Cowboy Clinic

Cowboys - Past And Present

A cowboy is someone who takes care of cattle or herds animals, such as horses or cows, on ranches.  Although their job is extremely important, it is sometimes uncomfortable and even dangerous.  They usually ride horses when taking care of their duties, as they have many other tasks to do as well as just taking care of animals.

Cowboys originally came from Spain back in the 16th century.  With Spain’s weather being so dry, the grass was not that great; therefore, animals needed large areas to roam in order to find enough grass for food.  Since these areas were so big, men decided to start using horses to cover more ground, as there was just too much space to cover while walking.  With time, a cowboy has to be very skilled on horseback.  The famous cowboy hat that was always worn was used to keep the sun out of their eyes, or it could also be used as a bowl or cup to put water in for either the cowboy or their horses to drink from.  The leather chaps that were worn over their jeans helped to protect their legs.  Rifles were always carried for protection from wild animals or even to kill an animal that had been badly hurt so they would not suffer anymore.

The cattle that a cowboy took care of were left in wide-open areas to roam around and eat.  In order to know which animals belonged to which cowboy, when the animals were still young, they were branded with a hot iron with a special symbol.  Each cowboy had their own symbol to tell their animals apart.  Every spring, the animals were rounded up so they could find young animals that still needed to be branded and to find cattle that could be sold.  Rounding up the cattle took experience and skills on the cowboy’s part and on the horse’s part.  The men that separated the cattle rode special “cutting” horses.  These horses had already been trained to watch how the cattle moved, and were able to stop and turn much faster than any other horse.  Once the animals were sorted, the cowboys then had to rope and capture the young animals so they could be branded.

A cowboy needed at least three to four horses for each roundup.  Sometimes even the horses were rounded up.  There were many cases where the ways they trained their horses was very harsh.  These horses could never be fully relied upon, though.  Other cowboys finally realized the problem and started treating the horses more humanely and gently, thus making the horse easier to train and more reliable in the end.

There are still modern day cowboys.  These men still live on ranches with their families and take care of animals, but their job is made easier with our advanced technology.  Some cowboys still use horses, but trucks are more practical now.  Some men even use airplanes to help with the herding of cattle.  Cowboys were not just a thing of the past; they are a wonderful asset to our future, as well.