What is a Roundup?
A roundup comes from the days of the open range and the big time cattle drives.
Cattle would roam free or with minimal care during the spring and summer. The cows would raise their calves and graze wherever they wanted. This required a minimal amount of labor during most of the year. But during the fall, it would require pretty intensive labor.
Cowboys and hired hands would come from all kinds of places and backgrounds. Some with great experience in "cowboying" some with little or no experience. Those cowboys would sometimes have their own horses, but most of the time the ranch owners and managers would have to gather up large numbers of horses for a couple months of work, obviously some would be well broke and others not. This led to legends of the bad bronc, the horses that only the best cowboys could get by, and riding contests, bets, dares, and shows.
Then the cowboys would have to ride out and locate the scattered herds and gather them together for market. This involved horsemanship, cutting, and roping skills. The best hands were skilled workers worth their wages, but many people were new people looking for work and getting training on the job. So riding and roping were valuable. Some cowboys were skilled in dally roping some in hard and fast tied of roping. Calf Roping is an example of hard and fast roping, while team roping is an example of dally roping. This led to competition and tests of skill.
Even today, there are two traditional times to do a roundup --- spring when the calves are branded and castrated, and fall when the calves are weaned and sent to market.
The skills of a roundup are the basis for rodeo - calf roping, team roping, tie down roping and saddle bronc riding. The other events: bull riding, bareback riding, steer wrestling, barrel racing and breakaway roping developed more as competitions created for the show side of rodeo.
Cattle would roam free or with minimal care during the spring and summer. The cows would raise their calves and graze wherever they wanted. This required a minimal amount of labor during most of the year. But during the fall, it would require pretty intensive labor.
Cowboys and hired hands would come from all kinds of places and backgrounds. Some with great experience in "cowboying" some with little or no experience. Those cowboys would sometimes have their own horses, but most of the time the ranch owners and managers would have to gather up large numbers of horses for a couple months of work, obviously some would be well broke and others not. This led to legends of the bad bronc, the horses that only the best cowboys could get by, and riding contests, bets, dares, and shows.
Then the cowboys would have to ride out and locate the scattered herds and gather them together for market. This involved horsemanship, cutting, and roping skills. The best hands were skilled workers worth their wages, but many people were new people looking for work and getting training on the job. So riding and roping were valuable. Some cowboys were skilled in dally roping some in hard and fast tied of roping. Calf Roping is an example of hard and fast roping, while team roping is an example of dally roping. This led to competition and tests of skill.
Even today, there are two traditional times to do a roundup --- spring when the calves are branded and castrated, and fall when the calves are weaned and sent to market.
The skills of a roundup are the basis for rodeo - calf roping, team roping, tie down roping and saddle bronc riding. The other events: bull riding, bareback riding, steer wrestling, barrel racing and breakaway roping developed more as competitions created for the show side of rodeo.
|
|
|
|
