Cowboys, Cowgirls & Cattle; Dirt, Mud, Sweat & Blood

All these words can only conjure up one image, one word RODEO.

Today's rodeo, performed by professional athletes for big stakes in huge arenas filled with cheering spectators has come along way from its roots in the 1800s roundup camps.

In the days of the ranchos, the annual roundup and branding of cattle was always an occasion for a display of horsemanship and roping. When the principal chores of the event called a rodeo (from the Spanish word rodear meaning "to surround" pronounced "ro-day-oh") were completed, there was usually an exhibition and contest of skills by the cowboys, or "vaqueros."

The skills displayed had a rich history tracing back to the great horsemanship traditions of the Spanish conquistadores.

During the late 1700s and early 1800s, Spain held much of the land that is now the American West. When the missions were established, their secular activities included raising cows for America's flourishing cattle market. The need grew for skilled horsemen to handle and manage the herds.

Many of the padres who ran the missions were sons of Spanish nobility. They were trained in the celebrated skills of horsemanship and roping practiced in Spain for centuries. They passed on these skills to their workers, who became known as vaqueros.

When mission lands were converted to privately owned ranchos during Mexico's rule, the vaqueros found work running cattle and managing the rangelands.

After America gained control of these lands from Mexico in 1848, the vaqueros continued to work the big ranchos alongside their American counterparts bringing with them their expertise and traditions.

It was after the Civil War, when cattle herds spread out throughout the West, that the ranks of the American cowboy grew. They worked for cattle barons driving cattle to the bustling stockyards of fast-growing towns.

But this era was short lived. Railroad stock cars replaced cattle drives and open rangelands were divided up and defined by barbed wire. The demand for labor dwindled. Many a cowboy had to seek a new way of life.

There had always been informal competitions around the stockyards, where cowboys, fueled by wages and whiskey, would challenge each other to see who was the best at cutting a cow or roping. Spectators gathered around to watch the action.

In small towns throughout the west, stock horse shows (sometimes called rodeos), where cowboys could supplement their shrinking income, began to spring up on a regular basis. Clever showmen like Buffalo Bill Cody began to organize and elaborate on these events. America's fascination with the "Wild West" was turned into a business.