Buckaroo John's Blog — Reata

The Lassos were used by Vaquero’s to hunt wild cattle. Until the late 18th century, the Vaquero tied the lariat to the horse’s tail. But the development of heavier, more substantial saddles changed this technique. Vaquero’s began wrapping the end of the rope around the horn of their heavy saddles. This wrapping technique called “Dar la Vuelta” ("take a turn" in Spanish) passed over to the American cowboys, who corrupted the Spanish term into “dally” or “dally welter." Vaquero’s and the cowboys who copied the practice could slip the rope against the saddle horn and gain leverage against a roped...

The Vaqueros of the old west were skilled horsemen who valued their horses and their rawhide horse tack. The Vaqueros had many "tools" to assist them with their everyday tasks on the range. One of these "tools" was the rawhide reata (or riata). The word reata is from the Spanish word reatar, meaning to retie or a rope which ties one animal to another. The rawhide reata was a long braided rawhide rope used by the early Mexican Vaqueros and was, no doubt, first introduced into Mexico by the Spanish conquerors. Though the word reata is often used to refer...