Cowboy Up

If you are reading this then the term "Cowboy Up" likely means, to you, things like enduring discomfort to get the job done and being loyal to who you work for (riding for the brand) and getting the job done.

In the book, "Cowboy Ethics" by James P. Owen there is a Code of the West which is similiar to what others publish as the Cowboy Code and that simply states:

~ Live each day with courage.
~ Take pride in your work.
~ Always finish what you start.
~ Do what has to be done.
~ Be tough, but fair.
~ When you make a promise, keep it.
~ Ride for the brand.
~ Talk less and say more.
~ Remember that some things aren't for sale.
~ Know where to draw the line.

I can't find much fault with that excepting I would have added:

~ Treat people and animals with respect - especially the eldery, women and horses.
~ Stand up for those who need standing up for.
~ Love the land, this country and respect the law.

When I was in the military it always stuck in my craw when senior leaders would say things like "Don't cowboy this up", or, "Were not cowboys so stick to the plan", and a host of other things that were disparging to Cowboys but not said in disrespect, but from a point of ingorance,.......but irritated me anyways.

Fast forward to today and I saw on the news that the University of Wyoming, whose mascot is a Cowboy riding a Bucking Horse with Hat in hand, is under fire for their their latest marketing slogan which is "The World Needs More Cowboys".  A spokesman for the University said "A Cowboy is not what you are, but who you are."

However, people have taken offense to the Universty's slogan. In my mind these are the kind of people who take offense to many things, but I digress. A native American said words to the effect that 'if you are not a white person and especially a native American, then the image of a white cowboy on horseback does not present a good image.' Okay, fair enough. But lets re-live the shameful history of how native Americans were treated. Nobody from that time period is alive today. But we could sure do good to take the work ethic from the 1800's and apply it today.

So is a Cowboy an racist or sexist stereotype? I think not. Some of the bests Cowboys, most unknown but some known by their Rodeo successes, are Black Americans, Native Americans and Hispanic Americans. And some of the best hands on any ranch are women. In fact women likely have the advantage of possessing a higher compassion and the lack of a male ego to burden them. Western Horseman magazine publishes a column each month titled "Women of the West" where they showcase modern women in the ranching industry. I doubt they think the slogan "The World Needs More Cowboys" is sexist or even any bit inappropriate.

Fox News is reporting that Jim Magagna, executive vice president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, said ranchers are worried that the dispute may cast “aspersions on a time-honored way of life and work. We are proud of the true image of the real cowboy or cowgirl, often of very diverse race or ethnicity, riding the range on a well-groomed horse while sporting a cowboy hat, chaps, spurs and a rope.”

Sometimes when I'm riding along a road a car will stop and children will pile out excited to see a horse (they ain't excited to see an old guy that's for sure). I enjoy talking to them about horses, putting them on my horse for pictures (I think my horse likes it too) and one will invariably ask "Mister, are you a Cowboy?" and I respond "Who wouldn't want to be a Cowboy? Me? I'm still trying."  And that's true.  I'm not ashamed for what I am working for no matter what some person who hasn't stepped on dirt lately thinks.

Race Horses dying at Santa Anita Park

I've never been a fan of horse racing, or for other futurity competitive horse events where young, physical immature horses are rode. You may think a three year old if mature enough to race or compete in physical tasking events, but that 3 year old began training well before becoming 3 in order to be competitive and therefore incurring damage, sometimes long lasting, or the injuries, sometimes life ending that a immature body can't handle. I don't think anyone wants to break down and hurt horses, but the pressure to get these horses on the pay roll (to earn money for the owners) is great.

Repetitive impact at a gallop with 3 times (or more) the load of a horse's body weight can cause skeletal fractures, connective and soft tissue injuries, such as ruptured tendons, development of painful bone spurs, and inflammation of the tendon endings and stress on the joints (creating arthritis) which will plague a horse throughout his lifetime.

When I ran a large public barn the local race track would call me and ask me to post notices on horses being given away, as it's much cheaper to give a horse away than it is to euthanize it or get it transported to a kill facility. These horses were almost always injured in some way. There was one horse, an older TB gelding who was a companion horse, that was the exception. But the rule of thumb was that there was a hidden reason for trying to home a horse. In one severe case, one of my boarders brought in a free three year old TB who had collapsed suspensory ligaments on his front left leg where the fetlock was set well behind the heel of the hoof - so apparent it was mind numbing that the boarder took him to make into a team roping horse.

The racing industry is well known for using anti-inflammatory drugs so a horse can continue training or even race. Pin firing, to burn a horse's injured tissue and therefore create a more serious inflammatory response to aid healing, can be used legitimately, but it is used when the horse is already injured and in the case of a bowed tendon, it is likely to come back again. The chances of sustaining suspensory ligament damage, soft connective tissue injuries, not to mention other physical aliments that comes with intense training on physically immature frames is just too big a risk for me to ask a horse to accept. So makes me angry when I read a news feed that 21 horses, that's twenty one, have died since Christmas time at Santa Anita Park in Los Angeles, California. It appears that most, if not all of the horses, were put down after sustaining bad injuries. Some of the race track people are attributing the great increase in injuries (and deaths) to the condition of the track caused by excessive rains. Well, those horse's didn't ask to be ridden and trained on less than safe ground. Again human's fail horses.

I am also no fan of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) who is protesting for the closure of the race track, but I hope something is done. I would rather there be some organizational self correction where a older age for racing horses is adopted and strictly enforced, something like the Endurance Racing organization use.

I am linking an article from the Washington Post here.