I don’t know the best forum to put this in so I will start here. Google allows you to register an account that gives you a customized home page rather than their standard spartan one. One of their customization options is a trivia blurb called ‘Useless Knowledge’ that comes up with a new ‘fact’ every time you look something up. Like most of these lists, it is filled with crap.
Here is one I just got but there are worse offenders:
“From the 1850s to the 1880s, the most common cause of death among cowboys in the American West was being dragged by a horse while caught in the stirrups.”
Now, there is no way in hell that is true. People have been riding horses for centuries to this day and the specific cause of death of being dragged while caught in the stirrups has never been in the top leading causes of death anywhere as far as I know. Infections and other diseases always win.
Is there any way someone could justify a fact like that? Are there other Google factoids that are also wrong?
Well, that and squashing the roaches that run into the corners.
Seriously, two seconds of thought by anybody acquainted with horses or horse people would knock that one out. Now, violent accidents, maybe - sure. It was a dangerous job. But no way “dragged by a horse” beats, say, illness, or infection from other injuries, or what have you.
Diseases and illnesses are hard to beat. I assume the “fact” is only counting on-the-job accidents, and it could be true. The cowboy boot was made specifically because, although we’ve been riding horses for centuries, being dragged by a horse was very common. These guys weren’t cruising for chicks, they were riding over rough terrain, probably in bad weather half the time, and probably on whatever strange horse was available.
Buuut… wikipedia indicates the cowboy boot design was seen around 1850 and seems to be the most popular boot starting in the '60s, so it seems unlikely they’d still be getting their feet hung in the stirrups into the '80s.
This is all guesswork though, I know next to nothing about cowboys.
My great grandfather was a cowboy on some of the last big cattle drives out of Texas. For the rest of his life he had nightmares about crossing the Red River.
Re: Pointed toes on boots. This is just for ease in putting the boot in the stirrup quickly. Something that happens many times during the day as opposed to getting dragged which is far less often to say the least.
Yes it’s the heel and absence of laces that helps keep the rider from being dragged. The heel prevents the foot from slipping through the stirrup and without laces they can slip their foot out in an emergency.
I have heard, no cite, sorry, that the cowboys started carrying sidearms so as to have a weapon available to kill his own horse when the rifle in the saddle holster was unreachable.
