I have been living it up large in Texas lately! I twisted the hubby’s arm to take me into Fort Worth to see the Stockyards and my one goal was to get my picture taken with a longhorn cow. I can officially say that that mission was accomplished. First selfie was so-so—the cow (his name was Cotton) was a tad bit uncooperative. He kept turning his head and actually later I read the signs that said to stay 20 feet away from the fence. My bad.
Then I found Padron. Padron was less than thrilled when I held his horn just a scootch too long but he tolerated me and for $5 I have a memory and something that I can official check off my bucket list. I know that many folks have bucket lists and how many of you have “sit on a longhorn” on yours? I venture to say not many.
The place was humming when we were there and we even got to see Mo the Buffalo. Now Mo wasn’t as huge as some we have seen before and he was not one to be petted so we had to be satisfied with selfies with just him in the background.
Every day, rain or shine, 365 days a year they do a short cattle drive twice a day down Exchange Street complete with longhorns and drovers in authentic garb. It is pretty amazing to see them and as one cowboy told me “it is a piece of American history” right there that does not take place anywhere else. It was really pretty amazing.
The Fort Worth Herd was created as part of the city’s sesquicentennial celebration. A herd of 15 Texas Longhorns, each steer representing one decade from Fort Worth’s colorful past, and a diverse team of drovers clad in authentic 19th century clothing were acquired to create the Fort Worth Herd.
On June 12, 1999, in front of 15,000 spectators, the Fort Worth Herd made its first cattle drive to the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District.
There were plenty of ways to get information about the drive and the herd –both in signage and from talking to the drovers and cowboys that were more than willing to share a bit of Texas with me.
Each cow is named, of course, because how should you not have names for these magnificent creatures?
I loved all that was going on in this part of Fort Worth when we visited. We were happy we got there early in the day because by the time we left at mid afternoon the place was packed due to the Red Steagall Cowboy Gathering which is an annual event complete with Chuck Wagon cooking events, Cowboy Music, Cowboy Poetry (yes—there is such a thing) and all kinds of other great events. I got lots and lots of pictures so there will be more posts coming for all of you cowboy lovers out there. I am pretty proud of a few of the shots I got so I will definitely be sharing those.
There was so much to see and with the temperatures reading around 92 degrees on this October day we decided to call it a day by late afternoon and head home. No worries—-Cotton and his buddies will be there next time we want to visit.
Take away from the day: Texas has a lot to offer and Fort Worth Stockyards are an amazing place with a lot of history packed in a fairly small area. If you are ever in the area you definitely need to make this a stop.
