize them.

I was trying to get Skippy to move where I needed him to go, but he had clearly decided he had his own opinions about the situation.

And he was not interested in my leadership.

No matter what I told him to do, he just ignored me. Completely.

Then came the moment I will never forget.

In what I am absolutely convinced was a very intentional act of rebellion, Skippy calmly walked over to a tree with low-hanging branches…

…and walked directly underneath it.

Not beside it.

Not around it.

Right under it.

As if he thought, I’ll get this crazy girl off me, and no one else will have a clue it was intentional.

Next thing I know, branches are literally sweeping me off him. I’m lifting and ducking as fast as I can each branch, right in my face. Skippy just keeps walking like nothing unusual is happening.

Meanwhile, the cows weren’t listening.

The horse wasn’t listening.

And from a distance, my dad and his girlfriend were convinced I was the one not listening.

Which felt wildly unfair considering I was the only one there actually trying.

So there I was — fighting branches, chasing cows, arguing with a horse, and somehow still the one getting in trouble.

And that was the day I learned something very important about ranch work:

Sometimes the cows don’t listen.

Sometimes the horse doesn’t listen.

And sometimes the humans watching the situation don’t listen either.

But the horse that tries to brush you off with a tree branch?

Dude… Don’t Be Rude.