Direct Instruction:
I - What is a "cowboy" and where is it from?
● The word Cowboy comes from the Spanish
word Vaquero. The name "Cowpoke" comes
from the end of the cattle drive when the
cowboys had to push the cattle onto the trains
with a stick or prod.
II - Who were the Cowboys?
● 1/3 of the Cowboys were former slaves and
most of the other were former confederate
soldiers.
The American Cowboy: Myth or Truth
Myth #1:
The Cowboy life was Glamorous.
Myth - the cowboy often worked 18 hour days
and the long trail drives were boring
The American Cowboy: Myth or Truth
Myth #2:
The Cowboy had small or medium frames
Truth - Large men were to heavy to ride the
mustangs efficiently, they would tire the horse
out.
The American Cowboy: Myth or Truth
Myth #3:
The Cowboy would ride his favorite horse all day.
Myth - Cowboys would ride a string of horsed
depending on the task at hand. Slow horses at
night and quick horsed for fast daytime work,
like roping and driving.
The American Cowboy: Myth or Truth
Myth #4:
There were only white Cowboys.
Myth - About 1/6th of all cowboys were
Mexican, many were African American and
even some Native Americans.
The American Cowboy: Myth or Truth
Myth #5:
Many Cowboys were older and experienced wranglers.
Myth - Most were young men who had actually
had to learn on the job how to wrangle.
The American Cowboy: Myth or Truth
Myth #6:
It's called a Cowboy not a Cowgirl, women could not be a part of the culture.
Myth - Several women owned cattle ranches
and some ran their own cattle drives.
The American Cowboy: Myth or Truth
Myth #7:
Cowboys often had to fight off Native Americans.
Myth - Cowboys rarely if ever fought with the
Native American people, remember some
Native Americans are assimilating at this time
and some are even cowboys themselves.
