"Go over, get behind her and drive her down to join the group," the father told his daughter while pointing across a grassy ravine to a lone cow doing a poor job of trying to hide from the commotion.
"Okay!" said the excited 11 year old as she stomped on the Gator's gas pedal, still learning how to drive the 4 wheel drive machine that looks much like a golf cart on steroids. She sped off, long blond hair flailing in the wind, as dad worried she would crash in a hidden washout.
An hour before, 4-wheelers and saddled horses were pulled out of livestock trailers while the plan developed to fan out and gather cattle into the drainage that would help funnel them towards the corrals. The Gator had followed the horse trailers down the dusty dirt roads and later joined the group to receive their assignment. In the distance on Colorado's eastern plains, nervous cows began to beller for their calves and move away from the humans who had invaded their pasture.
Men swung up on their horses and 4-wheelers zipped away in different directions along the back fence while the father reluctantly allowed his daughter take control of the machine. Systematically, back and forth they bounced around the pasture easing cattle in their area of responsibility down into the drainage. As numbers gathered, the herd needed little coaxing as they steadily followed beaten paths down to the watering hole.
Cattle high on surrounding ridges were also being pushed down when the father noticed the lone cow on an opposing slope who had been missed. He hopped out of the Gator to continue sweeping behind the herd which caused a mini-stampede since a human on foot was so foreign to the cattle that they strained their necks to verify an alien predator was behind them just prior to running off with tails in air.
As his daughter sped away, he smiled and shook his head upon realizing what she was doing. Rather than slowly crawling down the embankment and up the other side, she wanted to go fast and decided to gun the Gator all the way up and around the top of the draw to get to the renegade cow.
The Gator disappeared and was soon a tiny speck on the horizon moving closer and closer towards the cow. The father winced when the Gator dropped hard into a small hole, but it maintained its mission and was soon chasing the cow that raced down the slope and joined the herd milling around the small pond.
Making a u-turn, the Gator headed back as the father chuckled in knowing his daughter was enjoying the rare opportunity of zipping around thousands of acres while helping a friend gather cattle for fall work that included weaning, pregnancy checking and vaccinations.
As she disappeared again, dad started to worry as time passed and no Gator was seen headed his way. With squinting eyes, he scanned the horizon and began to trot uphill, concerned something was wrong. Suddenly, on the far ridge line, a white cow was seen running and turning back, slipping out of sight. She appeared again in a different spot on the ridge line, still running and turning back to again go out of sight. This pattern repeated several more times until the cow ran down the slope with an aggressive Gator on her heels. The cagey ol' cow tried to turn back a few more times, but the Gator cut her off and kept her headed downhill until she joined the herd. The Gator then, again, raced back up and around the draw and returned to dad.
"I found another cow and she didn't want to come this way. I kept after her until, finally, she cooperated," stated the little girl with rosy windblown cheeks raised high due to a huge smile.
"Nice work," commented dad. "I was worried when...." he trailed off since the Gator was already buzzing down to the water hole to start pushing the herd.
Way to stick with it he whispered to himself, proud of his daughter of how she had handled herself.
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