Born in 1894 in Greer County, Texas—which became part of Oklahoma Territory two years later—Ike Rude would go on to have one of the most remarkable rodeo careers ever recorded. His storied life would include a performance for the Queen of England; acquaintances with the likes of Will Rogers, Gene Autry, and Slim Pickens; multiple world titles; and the near-miss of a championship bid in roping—at age 77. Along the way, he worked for some of the most famous ranches in the west, such as Texas’ JA and Matador ranches and the Chiricahua and Double Circle ranches in Arizona. Rude’s story also includes the many outstanding horses he rode and trained, like the famed Baldy, considered perhaps the greatest roping horse of all time. The career of Ike Rude—and that of several of his horses—is commemorated in nine museums, including the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City and the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame and Museum of the American Cowboy in Colorado Springs. Lovingly woven from archival and family records as well as interviews with Rude by his daughter, Sammie Rude Compton, and closing with an essay on Rude and his rodeo and ranching context by Michael R. Grauer, McCasland Curator of Cowboy Collections and Western Art at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, this biography of one of the formative figures in the sport offers valuable glimpses into the development of rodeo and cowboy culture. The Cowboy Ike Rude: Riding into the Wind is sure to be a favorite of anyone interested in the colorful lives of working cowboys and rodeo performers in the early twentieth century.

Born in 1894 in Mangum, a community in what was at the time Oklahoma Territory, Ike Rude would go on to have one of the most remarkable rodeo careers ever recorded. His storied life would include a performance for the Queen of England; acquaintances with the likes of Will Rogers, Gene Autrey, and Slim Pickens; multiple world titles; and the near-miss of a championship bid in roping--at age 77. Along the way, he worked for some of the most famous ranches in the west, such as Texas' JA and Matador ranches and the Chiricahua and Double Circle ranches in Arizona. Rude's story also includes the many outstanding horses he rode and trained, like the famed Baldy, considered perhaps the greatest roping horse of all time. The career of Ike Rude--and that of several of his horses--is commemorated in nine museums, including the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City and the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame and Museum of the American Cowboy in Colorado Springs. Lovingly woven from archival and family records as well as interviews with Rude by his daughter, Sammie Rude Compton, and closing with an essay on Rude and his rodeo and ranching context by Michael R. Grauer, McCasland Curator of Cowboy Collections and Western Art at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, this biography of one of the formative figures in the sport offers valuable glimpses into the development of rodeo and cowboy culture. The Cowboy Ike Rude: Riding into the Wind is sure to be a favorite of anyone interested in the colorful lives of working cowboys and rodeo performers in the early twentieth century.

Traces the history of the rodeo and describes rodeos in small towns and big cities

Follows the evolution of rodeo from the range to Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show to the extravaganzas in modern times.

What does it take to raise cattle in the 21st century? Ask John Erickson. For any aspiring cowboy, this is an essential guide.

For nearly a half-century, Las Vegas, New Mexico, held "Wild West" adventures rivaling Cheyenne's Frontier Days, the Calgary Stampede, and Oregon's Pendleton Round Up. The San Miguel County seat annually hosted full-dress cowpunchers, Native Americans, ranchers, dance bands, artists and writers, moviemakers, and rodeo performers. The Las Vegas Cowboys' Reunion became legendary in western lore, drawing such ten-gallon names as Tom Mix, Jim Shoulders, Montana Belle, Prairie Rose Henderson, and Roosevelt's Rough Riders. Dick Bills and his nephew, Glen Campbell, played at the "Big Balls," and the reunions drew famous western artists, such as Randall Davey. Join author Pat Romero for these reunion tales based on Git Fer Vegas, Cowboy , the exhibit she curated at the City of Las Vegas Museum and Rough Rider Memorial Collection.

This book offers the first in-depth examination of a distinctive and community-based tradition rich with larger-than-life heroes, vivid occupational language, humor, and unblinking encounters with birth, death, nature, and animals in the poetry.