An important part of ranch sorting is knowing how to safely separate a cow from the herd to move it to the other pen, without bringing “trash” or “bad” cows with the good cow. Although your partner in the gate will help you sort them out, a ranch sorting team is most successful when the sorter efficiently and effectively brings only the good cow to the gate.

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In this video, Ride TV Coach, Logan Wolfe, goes over the basics of separating cattle and what to expect. Watch more from Logan and the Cinch RSNC team, as new episodes drop in the 9-Week Sorting Drill Guide.

Don’t Scoop Too Deep

My goal is to go in here, and sort out a cow from the back. This is the basics of ranch sorting. If you can bring no trash cows or bad cows to the gate, your chance of a no time is a lot less. You don’t have any bad ones to turn in the gate. We’ll start with the easy ones, so I bring one bad cow out. If I want to go get the cow on the right and I scoop too deep, I’ll pick up a bunch of bad cows with it. If I go pick up this red cow and go too deep, look how many extra cows I’ll pick up. So I’m looking at the red cow, but I’m bringing a bunch of other cows with it.

So we’ll push them back, and I’ll show you what to do if the cow you’re going after is on the side or the end—how you can come in at a steeper angle to get the cut and bring as few trash cows to the gate as possible. Now I’m going to pick the cow on the right in the corner and come at a steeper angle further over here to the right. Instead of a scoop of ice cream, we’re going to slice through the herd.

▶️ Watch the full video lesson.

Looking Through Your Horse’s Sights

I’m going to come in pretty steep and separate these two cows out. I’ll go in right here, and the angle is super important. Also, where my horse’s sights are are is very important. The big takeaway is that I drew a line, looked through my horse’s sights, and through those sights is where I picture a wall. I put that wall between the bad cow and the good cow to make the bad cow go to the left, and the good cow go to the right.

▶️ Watch the full video lesson.

Control Your Energy

Sometimes you need a little more energy. You just need to be able to read the cattle. This cow was curious of the horse so I raised my energy a little bit to move it out. When you’re sorting, try to keep your energy as low as possible to start with, to keep the herd calm and not stir them up. If you go in with a lot of energy and you’re really loud, you increase the chances of a no time because all of the trash cows will want to get away from you. They’ll all want to run to the gate. If you go slow like I have been, you’ll have more control and can keep the bad ones away.

As we bring a few more out, I put my horse’s sights on this cow’s shoulder to drive it to the fence, and I can cut off the bad cow behind me. I continue to push the bad cow out of the way, move my horse into the center of the pen, and counter arc to stay in a good position on the cow. I have control of the cow all the way out.

▶️ Watch the full video lesson.

Don’t Chase Your Cow

Now as I go in the herd and don’t stay in a good position, you’ll see the biggest mistake new people make. They get in behind a cow and chase it and let the cow decide on where to go instead of the sorter telling the cow where to go. Most of the time they’ll come in here, get the first cow out, and then get in behind it. The cow goes wherever it wants to. I’m moving it forward but it’s deciding where to go, left or right. I’m just chasing it around.

We don’t want to chase the cows when sorting because we want to control exactly where they goes. So I position myself in the center, to make sure I take a better angle. I bring this cow out and stay on the inside of it to try and keep the cow on the wall. I counter arc away, create distance between me and the cow because distance = control, the further away from it the more control I have and the less accurate I have to be, and the better control of the cow I have.

▶️ Watch the full video lesson.

Now try the other side…