I only worked with shepherds for a few years about 50 years ago. These are all my personal observations, so anecdotal. I do recall rams taking leads. Most of

I only worked with shepherds for a few years about 50 years ago. These are all my personal observations, so anecdotal. I do recall rams taking leads. Most of the rams had bells on their necks. The only thing sheep in general were able to do is follow the sound of the closest bell. Most think that in large flocks the shepherd directs the dogs to guide all the sheep. This is not the case with the shepherds I worked with. They only need to guide the "edge" rams. All the sheep follow the loudest bell. The rams in the middle of the herd follow the edge rams' bell, and the edge rams get guided by the dogs. The dog gets directed by the shepherd. Exception to this is when there are stragglers. Sheep do rotate, that is, if you look at it from the top and the herd makes a circle then the circle keeps rotating, both overall, and rotating the inner ones outwards. They do this while moving in a general direction. Weirdest thing to see. There were some herds where few billy goats with bells were included. If a herd gets attacked they make a circle, all sheep facing inward. The goats all face outward. Go figure. As a last note, ram riding is not as easy as it seems. As a little boy I try to hang on, but they go from 0 to crazy in seconds, and blow into the middle of the herd. Then, spend hours to get the flees off.