Cowboy Prayer

14 X 11" framed watercolour

Ranch Rodeo has become one of my favourite sports, having been involved peripherally in regular rodeo for decades.  It features teams from local ranches competing against each other in events like team branding, cow milking, ranch bronc riding (with regular ranch saddles rather than bareback or bronc riding gear), team penning and so on.  Some tteams have both sexes competing, and some teams are all girls...the common denominator being wonderful horsemanship and magnificent animals. There's true pride in genuine horsemanship in these people.

The teams all wear coordinating shirts, but otherwise dress in their everyday garb. Unlike the glitzy, long-fringed rodeo chaps, theirs are fiercely worn, utilitarian ranch chaps, and boots that have been in hard daily service for years.  The saddles are often hand made, by local saddle makers, or often by the cowboy (or cowgirl) him/herself; the bosals, macates, headstalls and reatas as well.  We're talking some serious artistry here, with  attention to history and tradition that verges on reverence.  Then there's the silver!  Hand crafted, often by local Alberta or Saskatchewan silversmiths who have honed in on the intricacies of masterfull bit and spur making, along with beautiful buckles, conchos, cantle plates and horn caps.

This is from a photo I took during the cowboy prayer, when all the competitors line up in the arena for the anthem and prayer, doffing hats in honour.  This guy's hat is the focus here, handmade by my good friend Vern Elliott, who, IMHO, makes some of the finest hats on earth.  Cowboys are darn serious about their headgear.  Vern's hats are 100% fur felt, and laboriously crafted in his log cabin shop.  Firmly felted, they are thin and lightweight, but tough and durable and exquisitely beautiful, even with years of wear. 

I guess the things that make the cowboy subculture so near and dear to my heart is the reverence for beauty and functionality, creativity and competence, all woven together within and industry that came about while seeing that we all have the best beef on our plates that money can buy. 

Cowboy Prayer is traditionally preserved with a subtle matt and barnwood frame.  This painting just won the Ruth Friesen watercolour award at the Medicine Hat Stampede art show.