It Ain’t Just For Show
I was in shock for about five full seconds and then careened over to the shoulder to snap this.
Remember the recent post about team roping? I wondered about whether this event was now a hobby/sport unrelated to today’s realities about cattle farming. You know, mechanization, efficiency, feedlots. On my way back from a grocery run to Chino Valley, I unexpectedly found the definitive answer to my quandary. A good-sized herd of cattle was moving toward an underpass running below the roadway on 89. Lo and behold, what was moving them was a group of four mounted riders! Groping blind, I could not locate the camera behind the passenger seat. Damn! With traffic tailgating me at 65 MPH, I yanked it over onto the road’s paved shoulder near a roadside historical marker, and hit the 4-wheel discs bigtime.
I realized an issue as I reached for the camera again. Wrong lens. They’d be little specks at this distance. So I’d have to switch it on and use the menu system to ramp up resolution, and take my shots. Then I’d have to crop the heck out of the shot later, but at least I could. The road’s shoulder was tilted pretty good, and the Ford’s heavy door was a challenge to get open, but desperate men do desperate things. I expected the Pentax’s LCD display to wash out in the strong light, making the resolution adjustment tough. But no, it was readable, and fortunately Pentax had not buried the adjustment deep in the menu system. Done in a few seconds. Aim and fire.
I only caught the very end, but hey, it’s proof that here and there, the Old West is still the Real West.
I think I know a couple people who’d pay to be allowed to do this!
By the way, the historical marker reads: “Del Rio Springs
Site of original Camp Whipple, established December 1863. From January 22 to May 18, 1864 the offices of the territorial government of Arizona were operated from tents and log cabins here, before being moved to Prescott, the first permanent capital.”
Strolling Amok 
The OneLeggedCowboy just spent time on a real ranch in Wickenberg. And I have actually worked and cowboyed on a real cattle ranch in Montana. I didn’t pay, they paid me. They told me I was a natural in working cattle. Also had a chance to buy and settle a green-broke horse that had only been ridden six times before me. Others tried to ride him, but I was the only one he never threw. I got a real kick out of that, for sure.
I’ll bet you did! Quite the life, you’ve had, Swankster!
It won’t be me. Those horses are too dang high for me. I’d need a step ladder to get up on one.
I wonder if you could move cattle on a pony… It’d be a busy little critter!
I Love horses. I am happy the cowboys still rule the west.
Yep, Linda, I guess it’s like an indicator that there’s still something right in the world. Actual cowboys or ranch hands doing actual work aboard horses.