Cowboys
By editor | August 2, 2007
The term cowboy is pretty old which widely means the hired hands who takes care of cattle and performs various other duties on his horseback; the person who is careless or negligent typically in driving the vehicles; or the performer who exhibits riding and roping as well as bulldogging.
The cowboys were believed as the inheritors of olden rural traditions, have worked as the mounted herders on the cattle ranges of the American West for over three centuries. The cowboys initially rose to nationwide importance as the occupational groups with the fast growth of the Western range, cattle industry sometimes during the second half of the nineteenth century.
The cowboy life induced young and bachelor men most of them in their late teenage or early twenties, from the different social and ethnic backgrounds. Irrespective of the cowboys’ age and backgrounds, they were often known as cowhands, cowpunchers or even buckaroos, followed the demanding and frequently dangerous occupation that involved stamina, athleticism besides the thorough know how about the cattle and the horses.
At rundown time the cowboys lived away from their homes for months at a stretch at the time of gathering, sorting, branding and driving the cattle. The cowboys were believed to especially work in the group of ten or twelve men following the command of their range boss or ranger and supported the cook and chuck carriage that used to carry their outfits, foods and bedrolls etc. Each of the cowboys used to maintain the string of over the half-a-dozen of horses that he changed periodically through out his work day.
Tags: cattle ranges cowboy life ethnic backgrounds hired hands horses irrespective nineteenth century occupational groups range cattle industry Rural Life Blog takes care twelve men
Topics: Rural Life Blog |