Rodeo Cowboy

This ornament is about 5 inches tall. The boy is all set for the rodeo with his saddle over his shoulder. He is wearing a tan cowboy hat, red vest with gold trim over a blue shirt with gold buttons, tan chaps over blue jeans and black cowboy boots. Select this link to view our Western Christmas Ornaments.

History of Rodeo.
Rodeo is a sport which arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico, and later the United States, Canada, South America and Australia. It was based on the skills required of the working vaqueros and later, cowboys, of what today are the western United States, western Canada, and northern Mexico. Today it is a sporting event that consists of several different timed and judged events that involve cattle and horses, designed to test the skill and speed of the human cowboy and cowgirl athletes who participate. Select this link to view our Chili Pepper and Saddle Dangling Ornament.
In North America, the traditional season for competitive rodeo runs from spring through fall. The traditional peak time for the largest number of rodeos is the July 4th weekend. The modern professional rodeo circuit runs longer, and concludes with the world�s richest rodeo, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, Nevada which is now held in December. Select this link to view our Dangling Cowboy Outfit.

Cowboys.
During the 16th century, the Conquistadors and other Spanish settlers brought their cattle raising traditions as well as their horses and cattle to the Americas, starting with their arrival in what today is Mexico and Florida. The traditions of Spain were transformed by the geographic, environmental and cultural circumstances of New Spain, which later became Mexico and the southwestern United States. In turn, the land and people of the Americas also saw dramatic changes due to Spanish influence. Select this link to view our Cowboy on His Horse.
As English speaking traders and settlers moved into the Western United States, English and Spanish traditions, language and culture merged to some degree, with the vaquero tradition providing the foundation of the American cowboy. Before the Mexican American War in 1848, New England merchants who traveled by ship to California encountered both hacendados and vaqueros, trading manufactured goods for the hides and tallow produced from vast cattle ranches. American traders along what later became known as the Santa Fe Trail had similar contacts with vaquero life. Starting with these early encounters, the lifestyle and lingo of the vaquero began a transformation which merged with English cultural traditions and produced what became known in American culture as the "cowboy". Select this link to view our Cow Christmas Ornament.