Editing Cowboy (section)

===American development===
As [[English language|English]]-speaking traders and settlers [[Territorial acquisitions of the United States|expanded westward]], English and Spanish traditions, language and culture merged to some degree. Before the [[Mexican–American War]] in 1848, [[New England]] merchants who traveled by ship to California encountered both ''hacendados'' and ''vaqueros'', trading manufactured goods for the hides and tallow produced from vast cattle [[ranch]]es. American traders along what later became known as the [[Santa Fe Trail]] had similar contacts with ''vaquero'' life. Starting with these early encounters, the lifestyle and language of the ''vaquero'' began a transformation which merged with English cultural traditions and produced what became known in American culture as the "cowboy".<ref>Malone J., p. 3.</ref>

The arrival of English-speaking settlers in Texas began in 1821.<ref name=Geographic /> [[Rip Ford]] described the country between [[Laredo, Texas|Laredo]] and [[Corpus Christi, Texas|Corpus Christi]] as inhabited by "countless droves of mustangs and&nbsp;... wild cattle&nbsp;... abandoned by Mexicans when they were ordered to evacuate the country between the [[Nueces River|Nueces]] and the [[Rio Grande]] by General [[Valentin Canalizo]]&nbsp;... the horses and cattle abandoned invited the raids the [[Texians]] made upon this territory."<ref name=Ford>Ford, J.S., 1963, ''Rip Ford's Texas''. Austin: University of Texas Press, page 143. {{ISBN|0-292-77034-0}}</ref> California, on the other hand, did not see a large influx of settlers from the United States until after the [[Mexican–American War]]. In slightly different ways, both areas contributed to the evolution of the iconic American cowboy. Particularly with the arrival of [[railroad]]s and an increased demand for [[beef]] in the wake of the [[American Civil War]], older traditions combined with the need to [[cattle drive|drive cattle]] from the ranches where they were raised to the nearest [[railhead]]s, often hundreds of miles away.<ref name="Malone1" />

[[Black cowboys]] in the American West accounted for up to 25 percent of workers in the range-cattle industry from the 1860s to 1880s, estimated to be between 6,000 and 9,000 workers.<ref name="Porter">{{cite book|last1=Porter|first1=Kenneth|title=Peoples of Color in the American West |date=1994 |publisher=Heath|location=Lexington, Mass. [u.a.]|isbn=0669279137|pages=[https://archive.org/details/peoplesofcolorin0000unse/page/158 158–167]|edition=[Nachdr.]|chapter=African Americans in the Cattle Industry, 1860s–1880s|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/peoplesofcolorin0000unse/page/158}}</ref><ref name="JBHE">{{cite journal|title=Deadwood Dick and the Black Cowboys|journal=The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education|date=1998|issue=22|pages=30|doi=10.2307/2998819|jstor=3650843}}</ref> Typically former [[Slavery in the United States|slaves]] or children of former slaves, many black men had skills in cattle handling and headed West at the end of the Civil War.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Goldstein-Shirley|first1=David|title=Black Cowboys in the American West: An Historiographical Review|journal=Ethnic Studies Review|date=30 April 1997|volume=6|issue=20|page=30|issn=1555-1881}}</ref>

By the 1880s, the expansion of the cattle industry resulted in a need for additional open range. Thus many ranchers expanded into the northwest, where there were still large tracts of unsettled grassland. Texas cattle were herded north, into the [[Rocky Mountain]] west and the Dakotas.<ref name="MaloneJ76">Malone, J., p. 76.</ref> The cowboy adapted much of his gear to the colder conditions, and westward movement of the industry also led to intermingling of regional traditions from California to Texas, often with the cowboy taking the most useful elements of each.

Mustang-runners or ''Mesteñeros'' were cowboys and [[vaqueros]] who caught, broke and drove [[Mustang horse|mustangs]] to market in Mexico, and later American territories of what is now Northern [[Mexico]], [[Texas]], [[New Mexico]] and [[California]]. They caught the mustangs that roamed the [[Great Plains]] and the [[San Joaquin Valley]] of California, and later in the [[Great Basin]], from the 18th century to the early 20th century.<ref>C. Allan Jones, '''Texas roots: agriculture and rural life before the Civil War''', Texas A&M University Press, 2005, pp. 74–75</ref><ref>Frank Forrest Latta, Joaquín Murrieta and His Horse Gangs, Bear State Books, Santa Cruz, 1980, p.84</ref>

[[File:Colorado. Round up on the Cimarron.jpg|thumb|An 1898 [[photochrom]] of a round-up in [[Colorado]]]]

Large numbers of [[cattle]] lived in a [[semi-feral]] or a completely [[feral]] state on the [[open range]] and were left to graze, mostly untended, for much of the year. In many cases, different ranchers formed "associations" and grazed their cattle together on the same range. In order to determine the ownership of individual animals, they were marked with a distinctive [[livestock branding|brand]], applied with a hot iron, usually while the cattle were still [[calf (animal)|calves]].<ref>Malone, p. 10.</ref>

In order to find young calves for branding, and to sort out mature animals intended for sale, ranchers would hold a [[muster (livestock)|roundup]], usually in the spring.<ref>Malone, J., p. 11.</ref> A roundup required a number of specialized skills on the part of both cowboys and horses. Individuals who separated cattle from the herd required the highest level of skill and rode specially trained "[[cutting (sport)|cutting]]" horses, trained to follow the movements of cattle, capable of stopping and turning faster than other horses.<ref>Malone, J., p. 13.</ref> Once cattle were sorted, most cowboys were required to rope young calves and restrain them to be branded and (in the case of most [[bull]] calves) [[Castration#Animals|castrated]]. Occasionally it was also necessary to restrain older cattle for branding or other treatment.

A large number of horses were needed for a roundup. Each cowboy would require three to four fresh horses in the course of a day's work.<ref>Malone, J., p. 22.</ref> Horses themselves were also rounded up. It was common practice in the west for young [[foal]]s to be born of tame [[mare (horse)|mares]], but allowed to grow up "wild" in a semi-feral state on the open range.<ref>Malone, J., p. 19.</ref> There were also "wild" herds, often known as [[mustang]]s. Both types were rounded up, and the mature animals tamed, a process called [[horse breaking]], or "[[bronco]]-busting", usually performed by cowboys who specialized as [[horse trainer]]s.<ref>Malone, p. 18.</ref> In some cases, extremely brutal methods were used to tame horses, and such animals tended to never be completely reliable. Other cowboys recognized their need to treat animals in a more humane fashion and modified their [[horse training]] methods,<ref>Malone, J., p. 21.</ref> often re-learning techniques used by the ''vaqueros'', particularly those of the ''Californio'' tradition.<ref>Connell, Ed (1952) ''Hackamore Reinsman''. The Longhorn Press, Cisco, Texas. Fifth Printing, August, 1958.</ref> Horses trained in a gentler fashion were more reliable and useful for a wider variety of tasks.

Informal competition arose between cowboys seeking to test their cattle and horse-handling skills against one another, and thus, from the necessary tasks of the working cowboy, the sport of [[rodeo]] developed.<ref>Malone, J., p. 37.</ref>