Buckaroo John's Blog

I wrote this last year for Thanksgiving, but wanted to share it again this year:   Well, here we are. Thanksgiving week of 2020. What a year. I'm not sure of a single person I know that wasn't effected by 2020 and all it entailed. Jobs were lost. Homes were lost. Businesses closed doors and sadly, some never reopened. People were scared. People hated. People divided. People struggled. However, in it all was beauty. Did you see it? Did you feel it? If not, do you remember how to find it? In the midst of all that encompassed 2020, and...

Years ago when the Brand family decided to manufacture quality leather western style horse tack and accessories, the decision was made to begin with the highest quality leather available.  Our decision to choose only the finest American leather led us to engage Hermann Oak Leather to be our major supplier. Lewis Charles Hermann started tanning in St. Louis in 1881 to handle the local harness trade and to supply the wagon trains of settlers traveling west along the Lewis and Clark trails. The tannery grew, and Fred Hermann Sr. joined the company in 1907. He proceeded to supply leather for our...

The Code of the West, an unwritten law known and obeyed by all Cowboys in the Old West survives today. The Cowboys of today, working the ranches and cattle still live the Code of the West. Below are some of the rules and examples of the Code of the West... The Code of the West Although ranchers and cowboys were individuals, they nevertheless behaved, or pretended to behave, by an unwritten set of rules that came to be known collectively as the code of the West. The code was a sort of frontier version of the Golden Rule. A cattleman...

Relief from the Bit with a Vaquero Influence The first hackamore was probably a piece of rope placed around the nose or head of a horse not long after domestication. These early devices for controlling horses may have been adapted from equipment used to control camels. Over time, this means of controlling a horse became more sophisticated. The Persians in 500 b.c. were some of the first ones to use a thick, plaited noseband to help the horse look and move in the same direction. This was called a Hakma. On this Hakma was a third rein added at the...

The Californio Vaqueros were proud of their horsemanship and horse tack. They took great care to hand braid their horse hair mecates and romel reins. The Vaqueros hand braiding techniques are still used today.  The rawhide bosals, riatas, quirts, headstalls, and hackamores are all part of the Vaquero "tool box" that were used to train their horses.  The Vaqueros trained their horses for 7-10 years, starting at 4 years old, to react with very little pressure from the rider. At the end of training, the horse and rider would be one.  The three stages of the Vaquero horse training were as follows: The...