Cowboys in Badlands

 Salvete Omnes,

short post - I just discovered the painting and sketches by Thomas Eakins titled Cowboys in Badlands.
Wiki Commons has has this gallery - do peruse if you wish.

 

 

 

 

 

Badlands etc were drawn and  painted in or about 1888 AD - there is Christie's page about the history of ownership of the painting.

Valete

Posters from Buffalo Bill's Wild West

 
Salvete Omnes,
Spring is so near  - we have been searching for a puppy of the Old German Shepherd type - so to bring some movement there is horse Americana as exemplified by the poster art of the world famous Buffalo Bill's Wild West show:





 




nota bene after some discussion on our Facebook horse group I found some Polish press articles about the Buffalo Bill's show visiting southern Poland (under the Austro-Hungarian empire) in the beginning of the XX century, so in the future I shall look at them closer. But in general Polish media of the period - daily newspapers from Lwow and Krakow - were hostile towards the show, not only because the managers of the show treated Polish provinces as some sort of German eastern lands, where German was spoken. "Austrian' Poland was the horse country, especially in her eastern parts, with large horse exports all over Europe(including France and Great Britain) and Polish commentators knew much about horses and horse riding
Valete

Cowboy Mounted Shooting

Salvete Omnes,
a short entry -
the Cowboy Mounted Shooting is a competitive sport event associated quite a bit with historical reeenactment of the XIX century American West and Western movies, being a spectacular  display of American Western Horsemanship and love and handling of firearms, thus requiring quite considerable amount of preparation of on the part of horse and rider.
This equestrian sport is becoming a popular activity, and events are spreading throughout the country, getting coverage on major sports channels etc.
They promote American history, horsemanship, love of the American Western traditions, knowledge of firearms and their handling, and the special horse-rider relationship - what a mixture one may say
Participants, both women and men, belong to the two major organizations:  Mounted Shooters of America or Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association.

 

 


I think I am going to give a try one day - :)
Valete
ps
pictures are from Wiki Commons, but there are tons of photos and videos on the web

Custer saddle et al

Salve,
winter is upon us, time to prepare for Christmas and all the good time of the family holidays, soon followed by the New Year's festivities. I must admit I would prefer the New Year to have been on 21st of March, like the ancient Persians had it.
On a sad note, not all good Christians will be joyous this holiday season, as the war rages in the Middle East and there are acts of violence against our Christian brethren in southern Asia, eg I just learned that in Cairo, Egypt, the Coptic St. Mark's Cathedral worshipers praying during mass were bombed today, with a large death toll and many wounded among these innocents and defenseless, their only crime being Christian - pacem aeternam.

Back to history and horses - I have been doing lots of reading and some of it has been on the life and achievements and failures of general George Armstrong Custer, including this own writings (here in a free audio book format) and his wife's (eg these 'libre' books about the general 1 , 2, 3   from archive world library)  - I like this book Robert M. Utley,   Cavalier in Buckskin: George Armstrong Custer and the Western Military Frontier and this one on his Civil War amazing achievements titled ''Clashes of Cavalry: The Civil War Careers of George Armstrong Custer and Jeb Stuart'' by Thom Hatch. Interesting collection of recollections by Custer's soldier - J. H. Kidd, 'Personal Recollections of a Cavalryman With Custer's Michigan Cavalry Brigade in the Civil War'

Surfing the net I found out that several years ago his saddle was on sale in 2012,
 and I am attaching my compilation of the photos showing this saddle - that according to the description this was originally a McClellan saddle, remade by a saddle maker to general Custer's specifications. It was in the possession of the Custer family until 1941 and had only one previous owner.

Another, less elaborate, of Custer's saddles on the view here, with some interesting description.

And least we may forget, then here is the complete account of the Greasy Grass battle by Red Horse, Minneconjou Lakota Sioux, 1822-1907, done in 1881

 Yet another historic saddle from the period that belonged to "Antelope" Ernst Baumann - a scout with the 7th Cavalry attached to Reno's unit during the Greasy Grass/Little Big Horn battle- saddle can be seen here.
enjoy

Hunting bison on horseback - R.I. Dodge's observations

Salvate os,
I came across another interesting observation about the bygone method  of hunting American bison on horseback in the XIX century.  The book is titled 'The hunting grounds of the great West: a description of the plains, game, and Indians of the great North American desert.' Lieutenant-Colonel [1] of the US Army Richard I. Dodge wrote this work circa 1877, a military man with a huge experience on the American Plains during the so called Indians Wars.

Here the text:

  Buffalo hunting on horseback is a very different thingy and, to a novice, full of excitement. A buffalo can run only about two-thirds as fast as a good horse; but what he lacks in speed he makes up in bottom or endurance, in tenacity of purpose, and in most extraordinary vitality.
  A herd will stand staring at an approaching horseman until he is within about 300 yards. It will then begin to move off slowly, and, when he is within about 250 yards, it will probably break into a gallop. This is the sportsman's moment. A good horse ridden by a man who knows his business will be among them before they have gone 200 yards, to shoot and slaughter at his pleasure. A poor horse, or careful rider, and the hunter will find to his sorrow that ' a stern chase is a long chase.' If a herd is not overtaken in 500 or 600 yards 'the chase had better be abandoned, if any regard is to be had for the horse. The difficulty in this hunting is that the herd is enveloped in a cloud of dust, which prevents very careful aim; the explosion of the pistol creates a turmoil, confusion, and change of places among the flying animals, rendering it almost impossible to shoot at any individual buffalo more than once; and their vitality is so great, that it is an exceedingly rare exception when one is brought down by a single shot.
  The danger is not so much from the buffalo, which rarely makes an effort to injure his pursuer, as from the fact that neither man nor horse can see the ground, which may be rough and broken or perforated with prairie dog or gopher holes. This danger is so imminent that a man who runs into a herd of buffalo may be said to take his life in his hand.
  I have never known a man hurt by a buffalo in such a chase. I have known of at least six killed, and a very great many more or less injured, some very severely, by their horses falling with them. The knowledge of the danger, the rush of the horse, the thundering tread of the flying brutes, the turmoil, the dust, the uncertainty, and, above all, the near proximity and ferocious aspect of the lumbering throng, furnish excitement enough to set wild the man who is new to it. There is, however, a sameness about it which soon palls, and an old buffalo hunter rarely runs buffalo. It is very good for an occasional ' flyer*,' but frequent repetition is like eating quail on toast every day for a month monotonous. However ardent the sportsman, however ardent for this especial sport while new to it, two or three seasons will dull the edge of the keenest appetite. 
  The running is very different under different circumstances. A single buffalo offers very little sport even to an enthusiastic novice. He is generally an old fellow whom solitary life has rendered self-reliant. He has little disposition to run from any enemy; and, when he does start, he runs so slowly and wastes so much time in ' gibing and filling ' to watch his pursuer, that he is generally a prey so easy that, after the killing, the murderer's conscience smites him, and his self-respect is gone. ' I'd as lief shoot an ox,' has often been the report, in a lachrymose, self-abashed tone, of a beginner whom I had sent off in a fury of excitement after a solitary old bull.
  The pursuit of a small herd of bulls is equally unsatisfactory. A race after a small herd of twenty or thirty cows and six months' calves gives to the hunter a much more ample compensation for his time and trouble. When from three to six months old, the calves run like the wind; and to dash into such a herd, single out a calf, pursue and bring it to bay, is a feat worthy of record for the novice. This selection of the animal is the beauty and perfection of buffalo hunting. On account of the confusion of numbers and the dust, it can scarcely be done in a large herd, except by first splitting it up into small herds. 
  This is much more easy than would appear. When a hunter rushes into a large herd, the buffalo on each side of his horse push from him laterally. As he gets farther into it the buffalo passed do not close in his rear, but being now able to see him more clearly, press farther and farther away. The consequence is that the hunter finds himself riding in a V, the point of which is only a little in advance of his horse's head. By going completely through the herd it is not only split, but the leading buffalo on each side, now clearly seeing the position of the foe, immediately diverge from him, and consequently from each other.
  All this requires an excellent horse, a cool and skilful* rider, and, what is difficult to find on the plains, good ground and plenty of it. Among steep ravines or very broken ground the buffalo can travel better than the best horse.
  Once when on a hunt I came upon two Mexican buffalo hunters, one of whom possessed the finest and most perfectly trained buffalo horse I have ever seen. They were encamped near a water hole to which the buffalo came to drink. On the approach of a herd the horses were saddled, the fine horse and rider dashed into it, split it up as I have described, singled out a victim, always a fat two-year-old, separated it entirely from its companions, and headed it towards his camp, all at tremendous speed. They were soon met by the other hunter, and the two, placing themselves on the flanks of the now tired animal, drove it to their camp, when a pistol shot finished the race. They had a fine lot of meat and a goodly pile of skins, and they said that every buffalo had been driven into camp and killed as the one I saw. ' It saves a heap of trouble, packing the meat to camp,' said one of them, naively.

[..]

 I am sure colonel Doge will be visiting this blog again :)
enjoy
*original spelling
[1] Mr Dodge retired as a full-bird colonel of the US army in 1891, but also note that he was a fine son of the South in his manner and style.
ps
an article to read and ponder

Daily sketch

Salve,
 just a quick sketch - ballpen, white & black acrylic paint and resizing with GIMP - of a horse in a Western horsemanship, here from reining

I like to watch videos showing different stages of training and then play with the horse, this summer will be playing with a 3 years old Quarterhorse/Arabian  filly; anyway, here  one of the trainers - Larry Trocha  part 1, I bought 2 videos from him, and may travel to visit his place in California next year or so, God willing :)

!we got a new Pope - habemus papam!

-Jorge Mario Bergoglio a cardinal from Argentina - vivat los hispanos!

ps
 A discovery,  in Tel Haror, then a town in Canaan  and  now in present Israel, of a  donkey, perhaps sacrificed and  then buried circa 1700BC, with a bit in its mouth and saddle bags ...;  article about war in Canaan during the early 18th  Dynasty