Gottslieg Spring Works 2005

Spring Works at the Gottslieg's

A couple of years ago I joined up with an outfit in Monongahela, PA that tries to do authentic cowboy re-enactment of the post civil war trail drive period. Most of them have fashioned their personal outfits and gear on the Texas type cowhand. And then there is me and that "vaquero" thing I am into. When they first saw my Wade saddle with the big old dally horn and my 65 feet of nylon rope with a metal swivel honda they did not know what to make of it. When it was dry enough and I got out the 70 foot reata, with one of my hand braided rawhide hondas on it, they really didn't know what to think. But I think a few of them are starting to see the advantage of all that twine, especially when I tie onto some of the bigger stock that they have told me were always a real problem to rope and then keep ahold of. Sliding out 30 or 40 feet of rope so those old cows can settle to the idea of being caught, while I am well out of range of those big old horns, is something they are seeing as a "good thing". They are also starting to appreciate making the long throws and working cattle quietly from a rodear instead of chousing them around until these old bessies just want to jump the arena fence. No one but me is using a long rope yet but a few of them keep talking about it.

A couple of the boys own small herds of longhorns and we try to do all the doctoring, worming and branding of them by roping and laying them down, when we can get enough horses and hands together. It all goes toward a yearly "top hand" buckle, along with other activities that earn points like shoots and parades and stuff, providing you are a full member. For me, as a social member, I just cannot think of hardly anything horseback that is more fun than roping and working cows. These are some pics of one such time...

Moving in to "tail 'er down". Joe, one of the owners of this bunch of cattle, and I have this sister by one hind leg and so she needs to be laid down. By stretching her out between the ropers and then having the ground man step in and pull her sidewise, carefully, by her tail, we'll get her laid out. He'll always pull on the same side as the hind foot that is caught so the cow won't be able to keep her balance if the heeler keeps the rope tight and that foot off the ground. As she begins to fall over the header, that would be me in this case, will need to slip his dallies, otherwise the ropes will just hold her up and she'll recover her balance. Done properly the cow will just roll right on to the ground. Done poorly and the ground man will be working his butt off.

With the hind foot rope on both heels I am cranking this cow up onto her hip so she will quit struggling and stay down nice and quiet. The next step here is take the head loop off and set it around both front feet. That way we can stretch her for doctoring without choking on her. It makes it a heck of a lot easier on the ground crew when working bigger stock like this one. The horses do the work of keeping her down. A person would be best served to get up short in order to better control the cow for the ground crew, should she start struggling to get up. Most animals will lay quiet after their initial struggle, at least for a little while. If you can get your work done quick enough she won't try to get loose. If you take too much time though she'll probably make another attempt at getting up.

The "har's aburnin'" in this shot. No one had set the front feet by the time the iron got there so the boys just held her down. Makes for more work this way but these guys are into being "cowboy tough". Me, I like the finesse of the vaquero style of holding front and hinds from horseback when working larger cattle or at least with a forefoot rope staked to the ground when branding lots of smaller calves.

Here I am doing a little groundwork by setting the front feet into the header's loop so this critter can be stretched and branded. The heeler needs to get his dallies back on and crank this cow up onto her hip so she'll stay down. At this point it would be me against the cow with no help from the heeler if she tried to get up. Lucky for me this one is on the small and real quiet side.

PB and I laid this one down by ourselves and then the ground crew jumped in. Best thing to do here would be to tie a front and hind leg together and then the guys won't have to hold her down. No one did and so they got a good workout keeping her down for the doctoring.

I am legging PB over here to get those hind feet rolled up off the ground more. This helps the ground crew by keeping the cow rolled up on her hip or back. It lessens the amount of struggling she'll do while they set the front feet into the header's loop and once those fronts are set, keeps her from struggling while being doctored, castrated or branded. Along with my mecate, you can see my tie down (piggin' string without the loop in it that calf roper's use) rope pulled through my belt.

	Moving in to "tail 'er down". Joe, one of the owners of this bunch of cattle, and I have this sister by one hind leg and so she needs to be laid down. By stretching her out between the ropers and then having the ground man step in and pull her sidewise, carefully, by her tail, we'll get her laid out. He'll always pull on the same side as the hind foot that is caught so the cow won't be able to keep her balance if the heeler keeps the rope tight and that foot off the ground. As she begins to fall over the header, that would be me in this case, will need to slip his dallies, otherwise the ropes will just hold her up and she'll recover her balance. Done properly the cow will just roll right on to the ground. Done poorly and the ground man will be working his butt off.
With the hind foot rope on both heels I am cranking this cow up onto her hip so she will quit struggling and stay down nice and quiet. The next step here is take the head loop off and set it around both front feet. That way we can stretch her for doctoring without choking on her. It makes it a heck of a lot easier on the ground crew when working bigger stock like this one. The horses do the work of keeping her down. A person would be best served to get up short in order to better control the cow for the ground crew, should she start struggling to get up. Most animals will lay quiet after their initial struggle, at least for a little while. If you can get your work done quick enough she won't try to get loose. If you take too much time though she'll probably make another attempt at getting up.
	The "har's aburnin'" in this shot. No one had set the front feet by the time the iron got there so the boys just held her down. Makes for more work this way but these guys are into being "cowboy tough". Me, I like the finesse of the vaquero style of holding front and hinds from horseback when working larger cattle or at least with a forefoot rope staked to the ground when branding lots of smaller calves.
Here I am doing a little groundwork by setting the front feet into the header's loop so this critter can be stretched and branded. The heeler needs to get his dallies back on and crank this cow up onto her hip so she'll stay down. At this point it would be me against the cow with no help from the heeler if she tried to get up. Lucky for me this one is on the small and real quiet side.
	PB and I laid this one down by ourselves and then the ground crew jumped in. Best thing to do here would be to tie a front and hind leg together and then the guys won't have to hold her down. No one did and so they got a good workout keeping her down for the doctoring.
I am legging PB over here to get those hind feet rolled up off the ground more. This helps the ground crew by keeping the cow rolled up on her hip or back. It lessens the amount of struggling she'll do while they set the front feet into the header's loop and once those fronts are set, keeps her from struggling while being doctored, castrated or branded. Along with my mecate, you can see my tie down (piggin' string without the loop in it that calf roper's use) rope pulled through my belt.