Talented fellow. Don't see much of this today but back then they had good reason to be good at roping horses.
Thanks for sharing it.

Why don't those Texans show us how to rope some of those feral piggies ? There are millions of them, how could they miss ?

The fellow in that movie was from the Oologah, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma)and as such would have not wanted to be called a "Texan."
Though reportedly, he never met one he did not like!

There will never be another. RIP

It is hard to believe that at one time...not so long ago...this country thrived on such entertainment.

Will Rogers was the real deal. I live and work in his old Stomping Grounds. Along with Gene Autry's.

Alas...the days when Prime Time television was Gunsmoke....instead of Jersey Shores or the Housewives of who knows where or ?????

There is a clear and solid connection between what you mention as what we view as entertainment, and our societal decline. Which one is the tail and which is the dog is immaterial to me as both are simply wrong. Our Societal Decline is responsible for much of the cost in dollars in our Government budgets at all levels and also who we elect and what we think about them. One's world view changes everything and we are living the effects of a radical transformation of the world view of the American people. I for one am not enjoying the change.

quote:

Originally posted by Fury01:
There is a clear and solid connection between what you mention as what we view as entertainment, and our societal decline. Which one is the tail and which is the dog is immaterial to me as both are simply wrong. Our Societal Decline is responsible for much of the cost in dollars in our Government budgets at all levels and also who we elect and what we think about them. One's world view changes everything and we are living the effects of a radical transformation of the world view of the American people. I for one am not enjoying the change.

Amen brother! Amen!!!

He was definatly talented, but the cowboy way sure ain't dead yet, we still have a world of good cowboys, they ranch, they compete, and are doing their best to keep our way of life going..I live amongst them daily my whole life,I rope with them, I gather cows with them, I party with them, and I go to church with them, they are the marrow of the good earth. Many of them can still perform prodigies with a rope. They come from all walks of life, they come from So. America, Mexico, Brazil is full of great ropers and rough stock riders..You just have to look around.

Right Ray. Some of us are even in the medical business, and other white collar profesions from all over, where ever good people enjoy the cowboy lifestyle.

Right on, The men, women, and children I rope with come from all walks of life, but most came from a ranching or rodeo background and all want to preserve the Western way of life...

the only thing that bothers me is ever month I pick up my Super Looper magazine and see where kids that are 10, 11 and 12 years old are winning $50,000 or more bucks at some pro roping! These kids to day from some of these ranches and rodeo background families start roping at age 3 just as soon as they can stand up..My kids and grandkids did, and my grandson was training rope horse at age 15 and doing a great job of it and still is..

Great way to raise kids, mostly keeps them off the streets, off drugs, and they usually make good citizens, perhaps not all but the great majority.

Ray,

I grew up on a ranch in southern New Mexico. I rodeoed growing up and thru college and early married life. Then life got in the way of rodeoing. The cowboy lifestyle is bred into you, not domething you bought and put on. You are right, most of us make good citizens. But just like all people, there are good ones and bad ones. Mostly good ones.

quote:

Originally posted by impala#03:
Right Ray. Some of us are even in the medical business, and other white collar profesions from all over, where ever good people enjoy the cowboy lifestyle.

Yes...some of us even in the medical business fixing cowboy horses!

No...the "cowboy way" is still alive but times have still changed.

I was born and bred in a ranching family and live in the heart of cowboy country. I make my living repairing cowboy horses.

Impala,
I also spent many a weekend riding saddle broncs in southern NM, went to all the Buster Prather amatuer rodeos and lot so Indian rodeos in and around Ruidosa...Then got my card and went pro but still hung around So. NM and west Texas.. I also got married and had to find a job. I ranched in West Texas near El Paso and around Marathon and Alpine where I was raised..Some years later when my grand children came along I started team roping with them and been at it for the last 10 or so years..Born a cowboy, and I'm gonna die a cowboy..

As a matter of fact I sold my last double rifle to our own Lane Easter some time ago! bought a good horse with the money.

Spent two days last week with thirteen cowboys working 350 calves on a scattered ranch around Markley & Megargle, TX. Over 10,000 acres in five different locations. Heeling and draging calves to the fire-casterating, ear noching and shots. Saw some good horses and good cowboys. No wrecks and men who knew how to handle a horse.
I could have made a good too if I could have figured out how to take 50 or 60 years off this old body!
So goes life.

Hi Ray,

I grew up in Alamogordo, NM. I knew Buster Prather when I was in high school. Barr Fifer and his sons Danny and Phil and I roped with almost weekly. We went to lots of rodeos in Ruidoso, Mescalero, Capitan, White Oaks, Alamogordo, El Paso etc. What a great way to grow up. I'll get back to it someday.

Worked on the Indian reservation poisoning rats and breaking colts, rodeoed on weekends with the Raley brothers form Ruidosa and Allan Carraway..Joe Bunton owned a big ranch at Capitan, White oaks and I hunted there every year, lots of nice deer. Was good friends with the Lewis's from Del City, but I am a generation or two behind you, I left tracks there in the 50s and early 60s..Worked on a lot ranches around Ruidosa..Those were good times and I loved sat. night.

Hi Ray,

After WW2, my dad, Gordon Blanchard, settled in Alamogordo. One of the first jobs he had in the area was breaking horses on the Mescalero reservation. He and Wendel Chino became friends for life. Wendel went on to become the Cheif of the Mescaleros, and took care of his people. Wendel was a sprit dancer. At the annual 4th of July indian dances, he used to scare the crap out of me. He was a good guy to the end.

Impala,
Funny story might interest you..In my teens I spent a few weeks in Ruidosa with the Gov Trapper Dick Raley and his family..His boys were Jack and Leland...One Sunday Leland, Lee Vollmer and I were drinking beer and chasing girls as opposed to being in church where we were supposed to have gone, and decided to drive around the forest for whatever reason, so the Raleys didn't see us..Driving out of town we jumped a bear that ran across the road, We drove back and sneaked Dicks dogs in our PU and grabbed a couple of rifles, Dick was not around of course...We dumped the dogs on the sight and the dogs took off howling, with us whooping and howling right behind them. Of course it was not bear season. The bear went thu town at a dead run with dogs yelping behind them and so many folks were coming out and looking it looked like a parade gathering. Dick and the Game Warden were in the coffee shop when the Game Warden said "Dick, aren't those your dogs!!, then he said "Dick, isn't that one of your boys?.

The result was, to make a long story short, me and Leland made good our escape and ended up on the reservation breaking horses and poisening rats, Lee high tailed it to El Paso..Leland eventually went home and faced the music, I stayed about 90 days and went to El Paso and went to work Malcom McGregor Land and cattlel co. Hell our pictures may be on a wanted poster in the Ruidoso Post Office for all I know..We never caught the bear btw, we abandoned the dogs and bear to make good our escape! Leland paid dearly with his dad! Months later it became a town joke and all ended well, today it would be a differnt story if such a thing happened and thats the sad part of how things have changed...

One thing I will avow and that is there is nothing on this earth as "Blessed" as a mis-spent cowboy youth..

Great stories and good times.