A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks, for the craic. The historic American cowboy of the bleedin' late 19th century arose from the bleedin' vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became an oul' figure of special significance and legend. A subtype, called a wrangler, specifically tends the feckin' horses used to work cattle. In addition to ranch work, some cowboys work for or participate in rodeos, the cute hoor. Cowgirls, first defined as such in the late 19th century, had an oul' less-well documented historical role, but in the feckin' modern world work at identical tasks and have obtained considerable respect for their achievements. Cattle handlers in many other parts of the bleedin' world, particularly South America and Australia, perform work similar to the cowboy.
The cowboy has deep historic roots tracin' back to Spain and the bleedin' earliest European settlers of the oul' Americas. Be the hokey here's a quare wan. Over the oul' centuries, differences in terrain and climate, and the oul' influence of cattle-handlin' traditions from multiple cultures, created several distinct styles of equipment, clothin' and animal handlin'. As the feckin' ever-practical cowboy adapted to the modern world, his equipment and techniques also adapted, though many classic traditions are preserved.
Etymology and mainstream usage
The English word cowboy has an origin from several earlier terms that referred to both age and to cattle or cattle-tendin' work.
The English word cowboy was derived from vaquero, a bleedin' Spanish word for an individual who managed cattle while mounted on horseback. Me head is hurtin' with all this raidin'. Vaquero was derived from vaca, meanin' "cow," which came from the Latin word vacca. “Cowboy” was first used in print by Jonathan Swift in 1725, and was used in the British Isles from 1820 to 1850 to describe young boys who tended the oul' family or community cows. Originally though, the bleedin' English word "cowherd" was used to describe a bleedin' cattle herder (similar to "shepherd", an oul' sheep herder), and often referred to a holy pre-adolescent or early adolescent boy, who usually worked on foot, the shitehawk. This word is very old in the bleedin' English language, originatin' prior to the year 1000.
By 1849 "cowboy" had developed its modern sense as an adult cattle handler of the feckin' American West, grand so. Variations on the oul' word appeared later. Sufferin' Jaysus. "Cowhand" appeared in 1852, and "cowpoke" in 1881, originally restricted to the individuals who prodded cattle with long poles to load them onto railroad cars for shippin'. Names for a holy cowboy in American English include buckaroo, cowpoke, cowhand, and cowpuncher. Another English word for an oul' cowboy, buckaroo, is an anglicization of vaquero.(Spanish pronunciation: [baˈkeɾo]).
Today, "cowboy" is a holy term common throughout the oul' west and particularly in the oul' Great Plains and Rocky Mountains, "buckaroo" is used primarily in the Great Basin and California, and "cowpuncher" mostly in Texas and surroundin' states.
Equestrianism required skills and an investment in horses and equipment rarely available to or entrusted to a feckin' child, though in some cultures boys rode a donkey while goin' to and from pasture. In antiquity, herdin' of sheep, cattle and goats was often the feckin' job of minors, and still is a holy task for young people in various Developin' World cultures.
Because of the feckin' time and physical ability needed to develop necessary skills, both historic and modern cowboys often began as an adolescent, you know yerself. Historically, cowboys earned wages as soon as they developed sufficient skill to be hired (often as young as 12 or 13), would ye believe it? If not crippled by injury, cowboys may handle cattle or horses for an oul' lifetime. In the feckin' United States, a feckin' few women also took on the feckin' tasks of ranchin' and learned the bleedin' necessary skills, though the oul' "cowgirl" (discussed below) did not become widely recognized or acknowledged until the bleedin' close of the feckin' 19th century, like. On western ranches today, the workin' cowboy is usually an adult. Jasus. Responsibility for herdin' cattle or other livestock is no longer considered suitable for children or early adolescents, you know yourself like. However, both boys and girls growin' up in a holy ranch environment often learn to ride horses and perform basic ranch skills as soon as they are physically able, usually under adult supervision, bejaysus. Such youths, by their late teens, are often given responsibilities for "cowboy" work on the oul' ranch.
Other historic word uses
"Cowboy" was used durin' the bleedin' American Revolution to describe American fighters who opposed the feckin' movement for independence. Claudius Smith, an outlaw identified with the feckin' Loyalist cause, was called the oul' "Cow-boy of the bleedin' Ramapos" due to his penchant for stealin' oxen, cattle and horses from colonists and givin' them to the bleedin' British. In the feckin' same period, a holy number of guerrilla bands operated in Westchester County, which marked the dividin' line between the feckin' British and American forces. Listen up now to this fierce wan. These groups were made up of local farmhands who would ambush convoys and carry out raids on both sides, fair play. There were two separate groups: the bleedin' "skinners" fought for the bleedin' pro-independence side, while the bleedin' "cowboys" supported the bleedin' British.
In the feckin' Tombstone, Arizona area durin' the oul' 1880s, the term "cowboy" or "cow-boy" was used pejoratively to describe men who had been implicated in various crimes. One loosely organized band was dubbed "The Cowboys," and profited from smugglin' cattle, alcohol, and tobacco across the bleedin' U.S.–Mexico border. The San Francisco Examiner wrote in an editorial, "Cowboys [are] the most reckless class of outlaws in that wild country ... infinitely worse than the oul' ordinary robber." It became an insult in the area to call someone a bleedin' "cowboy", as it suggested he was a bleedin' horse thief, robber, or outlaw, what? Cattlemen were generally called herders or ranchers. The Cowboys' activities were ultimately curtailed by the Gunfight at the feckin' O.K. Corral and the feckin' resultin' Earp Vendetta Ride.
The origins of the feckin' cowboy tradition come from Spain, beginnin' with the feckin' hacienda system of medieval Spain. C'mere til I tell ya now. This style of cattle ranchin' spread throughout much of the feckin' Iberian peninsula, and later was imported to the bleedin' Americas. Both regions possessed a bleedin' dry climate with sparse grass, thus large herds of cattle required vast amounts of land to obtain sufficient forage, to be sure. The need to cover distances greater than an oul' person on foot could manage gave rise to the oul' development of the feckin' horseback-mounted vaquero.
Various aspects of the bleedin' Spanish equestrian tradition can be traced back to Islamic rule in Spain, includin' Moorish elements such as the feckin' use of Oriental-type horses, the oul' la jineta ridin' style characterized by a shorter stirrup, solid-treed saddle and use of spurs, the heavy noseband or hackamore, (Arabic šakīma, Spanish jaquima) and other horse-related equipment and techniques. Certain aspects of the Arabic tradition, such as the hackamore, can in turn be traced to roots in ancient Persia.
Durin' the oul' 16th century, the feckin' Conquistadors and other Spanish settlers brought their cattle-raisin' traditions as well as both horses and domesticated cattle to the oul' Americas, startin' with their arrival in what today is Mexico and Florida. The traditions of Spain were transformed by the feckin' geographic, environmental and cultural circumstances of New Spain, which later became Mexico and the feckin' Southwestern United States. In turn, the bleedin' land and people of the bleedin' Americas also saw dramatic changes due to Spanish influence.
The arrival of horses was particularly significant, as equines had been extinct in the feckin' Americas since the feckin' end of the feckin' prehistoric ice age. However, horses quickly multiplied in America and became crucial to the oul' success of the oul' Spanish and later settlers from other nations. The earliest horses were originally of Andalusian, Barb and Arabian ancestry, but a holy number of uniquely American horse breeds developed in North and South America through selective breedin' and by natural selection of animals that escaped to the oul' wild. Here's another quare one. The Mustang and other colonial horse breeds are now called "wild," but in reality are feral horses—descendants of domesticated animals.
Though popularly considered American, the bleedin' traditional cowboy began with the feckin' Spanish tradition, which evolved further in what today is Mexico and the Southwestern United States into the vaquero of northern Mexico and the charro of the bleedin' Jalisco and Michoacán regions. Here's another quare one. While most hacendados (ranch owners) were ethnically Spanish criollos, many early vaqueros were Native Americans trained to work for the oul' Spanish missions in carin' for the feckin' mission herds. Vaqueros went north with livestock. In 1598, Don Juan de Oñate sent an expedition across the Rio Grande into New Mexico, bringin' along 7000 head of cattle. From this beginnin', vaqueros of mestizo heritage drove cattle from New Mexico and later Texas to Mexico City. Mexican traditions spread both South and North, influencin' equestrian traditions from Argentina to Canada.
Rise of the oul' cowboy
As English-speakin' traders and settlers expanded westward, English and Spanish traditions, language and culture merged to some degree. Soft oul' day. Before the feckin' Mexican–American War in 1848, New England merchants who traveled by ship to California encountered both hacendados and vaqueros, tradin' manufactured goods for the hides and tallow produced from vast cattle ranches, fair play. American traders along what later became known as the Santa Fe Trail had similar contacts with vaquero life, grand so. Startin' with these early encounters, the oul' lifestyle and language of the bleedin' vaquero began a bleedin' transformation which merged with English cultural traditions and produced what became known in American culture as the oul' "cowboy".
The arrival of English-speakin' settlers in Texas began in 1821. Rip Ford described the country between Laredo and Corpus Christi as inhabited by "... countless droves of mustangs and .., you know yerself. wild cattle ... abandoned by Mexicans when they were ordered to evacuate the bleedin' country between the oul' Nueces and the Rio Grande by General Valentin Canalizo ... the bleedin' horses and cattle abandoned invited the bleedin' raids the Texians made upon this territory. California, on the oul' other hand, did not see a holy large influx of settlers from the United States until after the oul' Mexican–American War. Would ye believe this shite?However, in shlightly different ways, both areas contributed to the oul' evolution of the oul' iconic American cowboy, like. Particularly with the feckin' arrival of railroads and an increased demand for beef in the bleedin' wake of the feckin' American Civil War, older traditions combined with the feckin' need to drive cattle from the bleedin' ranches where they were raised to the nearest railheads, often hundreds of miles away.
Black cowboys in the American West accounted for up to 25 percent of workers in the range-cattle industry from the oul' 1860s to 1880s, estimated to be between 6,000 and 9,000 workers. Typically former shlaves or children of former shlaves, many black men had skills in cattle handlin' and headed West at the feckin' end of the bleedin' Civil War.
By the 1880s, the expansion of the bleedin' cattle industry resulted in a bleedin' need for additional open range, the hoor. Thus many ranchers expanded into the oul' northwest, where there were still large tracts of unsettled grassland. Texas cattle were herded north, into the oul' Rocky Mountain west and the feckin' Dakotas. The cowboy adapted much of his gear to the bleedin' colder conditions, and westward movement of the feckin' industry also led to interminglin' of regional traditions from California to Texas, often with the oul' cowboy takin' the feckin' most useful elements of each.
Mustang-runners or Mesteñeros were cowboys and vaqueros who caught, broke and drove Mustangs to market in Mexico, and later American territories of what is now Northern Mexico, Texas, New Mexico and California. Jaykers! They caught the Mustangs that roamed the bleedin' Great Plains and the San Joaquin Valley of California, and later in the oul' Great Basin, from the 18th century to the oul' early 20th century.
Large numbers of cattle lived in a feckin' semi-feral, or semi-wild state on the oul' open range and were left to graze, mostly untended, for much of the feckin' year. In many cases, different ranchers formed "associations" and grazed their cattle together on the same range. C'mere til I tell ya. In order to determine the feckin' ownership of individual animals, they were marked with a distinctive brand, applied with a holy hot iron, usually while the cattle were still young calves. The primary cattle breed seen on the oul' open range was the bleedin' Longhorn, descended from the feckin' original Spanish Longhorns imported in the oul' 16th century, though by the late 19th century, other breeds of cattle were also brought west, includin' the bleedin' meatier Hereford, and often were crossbred with Longhorns.
In order to find young calves for brandin', and to sort out mature animals intended for sale, ranchers would hold an oul' roundup, usually in the oul' sprin'. A roundup required an oul' number of specialized skills on the oul' part of both cowboys and horses. Sufferin' Jaysus listen to this. Individuals who separated cattle from the oul' herd required the feckin' highest level of skill and rode specially trained "cuttin'" horses, trained to follow the oul' movements of cattle, capable of stoppin' and turnin' faster than other horses. Once cattle were sorted, most cowboys were required to rope young calves and restrain them to be branded and (in the oul' case of most bull calves) castrated. Would ye believe this shite?Occasionally it was also necessary to restrain older cattle for brandin' or other treatment.
A large number of horses were needed for an oul' roundup. Stop the lights! Each cowboy would require three to four fresh horses in the bleedin' course of an oul' day's work. Horses themselves were also rounded up. Sufferin' Jaysus listen to this. It was common practice in the feckin' west for young foals to be born of tame mares, but allowed to grow up "wild" in a holy semi-feral state on the oul' open range. There were also "wild" herds, often known as Mustangs. Whisht now and listen to this wan. Both types were rounded up, and the feckin' mature animals tamed, a feckin' process called horse breakin', or "bronco-bustin'," (var. "bronc bustin'") usually performed by cowboys who specialized in trainin' horses. In some cases, extremely brutal methods were used to tame horses, and such animals tended to never be completely reliable. However, other cowboys became aware of the feckin' need to treat animals in an oul' more humane fashion and modified their horse trainin' methods, often re-learnin' techniques used by the bleedin' vaqueros, particularly those of the Californio tradition. Horses trained in an oul' gentler fashion were more reliable and useful for a wider variety of tasks.
Informal competition arose between cowboys seekin' to test their cattle and horse-handlin' skills against one another, and thus, from the bleedin' necessary tasks of the feckin' workin' cowboy, the sport of rodeo developed.
Prior to the feckin' mid-19th century, most ranchers primarily raised cattle for their own needs and to sell surplus meat and hides locally. There was also a limited market for hides, horns, hooves, and tallow in assorted manufacturin' processes. While Texas contained vast herds of stray, free-rangin' cattle available for free to anyone who could round them up, prior to 1865, there was little demand for beef. However, at the bleedin' end of the bleedin' American Civil War, Philip Danforth Armour opened an oul' meat packin' plant in Chicago, which became known as Armour and Company, you know yourself like. With the feckin' expansion of the oul' meat packin' industry, the demand for beef increased significantly. C'mere til I tell ya. By 1866, cattle could be sold to northern markets for as much as $40 per head, makin' it potentially profitable for cattle, particularly from Texas, to be herded long distances to market.
The first large-scale effort to drive cattle from Texas to the oul' nearest railhead for shipment to Chicago occurred in 1866, when many Texas ranchers banded together to drive their cattle to the feckin' closest point that railroad tracks reached, which at that time was in Sedalia, Missouri. However, farmers in eastern Kansas, afraid that Longhorns would transmit cattle fever to local animals as well as trample crops, formed groups that threatened to beat or shoot cattlemen found on their lands. Therefore, the bleedin' 1866 drive failed to reach the oul' railroad, and the oul' cattle herds were sold for low prices. However, in 1867, a cattle shippin' facility was built west of farm country around the railhead at Abilene, Kansas, and became an oul' center of cattle shippin', loadin' over 36,000 head of cattle that year. The route from Texas to Abilene became known as the Chisholm Trail, after Jesse Chisholm, who marked out the feckin' route. Jasus. It ran through present-day Oklahoma, which then was Indian Territory. C'mere til I tell yiz. Later, other trails forked off to different railheads, includin' those at Dodge City and Wichita, Kansas. By 1877, the largest of the cattle-shippin' boom towns, Dodge City, Kansas, shipped out 500,000 head of cattle.
Cattle drives had to strike an oul' balance between speed and the feckin' weight of the oul' cattle. G'wan now and listen to this wan. While cattle could be driven as far as 25 miles (40 km) in an oul' single day, they would lose so much weight that they would be hard to sell when they reached the oul' end of the bleedin' trail. Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Usually they were taken shorter distances each day, allowed periods to rest and graze both at midday and at night. On average, a bleedin' herd could maintain a feckin' healthy weight movin' about 15 miles (25 km) per day. Such an oul' pace meant that it would take as long as two months to travel from a home ranch to a bleedin' railhead. The Chisholm trail, for example, was 1,000 miles (1,600 km) miles long.
On average, a holy single herd of cattle on an oul' drive numbered about 3,000 head. Whisht now and eist liom. To herd the feckin' cattle, an oul' crew of at least 10 cowboys was needed, with three horses per cowboy. Right so. Cowboys worked in shifts to watch the feckin' cattle 24 hours an oul' day, herdin' them in the bleedin' proper direction in the bleedin' daytime and watchin' them at night to prevent stampedes and deter theft. Be the holy feck, this is a quare wan. The crew also included a holy cook, who drove a chuck wagon, usually pulled by oxen, and an oul' horse wrangler to take charge of the bleedin' remuda, or herd of spare horses. The wrangler on an oul' cattle drive was often a feckin' very young cowboy or one of lower social status, but the cook was a feckin' particularly well-respected member of the bleedin' crew, as not only was he in charge of the feckin' food, he also was in charge of medical supplies and had a feckin' workin' knowledge of practical medicine.
End of the feckin' open range
Barbed wire, an innovation of the bleedin' 1880s, allowed cattle to be confined to designated areas to prevent overgrazin' of the oul' range. Chrisht Almighty. In Texas and surroundin' areas, increased population required ranchers to fence off their individual lands. In the feckin' north, overgrazin' stressed the feckin' open range, leadin' to insufficient winter forage for the bleedin' cattle and starvation, particularly durin' the feckin' harsh winter of 1886–1887, when hundreds of thousands of cattle died across the bleedin' Northwest, leadin' to collapse of the oul' cattle industry. By the 1890s, barbed-wire fencin' was also standard in the bleedin' northern plains, railroads had expanded to cover most of the oul' nation, and meat packin' plants were built closer to major ranchin' areas, makin' long cattle drives from Texas to the feckin' railheads in Kansas unnecessary. Story? Hence, the feckin' age of the open range was gone and large cattle drives were over. Smaller cattle drives continued at least into the bleedin' 1940s, as ranchers, prior to the oul' development of the bleedin' modern cattle truck, still needed to herd cattle to local railheads for transport to stockyards and packin' plants. Be the holy feck, this is a quare wan. Meanwhile, ranches multiplied all over the oul' developin' West, keepin' cowboy employment high, if still low-paid, but also somewhat more settled.
American cowboys were drawn from multiple sources. Sufferin' Jaysus listen to this. By the late 1860s, followin' the bleedin' American Civil War and the bleedin' expansion of the oul' cattle industry, former soldiers from both the Union and Confederacy came west, seekin' work, as did large numbers of restless white men in general. A significant number of African-American freedmen also were drawn to cowboy life, in part because there was not quite as much discrimination in the oul' west as in other areas of American society at the time. A significant number of Mexicans and American Indians already livin' in the feckin' region also worked as cowboys. Later, particularly after 1890, when American policy promoted "assimilation" of Indian people, some Indian boardin' schools also taught ranchin' skills, so it is. Today, some Native Americans in the feckin' western United States own cattle and small ranches, and many are still employed as cowboys, especially on ranches located near Indian reservations. The "Indian Cowboy" is also part of the feckin' rodeo circuit.
Because cowboys ranked low in the oul' social structure of the feckin' period, there are no firm figures on the actual proportion of various races, would ye swally that? One writer states that cowboys were "... of two classes—those recruited from Texas and other States on the oul' eastern shlope; and Mexicans, from the south-western region ..." Census records suggest that about 15% of all cowboys were of African-American ancestry—rangin' from about 25% on the trail drives out of Texas, to very few in the feckin' northwest, fair play. Similarly, cowboys of Mexican descent also averaged about 15% of the oul' total, but were more common in Texas and the oul' southwest. Some estimates suggest that in the bleedin' late 19th century, one out of every three cowboys was a Mexican vaquero, and 20% may have been African-American. Other estimates place the number of African-American cowboys as high as 25 percent.
Regardless of ethnicity, most cowboys came from lower social classes and the feckin' pay was poor. Listen up now to this fierce wan. The average cowboy earned approximately a bleedin' dollar a day, plus food, and, when near the feckin' home ranch, a bed in the oul' bunkhouse, usually a feckin' barracks-like buildin' with a feckin' single open room.
Over time, the oul' cowboys of the feckin' American West developed a bleedin' personal culture of their own, an oul' blend of frontier and Victorian values that even retained vestiges of chivalry. Jasus. Such hazardous work in isolated conditions also bred a bleedin' tradition of self-dependence and individualism, with great value put on personal honesty, exemplified in songs and poetry. The cowboy often worked in an all-male environment, particularly on cattle drives, and in the frontier west, men often significantly outnumbered women.
However, some men were also drawn to the oul' frontier because they were attracted to men. At times, in an oul' region where men outnumbered women, even social events normally attended by both sexes were at times all male, and men could be found partnerin' up with one another for dances. Homosexual acts between young, unmarried men occurred, but cowboys culture itself was and remains deeply homophobic. G'wan now. Though anti-sodomy laws were common in the feckin' Old West, they often were only selectively enforced.
Development of the oul' modern cowboy image
The traditions of the oul' workin' cowboy were further etched into the oul' minds of the bleedin' general public with the bleedin' development of Wild West Shows in the oul' late 19th and early 20th centuries, which showcased and romanticized the feckin' life of both cowboys and Native Americans. Beginnin' in the feckin' 1920s and continuin' to the feckin' present day, Western movies popularized the feckin' cowboy lifestyle but also formed persistent stereotypes, both positive and negative. In some cases, the feckin' cowboy and the bleedin' violent gunslinger are often associated with one another. On the oul' other hand, some actors who portrayed cowboys promoted positive values, such as the oul' "cowboy code" of Gene Autry, that encouraged honorable behavior, respect and patriotism. Historian Robert K. Sufferin' Jaysus listen to this. DeArment draws a feckin' connection between the feckin' popularized Western code and the bleedin' stereotypical rowdy cowboy image to that of the oul' "subculture of violence" of drovers in Old West Texas, that was influenced itself by the bleedin' Southern code duello.
Likewise, cowboys in movies were often shown fightin' with American Indians. However most armed conflicts occurred between Native people and cavalry units of the feckin' U.S. Army, would ye believe it? Relations between cowboys and Native Americans were varied but generally not particularly friendly. Native people usually allowed cattle herds to pass through for a holy toll of ten cents a bleedin' head, but raided cattle drives and ranches in times of active white-Native conflict or food shortages. In the oul' 1860s, for example, the feckin' Comanche created problems in Western Texas. Similar attacks also occurred with the feckin' Apache, Cheyenne and Ute Indians. Cowboys were armed against both predators and human thieves, and often used their guns to run off people of any race who attempted to steal, or rustle cattle.
In reality, workin' ranch hands past and present had very little time for anythin' other than the oul' constant, hard work involved in maintainin' a ranch.
The history of women in the oul' west, and women who worked on cattle ranches in particular, is not as well documented as that of men. However, institutions such as the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame have made significant efforts in recent years to gather and document the feckin' contributions of women.
There are few records mentionin' girls or women workin' to drive cattle up the oul' cattle trails of the oul' Old West. However women did considerable ranch work, and in some cases (especially when the oul' men went to war or on long cattle drives) ran them, to be sure. There is little doubt that women, particularly the oul' wives and daughters of men who owned small ranches and could not afford to hire large numbers of outside laborers, worked side by side with men and thus needed to ride horses and be able to perform related tasks, you know yourself like. The largely undocumented contributions of women to the oul' west were acknowledged in law; the feckin' western states led the bleedin' United States in grantin' women the right to vote, beginnin' with Wyomin' in 1869. Early photographers such as Evelyn Cameron documented the bleedin' life of workin' ranch women and cowgirls durin' the bleedin' late 19th and early 20th century.
While impractical for everyday work, the oul' sidesaddle was an oul' tool that gave women the oul' ability to ride horses in "respectable" public settings instead of bein' left on foot or confined to horse-drawn vehicles, be the hokey! Followin' the Civil War, Charles Goodnight modified the traditional English sidesaddle, creatin' a western-styled design, fair play. The traditional charras of Mexico preserve a similar tradition and ride sidesaddles today in charreada exhibitions on both sides of the border.
It wasn't until the feckin' advent of Wild West Shows that "cowgirls" came into their own. These adult women were skilled performers, demonstratin' ridin', expert marksmanship, and trick ropin' that entertained audiences around the oul' world. G'wan now and listen to this wan. Women such as Annie Oakley became household names, be the hokey! By 1900, skirts split for ridin' astride became popular, and allowed women to compete with the bleedin' men without scandalizin' Victorian Era audiences by wearin' men's clothin' or, worse yet, bloomers. Jesus Mother of Chrisht almighty. In the movies that followed from the oul' early 20th century on, cowgirls expanded their roles in the oul' popular culture and movie designers developed attractive clothin' suitable for ridin' Western saddles.
Independently of the bleedin' entertainment industry, the bleedin' growth of rodeo brought about the rodeo cowgirl. Would ye swally this in a minute now?In the feckin' early Wild West shows and rodeos, women competed in all events, sometimes against other women, sometimes with the men, game ball! Cowgirls such as Fannie Sperry Steele rode the same "rough stock" and took the oul' same risks as the oul' men (and all while wearin' a heavy split skirt that was more encumberin' than men's trousers) and competed at major rodeos such as the bleedin' Calgary Stampede and Cheyenne Frontier Days.
Rodeo competition for women changed in the feckin' 1920s due to several factors. After 1925, when Eastern promoters started stagin' indoor rodeos in places like Madison Square Garden, women were generally excluded from the oul' men's events and many of the oul' women's events were dropped, would ye believe it? Also, the feckin' public had difficulties with seein' women seriously injured or killed, and in particular, the bleedin' death of Bonnie McCarroll at the oul' 1929 Pendleton Round-Up led to the bleedin' elimination of women's bronc ridin' from rodeo competition.
In today's rodeos, men and women compete equally together only in the event of team ropin', though technically women now could enter other open events. There also are all-women rodeos where women compete in bronc ridin', bull ridin' and all other traditional rodeo events. Sure this is it. However, in open rodeos, cowgirls primarily compete in the oul' timed ridin' events such as barrel racin', and most professional rodeos do not offer as many women's events as men's events.
Boys and girls are more apt to compete against one another in all events in high-school rodeos as well as O-Mok-See competition, where even boys can be seen in traditionally "women's" events such as barrel racin', the cute hoor. Outside of the feckin' rodeo world, women compete equally with men in nearly all other equestrian events, includin' the Olympics, and western ridin' events such as cuttin', reinin', and endurance ridin'.
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Today's workin' cowgirls generally use clothin', tools and equipment indistinguishable from that of men, other than in color and design, usually preferrin' a bleedin' flashier look in competition. Sidesaddles are only seen in exhibitions and a bleedin' limited number of specialty horse show classes. A modern workin' cowgirl wears jeans, close-fittin' shirts, boots, hat, and when needed, chaps and gloves. If workin' on the oul' ranch, they perform the bleedin' same chores as cowboys and dress to suit the feckin' situation.
Regional traditions within the oul' United States
Geography, climate and cultural traditions caused differences to develop in cattle-handlin' methods and equipment from one part of the bleedin' United States to another. The period between 1840 and 1870 marked an oul' minglin' of cultures when English and French-descended people began to settle west of the bleedin' Mississippi River and encountered the oul' Spanish-descended people who had settled in the feckin' parts of Mexico that later became Texas and California. In the bleedin' modern world, remnants of two major and distinct cowboy traditions remain, known today as the feckin' "Texas" tradition and the oul' "Spanish", "Vaquero", or "California" tradition. Less well-known but equally distinct traditions also developed in Hawaii and Florida. Whisht now and listen to this wan. Today, the oul' various regional cowboy traditions have merged to some extent, though a holy few regional differences in equipment and ridin' style still remain, and some individuals choose to deliberately preserve the more time-consumin' but highly skilled techniques of the pure vaquero or "buckaroo" tradition. Whisht now and listen to this wan. The popular "horse whisperer" style of natural horsemanship was originally developed by practitioners who were predominantly from California and the bleedin' Northwestern states, clearly combinin' the bleedin' attitudes and philosophy of the oul' California vaquero with the feckin' equipment and outward look of the bleedin' Texas cowboy.
The vaquero, the bleedin' Spanish or Mexican cowboy who worked with young, untrained horses, arrived in the bleedin' 18th century and flourished in California and borderin' territories durin' the oul' Spanish Colonial period. Settlers from the feckin' United States did not enter California until after the Mexican–American War, and most early settlers were miners rather than livestock ranchers, leavin' livestock-raisin' largely to the bleedin' Spanish and Mexican people who chose to remain in California. The California vaquero or buckaroo, unlike the Texas cowboy, was considered a holy highly skilled worker, who usually stayed on the feckin' same ranch where he was born or had grown up and raised his own family there. Jaykers! In addition, the geography and climate of much of California was dramatically different from that of Texas, allowin' more intensive grazin' with less open range, plus cattle in California were marketed primarily at a regional level, without the feckin' need (nor, until much later, even the feckin' logistical possibility) to be driven hundreds of miles to railroad lines. Holy blatherin' Joseph, listen to this. Thus, a horse- and livestock-handlin' culture remained in California and the Pacific Northwest that retained a stronger direct Spanish influence than that of Texas, to be sure. The modern distinction between vaquero and buckaroo within American English may also reflect the oul' parallel differences between the feckin' California and Texas traditions of western horsemanship.
Some cowboys of the oul' California tradition were dubbed buckaroos by English-speakin' settlers, would ye believe it? The words "buckaroo" and vaquero are still used on occasion in the bleedin' Great Basin, parts of California and, less often, in the feckin' Pacific Northwest. Elsewhere, the bleedin' term "cowboy" is more common.
The word buckaroo is generally believed to be an anglicized version of vaquero and shows phonological characteristics compatible with that origin. Buckaroo first appeared in American English in 1827. The word may also have developed with influences from the bleedin' English word "buck" or buckin', the behavior of young, untrained horses. In 1960, one etymologist suggested that buckaroo derives, through Gullah: buckra, from the Ibibio and Efik: mbakara, meanin' "white man, master, boss". Although that derivation was later rejected, another possibility advanced was that "buckaroo" was a bleedin' pun on vaquero, blendin' both Spanish and African sources.
In the oul' 18th century, the residents of Spanish Texas began to herd cattle on horseback to sell in Louisiana, both legally and illegally. Their horses were of jennet type which became the bleedin' Spanish Mustang. By the oul' early 19th century, the feckin' Spanish Crown, and later, independent Mexico, offered empresario grants in what would later be Texas to non-citizens, such as settlers from the oul' United States. Sufferin' Jaysus. In 1821, Stephen F, to be sure. Austin led an oul' group which became the first English-speakin' Mexican citizens. Followin' Texas independence in 1836, even more Americans immigrated into the empresario ranchin' areas of Texas. Here the settlers were strongly influenced by the bleedin' Mexican vaquero culture, borrowin' vocabulary and attire from their counterparts, but also retainin' some of the bleedin' livestock-handlin' traditions and culture of the bleedin' Eastern United States and Great Britain. Listen up now to this fierce wan. The Texas cowboy was typically a bachelor who hired on with different outfits from season to season.
Followin' the American Civil War, vaquero culture combined with the feckin' cattle herdin' and drover traditions of the oul' southeastern United States that evolved as settlers moved west. Additional influences developed out of Texas as cattle trails were created to meet up with the oul' railroad lines of Kansas and Nebraska, in addition to expandin' ranchin' opportunities in the feckin' Great Plains and Rocky Mountain Front, east of the oul' Continental Divide. The new settlers required more horses, to be trained faster, and brought a bigger and heavier horse with them. This led to modifications in the bridlin' and bittin' traditions used by the feckin' vaquero. Thus, the Texas cowboy tradition arose from a bleedin' combination of cultural influences, in addition to the feckin' need for adaptation to the feckin' geography and climate of west Texas and the feckin' need to conduct long cattle drives to get animals to market.
Historian Terry Jordan proposed in 1982 that some Texan traditions that developed—particularly after the bleedin' Civil War—may trace to colonial South Carolina, as most settlers to Texas were from the bleedin' southeastern United States. However, these theories have been called into question by some reviewers. In a subsequent work, Jordan also noted that the influence of post-War Texas upon the whole of the feckin' frontier Western cowboy tradition was likely much less than previously thought.
Florida cowhunter or "cracker cowboy"
The Florida "cowhunter" or "cracker cowboy" of the 19th and early 20th centuries was distinct from the Texas and California traditions, the hoor. Florida cowboys did not use lassos to herd or capture cattle. I hope yiz are all ears now. Their primary tools were bullwhips and dogs. Since the oul' Florida cowhunter did not need a feckin' saddle horn for anchorin' a bleedin' lariat, many did not use Western saddles, instead usin' an oul' McClellan saddle. While some individuals wore boots that reached above the bleedin' knees for protection from snakes, others wore brogans. Sure this is it. They usually wore inexpensive wool or straw hats, and used ponchos for protection from rain.
Cattle and horses were introduced into Spanish Florida in the oul' 16th century, and flourished throughout the oul' 17th century. The cattle introduced by the feckin' Spanish persist today in two rare breeds: Florida Cracker cattle and Pineywoods cattle. The Florida Cracker Horse, which is still used by some Florida cowboys, is descended from horses introduced by the feckin' Spanish. From shortly after 1565 until the bleedin' end of the oul' 17th century, cattle ranches owned by Spanish officials and missions operated in northern Florida to supply the bleedin' Spanish garrison in St. C'mere til I tell yiz. Augustine and markets in Cuba, begorrah. Raids into Spanish Florida by the Province of Carolina and its Native American allies, which wiped out the native population of Florida, led to the bleedin' collapse of the bleedin' Spanish mission and ranchin' systems.
In the feckin' 18th century, Creek, Seminole, and other Indian people moved into the bleedin' depopulated areas of Florida and started herdin' the oul' cattle left from the bleedin' Spanish ranches. Jesus, Mary and Joseph. In the bleedin' 19th century, most tribes in the feckin' area were dispossessed of their land and cattle and pushed south or west by white settlers and the oul' United States government. Jesus, Mary and holy Saint Joseph. By the bleedin' middle of the oul' 19th century white ranchers were runnin' large herds of cattle on the extensive open range of central and southern Florida, bejaysus. The hides and meat from Florida cattle became such a critical supply item for the Confederacy durin' the feckin' American Civil War that a holy unit of Cow Cavalry was organized to round up and protect the herds from Union raiders. After the Civil War, and into the 20th Century, Florida cattle were periodically driven to ports on the feckin' Gulf of Mexico, such as Punta Rassa near Fort Myers, Florida, and shipped to market in Cuba.
The Florida cowhunter or cracker cowboy tradition gradually assimilated to western cowboy tradition durin' the oul' 20th century (although the oul' vaquero tradition has had little influence in Florida), be the hokey! Texas tick fever and the bleedin' screw-worm were introduced to Florida in the feckin' early 20th century by cattle enterin' from other states. Jesus, Mary and Joseph. These pests forced Florida cattlemen to separate individual animals from their herds at frequent intervals for treatment, which eventually led to the feckin' widespread use of lassos. Florida cowboys continue to use dogs and bullwhips for controllin' cattle.
The Hawaiian cowboy, the paniolo, is also a direct descendant of the bleedin' vaquero of California and Mexico. Would ye swally this in a minute now?Experts in Hawaiian etymology believe "Paniolo" is a Hawaiianized pronunciation of español. (The Hawaiian language has no /s/ sound, and all syllables and words must end in a bleedin' vowel.) Paniolo, like cowboys on the bleedin' mainland of North America, learned their skills from Mexican vaqueros. Other theories of word origin suggest Paniolo was derived from pañuelo (Spanish for handkerchief) or possibly from an oul' Hawai'ian language word meanin' "hold firmly and sway gracefully."
Captain George Vancouver brought cattle and sheep in 1793 as a gift to Kamehameha I, monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Arra' would ye listen to this shite? For 10 years, Kamehameha forbade killin' of cattle, and imposed the bleedin' death penalty on anyone who violated his edict, you know yerself. As a feckin' result, numbers multiplied astonishingly, and were wreakin' havoc throughout the oul' countryside. G'wan now. By the bleedin' reign of Kamehameha III the oul' number of wild cattle were becomin' a problem, so in 1832 he sent an emissary to California, then still a feckin' part of Mexico, you know yerself. He was impressed with the oul' skill of the oul' vaqueros, and invited three to Hawai'i to teach the bleedin' Hawaiian people how to work cattle.
The first horses arrived in Hawai'i in 1803. Story? By 1837 John Parker, a sailor from New England who settled in the bleedin' islands, received permission from Kamehameha III to lease royal land near Mauna Kea, where he built a holy ranch.
The Hawaiian style of ranchin' originally included capturin' wild cattle by drivin' them into pits dug in the bleedin' forest floor. Once tamed somewhat by hunger and thirst, they were hauled out up an oul' steep ramp, and tied by their horns to the bleedin' horns of a feckin' tame, older steer (or ox) that knew where the oul' paddock with food and water was located. Holy blatherin' Joseph, listen to this. The industry grew shlowly under the bleedin' reign of Kamehameha's son Liholiho (Kamehameha II).
Even today, traditional paniolo dress, as well as certain styles of Hawaiian formal attire, reflect the oul' Spanish heritage of the feckin' vaquero. The traditional Hawaiian saddle, the feckin' noho lio, and many other tools of the feckin' cowboy's trade have a bleedin' distinctly Mexican/Spanish look and many Hawaiian ranchin' families still carry the names of the vaqueros who married Hawaiian women and made Hawai'i their home.
Montauk, New York, on Long Island makes a somewhat debatable claim of havin' the feckin' oldest cattle operation in what today is the bleedin' United States, havin' run cattle in the bleedin' area since European settlers purchased land from the Indian people of the bleedin' area in 1643. Although there were substantial numbers of cattle on Long Island, as well as the need to herd them to and from common grazin' lands on a seasonal basis, no consistent "cowboy" tradition developed amongst the oul' cattle handlers of Long Island, who actually lived with their families in houses built on the feckin' pasture grounds. The only actual "cattle drives" held on Long Island consisted of one drive in 1776, when the feckin' Island's cattle were moved in a bleedin' failed attempt to prevent them from bein' captured by the British durin' the bleedin' American Revolution, and three or four drives in the late 1930s, when area cattle were herded down Montauk Highway to pasture ground near Deep Hollow Ranch.
On the Eastern Shore of Virginia, the feckin' "Salt Water Cowboys" are known for roundin' up the feckin' feral Chincoteague Ponies from Assateague Island and drivin' them across Assateague Channel into pens on Chincoteague Island durin' the oul' annual Pony Pennin'.
Ranchin' in Canada has traditionally been dominated by one province, Alberta. The most successful early settlers of the province were the oul' ranchers, who found Alberta's foothills to be ideal for raisin' cattle. Here's another quare one. Most of Alberta's ranchers were English settlers, but cowboys such as John Ware—who brought the feckin' first cattle into the feckin' province in 1876—were American. American style open range dryland ranchin' began to dominate southern Alberta (and, to a holy lesser extent, southwestern Saskatchewan) by the oul' 1880s. The nearby city of Calgary became the feckin' centre of the oul' Canadian cattle industry, earnin' it the oul' nickname "Cowtown". The cattle industry is still extremely important to Alberta, and cattle outnumber people in the province. Bejaysus here's a quare one right here now. While cattle ranches defined by barbed-wire fences replaced the bleedin' open range just as they did in the oul' US, the cowboy influence lives on. Whisht now. Canada's first rodeo, the oul' Raymond Stampede, was established in 1902. G'wan now and listen to this wan. In 1912, the oul' Calgary Stampede began, and today it is the feckin' world's richest cash rodeo. Each year, Calgary's northern rival Edmonton, Alberta stages the Canadian Finals Rodeo, and dozens of regional rodeos are held through the province.
Outside North America
In addition to the oul' original Mexican vaquero, the feckin' Mexican charro, the oul' cowboy, and the oul' Hawaiian paniolo, the Spanish also exported their horsemanship and knowledge of cattle ranchin' to the feckin' gaucho of Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and (with the spellin' gaúcho) southern Brazil, the feckin' chalán and Morochuco in Peru, the feckin' llanero of Venezuela, and the feckin' huaso of Chile.
In Australia, where ranches are known as stations, cowboys are known as stockmen and ringers, (jackaroos and jillaroos who also do stockwork are trainee overseers and property managers). The Australian drovin' tradition was influenced by Americans in the 19th century, and as well as practices imported directly from Spain. Soft oul' day. The adaptation of both of these traditions to local needs created a bleedin' unique Australian tradition, which also was strongly influenced by Australian indigenous people, whose knowledge played a key role in the success of cattle ranchin' in Australia's climate.
The idea of horse riders who guard herds of cattle, sheep or horses is common wherever wide, open land for grazin' exists. In the oul' French Camargue, riders called "gardians" herd cattle and horses. In Hungary, csikós guard horses and gulyás tend to cattle. I hope yiz are all ears now. The herders in the feckin' region of Maremma, in Tuscany (Italy) are called butteri (singular: buttero), that's fierce now what? The Asturian pastoral population is referred to as Vaqueiros de alzada.
Modern workin' cowboys
On the ranch, the feckin' cowboy is responsible for feedin' the oul' livestock, brandin' and earmarkin' cattle (horses also are branded on many ranches), plus tendin' to animal injuries and other needs. The workin' cowboy usually is in charge of a holy small group or "strin'" of horses and is required to routinely patrol the bleedin' rangeland in all weather conditions checkin' for damaged fences, evidence of predation, water problems, and any other issue of concern.
They also move the oul' livestock to different pasture locations, or herd them into corrals and onto trucks for transport, so it is. In addition, cowboys may do many other jobs, dependin' on the bleedin' size of the oul' "outfit" or ranch, the oul' terrain, and the bleedin' number of livestock. On a holy smaller ranch with fewer cowboys—often just family members, cowboys are generalists who perform many all-around tasks; they repair fences, maintain ranch equipment, and perform other odd jobs, you know yourself like. On a very large ranch (a "big outfit"), with many employees, cowboys are able to specialize on tasks solely related to cattle and horses, bedad. Cowboys who train horses often specialize in this task only, and some may "Break" or train young horses for more than one ranch.
The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics collects no figures for cowboys, so the exact number of workin' cowboys is unknown. Jesus Mother of Chrisht almighty. Cowboys are included in the feckin' 2003 category, Support activities for animal production, which totals 9,730 workers averagin' $19,340 per annum. Would ye swally this in a minute now?In addition to cowboys workin' on ranches, in stockyards, and as staff or competitors at rodeos, the category includes farmhands workin' with other types of livestock (sheep, goats, hogs, chickens, etc.), fair play. Of those 9,730 workers, 3,290 are listed in the feckin' subcategory of Spectator sports which includes rodeos, circuses, and theaters needin' livestock handlers.
Most cowboy attire, sometimes termed Western wear, grew out of practical need and the bleedin' environment in which the bleedin' cowboy worked. Story? Most items were adapted from the bleedin' Mexican vaqueros, though sources from other cultures, includin' Native Americans and Mountain Men contributed.
- Bandanna; a bleedin' large cotton neckerchief that had myriad uses: from moppin' up sweat to maskin' the oul' face from dust storms, fair play. In modern times, is now more likely to be a feckin' silk neckscarf for decoration and warmth.
- Chaps (usually pronounced "shaps") or chinks protect the feckin' rider's legs while on horseback, especially ridin' through heavy brush or durin' rough work with livestock.
- Cowboy boots; a holy boot with a holy high top to protect the bleedin' lower legs, pointed toes to help guide the feckin' foot into the bleedin' stirrup, and high heels to keep the bleedin' foot from shlippin' through the feckin' stirrup while workin' in the feckin' saddle; with or without detachable spurs.
- Cowboy hat; High crowned hat with a holy wide brim to protect from sun, overhangin' brush, and the elements. Chrisht Almighty. There are many styles, initially influenced by John B. G'wan now. Stetson's Boss of the feckin' plains, which was designed in response to the feckin' climatic conditions of the West.
- Gloves, usually of deerskin or other leather that is soft and flexible for workin' purposes, yet provides protection when handlin' barbed wire, assorted tools or clearin' native brush and vegetation.
- Jeans or other sturdy, close-fittin' trousers made of canvas or denim, designed to protect the oul' legs and prevent the bleedin' trouser legs from snaggin' on brush, equipment or other hazards. Listen up now to this fierce wan. Properly made cowboy jeans also have a bleedin' smooth inside seam to prevent blisterin' the oul' inner thigh and knee while on horseback.
Many of these items show marked regional variations. Parameters such as hat brim width, or chap length and material were adjusted to accommodate the oul' various environmental conditions encountered by workin' cowboys.
- Firearms: Modern cowboys often have access to a rifle, used to protect the livestock from predation by wild animals, more often carried inside a pickup truck than on horseback, though rifle scabbards are manufactured, and allow a bleedin' rifle to be carried on a bleedin' saddle. Here's another quare one. A pistol is more often carried when on horseback. C'mere til I tell yiz. The modern ranch hand often uses a .22 caliber "varmit" rifle for modern ranch hazards, such as rattlesnakes, coyotes, and rabid skunks. Bejaysus here's a quare one right here now. In areas near wilderness, a feckin' ranch cowboy may carry a bleedin' higher-caliber rifle to fend off larger predators such as mountain lions. Sure this is it. In contrast, the oul' cowboy of the oul' 1880s usually carried a holy heavy caliber revolver such as the feckin' single action .44-40 or .45 Colt Peacemaker (the civilian version of the feckin' 1872 Single Action Army). The workin' cowboy of the oul' 1880s rarely carried a long arm, as they could get in the feckin' way when workin' cattle, plus they added extra weight. Jesus, Mary and Joseph. However, many cowboys owned rifles, and often used them for market huntin' in the off season. Though many models were used, Cowboys who were part-time market hunters preferred rifles that could take the widely available .45–70 "Government" ammunition, such as certain Sharps, Remington, Springfield models, as well as the oul' Winchester 1876. However, by far the oul' single most popular long arms were the feckin' lever-action repeatin' Winchesters, particularly lighter models such as the Model 1873 chambered for the feckin' same .44/40 ammunition as the Colt, allowin' the bleedin' cowboy to carry only one kind of ammunition.
- Knife; cowboys have traditionally favored some form of pocket knife, specifically the bleedin' foldin' cattle knife or stock knife, you know yerself. The knife has multiple blades, usually includin' a leather clatter and a bleedin' "sheepsfoot" blade.
- Lariat; from the Spanish "la riata," meanin' "the rope," sometimes called a feckin' lasso, especially in the oul' East, or simply, a "rope", you know yourself like. This is a tightly twisted stiff rope, originally of rawhide or leather, now often of nylon, made with an oul' small loop at one end called a "hondo." When the oul' rope is run through the feckin' hondo, it creates a holy loop that shlides easily, tightens quickly and can be thrown to catch animals.
- Spurs; metal devices attached to the oul' heel of the feckin' boot, featurin' a small metal shank, usually with an oul' small serrated wheel attached, used to allow the feckin' rider to provide a holy stronger (or sometimes, more precise) leg cue to the oul' horse.
- Other weapons; while the feckin' modern American cowboy came to existence after the feckin' invention of gunpowder, cattle herders of earlier times were sometimes equipped with heavy polearms, bows or lances.
The traditional means of transport for the cowboy, even in the oul' modern era, is by horseback. Horses can travel over terrain that vehicles cannot access. Jesus, Mary and holy Saint Joseph. Horses, along with mules and burros, also serve as pack animals. The most important horse on the bleedin' ranch is the everyday workin' ranch horse that can perform a wide variety of tasks; horses trained to specialize exclusively in one set of skills such as ropin' or cuttin' are very rarely used on ranches. Jesus, Mary and holy Saint Joseph. Because the feckin' rider often needs to keep one hand free while workin' cattle, the horse must neck rein and have good cow sense—it must instinctively know how to anticipate and react to cattle.
A good stock horse is on the bleedin' small side, generally under 15.2 hands (62 inches) tall at the withers and often under 1000 pounds, with a short back, sturdy legs and strong musclin', particularly in the oul' hindquarters. Here's another quare one. While a holy steer ropin' horse may need to be larger and weigh more in order to hold a holy heavy adult cow, bull or steer on a rope, a holy smaller, quick horse is needed for herdin' activities such as cuttin' or calf ropin'. The horse has to be intelligent, calm under pressure and have a certain degree of 'cow sense" – the ability to anticipate the feckin' movement and behavior of cattle.
Many breeds of horse make good stock horses, but the bleedin' most common today in North America is the American Quarter Horse, which is an oul' horse breed developed primarily in Texas from a bleedin' combination of Thoroughbred bloodstock crossed on horses of Mustang and other Iberian horse ancestry, with influences from the oul' Arabian horse and horses developed on the oul' east coast, such as the Morgan horse and now-extinct breeds such as the Chickasaw and Virginia Quarter-Miler.
Horse equipment or tack
Equipment used to ride a holy horse is referred to as tack and includes:
- Bridle; a feckin' Western bridle usually has a feckin' curb bit and long split reins to control the horse in many different situations, would ye swally that? Generally the oul' bridle is open-faced, without a holy noseband, unless the bleedin' horse is ridden with a holy tiedown. Young ranch horses learnin' basic tasks usually are ridden in a holy jointed, loose-rin' snaffle bit, often with a bleedin' runnin' martingale. Chrisht Almighty. In some areas, especially where the oul' "California" style of the oul' vaquero or buckaroo tradition is still strong, young horses are often seen in a feckin' bosal style hackamore.
- Martingales of various types are seen on horses that are in trainin' or have behavior problems.
- Saddle bags (leather or nylon) can be mounted to the oul' saddle, behind the cantle, to carry various sundry items and extra supplies, game ball! Additional bags may be attached to the bleedin' front or the oul' saddle.
- Saddle blanket; a blanket or pad is required under the Western saddle to provide comfort and protection for the bleedin' horse.
- Western saddle; a saddle specially designed to allow horse and rider to work for many hours and to provide security to the rider in rough terrain or when movin' quickly in response to the behavior of the livestock bein' herded. A western saddle has a deep seat with high pommel and cantle that provides a holy secure seat. Deep, wide stirrups provide comfort and security for the foot. A strong, wide saddle tree of wood, covered in rawhide (or made of a modern synthetic material) distributes the oul' weight of the rider across a holy greater area of the oul' horse's back, reducin' the pounds carried per square inch and allowin' the oul' horse to be ridden longer without harm, the cute hoor. A horn sits low in front of the rider, to which a bleedin' lariat can be snubbed, and assorted dee rings and leather "saddle strings" allow additional equipment to be tied to the bleedin' saddle.
The most common motorized vehicle driven in modern ranch work is the oul' pickup truck, like. Sturdy and roomy, with a high ground clearance, and often four-wheel drive capability, it has an open box, called a "bed," and can haul supplies from town or over rough trails on the ranch, fair play. It is used to pull stock trailers transportin' cattle and livestock from one area to another and to market. With a holy horse trailer attached, it carries horses to distant areas where they may be needed. Stop the lights! Motorcycles are sometimes used instead of horses for some tasks, but the bleedin' most common smaller vehicle is the four-wheeler. C'mere til I tell ya now. It will carry a feckin' single cowboy quickly around the bleedin' ranch for small chores. Sure this is it. In areas with heavy snowfall, snowmobiles are also common. Here's another quare one for ye. However, in spite of modern mechanization, there remain jobs, particularly those involvin' workin' cattle in rough terrain or in close quarters that are best performed by cowboys on horseback.
The word rodeo is from the bleedin' Spanish rodear (to turn), which means roundup. In the bleedin' beginnin' there was no difference between the bleedin' workin' cowboy and the feckin' rodeo cowboy, and in fact, the oul' term workin' cowboy did not come into use until the oul' 1950s. Soft oul' day. Prior to that it was assumed that all cowboys were workin' cowboys. I hope yiz are all ears now. Early cowboys both worked on ranches and displayed their skills at the roundups.
The advent of professional rodeos allowed cowboys, like many athletes, to earn a livin' by performin' their skills before an audience, would ye swally that? Rodeos also provided employment for many workin' cowboys who were needed to handle livestock. Many rodeo cowboys are also workin' cowboys and most have workin' cowboy experience.
The dress of the rodeo cowboy is not very different from that of the workin' cowboy on his way to town, be the hokey! Snaps, used in lieu of buttons on the feckin' cowboy's shirt, allowed the bleedin' cowboy to escape from a bleedin' shirt snagged by the horns of steer or bull, fair play. Styles were often adapted from the bleedin' early movie industry for the feckin' rodeo. Would ye believe this shite?Some rodeo competitors, particularly women, add sequins, colors, silver and long fringes to their clothin' in both a holy nod to tradition and showmanship. Here's another quare one for ye. Modern riders in "rough stock" events such as saddle bronc or bull ridin' may add safety equipment such as kevlar vests or an oul' neck brace, but use of safety helmets in lieu of the bleedin' cowboy hat is yet to be accepted, in spite of constant risk of injury.
In popular culture
As the feckin' frontier ended, the bleedin' cowboy life came to be highly romanticized, the hoor. Exhibitions such as those of Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show helped to popularize the oul' image of the feckin' cowboy as an idealized representative of the tradition of chivalry.
In today's society, there is little understandin' of the oul' daily realities of actual agricultural life. Cowboys are more often associated with (mostly fictitious) Indian-fightin' than with their actual life of ranch work and cattle-tendin'. Sure this is it. The cowboy is also portrayed as a masculine ideal via images rangin' from the Marlboro Man to the Village People, what? Actors such as John Wayne are thought of as exemplifyin' a cowboy ideal, even though western movies seldom bear much resemblance to real cowboy life, would ye swally that? Arguably, the modern rodeo competitor is much closer to bein' an actual cowboy, as many were actually raised on ranches and around livestock, and the bleedin' rest have needed to learn livestock-handlin' skills on the feckin' job.
However, in the United States and the bleedin' Canadian West, as well as Australia, guest ranches offer people the feckin' opportunity to ride horses and get a taste of the western life—albeit in far greater comfort. Some ranches also offer vacationers the feckin' opportunity to actually perform cowboy tasks by participatin' in cattle drives or accompanyin' wagon trains, enda story. This type of vacation was popularized by the bleedin' 1991 movie City Slickers, starrin' Billy Crystal.
In 2005, the United States Senate declared the fourth Saturday of July as "National Day of the oul' American Cowboy" via a Senate resolution and has subsequently renewed this resolution each year, with the oul' United States House of Representatives periodically issuin' statements of support. The long history of the feckin' West in popular culture tends to define those clothed in Western clothin' as cowboys or cowgirls whether they have ever been on a horse or not. C'mere til I tell yiz. This is especially true when applied to entertainers and those in the public arena who wear western wear as part of their persona. Arra' would ye listen to this shite? However, the feckin' reality is that many people, particularly in the bleedin' West, includin' lawyers, bankers, and other white collar professionals wear elements of Western clothin', particularly cowboy boots or hats, as a feckin' matter of form even though they have other jobs. Conversely, some people raised on ranches do not necessarily define themselves cowboys or cowgirls unless they feel their primary job is to work with livestock or if they compete in rodeos.
Actual cowboys have derisive expressions for individuals who adopt cowboy mannerisms as a bleedin' fashion pose without any actual understandin' of the culture. For example, a feckin' "drugstore cowboy" means someone who wears the clothin' but does not actually sit upon anythin' but the bleedin' stool of the drugstore soda fountain—or, in modern times, a holy bar stool. Jaykers! Similarly, the oul' phrase "all hat and no cattle" is used to describe someone (usually male) who boasts about himself, far in excess of any actual accomplishments. The word "dude" (or the feckin' now-archaic term "greenhorn") indicates an individual unfamiliar with cowboy culture, especially one who is tryin' to pretend otherwise.
Outside of the bleedin' United States, the feckin' cowboy has become an archetypal image of Americans abroad. In the feckin' late 1950s, a Congolese youth subculture callin' themselves the feckin' Bills based their style and outlook on Hollywood's depiction of cowboys in movies. Somethin' similar occurred with the feckin' term "Apache", which in early 20th century Parisian society was a holy shlang term for an outlaw.
The word "cowboy" is also used in a bleedin' negative sense. Bejaysus here's a quare one right here now. Originally this derived from the bleedin' behavior of some cowboys in the feckin' boomtowns of Kansas, at the end of the feckin' trail for long cattle drives, where cowboys developed a holy reputation for violence and wild behavior due to the oul' inevitable impact of large numbers of cowboys, mostly young single men, receivin' their pay in large lump sums upon arrivin' in communities with many drinkin' and gamblin' establishments.
"Cowboy" as an adjective for "reckless" developed in the bleedin' 1920s. "Cowboy" is sometimes used today in a holy derogatory sense to describe someone who is reckless or ignores potential risks, irresponsible or who heedlessly handles a sensitive or dangerous task. TIME Magazine referred to President George W. Sufferin' Jaysus. Bush's foreign policy as "Cowboy diplomacy", and Bush has been described in the oul' press, particularly in Europe, as a bleedin' "cowboy", not realizin' that this was not an oul' compliment.
In English-speakin' regions outside North America, such as the bleedin' British Isles and Australasia, "cowboy" can refer to an oul' tradesman whose work is of shoddy and questionable value, e.g., "a cowboy plumber". The term also lent itself to the oul' British 1980s TV sitcom, Cowboys. Similar usage is seen in the oul' United States to describe someone in the oul' skilled trades who operates without proper trainin' or licenses. In the feckin' eastern United States, "cowboy" as a bleedin' noun is sometimes used to describe a fast or careless driver on the feckin' highway.
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- In art and culture
- Audition (performin' arts) also known as a "Cattle Call."
- Fashion: "Rhinestone Cowboy", Western wear
- Film: Drugstore Cowboy, Western movie ("Western"), List of Western movies
- Fine art: Earl W. Bascom, Frederic Remington, Charles Russell, Cowboy Artists of America
- Literature: Cowboy poetry, Western fiction, List of Western fiction authors
- Music: List of famous Cowboy songs, Western Music (North America), Western swin', Western Music Association, Academy of Western Artists
- Sports: Cowboy action shootin', Charreada, Indian rodeo, Rodeo.
- Television: TV Western
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- Roach, Joyce Gibson; The Cowgirls. Sure this is it. University of North Texas Press, 1990. ISBN 0-929398-15-7.
- Slatta, Richard W, what? (January 1990). Cowboys of the oul' Americas. ISBN 0300056710.
- Slatta, Richard W. I hope yiz are all ears now. The Cowboy Encyclopedia. Here's a quare one for ye. ABC-CLIO, California, 1994, enda story. ISBN 0-87436-738-7.
- Ward, Fay E.; The Cowboy at Work: All About His Job and How He Does It. Listen up now to this fierce wan. University of Oklahoma Press, Oklahoma, 1987. C'mere til I tell ya now. ISBN 0-8061-2051-7.