Cowboy poets have existed since there have been cowboys. There is a lot of interest these days in cowboy poetry and a revival of some of the earliest work. Here’s one: The Tenderfoot I thought one spring, just for fun, I’d see how cow-punching was done; And when the round-ups…
Great new book called Cowboy Park by Santa Fe author and historian John O. Baxter. The book details steer roping competitions around 1900 when it was really steer “tipping”. The roping practice of the times was for one cowboy to head the cow (throw a loop around the head) and…
You can’t have a blog about the cowboy lifestyle without mentioning John Wayne (1907-79). Marion Robert Morrison was born in Iowa and moved to California at age four. A local fireman called him “little duke” after Marion’s huge Airedale Terrier dog, Duke. He kept the name after that. Morrison attended…
Here in New Mexico one of the best known and liked trainers is Randall Davis. He does gentle colt starting and gives clinics throughout the Southwest. I’ve always like his natural horsemanship approach. For example he says “Directing a horse is not getting him to go somewhere, but providing somewhere…
Ray Hunt (1929-2009) is considered one of the pioneers of the natural horsemanship movement that has had such a huge impact on horse training today. In the 1950s Ray had a problem horse that bucked. He asked Tom Dorrance for help, which worked, and the horse Hondo became the hackamore…
