Posted on the wall at Cross Trails Church in Fairlie, TX is this version of the Ten Commandments:
1. Just one God.
2. Honor yer Ma & Pa.
3. No tellin’ tales or gossipin’.
4. Git yerself to Sunday meetin’.
5. Put nothin’ before God.
6. No foolin’ around with another fellow’s gal.
7. No killlin’.
8. Watch yer mouth
9. Don’t take what ain’t yers.
10. Don’t be hankerin’ for yer buddy’ stuff.
Cowboys tell it like it is!
Y’all have a great day.
Ah, VACATION. Our first in a long time, and one without laptops and cell phones, so we can truly relax!
I’ve been in Orlando with my husband who has a booth (USPSA http://www.uspsa.org) at the SHOT Show.
The Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade Show and Conference (SHOT Show) is the largest and most comprehensive
trade show for all professionals involved with the shooting sports and hunting industries. It is the world’s premier exposition of combined firearms, ammunition, archery, cutlery, outdoor apparel, optics, camping and related products and services. The convention attracts buyers from all 50 states and more than 75 countries. The SHOT Show is owned and sponsored by the National Shooting Sports Foundation
Last year’s show, the 30th, broke records with attendance of 58,769, and 1,950 exhibitors in a space of 715,000 square feet. It is truly amazing to walk the floors and see all of the industry sport-related items. It would probably take the entire four days to go through it all.
From the controversial divided skirt, the next step for cowgirl comfort was to wear men’s pants. Many women who worked their family ranchers had already discovered this freedom, but certainly would not appear in public dressed this way. Look at the commotion Evelyn Cameron created when she trotted into town wearing her split skirt!
Rodeo rider Vera McGinnis was the first woman to wear pants in the rodeo arena. What a scandal! Oh the gossip! But
she swore she would never trade being a rodeo cowgirl for any other profession. She started riding the rodeo in 1912 with her corset on, but after the first relay tossed it for good. McGinnis went on to design some of the first practical cowgirl clothing.
Her rodeo career ended in 1934 after she incurred a collapsed lung, three broken ribs, a broken hip, a broken neck bone, and broken back in 5 places when a horse named China Rose somersaulted on top of her.
She was inducted to the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1979.
What freedom the cowgirls must have felt with the invention of the split riding skirt. As mentioned before, this was quite controversial and almost caused British-born,Montana photographer Evelyn Cameron to be arrested. Evelyn rode into Miles City one day, wearing a split riding skirt she had made. incensed townswomen gathered with the sheriff and threatened her with jail unless she left town immediately.
But cowgirls were not to be thwarted. They had discovered this fashion as a tool in riding. The newspaper in Havre, MT, August, 1897 reported: “There were six young women who competed in the bronc riding competition. The broncos chosen were as villainous a crew of ponies as ever got together. The riders wore a combination costume of cowboy and bicycler’s wardrobes. There was no pretense about sidesaddles as all the broncos were ridden astraddle. The mix-ups were so lively that it seemed the riders would be reduced to their high heeled boots. Sombreros and whips were lost, the riders’ long hair whipped in the wind, and their clothes had the appearance of having been used as street sweepers But there were no serious rents in garments and not even a scratch on any pretty face.”
Later, in 1904, a Pasadena CA newspaper quoted and equestrian rider, Herma Rupe: “I have learned that the only true way to ride is to ride astride. The ones who object to women riding astride are those who think a woman should ride to be seen and not for her own pleasure.”
And in May 1917, a Los Angeles ad read: “For Sale–Smart riding suits for women that combine utility, comfort and trim style.” By that time, riding in comfort was here to stay.
So, I just flew from the northwest corner of the country to the southeast corner, hoping to escape the snow and the floods, hoping for a little sunshine and warmth. And what do I wake up to–cloudy weather in Orlando FL! I had to put on jeans and a jacket instead of shorts and tank top. What’s up with this?
The sun did come out later in the day and the temperature warmed up to about 60, but the natives are freezing. And with a bit of a breeze–surprisingly so am I!
Here’s hoping for that tropical warmth and sun when we board the ship on Sunday for the Caribbean. I ‘ll try to get back to more serious posts tomorrow. It’ll be a challenge to keep up with my daily blog posts, but I’ll try!
In the early 1900s, Prairie Rose Henderson was a popular performer who
created a bit of a stir by being one of the first to wear bloomers to ride. Despite the “racy” look (showing quite a bit of leg), it was still feminine and had to have been more comfortable and probably safer than voluminous skirts while riding broncs.
She wowed the crowds with her handmade fancy costumes, which were often decorated with beads, feathers, and sequins.
The Hall of Fame cowgirl was a champion bronc rider and a competitive relay race rider from 1901well into the 1930s.
The past several days, we’ve been seeing pictures of cowgirls accomplishing great feats while wearing skirts. I can’t imagine how difficult that must have been to keep all the extra material out of the way while practicing expert marksmanship, bronc riding, and steer roping.
Nowadays, a cowgirl can wear pretty much anything she wants, but in the 1800s a woman wearing her brother’s pants or even a
split skirt, she might have been arrested for indecent exposure.
But women were discovering that riding astride was so much more practical and comfortable and they also needed clothing to go along with that new practice.
At the turn of the 20th Century enterprising equestrian women, such as rodeo star Fanny Sperry Steel (1887-1983) wore a divided skirt that enabled them to ride astride but preserved the “look of a skirt.” This ingenious garment is actually a culotte with a movable front panel that buttons either to the left, for a skirt effect or to the right for a pants effect.
Lucille Mulhall ropes and ties a steer while wearing skirts.
While she was performing she wore what the other woman rodeo riders of her era wore…split riding skirt, blouse, silk scarf and large, felt cowboy hat. It apparently didn’t cramp her style.
At a Texas roping contest in 1904, Lucille Mulhall, an 18-year-old Oklahoma girl, lassoed and tied three steers in three minutes and 36 seconds — several seconds better than the best cowboys — and won a gold medal and a $10,000 prize for a world record.
When she went to New York the next year for an appearance at Madison Square Garden, newspaper reporters referred to her as “female conqueror of beef and horn,” “lassoer in lingerie,” “cowboy girl” and “ranch queen.” She is often referred to as the first cowgirl (although William Cody had used the term for Annie Oakley in the late 1800s.)
The New York Times described her as “Slight of figure, refined and neat in appearance, attired in a becoming riding habit for hard riding, wearing a picturesque Mexican sombrero and holding in one hand a lariat of the finest cowhide, Lucille Mulhall comes forward to show what an 18-year-old girl can do in roping steers.”
Annie Oakley could shoot the head off a running quail when she was 
twelve years old, once knocked the ashes off a cigarette Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, was holding in his mouth, and became the most famous woman performer to ever appear in a Wild West show.
She toured with Buffalo Bill for 17 years as an expert marksman.
All of this while wearing dresses.
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Heidi M. Thomas 