Teenage Cowgirl Trains Cow To Be Ridden Like Horse

Story ByKoen BerghuisSub EditorJoseph GolderAgencyCEN

This is the teenage ‘cowgirl’ farmer who has trained a cow to be ridden around a field like a horse.

Paulina Zargus, 18, is an apprentice in animal husbandry at the Peeneland Agrar Farm in the municipality of Wolgast in the north-eastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

Philipp Kowolik, her boss at the diary farm, which reportedly has around 1,000 cattle, asked Paulina if she could ever imagine riding a cow.

Pictures Credit: CEN

Paulina said: “I can ride horses, but a cow? I was a bit sceptical.”

However, Kowolik was adamant that she try after a previous apprentice came up with the idea because of the costs of practising equestrian sports.

When three-year-old cow Mambo was found unsuitable for milk production due to her high male-hormone count, workers trained her to be mounted.

According to local media, Mambo is not the only bovine which allows people to mount it and the cow Wilde Hilde can also be ridden like a horse.

Paulina said: “When she [Wilde Hilde] does not want to, she will not do anything. She has to practice a lot to manage everything like Mambo.”

Mambo is now fully-trained and can even gallop at speed like a real horse.

Paulina said: “It’s a lot of fun. Mambo responds very well to what I tell her.”

Cows are commanded in the same way as horses, with the rider using a whip, if necessary, to get the most out of the animal.

Paulina and other riders often take the cows to the River Peene where they enjoy a dip in the water.

Paulina said: “Mambo loves to swim in the Peene. So I go with her into the water and then ride back to the paddock in full view of the red evening skies. It is a true cowgirl’s dream!”


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