Colonial Horses in the New World - Part 1

After 1492, on subsequent voyages to the new world, the Spanish carried cattle, pigs, and horses on their ships. The horses would play an instrumental role in the Spanish plans for the Americas as the Spanish, fresh off their conquest of the Jews and Moors of Southern Spain, viewed this new world as non-Christian kingdoms, filled with savages that required conquering before assimilation into Spanish culture, specifically Catholicism. The group of Spaniard adventurers effecting the annexing of land and people would be the Conquistadores, and the conquistadores required horses that could traverse mountains, cross deserts, and survive the tropical jungles of the Americas. The horse would inspire awe and fear into the native peoples as prior to the Spanish landings, there were no horses in the new world (the Americas had probably been without the horse since the last ice age) The horses the Spanish brought to the new world were from North Africa: (the Barb) and the Iberian Peninsula: (the Andalusian, the Sorria, and the now extinct Jennet.). These horses, while serving the conquistadores splendidly, would later be bred carefully across lines to produce an animal that would become legendary and forever known as the Spanish or Indian pony.

The original presidio at Santa Fe, New Mexico was built to protect the Mission de San Miguel. One of the functions of the mission was the breeding and raising of Spanish horses. True to the Spanish system of the period, the Spanish offered native people of the area, the Pueblo, protection from their traditional enemy, the Apache. The Pueblo requirement was that they become Mission Indians (slaves). In the mid-17th century, a severe drought in the Santa Fe area helped the Pueblos to agree. Though barred from riding or owning horses, the Pueblos quickly learned how to breed and care for equine. And in 1680, with the drought over and tired of their Spanish taskmasters, the Pueblo revolted and in the process killed or drove all of the Spanish from the area. The Spanish that survived, departed quickly, and in the process left behind over 200 horses. The agricultural Peublos had no real use for horses, but their warlike enemy, the Apache saw some value in the animal. In the pre-horse days of the Americas, women and dogs moved the band or tribe. And when the Apache first obtained the horse in any numbers, they saw in the animal, a beast that could move many possessions by travois. Some accounts say the Apache actaully referred to the horse as the "Big Dog." The Apache, who were also toying with growing corn and become a fixed agri-society, never bothered early on to learn how to breed the animal or to hunt or fight from the animal's back like Plains Indians later would. Instead, they used the horse more as a conveyance. For several decades, the Apache would ride their horses to an enemy camp, dismount, fight, and then ride the animal back home.

Mike Kearby's Texas Copyright 2011

Trailing Cattle - A Short History Part 9

A Dodge City legend recalls the following: An intoxicated Texas cowboy boards a Santa Fe train in 1878. When the conductor calls for tickets, the cowboy answers with, "Ain't got none." The conductor then asks, "Well, where are you headed?" To which the cowboy replies, "Hell." The conductor straightens his coat and says, "All right, give me 4 bits and get off at Dodge City." Perhaps one of the most famous incidents in the town's cattle heyday involved the killing of singer Dora Hand. (who performed under the name of Fannie Keenan) Hand was staying the back room of a two-room set-up used by Dodge City Mayor Dog Kelly. Kelly was away at Fort Dodge at the time and his would-be assassin, a Texas cowboy by the name of James Kenedy (son of the powerful Texas cattleman Capt. Miflin Kenedy) was ignorant of that fact. On October 4, 1878, The younger Kenedy, who had a brawl weeks earlier with Kelly, fired four shots into the mayor's room missing

another performer, Fannie Garrettson by inches but penetrating the plaster wall and killing Hand. A posse was immediately assembled and possibly - no greater posse was ever put together. The group included Bat Masterson, Charlie Bassett, Wyatt Earp, William Duffey, and Bill Tilghman. Kenedy was caught outside of Meade, Kansas, and wounded in the shoulder during the capture. He was later acquited on insufficient evidence. Rumors persisted from that time forward that Miflin Kenedy had paid off officials for his son's release. It should also be noted that Miflin Kenedy sold thousands of Longhorns in Dodge City during this time and his "money" was much appreciated by the Dodge City businesses.

In the winter of 1877, in Frio County, Texas a rancher by the name of Kerr discovered one of his mama cows dead in a mud hole. Beside the dead cow was a black and white bull calf. Kerr hauled the calf home to his wife who promptly took to the orphan and raised him by the name- Sancho (pet in Spanish). Before long, the wife was feeding Sancho tamale shucks, and later whole tamales. Sancho seemed to like both the meat and the chile pepper seasoning of Mrs. Kerr's steam-boiled rolls. In 1880, Sancho, now a steer, was sold with some of Kerr's other steers to the Shiner brothers who were contracted to deliver 2500 Longhorns to Wyoming. The Shiner's branded him with a 7 Z and pointed him north. During the first night out, Sancho seemed to determined to go back home. Some said later, for one of Mrs. Kerr's tamales, but whatever the reason, the night crew had to push him back into the herd over a dozen times. Days later, Sancho made his break and heading south, was discovered by the second Shiner herd trailing to Wyoming. One of the point cowboys roped him and turned him north again. As usual, Sancho took a position in the drag and constantly looked south. In September, upon reaching Wyoming, Sancho was branded with C R for his new herd home. The next spring, John Rigby, who was working with Joe Shiner near Kerr's ranch, recalled looking across a pear flat and seeing a paint steer with 7 Z and C R branded on him. The men rode to the Kerr's where Mr. Kerr admitted that Sancho had arrived home about six weeks earlier. Mrs. Kerr had been feeding her pet, tamales ever since. Joe Shiner conceded that, "If Sancho loved his home enough to walk 2000 miles from Wyoming to get to it, he wasn't going to drive him back." Sancho is said to have lived on the Kerr Ranch until he died of natural causes.

The Big Die-Up - By the time the winter of 1885 - 1886 arrived, the cattle industry, especially the trailing of cattle north was about to undergo severe change due to four gradually occuring events - (1) the expanded use of barb-wire, (2) the expansion of the railroads as a means of hauling cattle, (3) the re-populating of northern cattle herds which eventually lowered cattle prices as supply slowly exceeded demand, and (4) the overstocking of herds resulting in overgrazing of open prairies. The winter of 85-86 merely provided the final push toward the inevitable change. The blizzards that winter,The Big Die-Up - By the time the winter of 1885 - 1886 arrived, the cattle industry, especially the trailing of cattle north was about to undergo severe change due to four gradually occuring events - (1) the expanded use of barb-wire, (2) the expansion of the railroads as a means of hauling cattle, (3) the re-populating of northern cattle herds which eventually lowered cattle prices as supply slowly exceeded demand, and (4) the overstocking of herds resulting in overgrazing of open prairies. The winter of 85-86 merely provided the final push toward the inevitable change. The blizzards that winter, began in November and continued through February. Temperatures across the plains ranged from -36 below zero to -70. Hundreds of thousands of head of cattle died during this time for unlike many winters before, cattle could not move to shelter and water due to barb-wire cross fences. Many herds were found stacked against barb-wire barriers, frozen in place, often still standing up. And not only cattle suffered, as many ranchers and ranch hands lost their lives trying to rescue stranded cattle. The final tally would not be known until the spring thaws. By most accounts as much as 5% of the Western U.S. cattle herds perished during the time. The direct results of the above events were - (1) the growing and storing of hay, (2) the fencing of smaller pastures for cattle rotation so as to avoid the depletion of native grasses, (3) the construction of shelters and windbreaks for livestock, and (4) the practice of winter feeding.

Mike Kearby's Texas Copyright 2011

Trailing Cattle - A Short History Part 8

The year 1876 was a pivotal one for the country and Texas trailers. In 1876, Custer came to his end on the Little Big Horn, Alexander Graham Bell introduced the telephone, barbed wire was beginning to gain notice and trailers were pushing more and more cattle into the expanding West. Both San Antonio and Fort Worth saw their fortunes increase as Cow Towns. In San Antonio, the city council outlawed loose cattle from the streets in 1876 although hogs were still free to roam. Fort Worth had plenty of saloons, dance establishments, sporting women, and mercantile supplies. But a new trail was being marked to the west of Fort Worth that caused the town alarm. The new trail, through Fort Griffin, (On the Brazos River west of present day Graham, and northeast of Albany - below the fort was a town called the Flats. The Flats soon became known as the wildest town in Texas.) From Fort Griffin the trail led to the Red River where the cattle crossed at Doan's Crossing and then on to Dodge City, Kansas. Coupled with the Kansas legislature's new cattle quarantine area that now included Wichita, Dodge City seemed posed to emerge as a major cattle shipping point for the Santa Fe RR. Richard King, of King Ranch fame, was credited with trailing 30,000 cattle in 12 different herds north in 1876. King's herds were sold in Kansas and Nebraska.

Kansans never held much regard for Texas trailers and events in the latter part of 1876 only seemed to justify their feelings. In September, outside of Big Springs, Nebraska, six men from cowboy outfits robbed the Union Pacific. The haul? $60,000 in gold and a few hundred in cash. The bandits included Sam Bass. It seems the cowboys, after getting paid for pushing Longhorns up the trail, had drifted north to Deadwood, (Black Hills) where they promptly lost all of their cattle money. And robbery must have seemed as the only viable means for Sam and the bunch to gain their proceeds back. Over at the Flats below Fort Griffin, a lawman, John Larn, was also making quite a name for himself. Larn, who operated as sheriff for Shackleford County moonlighted as a cattle thief. Watt Matthews, Larn's nephew, said of the man: "He was a charmer with many atrributes of a gentleman, but he was also an outlaw, cow thief, and a killer." Larn is said to be responsible for the killing of 12 men by age 30. Larn's running mate in the county was John Selman. (Selman is the man who later killed John Wesley Hardin in El Paso.) Bass met his end in Round Rock, Texas in 1878. He was shot by Richard Ware of the Texas Rangers. John Larn's demise also occurred in 1878. Larn was shot in his jail cell by vigilantes.

Most trailers rode a Spanish cow pony, which was a descendant of the horses brought over by the Spaniards, and the short distance running horse that was developed in colonial America. From Malcom MacKay's Cow Range and Hunting Trail: "Of the many cow ponies that we rode, a few seemed to have had real personalitites, and their traits have stayed in my memory. They were Captain, Baldy, Crockett, Coyote, Prince, Fox, Ginger, Texas, and Five Dollars. ...Fox was a heavy-boned, thickset sorrel and his name suited him well, for he was sure foxy. One morning I put a new saddle on him that had attached to it a beautiful pair of white Angora saddle pockets. Fox did not seem to notice the new rig until I got up on the flat behind our barn and hit into alope, then the Angora flaps began to flap. Fox took one look, and lost his head, and started, high, wide and handsome, straight for a cut bank, twenty feet down to creek bottom. I stuck him for three or four jumps, and then I saw he really was going over the bank, and I would sure be killed if I went along, so I threw my left leg over his head and tried to land on my feet, but didn't quite get the right slant to it, and lit on my right hip, which laid me up about ten days. Fox went on over, turned a somersault or two, and lit in the creek with a grunt..." In MacKay's writing, I love the description, high, wide and handsome. The phrase is original Americana and is best defined as: a person feeling carefree and acting on top of the world. The first printed reference appears in The Bucks County Gazette, Bristol, Pennsylvania, November 1881.

Margaret Heffernan Borland is thought by many historians to be the only woman to have led a cattle drive. Margaret was born in Ireland in 1824 and with her parents, John and Julia Heffernan, arrived in Texas in 1829. The Heffernans settled in Coastal Bend area of Texas - where the Texas Ranching Industry had its roots. Margaret was married three times. Her first husband was killed after an argument. The second husband, Milton Hardy, died of cholera. She then married Alexander Borland, who was considered the wealthiest rancher of the area. Borland died of yellow fever in 1867. After his death, Margaret assumed control of the cattle operation and took on the role of selling and purchasing cattle. By 1873, she had amassed a herd of 10,000 head. In the spring of 1873, she took on the task of driving 2500 Longhorn to Wichita, Kansas. Accompanying her on the drive were her remaining 3 children, her granddaughter, and a few trailers. She reached Wichita with the herd, but succumbed to illness on July before seeing the cattle sold. Her illness was described as "trail fever" by some and "congestation of the brain" by others. (Edgar Allen Poe's fatal illness was also described as "congestation of the brain." The term seems to have covered everything from rabies to malaria. Photo- Margaret Heffernan Borland

Mike Kearby's Texas Copyright 2011