In which Twistie is brave

Today I took Twistie to Pat's house to do some stock work.
The story was that on the Parkers road property there was a sick calf so we needed to ride from Pat's place to Parkers road, muster the cattle, drive them along the roads back to Pat's place draft off the calf and its mother, then drive the rest of the cattle back to Parkers road. Fairly simple.

Unfortuately when we got to Parkers we found the calf had died. This meant we were free to help with some other jobs Pat had been meaning to get done. The first of which was to move two alpacas from the paddock the cows were in; to a yard to be de-liced. Twistie is terrified of alpacas. She tried to be brave to start with but then they broke free from Pat's influence and raced at Twistie. She paniced. I got off. Pat decided if we moved the cattle near the yard the alpacas would be easier to manage so I remounted to give her a hand with the cattle. This was not entirely sucessful. Twistie bucked a few times and jogged sideways for a while but finally she calmed down and realised she was only having to worry about the cattle and not those mutated spitting machines. The morning ended successfully with the alpacas in the yard and the cattle back in their correct paddock.

After lunch Twist and I helped Pat move a paddock full of sheep (and a number of alpacas) into the yards for preg testing. The sheep were well behaved and Twistie worked a treat. She didnt spook at the alpacas once and we moved all the sheep our selves while Pat checked the corners of the paddock for strays.

Twistie enjoyed her day out. She didnt get to do any fancy drafting or cutting cause everyone (except the alpacas) was well behaved but I think a day outside an arena did her some good. Fresh sights and room to stretch. I am also proud of her managing to move the alpacas in the afternoon with no issues at all. Not that long ago just the sight of one across the freeway was enough to make her freeze. Hooray for Twistie!