Luna The Galloping . . . . . Cow?

We are so programmed to thinking that animals can do only what we believe they are capable of, that whenever one does something out of the ordinary, we are stunned. For example, who would have believed that a pig could train like a dog, or as is the case here, a cow can gallop, almost as well as, a horse?

Luna, a two-year old bovine would have been an ordinary cud-chewing cow at Regina Mayer's sprawling family farm in Luafen, Germany, had her parents not turned down her request for a horse. Undeterred, the then 13-year old decided to befriend the newly- born Luna and hopefully, turn her into a horse.

She started off slowly, by taking the young calf on long walks across the countryside. Once Luna seemed comfortable with that, she began taking her through more populated areas, so that Luna could get used to other humans and also, fitted her with riding equipment.

About six months into this, Regina decided to mount Luna and see how the cow would react. All went surprisingly smoothly for the first few minutes - Then, as if realizing that the girl was in for the long haul, Luna started to show signs of agitation.

Turns out that the sweet natured, loving cow has a very stubborn side to her, making the training a little trying at times. To get through the issues, Regina, called on Anne Wiltafsky, a cow trainer in Zurich, Switzerland, for some tips.

With some expert advice and a little persistence she managed to turn the lumbering Luna into an agile, sprightly horse! The two are now best of friends, spending every spare moment together - with the cow either being groomed, petted or ridden. The intelligent cow even understands command words like 'go', 'stand' and 'gallop'.

Though young Regina still hopes for a horse, she loves her unusual ride that turns heads wherever she goes. She maintains that no matter what, she and Luna will always remain best of friends, which means, that there is no slaughterhouse in this cow's future!

Resources: dailymail.co.uk, Al Jazeera.net