RIDING THE RANGE ... ON AN ISLAND SHEEP FARM!
THE image of a farmer rounding up sheep with a dog by their side goes back generations in rural Scotland.
But when it comes to carrying out that daily task, it’s fair to say shepherdess Lisa Gast does not follow the flock.
Inspired by a visit to a friend’s cattle ranch in the US, the 27-year-old decided to try herding from horseback.
And using her five-year-old Highland pony Flair has proved so successful, she has adopted it for her work at a farm on the Isle of Bute.
Miss Gast, who gave up an office job in Frankfurt, Germany, to move to Scotland and work with animals, said: ‘The tradition of shepherding has mostly been replaced with the use of dogs and quad bikes.
‘I still use dogs, who are irreplaceable, but I have found herding on horseback is a more relaxed way of doing it than using a bike. It’s less stressful for the animals.
‘When people visit the farm they think it’s amazing. They love it because they have never seen anything like it.’
She added: ‘Horses are incredibly clever animals and many have been bred with the ability to read livestock and anticipate their movements. In the American west it’s called “cow sense” and it can be taught in two or three years.’
Six years ago Miss Gast quit her job at a firm of accountants and scoured the internet for a job working with animals. She helped out on a farm in the Borders before moving here permanently.
Then four-and-a-half years ago she made the move to Scalpsie, on Bute, after being offered a job working alongside a farmer as a shepherdess. Miss Gast added: ‘If you’d told me six years ago that I would be doing this for a living now, I probably wouldn’t have believed you.’
When she isn’t herding sheep, Miss Gast trains sheepdogs and welcomes tourists to the farm’s holiday homes. She said: ‘People come and watch me round up the sheep on my horse and can’t believe it.’
‘When people visit they think it’s amazing’