Cowboys, Ranches and Farms

August is Cowboys and Cowgirls Month. I like to read and write about cowboys and the Old West. There are still cowboys and cowgirls today. Americans started using the word cowboy by 1725. Vaquero is the spanish word for cowboy. It means someone who rode a horse while they rounded up cattle. Americans used the word "buckaroo", which sounds similar to "vaquero". Other words we use for cowboy are cowhand, cowpuncher, and cowpoke.

Cowboy Lingo:

Bandanna: cloth worn around the neck to protect from sunburn, wind, rain, and dust

Bedroll: a cowboy's bed; made of blankets and quilts rolled into a tarp and fastened on the sides

Broke: you call a horse that has been trained

Boom Town: this is a town where a cattle trail met a railroad

Bronco Buster: a cowboy who can train wild horses

Chuck Wagon: the wagon that cowboys take along on a drive that holds the food and supplies

Outlaw: a horse that cannot be broken or ridden

Poke: pouch used by cowboys for carrying small personal items

Rawhide: cattle skin before it has been tanned

Stampede: when a herd of cattle runs wildly

Tenderfoot: a new or young cowboy

Wrangler: the cowboy who takes care of the horses

Cowboys and Ranches
Many cowboys have a ranch or a farm. A cowboy is a man who protects and takes care of cattle and other livestock. He rides a horse and knows how to rope cattle. A wrangler is a cowboy that tends the horses used to work with the cattle.

On traditional ranches, the men stay around the cattle and the horses and their animals. If there is problem, they are down in their barn or around the cattle to take care of it.


Cattle Drives
Sometimes ranchers and cowboys have to drive the cattle to the places where they need to be, and the ranchers take care of the cattle. When the cattle need water they drive the cattle to a big pond, so they can drink water while the men wash there faces with there handkerchiefs and they put their bandannas in the water then put it on themselves.

Rodeo CowBoys
The word rodeo came from the Spanish word rodear, meaning roundup.
Here are some rodeo events:
Barrel Racing
Saddle Bronc Riding
Calf Roping
Bull Riding
Rodeo Clowns
Steer Wrestling

Cowboys and their Horses
All cowboys have a horse. My favorite horse is a buckskin.
I love the way God made the horses the way that we can put the settle on their back and their hallter on too. And how He made the cattle say "Mooo Mooo" I love it. I hope you all like the post that I did and the verses and pictures!!


The Stetson: The Cowboy Hat
His name John B. Stetson. He made hats for cowboys to wear in the heat. He also made them so you can put water in them to give the horses water if they need it. That is called waterproof. That is why they were called the 10 Gallon Hats. And did you know that he was the great at making hats?


Cowboy Duds
The cowboys wore certain clothing. Here is what they wore:
1 Long johns are one-piece underwear.
2 A shirt and pants.
3 A cotton print bandana to protect from the sun and dust.
4 Some cowboys wore leather chaps over their pants.
5 Cowboys usually wore buckskin gloves to avoid rope burns from their lariat.
6 Some cowboys wore a gun belt around their waist.

Cowgirls
There were also cowgirls out on the range. Cowgirls were first defined in the late 19th century. They had the ability to work at virtually identical tasks. Annie Oakley and Calamity Jane are two of the famous cowgirls you might have heard of.

By 1900, skirts that were split down the middle were made, allowing women to ride horses and compete in rodeos with men without causing scandal by wearing men's riding clothes or their bloomers!

Cowboys' Vittles

A cowboy usually only ate two meals: one in the morning and one at night. The cook, called "Cookie", kept the food and supplies in the chuckwagon. He got up before the cowboys and made them coffee.

The Cookie used some or most of these to make the meals for the cowboys out on a drive: flour, sugar, dried fruit, dried beef, salt pork, coffee beans, pinto beans, salt, lard, baking soda, vinegar, and molasses.


Psalm 31
In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness.
Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me

My Mom told me that she had heard of a special ministry to cowboys a long time ago. She said that saw a sign for a Cowboy Church when we were driving through Texas on vacation. I loved driving through cowboy country on vacation. I hope you enjoyed learning about cowboys too!

Other sites of Interest:
Cowboy Church.net

Sources: Cowboys
Cowboys Project Pack - Hands of a Child