Western Show - Abano Terme

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It’s a quick and fascinating equestrian sport for both the contestants and the audience, besides it’s open to any rider without age or sex limits. It often happens that the teams are either wholly or partially made up of a same family.

Team penning comes from ranch’s jobs such as Roping and Cutting and involves separating one or more head of cattle from the herd and leading them to a pen.
During the contest three riders fight against time in order to separate three calves from the herd, edge them towards the arena’s opposite end and close them in a small pen built there.

                                                                 In order to win, a Team has to accomplish
                                                                 the job in less than ninety seconds and
                                                                         faster than the others.
                                                                         For a successful Team Penning contest
                                                                         expert riders, skilful horses, a fair
                                                                         understanding of the cattle’s mind and
                                                                         some good luck are needed.

Team penning, a fascinating and popular equestrian sport, is made up of:

• Team work thanks to which the contestants part the numbered animals from the herd;

• Instinct in order to foresee the calf’s reaction to the rider;

• The stubbornness sometimes shown by the calves when they escape right when they are about to enter the pen, catching even the most attentive horses unawares.

The arena is divided into two parts by an imaginary line called either start or foul line: the cattle side and the pen side. In the first part there’s a herd made up of 30 head of cattle numbered from 0 to 9 and divided into groups of three; in the second there’s a small pen.