By Daily Mail Reporter
Regina started slowly and steadily in training Luna the cow, and only tried to ride her after six months
When Regina Mayer's parents dashed her hopes of getting a horse, the resourceful 15-year-old did not sit in her room and sulk. Instead, she turned to a cow called Luna to make her riding dreams come true.
Hours of training, and tons of treats, care and cajoling later, the results are impressive - not only do the two regularly go on long rides through the southern German countryside, they do jumps over a makeshift hurdle of beer crates and painted logs.
Regina joked while sitting on her brown and white, grass-munching bovine companion: 'It's incredible really, she thinks she's a horse.'
The pair's unlikely friendship started about two years ago, shortly after Luna was born on the Mayers' sprawling farm in the hamlet of Laufen, close to the Austrian border.
They started off with walks in the woods, then Regina slowly got her cow more accustomed to human contact and riding equipment.
About six months later, it was time to see how Luna would respond to a rider on her back. Regina sat in the saddle and all went as planned - at least at first.
'She was really well behaved and walked normally,' said blonde Regina. 'But after a couple of metres, she wanted me to get off. You could see that she got a bit peeved.'
Luna and Regina are now best friends, spending most afternoons together once the teen - who aspires to become a nurse - comes home from school.
Their extensive routine involves grooming, petting, jumps and a one-hour ride.
'It's a lot of work but I enjoy it', Regina said.
Now, Luna understands commands such as 'go', 'stand' and 'gallop' - if she feels like it.
'When she wants to do something, she does it, when she doesn't, she doesn't,' said Regina, who proudly says Luna thinks of her as her mother.
'And she's often very headstrong but can also be really adorable.'
Regina said Luna's stubborn streak meant teaching her pony tricks was not always easy.
But the persistent teenager sought tips from a cow expert in Switzerland on how to deal with 'steering' problems and has eventually got Luna to behave.
Regina spends an hour after school with Luna, and has even got her to understand several spoken commands
Anne Wiltafsky, who trains cows near the Swiss city of Zurich, said Luna's talents are not particularly surprising and that, historically, it was quite common to ride cows and use them as workhorses.
Ms Wiltafsky said: 'Especially younger ones can jump really well.
'Cows are lovable companions because they are easygoing, have strong nerves and are 'unbelievably devoted' to people they like.'
The teenager said her unlikely riding companion can be 'headstrong but also really adorable'
source:dailymail
Fighting fit: Lilli, has defied the odds by thriving despite a vet's prediction at birth that she wouldn't survive
Being born with two extra legs may not the best start in life for a cow, but Lilii, the six-legged calf, refuses to be cowed into hiding away because of her disability.
The plucky seven-week-old has defied the odds by thriving despite a vet's prediction at birth that it wouldn't survive.
She has now gone on to become a minor celebrity after Swiss media splashed with images of the calf frolicking across a sunny field.
Lucky: Farmer Andreas Knutti said he couldn't bring himself to euthanize the animal because she was 'so full of life'
Farmer Andreas Knutti from Weissenburg, which 19 miles (30 kilometres) south of the capital Bern, says he couldn't bring himself to euthanize the animal because she was 'so full of life.'
He told Swiss daily Blick Thursday that a curve in her spine means Lilli may never become a normal milk cow.
But Knutti says if the calf stays healthy she'll still be allowed to join the others when they head for their Alpine pastures this summer.
Connection: Farmer Andreas Knutti, and his daughter Semira, have taken a shine to the six-limbed animal and he says if the calf stays healthy she'll still be allowed to join the others when they head for their Alpine pastures this summer
Future: The farmer said that a curve in her spine means Lilli may never become a normal milk cow
Mutations are not as rare as thought and a three-legged cat and two-headed lamb were born in Georgia earlier this year.
In January, a piebald lamb, which has four legs at the front and two hind legs, was born in Velistsikhe, Georgia.
Unlike Lilli, it appears to have at least partial control of every limb on its body.
According to vet Auto Zardiashvili, the mutation may be due to issues at conception.
'Most probably there were twins, but then the embryos were united, and we've got a strange lamb,' Mr Zardiashvili said.
In 2006, a lamb with six legs, four at the front and two at the back, was born on a farm in Belgium.
And in August 2010, a two-legged lamb was born in China.
The lamb was to be killed but it is reported that when the farmer saw the lamb's determination to live, she dropped the idea and kept him as a pet.
Survival: It seems Lilli's zest for life saved her from certain death - in August 2010, a two-legged lamb was born in China. The lamb was to be killed but it is reported that when the farmer saw the lamb's determination to live, she kept him as a pet
source:dailymail
