Jack Eary is helping to preserve a style of horsemanship and roping with ancient roots.
Dressed in everyday "Buckaroo" garb -- cowboy hat, bandanna, chaps, boots and spurs -- Eary often spends Saturdays at a ranch teaching proteges the art of Californio vaquero ranch-style roping.
Mastering the balance, timing and feel of the roping style takes years of practice, said rancher Elvin Walt.
"It's really a life-long journey," Walt said. The training takes place at the ranch in Cherry Valley, Calif.
The Californio vaquero roots date back some 15 centuries to the Moors of North Africa, said David Matuszak, author of "The Cowboy's Trail Guide to Westerns," which details the differences between the real historical West and Hollywood's version.
When Spaniards began to settle in Southern California in the 1700s, they brought the riding style along with their horses and cattle.
Walt and Matuszak are among a group of weekend "vaqueros" who have become passionate about the roping style and using their quarter horses for a task they were bred to do.
Eary is the quintessential teacher, Matuszak said, because he is "a true-life Nevada Buckaroo," a cowboy of the vaquero tradition.
"Jack has done this for a living all his life," Matuszak said.
Cowboys who learn Californio vaquero ranch-style roping come away with a gentler, more humane approach to immobilizing cows as they're being readied for vaccinations and branding, he said.
"The idea is not to traumatize the animal," Matuszak said.
Unlike roping styles that take seconds for cowboys to perform at rodeos, the Californio vaquero style is more nonchalant, Eary said. It was born out of a need to sometimes single-handedly doctor and manage cattle roaming the open range.
"You can't handle a cow any better," Walt said, noting that he and other ranchers prefer cows to be in top form as they're readied for market.
A cowboy using the Californio vaquero style typically has a broader portfolio of sidearm, overhead and over-the-left-shoulder lassoing "shots," with each approach correct for a particular angle or distance, Eary said.
During a recent practice session, Kim Davis, paired up with Matuszak and another cowboy, Kris Barnes. As Matuszak lassoed a fast-moving longhorn's neck, he wrapped his rope around the saddle horn and slowly eased it out to prevent the lassoed animal from being jerked back.
Davis then managed a precision shot, looping one of the cow's hooves. Barnes jumped from his horse and grabbed the cow's tail, easing it to the ground.
"It's leverage and balance," Barnes said of taking down the stubborn 550-pound animal.
Davis grew up around horses, but she said learning fundamentals and becoming consistent in Californio vaquero roping is tough. It took her a while to figure out she had to focus on the scampering cow's hips and employ wrist action to loop her lariat around the hooves.
As Eary worked to set up roping shots inside a dusty pen, he reminded riders that the best vaqueros work together and constantly adjust.
Of course, Matuszak said, it helps to have a good horse. He bought his mare from Eary, so she already had a knack for the Californio vaquero style.
"I'll tell you, this horse is teachin' me more than I'm teachin' her," Matuszak said with a laugh.
E-mail Michael Perrault at mperrault(at)pe.com)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Must credit The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif.
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