I definitely agree about knowing who is going to be riding your horse - and know everything!
We lucked out. One of the best horses we ever owned (sadly, he died a few years back) was a Saddlebred gelding. He was the best team penning horse we've ever owned. That may sound funny, and folks here laughed at first when my husband started penning on a Saddlebred. But, later in the season, there were folks I overheard saying, "I just like to come down here and watch that horse work cattle." He was awesome.
He spent a couple of months working at the Armour packing plant in Idaho. That was before we bought him. He liked to work cows so much the fellow who was riding him would open the gate and send the horse in by himself to bring the cattle out of the pen and down the alleyway. After the cows were moving, he'd close the gate and amble down the alleyway to pick up his horse.
He told a story about him and the Saddlebred and a black steer. Seems the steer left the herd and headed back down the alleyway. The horse had borium shoes on so he could work on the cement. He said the steer took off, he and the horse took off after the steer. The steer turned. The horse turned - and he went off. The horse stopped. The steer stopped. He got back on. The steer took off again. Same thing. The steer turned. The horse turned. He went off. Horse stopped. Steer stopped. Both were looking at him. He managed to crawl back on and off went the steer. That time at the end of the alleyway, the steer turned, the horse turned. "That time," he said, "I just managed to catch my testicles on the saddlehorn."
One evening here, when the horse was about 12, my husband was team penning on him. The calf made a turn and tried to squeeze past along the fence. This horse usually put a shoulder to the calf to prevent that kind of thing. This time the calf turned again. My husband was planning on turning left, but the horse made a fast right after the calf. My husband went off. The horse continued after the calf and penned it by himself. As soon as the calf was penned, the horse took off for the herd to get another one. The guys teased my husband, saying, "If we could only teach that horse to read numbers, we wouldn't need you. He could do it by himself."
One day we went to the city and left the horse locked in a corral. Outside that corral was our bull, loose, in a larger fenced area. Somehow, the horse managed to unfasten the clip on the chain for the corral gate and got out. He could untie any knot with his lips, too. The back lot looked like a banked oval race track when we got home late that afternoon from the city. He had chased that bull 'round and 'round all day. The bull was tuckered and the horse was prancing. That was one cowy horse.