Horse Blog

So here’s the question I have for you today. Even though it’s not part of American culture to slaughter horses for food, should we outlaw it? I’ve been doing some reading on the subject today and there seems to be two issues here. The first is using horses as food, for human consumption or otherwise. Second is how well horses are treated prior to slaughter.

Several direct connects later, the pasture was filled with family members, each with rope and soap and light. Cowboys we ain’t! We herded that cow ‘round and ‘round that pasture. She eluded every toss of the lasso. Finally the loop went around that cow’s neck. Three of us held tight as that heifer dragged us around. Someone finally lassoed her legs, and with many great tugs, she finally succumbed to the ground. I was then instructed to “soap up.” I found out that liquid soap acts as a lubricant for hands and arms while pulling a calf from a womb. Nasty just doesn’t seem to describe the moment.

Mr Lunney had a unique way of teaching us. His desk was at the back of the room and after assigning us our work, he put his feet on the desk, took out his guitar and sang old songs for us. It was from him that my love for Irish music began. We learned all the Irish songs he knew, and the two years I was there we put on concerts on St Patrick’s Day on the Mount Mary stage for parents and anyone else who wanted to come. We knew the words to “Danny Boy” and the “Old Colonial Boy” as well as we knew the national anthem. Mr Lunney sang old ballads like “The Wreck of the Old 99” and many songs the cowboys used to sing while on the range.

Man did i ever have fun tho last night. We met up with Banana boy, oh i like him so much! we ended up at Larry’s something or other with these chix that were skantily clad and dancing up on a side table. I felt so far from home! Then we went off to Cowboys which was fuckin crowded! Imagine Coyote Ugly movie but Real! Mechanical bull too! it was so cool!

This is pretty genius, I must say: Larry David says, “Cowboys Are My Weakness”.

The comments conclude with one from a self-satisfied elitist declaring Hollywood caters too much to the "lowest-common-denominator crowd" who like animated "Christian myths" and "snuff" films, as he refers to "The Passion of Christ". He declares the new homoerotic main streaming of cowboys as an example of a "serious quality film with a substantive theme".

Brokeback is a love story and a tragic one at that. Don’t let the hats fool you. It’s far more Titanic than Silverado. It’s the story of Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal), two cowboys who meet one summer while herding sheep in the mountains of Wyoming. Unless you’ve been living in a pop culture bubble the last few months, watching the first half hour of the film can feel at times like the wait for the shark in Jaws. You know these two are going to give in to their desires buried so deep. It’s just a matter of how and when.

Chris Crutcher’s dynamic presentation at AASL’s Friday night Author Banquet brought the audience to tears–and then to their feet in a standing ovation. Crutcher recounted aspects of his creative process, based in part on his experiences as a family therapist, telling of his sources of inspiration for his novel Whale Talk. He praised his audience of librarians for their roles in fighting censorship and in matching up books and young readers, calling librarians “the true cowboys of America.”

Buzz is starting to brew about Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger as gay cowboys in the adaption of Brokeback Mountain. The movie was made by Director Ang Lee. (I wonder of the cowboys will do one of those two fisted pistol shooting he is famed for.) I can not wait myself! Opens December 9 in NYC/LA/SF. Wonder when it comes to Philly?

As I mentioned before Nevada is mainly a big desert, it is the one on cowboys movie, we headed to the desert it’s a nice place to drive between the mountain and imagining your self as a cowboy looking for you escaped horse, although we have almost the same whether in Kuwait, their desert has more planet than we have on our’s I can’t understand why ours is differ than everything!.

Another family story is when he helped me write and draw a complete story with cover and everything. It was “Ralph the Bear”. We told it to the entire family with great relish. I think my propensity to doodle comes from him. He was always doodling cowboys. I loved them and have many of them. I think we got Ralph from he would always kid with my Dad and call him Ralph Bunch.

Customers arrive and we swing into action like old cowboys swinging back into their saddle. I was well back on auto pilot, when Jen rocks up next to me and half whispers: "You know, having that little bit of tequila just before service is kinda making me feel stoned! But don't tell anyone!"

The Student Government Association will be hosting a Summer TGIT Party on July 7, 2005 at 5:00 pm in the Jamail Student Center. There will be barbecue, soft drinks, margaritas, music and fun for all students…and it’s all free. There will also be a Mechanical Bull outside the Jamail Student Center this year. So all you “Urban Cowboys” should gear up and be ready for an 8 second ride…if you can last that long.

Just got back from trip to the southwest (Sequoia, Zion, Grand Canyon, etc) - Zion Mountain Resort was the highlight. We came across it by accident (driving by - the buffalo herd caught our eye). Wanted to do some horseback riding somewhere and thought this would be something different. My 4 boys (ages 5-14) and wife agreed it was the best day of the trip. Staff was great - horsetrail guides Guy (a postcard cowboy) and Jeff (an outgoing college student) were friendly, wonderful, and made us feel at home. May not be for everyone - but we enjoyed it immensely. Horseback riding was awesome - rode to the canyon edge, Indian Hill (site of an old Indian village), and within a couple hundred yards of the buffalo herd in a large prairie-like area.

Of course, ever since the defamatory name "hillbilly" came about, many were happy to call themselves hill people. Just like cowboys used to be thought of as useless roustabouts, but are now mimicked by lawyers and accountants everywhere, people are laying claim to whatever "hillbilliness" they can. In my own lifetime, I've seen the accents of Western Pennsylvanians become more pronounced not less, more dropped "g's," longer drawls, "oh's" and "i's" sounding more like "oi". Perhaps this is compensatory. The more we do our work on computers, the more...

Kevin: Between Toronto (where I was born and raised) and New York, I guess I've been doing comedy for about eight years now. In Toronto, I used to produce an arts festival every summer. I was also the lead singer of a cowpunk band called The Yeehaa Cowboys. Once here in New York, I've switched to a different type of show -- one that incorporates five or six stand-ups with their own acts into an overarching Canadian theme that ties it all together.

Free range is also learning the habitat and habits of creek critters, how to track on crisp early morning snow and ice the range and habits of mink and muskrats, ponder how a tree became bent the way it did, recognize a snake species from its discarded skin, or where to find the best patches of milkweed, pond lilies or bull brushes....

Maybe Willy Nelson's song, "Mothers don't let your children grow up to be Cowboys ....should warn them to keep their children caged better than my mom did.

A new form of music is on the scene. It's called Hick Hop, and Cowboy Troy is on the crest of the Hick Hop wave. I just don't know what to think when I hear this but I'm getting a mental picture.

The Valley of Gwangi What can I say. I love Dinosaurs, I love cowboys. I love this movie. It has been and always will be one of my favorites, and it's resisted the Hollywood remake bug for a good long time now. Surprising, considering how many best and favorites lists this movie inhabits.

I love vampire stories. I love westerns. But I don’t read many vampire and western romances even though vampires and cowboys are sooooo sexy. Why not? Because I can’t tolerate the lack of grit in the novels I’ve read.

Kirn's essay might be called Montana-Romantic, lamenting the loss of an era when cowboys errant drunk-drove to a smoke-filled bars, which for Kirn existed about fifteen years ago when he arrived here. He has a point: one recent travelogue in a glossy lifestyle magazine compared Kirn's hometown of Livingston as Brooklyn to Bozeman's Manhattan. You couldn't write that fifteen years ago.

So despite much recent commentary, Montana has never been susceptible to being stamped "blue" or "red" or any other label-of-the-day no matter how much ink is spilled in trying. It always has been a vibrant swirl of prospectors and bankers, homesteaders and stockmen, union and company men, journalists and cowboys, naturalists and lumberjacks, and always will be. That should come as some consolation to a Montana Romantic.

Deadwood, S.D., circa 1876: a booming gold-mining town evolving from a lawless frontier to civilization's latest outpost.

Nipomo, Calif., circa 2005: a booming coastal town trying to balance the needs for more housing and water with a commitment to its rural roots.

At the center of each stands one man, bringing the spirit of each to life: Gary Leffew, 1970 world bull riding champion, mentor to aspiring rodeo cowboys at his Nipomo ranch and muse to David Milch, creator of the award-winning HBO television series "Deadwood."

Montana, which has served as Marlboro Country in magazine ads depicting rugged cowboys puffing on cigarettes while riding a fence line, is about to outlaw smoking just about everywhere but the great outdoors. The state Legislature voted Thursday to ban smoking in all enclosed public places, including bars and restaurants

Even Cowboys Need A Nap Sometimes

Susan Faludi's article is one that seeks to refine the concept of the cowboy, a figure that represents traditional America.� After 9/11, George W. Bush has been referred to as a cowboy, but Faludi believes ultimately that he is not worthy of the title.� I agree with Teddy Roosevelt about the image that cowboys re "quiet, rather self-contained men."� She is trying to persuade readers to agree with this view of a cowboy instead of one tat seeks confrontaton.� I did not know that President Bush was being called a cowboy, but I can see how it makes sense, especially because he is from Texas.� I think the way America relates the two is because cowboys are known as protectors of the home.� One stereotypical image that comes to mind is a sheriff, complete with a� cowboy hat, a gun on each hip, and spurs.� It is the sheriff's duty to eliminate the robbers and kidnappers.� I am not saying that I agree with Bush, but I see the connection.� Faludi tries to replace this image by explaining Roosevelt's view, that cowboys "treat a stranger with the most whole-souled hospitality" and convince readers that Bush is not a true cowboy.