The Vanishing Cowboy- Myth or Reality
Let us explore the vanishing cowboy- myth or reality. First let's consider a truly vanished icon, the mastodon hunter.All that remains of this mighty figure are a few paintings on a cave wall. That and book cover or two of him in a furry loincloth posing with his spear and a Raquel Welch look-alike complete complete with bear-skin bikini and shaved legs.
Why did this once powerful caveman vanish? Because the prehistoric Fish and Game outlawed hunting mastodons? Because they became vegetarians? No..... it was because they ran out of mastodons.
The legacy of the proud mastodon hunter is nowbeing kept alive by Cabelas, L.L.Bean, Remington, "The Flintstones", Tarzan,Charlton Heston, the Olympics and the Discovery Channel.
Back to the vanishing cowboy. There are many categories of cowboys, i.e., cowboy artists, rodeo cowboys, trail riding cowboys, cowboy poets, cowboy singers, line-dancing cowboys and others who exist to glorify or imitate the real thing.
But unlike the mastodon, we haven't run out of cows. Many will be quick to point out, especially when the market is low, that we have too many. It's also true that in some parts of the world cows are commonly raised without cowboys; New Delhi, Kenya and Indianapolis to name three.
On earth there are vast expanses of grazing land that aren't suitable to farming, like Queensland, Mongolia, the Russian Steppes, the Argentine pampas and Wyoming. These are places where four wheelers dare not go: deep canyons, mesquite thickets, mountain tops, slippery slopes and river crossings.
Those machinery-unfriendly spots are suitable to cows and best tended by men a'horseback. To ride the rim, to check or gather, to pop 'em outta the brush, to ford the mountain stream and push 'em out the other side is most easily accomplished if one can follow in the cows' footsteps.
I feel like this is true even in places like the Ozarks of Missouri or the hollers of West Virginia.
So, if the cowboy is to vanish, we must first dispose of the cows in these otherwise unreachable locales. We must eradicate or outlaw cows in most of Australia, most of western Canada and the United States, and the heart of Argentina, just as a start.
Which would create the inevitable Catch 22: By reducing the number of indigenous cows to the point of extinction, we would automatically kick in the endangered-species act.
To protect them, the government would have to hire men a'horseback to manage the declining herds. It becomes a never-ending, self-perpetuating cycle. Cows and cowboys.
In conclusion, the vanishing cowboy is some talk about wistfully, is a myth. But how would they know if he was vanishing if they never left the freeway? I can assure you he's still out there chasin' them new mastodon. You just can't see him from the road.
Comments (9)
Good blog. Though i can not understand it completely due to some vocabulary out of my comprehension.
i think not only cowboys are vanishing, but also many people, such as those who master some handcraft skills. they know how to make good traditional things with their handcrafe skills, but in modern times some factories can produce lots of other luxurious things, so we do not need their things made by their handcraft skills. so they vanish. and many many traditional things, cultures, stories are gone with them.
as to the cowboys, i do not know them very well. but i guess, not many people are willing to be cowboys.
vast expanses of grazing land .. i always want to live in these places, though i know in my life i will never have this chance.
Then all of a sudden a full symphony orchestra strikes up a tune and our cowboy starts belting out a rapturous love song to woo his girl. And amazingly, after a hard day's slog mustering cows he never had a hair out of place and his clothes were immaculate.
In Australia we call them stockmen and there's no chance of seeing them from the road. A few of the cattle stations over here are larger than some European countries, so helicopters and motor bikes are a must. But if ya want to work on a station you've gotta know how to ride a horse and know the land.
In both departments the aboriginals are by far the best. And there ain't no cow or horses to be found among their ancient cave paintings.
Thank you for the kind words. Whatever words you are having trouble with, feel free to ask and I will do my best to explain them. :-) If you can, do be sure to watch "Last American Cowboy" on Animal Planet. :-)
gotitall,
We prefer the term "gentling" as it goes much further in trust than force ever will. This applies not only to animals, but to our fellow man, woman and child as well. :-)
Billy,
I am very well acquainted with the Stockmen of your lovely country. Some have become sucessful bull riders here in the US. One even spoke of cracking his kangaroo bull whip while driving down Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. I was thinking, "Dang, there's my kind of guy!".
TTkingfish,
You are exactly right- A cowboy is BORN.
Nah. Hasn't got the same ring to it.
interesting point, nicely written .We all grew up with the cow boy myth even here in Europe,and with those beautiful western movies that now are no longer popular.Maybe that is the one of reasons why we wrongly believe cowboys are vanishing.
I'm glad that you liked it. :-) Europe seems to be fascinated by the Cowboy way of life and there are individuals in different countries who seem to be born cowboys/cowgirls. They dress and live it and it is so heart warming. :-) Europe is beautiful and has so much history. My mother is half Spanish and has family outside of Madrid that I plan to go visit next summer. I've always been taken with the beautiful Andalusian and Lusitano horses. :-)
all of us had a cowboy outfit when we were kids and loved playing with our Winchester rifle imagining great battles versus native Americans.John Wayne was still a great myth along with other famous American actors.Everybody wanted to be a cow boy at the time.
I remember saying my father'take me to nearest ranch I wanna be a cow boy ' and then my disappointment discovering it was not actually so western style as in the movies.