Cowboys preserve Californio vaquero ranch-style roping

Jack Eary is helping to preserve a style of horsemanship and roping with ancient roots. Dressed in everyday "Buckaroo" garb -- cowboy hat, bandanna, chaps, boots and spurs -- Eary often spends Saturdays at a Cherry Valley ranch teaching protégés the art of Californio vaquero ranch-style roping. Mastering the balance, timing and feel of the roping style takes years of practice, said Cherry Valley rancher Elvin Walt. "It's really a lifelong journey," Walt said. The training takes place at the ranch. The Californio vaquero roots date back some 15 centuries to the Moors of North Africa, said David Matuszak, a Redlands resident and author. When Spaniards began to settle in Southern California in the 1700s, they brought the riding style along with their horses and cattle. Walt and Matuszak are among a group of weekend "vaqueros" who have become passionate about the roping style and using their quarter horses for a task they were bred to do. Cowboys who learn Californio vaquero ranch-style roping come away with a gentler, more humane approach to immobilizing cows as they're being readied for vaccinations and branding, he said. "The idea is not to traumatize the animal," Matuszak said. Unlike roping styles that take seconds for cowboys to perform at rodeos, the Californio vaquero style is more nonchalant, Eary said. It was born out of a need to sometimes singlehandedly doctor and manage cattle roaming the open range...Press Enterprise