Publisher's Synopsis
"Trappings of the Great Basin buckaroo" is a celebration of the buckaroo's extraordinary talent for creating beautiful handmade cowboy gear. These intricate works of art -- reins, reatas, ropes, bits, spurs, horsehair gear, boots, saddles, and blankets -- are painstakingly crafted in the traditional manner using simple materials such as cowhide, bone, horsehair, iron, wood, and silver.;The world of the buckaroo in the American West is fast disappearing, and this book shares the essence of these workers on the high desert back country and explains why they choose to practice their art and live so far from modern conveniences. "Trappings of the Great Basin buckaroo" contains 88 full colour and 25 black and white photographs. Each of the twenty-one chapters, in text and photos, tells the story of individual buckaroos, the gear they make, and their cowboy lives. A selection of cowboy poetry closes out each chapter and helps to explain the buckaroo culture.;For over a hundred years, buckaroos have shown love for the land and open space and awe and admiration for good horses and wild cattle. Nature's tough conditions -- including excessive heat, numbing cold, drought, pestilence, and flood -- have strengthened the buckaroos, whose world is disintegrating because of burgeoning populations, environmental pressures, and the division of land into smaller and smaller ranches.;But cowboys and cowgirls remain hopeful. They continue to tend land and livestock; they continue to take the hide from a butchered cow, cut it into strips and braid it into handsome horse jewelry. And they continue to shave the manes off work horses and twist the hair into striking ropes or hitch the tail hair into belts, stampede strings, and quirts.;"Trappings of the Great Basin buckaroo" includes many treasures discovered by author C. J. Hadley in the houses, bunkhouses, line shacks, and country saloons of the high desert. Dedicated to the men and women who work on the range, the book is testimony to the artistry, creativity, self- sufficiency, hard work, and old-fashioned values that epitomize contemporary buckaroos.;English-born, internationally recognized photo-journalist, C. J. Hadley has been involved in publishing for several decades. Her freelance journalism assignments have taken her across North America, Europe, Australia, Fiji, Mexico, and Russia. Founding editor of Range Magazine , Hadley is an active supporter of cowboy and sheepman issues.
