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. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of special significance and legend. A subtype, called a wrangler, specifically tends the horses used to work cattle. In addition to ranch work, some cowboys work for or participate in rodeos. Cowgirls, first defined as such in the late 19th century, had a less-well documented historical role, but in the modern world work at identical tasks and have obtained considerable respect for their achievements. Cattle handlers in many other parts of the world, particularly South America and Australia, perform work similar to the cowboy.
The vaquero is a horse-mounted livestock herder of a tradition that has its roots in the Iberian Peninsula and extensively developed in Mexico from a methodology brought to Latin America from Spain. The vaquero became the foundation for the North American cowboy, in Northern Mexico, Southwestern United States, and Western Canada.
In North America, a wrangler is someone employed to professionally handle animals, especially horses and cattle, but sometimes other types of animals as well. The word "wrangler" is derived from the Low German "wrangeln" meaning "to dispute" or "to wrestle". It was first documented in 1377. Its use as a noun was first recorded in 1547. Its reference to a "person in charge of horses or cattle" or "herder" was first recorded in 1888.
The Cowboys is a 1972 American Western film starring John Wayne, Roscoe Lee Browne, and Bruce Dern, and featuring Colleen Dewhurst and Slim Pickens. It was the feature film debut of Robert Carradine. Based on the 1971 novel of the same name by William Dale Jennings, the screenplay was written by Irving Ravetch, Harriet Frank, Jr., and Jennings, and the film was directed by Mark Rydell.
Hank Worden was an American cowboy-turned-character actor who appeared in many Westerns, including many John Ford films such as The Searchers and the TV series The Lone Ranger.
Cattle drives were a major economic activity in the 19th and early 20th century American West, particularly between 1850s and 1910s. In this period, 27 million cattle were driven from Texas to railheads in Kansas, for shipment to stockyards in Louisiana and points east. The long distances covered, the need for periodic rests by riders and animals, and the establishment of railheads led to the development of "cow towns" across the frontier.
A cutting horse is a stock horse, typically an American Quarter Horse, bred and trained for cutting, a modern equestrian competition requiring a horse and rider to separate a single cow from a herd of cattle and prevent it from getting back to the herd. One of the desired qualities in a cutting horse is "cow sense," described as an innate ability to read a cow, eye to eye, in anticipation of each move. The cutting horse has its roots in the historic cattle ranching industry, where horses with specialized cattle-handling skills were crucial for the work of the cowboy.
History of rodeo tracks the lineage of modern Western rodeo.
Jay Wilsey was an American film actor. He appeared in nearly 100 films between 1924 and 1944. He starred in a series of very low-budget westerns in the 1920s and 1930s, billed as Buffalo Bill Jr.
Charles Hugh Roberson was an American actor and stuntman.
The Spade Ranch is a large cattle ranch located in the Sandhills of western Nebraska between the towns of Gordon and Ellsworth. Founded in 1888 by Bartlett Richards, the ranch was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
Robert Donald Walker was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 200 films between 1913 and 1953. He was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and died in Los Angeles.
The Culpepper Cattle Co. or Dust, Sweat and Gunpowder is a 1972 Revisionist Western film produced by Twentieth Century Fox. It was directed by Dick Richards and starred Billy Green Bush as Frank Culpepper and Gary Grimes as Ben Mockridge. This was the first credited film for Jerry Bruckheimer, for which he received an associate producer credit. Its tagline is "How many men do you have to kill before you become the great American cowboy?" and also "The boy from Summer of '42 becomes a man on the cattle drive of 1866", which references a similar coming of age film starring Gary Grimes. The film is typical of the "hyper-realism" of many early 1970s revisionist westerns. It is particularly noted for its grainy photography and use of sepia toning in some scenes.
Springtime in the Rockies is a 1937 American Western film directed by Joseph Kane and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and Polly Rowles. Written by Gilbert Wright and Betty Burbridge, the film is about a ranch owner who brings a flock of sheep into cattle country and faces the opposition of local ranchers with the help of her ranch foreman.
Cowboy boots are a specific style of riding boot, historically worn by cowboys. They have a high heel that is traditionally made of stacked leather, rounded to pointed toe, high shaft, and, traditionally, no lacing. Cowboy boots are normally made from cowhide leather, which may be decoratively hand-tooled, but are also sometimes made from "exotic" skins like alligator, snake, ostrich, lizard, eel, elephant, stingray, elk, buffalo, and so on.
A ranch is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of farm. These terms are most often applied to livestock-raising operations in Mexico, the Western United States and Western Canada, though there are ranches in other areas. People who own or operate a ranch are called ranchers, cattlemen, or stockgrowers. Ranching is also a method used to raise less common livestock such as horses, elk, American bison, ostrich, emu, and alpaca.
The Singing Hill is a 1941 American Western film directed by Lew Landers and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and Virginia Dale. Based on a story by Jesse Lasky Jr. and Richard Murphy, the film is about a singing cowboy and foreman of a ranch that may be sold to an unscrupulous banker by the young madcap heiress who is unaware that the sale will result in the local ranchers losing their free grazing land and their ranches. In the film, Autry introduced the song "Blueberry Hill" which would become a standard recorded by such artists as Louis Armstrong (1949), Fats Domino (1956), and Elvis Presley (1957). The song became one of Autry's best-selling recordings. In 1987, "Blueberry Hill" received an ASCAP Award for Most Performed Feature Film Standards on TV.
Pete Martinez (1894–1970) was an American cowboy artist who specialized in drawing, printmaking, and watercolor. He is best known for his illustration and prints of Arizona desert landscapes and images of cowboy life.
Black cowboys in the American West accounted for up to an estimated 25% of cowboys "who went up the trail" from the 1860s to 1880s and substantial but unknown percentage in the rest of the ranching industry, estimated to be at least 5000 workers according to recent research.
The Longhorn is a 1951 American Western film directed by Lewis D. Collins and starring Wild Bill Elliott, Myron Healey, and Phyllis Coates. It was shot at the Iverson Ranch. It was remade as the 1956 film Canyon River.
