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Texas Cowboys c. 1900
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Ranching in Mexico and South Texas
In addition to the horse, the Spaniards brought cows, sheep, goats and other livestock to the New World. Centuries before their arrival in the New World, the Spaniards had learned about horsemanship and livestock from the Romans and the Moors who had invaded their land.
The Spaniards were quick to set up ranches on the grassland and prairies of the New Worlds. The Mexican frontier was pushed continually northward by the three institutions imported from Spain-missions, presidios and ranches. The original vaqueros were Native Americas trained in ranching skills by the missions; later vaqueros included mestizos (mixed Indian and Spanish Ancestry) and mulattoes (mixed Negro and Indian ancestry). Ranching moved north of the Rio Grande in the 1730’s. In 1762, Captain Blas Maria de la Garza Falcon pioneered ranching in present day Nueces County. |
The Vaquero Tradition
On a business trip to Mexico in 1854, Captain Richard King hired an entire community of 100 men, women and children to come and work on his ranch. These vaqueros and their families have become known as Los Kinenos (the King People). They have lived and worked as vaqueros on the King Ranch for generations.
Vaquero techniques and skills of today are much the same, though technology has made a great difference in their working life. Where vaqueros once lived and worked in remote cow camps for weeks at a time, they now live at ranch and other headquarters, or in nearby towns and drive to work. |
Spanish Horse in the Americas/Seeds of Change
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