SHW540. TEAM PENNING. A team of three riders must sort three specifically identified head of cattle from a herd and then pen them at the other end of the arena. Time continues until all unpenned cattle are completely on the cattle side of the starting line, within a specified time limit. The fastest time wins.
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SHW540.1 The numbers and working order will be drawn by the judge and show management before the start of the contest.
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SHW540.2 All cattle will be bunched on the cattle side of the starting line before the time begins.
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SHW540.3 There shall be two flagmen, one at the entrance to the pen and one at the start/foul line. The judge must be located at the start/foul line, and may or may not actually flag the contest at his/her discretion.
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SHW540.4 There shall be at least two timekeepers. The first timer shall be the official time and the second timer shall be the back-up time, in the event the first timer misses the time or his watch fails.
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SHW540.5 The line flagman will raise the flag to signal when the arena is ready.
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SHW540.6 Contestants will be given their cattle penning number when the line flagman drops his flag as the nose of the first horse crosses the starting line. Riders are committed once they cross the start line.
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SHW540.7 Once committed to the cattle, the team is responsible for their animals. It is the team's responsibility, before working the cattle, to pull up and call for a judge's decision if, in their opinion, there is an injured or unusable animal in their numbered cattle. Once the cattle are worked, no excuses are accepted.
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SHW540.8 If for any reason a team does not participate after the order of go has been drawn, their cattle number will be drawn and announced in the order the team would have run. The drawn number will not be used in that set of teams. This will avoid changing the order of go for the other contestants.
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SHW540.9 Three divisions, all-age youth, all-age amateur and all-age open may be offered. Select Amateur classes may also be offered as a separate class from all-age amateur.
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SHW540.10 A snaffle bit, curb bit or hackamore may be used no matter the age of the horse and may be ridden two handed.
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SHW540.11 Cattle numbers must be minimum of 6 inches (15cm) tall. Numbers must be applied to both sides of the animal, high up on its side, with the top near the midline of the animal's back between the shoulder and the hip.
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SHW540.12 The optimum number of cattle per herd is 30; however, a maximum of 45 are allowed and a minimum of 21 per herd is required even if there are less than seven teams. All cattle within a herd must be numbered in groups of three.
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SHW540.13 There must be three head of assigned (identical numbers) cattle per team in the herd as each new team begins a run.
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SHW540.14 There must always be the same number of cattle in each of the herds used in a go-round.
