Who’s the Boss between horse and cow?

Our old horse died, and my wife and my children wanted another one. I finally agreed, but insisted that we find one that was gentle, but not too old. My wife searched and eventually told me she had found the perfect one.

At the horse farm, the owner took us to a pasture full of horses. She pointed out a beautiful gelding. “That’s the horse. He is really gentle.”

“Why are you selling him?” I asked.

“Because he has no fire,” she replied.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I’m a barrel racer in the rodeo,” she answered. “Some horses have such a competitive spirit that they will work to win with or without their rider. But competition is not a big deal to this horse. In fact, he’s low man in the herd. He lets all of the other horses push him around.”

I could see what she meant. The other horses would nip at him, and he would immediately back off, not wanting to cause trouble. Still, a person could tell he was irritated at being at the bottom of the pecking order.

We bought him and named him Caspian. I put him in the pasture with our old cow, Leah. He ran around the pasture for a brief time, then approached Leah cautiously. She backed away, and Caspian seemed surprised.

None of the horses backed away from him. Suddenly, he saw his chance to assert himself to the top of the pecking order. He moved aggressively toward Leah, and she responded by turning and running. He chased her.

I knew this would not be good for her milk production, so I tied him up and built a fence to split the pasture. The fence kept them apart, but if Caspian ever got in with Leah, he would chase her to make sure she remembered he was in charge.

When it was getting close to time for Leah to have a calf, we realized we needed another cow. Our youngest daughter could drink raw milk but would break out with a rash from any that was pasteurized. I bought a young cow, and we named her Coco. The farmer I bought her from left me with a warning that Coco was probably coming into heat.

I had no sooner put Coco into the pasture with Leah than Caspian was trying to find a way through the fence. He seemed determined to make sure Coco knew he was the boss. As I watched, he searched the fence line. Eventually, he found a gate with a loose latch and popped it open.

He took off at full speed toward Coco. But Coco didn’t run away. Quite the opposite; she ran toward him.

That was when I realized that she was in heat, and it began to dawn on me what she was thinking. She had always been artificially bred before, so she had never seen a bull. She was thinking Caspian was a bull, and she was instantly in love.

Caspian realized something was wrong and slid to a stop, at which point Coco jumped on him. Suddenly, Caspian realized he wanted nothing to do with this lovesick cow. He fled back toward his pasture. But much to his chagrin, he found the gate had relatched and he was trapped with this crazy cow.

She chased him, and he whinnied for help. Finally, Coco had him cornered. She jumped all over him until he was able to break free and run for it. Coco continued to chase, corner, and jump on him for some time until I finally took pity on him and went to his rescue

I unlatched the gate and let Caspian back into his pasture. He ran to the farthest side, trembling from the emotional trauma he had suffered, while Coco paced the fence line trying to get to him.

I returned to the house and told my wife that I didn’t think we would have to worry about Caspian chasing the cows anymore. I was right, but we did have to endure Coco’s lovesick mooing for a few sleepless nights.

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