Aug 17, 2008 12:56 pm US/Central
Cattle Drive Celebraing 10 Years In Stockyards
FORT WORTH (AP) ―
Twice a day a few miles from downtown, about 15 Texas longhorns mosey down the street, hooves clicking on the brick and heads bobbing under the weight of their massive horns spanning nearly 7 feet tip-to-tip.
Tourists visiting the nation's 17th-largest city line the sidewalks and gleefully snap pictures as a few cowboys on horses herd the animals down the block, onto a side street and back into their large pen.
This is the Fort Worth cattle drive, which started its 10th year this summer in the city's historic Stockyards. With 284,000 visitors so far this year, it is already on par to break the attendance record of 366,000 set in 2007, officials said.
"We get to talk to people from all over the world. ... They actually go crazy when they see us," said Frank Molano, one of several Stockyards drovers -- a 19th Century term for cowboys who led livestock on cross-country cattle drives. "They can't believe this is happening in America -- that in a big city like Fort Worth, there's a cowboy walking down the street (or) on the back of a horse."
The reenactment was first done 1999 to coincide with the city's 150th anniversary, showing how Fort Worth was the last major stop for cattlemen on the Chisholm Trail in the mid-1800s before taking their herds into Kansas and Missouri.
The mini version of the cattle drive was so popular that city officials kept it going, now holding it twice a day year-round except Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Animals in the herd of less than 20 are donated to the city. If they aren't adapting well or get too old, they are given to ranchers who must promise never to slaughter them "because the longhorns are ambassadors of the city," said herd spokeswoman Emily Martin.
Walter, a white animal with a tan head, is the heaviest at 1,800 pounds. Diablo, light brown with a white Texas-shaped marking on his forehead, is the oldest at 14, and he and a few others have horns that curl. Because the cattle each have different personalities, they must show they can get along with each other before going on the drives, officials said.
If the animals seem calm and obedient meandering down the street, that's their herd mentality -- not sedatives or other medications, said top drover Jim Miller.
"They have to stick together -- that's the main thing with the cattle drives," Miller said. "If we was trying to take two head down the street, they would probably run off on us ... but if we take them all, or eight to 10 at least, they'll all stick together."
Most of the longhorns inherently steer away from people, he added. Although more than a million people have seen the cattle drives the past nine years, no mishaps have occurred except a few horses slipping on the brick streets or curbs, Miller said.
The drovers also play a big role. And their outfits are exact replicas of what cowboys wore in the 1800s -- from spurs and suspenders to the creases in their cowboy hats.
"Where else can you go to sit on a horse and look cool all day?" said Brenda Taylor, who has been a drover nearly eight years. "You get to meet and greet all kinds of people from all over the world. You definitely don't have a boring day here."
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Newspaper: Link Between Hasan, Hijackers' Mosque 9 mins ago
Dems Insist Health Care Bill Is DOA In Senate 1 hr 11 mins ago
Stumble It!
