If you think Buckaroos and Texas Punchers are mutually exclusive, you’re in for a surprise. Houlihan, a new documentary by Susan Jensen & Paul Singer, provides an insight into how the blending of these two cultures in Montana and Wyoming produced the Northern Range Cowboy.
In the 1800s, Buckaroos from Oregon and Nevada, (offshoots of the California Vaqueros) were filling Montana and Wyoming’s open range with Great Basin cattle. Around the same time, Texas Punchers were moving longhorns up the Goodnight Loving Trail. Both were in pursuit of the same thing — good grass to nourish their vast herds.
Miles City at one time, boasted some of the biggest spreads. As Bob Barthelmess of the Range Rider Museum describes it, the XIT and N Bar N, and many other Texas ranches dominated the area.
According to rancher John Moore, “Miles City was the horse capital in those days.” Because horses could forage through the snow for food, they survived the Great Die Off of the 1880s and soon multiplied on the open range. As they became feral, they became even tougher. Breaking these critters required tough hands who could “ride anything with hair on it,” says Wally Badgett. Being tough was a trait emphasized by John and Wally’s dads. But Wally’s son Brett uses a gentler approach in horse training. John and Wally kid him about it, but realize that as time moves on, sometimes things change for the better.
Cowboying styles are a product of environment, which on the Northern Range, can be pretty rough. Winter, with its deep snow and sub-zero temperatures can last for seven months. And the good grass, which produces fat, sassy cattle also produces big, stout, rank, horses. Even with gentler training, these critters can be pretty humpy in the morning and anyone who has cowboyed in these parts knows that a bronc ride after breakfast is nothing out of the ordinary. Which explains why the best bronc riders come from these parts. This is well documented in Houlihan at the Miles City Bucking Horse Sale. It’s the place where cowboys test their skills in the Match Ride against some of the best broncs, and against each other. Here, the rankest of the rank are bucked out and bid upon by rodeo contractors from all over.
Many of the younger kids still aspire to be bronc riders, but you see more emphasis today on safe horse handling. The Grosskopf family of Huntley emphasizes this in teaching the skills to their kids. The family’s tackroom is full of buckaroo gear. Scott Grosskopf spent his early years on the ZX Ranch in Paisley, Oregon, a hard-core Buckaroo outfit. Scott met his wife Staci there, but brought her back to Montana, “So their son Sterling could experience Montana as he had.” Six-year-old Sterling is learning well from his dad, as well as from his Grandma Linda Grosskopf. Linda tutors Sterling, along with his cousins, on safe horse handling, while they bring in the cattle.
Melstone ranchers Stuart and Annie Shirley reveal a strong Buckaroo influence. It comes from the Buckaroo outfits in western Montana, where Stuart spent his younger days. Wife Annie, according to Stuart, was a “town girl” when they met. But once they married, she not only learned to ride, she learned to follow her husband’s Buckaroo style — right down to buckling her spurs on the inside — “that way,” says Annie, “you can show off your silver conchos on the outside.”
On the CH Ranch near St. Xavier, the filmmakers capture cowboss Martin Anseth, along with his crew and neighbors, as they brand the new calf crop. Here, you see a broad mixture of styles — from Buckaroo flat hats to Texas “taco shell” brims. From slick-fork Wade saddles to swell fork Texas “kacks” (Texas slang for saddle). As Martin puts it, “Here, we’re a hybrid culture. This where Texas meets Buckaroo, but getting the job done is more important than style.”
Houlihan is filmed on ten ranches, including some of the biggest spreads in this country. The Padlock Ranch, spanning Montana and Wyoming, employs the very latest methods in cattle handling. Here, you find an eclectic mix of cowboys from all over the west. And while the Padlock spans two states, the Hoodoo Ranch of Cody, Wyoming spans the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries. This outfit is so big, that to keep track of their cattle, they do it both by horseback and by plane — and the cowboss doubles as cowboy and pilot!
The Arapahoe Ranch, owned by the tribe of the same name, is another 400,000-acre spread, near Thermopolis, Wyoming. This ranch is split between two different cowboy cultures. On the southern half, they do things Texas style. The northern half is all Buckaroo — flat hats, chinks, bridle horses with silver bits and romal reins.
In Bondurant Wyoming, just outside of Jackson Hole, the filmmakers give us a glimpse of the hard and soft side of ranching. On the Campbell Ranch, in mid January, owner Kevin Campbell feeds his cattle off a horse-drawn sleigh at 20 below zero. It’s not an easy job, but Kevin knows his cattle depend upon him. In springtime, on the neighboring Little Jenny Ranch, before rancher Gerry Endecott and crew move his herd to high mountain meadows, Gerry shows us a crippled leppy calf, he named “Baby” that he helped survive.
But Houlihan, while it takes you to wide open ranch country, also takes you to town – to the famous Miles City Saddlery, where owner Jack Deibel has a collection of 80 historic saddles. And to Sheridan, Wyoming, home of King’s Saddlery, for an interview with the late, great saddlemaker Don King. You’ll also meet some of the younger gear makers, including bit & spur maker Todd Hansen of Molt (just east of Billings) and master rawhide braider Nate Wald of Lodge Grass, (south of Billings).
This film is rich with history, but the story is told through the cowboys and families living the life today. Integral to the cowboy soul is music and some of the finest rangeland singers and musicians underscore this fast paced, entertaining documentary. Cowboys’ cowboy singer Ian Tyson, Padlock hand Jesse Ballantyne, Montana-bred Dave Stamey, Wylie & the Wild West, and Wyoming’s Kevin McNiven. And adding a little Scottish touch to the mix, is Cowboy Celtic.
Houlihan was filmed in Montana and Wyoming over the past two years. This documentary is Number Four in J&S Productions’ Vaquero Series and it’s cowboy to the core.
Filmmakers Susan Jensen & Paul Singer will be previewing Houlihan
throughout Wyoming and Montana July 11th through 16th.
