Here’s another in the cowboy series I seem to have gotten into lately. This is what I used to do before turning to a fulltime art career due to a back injury which ended my cowboy days.
This freshly painted 24×28 oil depicts what everyday cowboys do, in this case at the foot of the ruby Mountains in Northern Nevada.. With a roped yearling stretched out, one of the cowboys, the “ground man”, takes care of whatever deed needed to be done to the critter. The mounted cowboy has the responsibility of keeping the rope to the rear legs tight. Looking closely, you can see the horse has his head tucked a bit as he is reined back a step to help keep the tension on the rope.
The cowboy on the ground has a lot to keep track of. He’s got a lot of rope strung about him as you can see in this detail. Originally he would have roped the steer (or heifer) by the head while his team mate roped the heels (hence the sport of “team roping” in toady’s rodeo). Once the critter is down, the ground man will step off of his horse and with his own weight and a strategically placed knee, hold the calf in position while he “doctors” on him or her. Prior to releasing the calf, the rope is removed from the head and placed around the front legs so that once the cowboy is mounted, the two riders can give the steer some slack. When the calf struggles and springs to his feet, the loops on the two ropes will open allowing the calf to step out of the rope and trot off.
The cowboy on the ground has his rope dallied around the horn on his saddle and with the remaining coils of rope in hand, he has the ability to keep tension on the rope as he dismounts. Additionally he has a “get down rope” tucked under his belt with the other end around the neck of his horse. If things should go amiss, as they sometimes do, he still has a “life line” to his horse since the reins are draped around the horses neck and generally out of reach.
As you can see and imagine, both cowboys and their horses need to be highly trained and skilled in their ability get their work done as gently and safely as possible.