Women’s Breakaway Roping: a Western Competition Showing the Special Relationship Between Women and Horses

 

I met with a fellow artist at an art show.

“I have been following your work online” she said. “You remain the only one in the region who paints on animal skin, the old fashion way. Yet I have not seen a single painting of cowboys and horses - you paint portraits, mostly of women. Very unusual for a local artist not to paint cowboys.”

“I am a street photographer first” I replied. “I do not take photos of sunsets, mountains or animals. My painting is just another medium capturing what I look for.”

“Then do a portrait of a cowboy” she suggested with a smile.

… In the past decade I have been to rodeos and other events where cowboys and horses continue a century old tradition of the American West. But indeed, I have not taken many photos nor have I painted scenes from these events. Perhaps because often the main attraction is the tie-down roping  where a rider mounted on a horse chases a running calf, throws a lasso to rope the calf by the neck then he jumps down his horse and, throws the calf down and ties his legs. The goal is to achieve all these steps in the shortest time to win the competition. While spectacular, although sometimes dangerous for the calf, for whatever reason, I had not found this competition very appealing.

Well, I found out the reason when recently I started watching a similar completion, this time by cowgirls, called “Women’s Breakaway Roping.”

It is a variation on calf roping but there is no tie-down of the calf. It is increasingly popular for women at the collegiate and semi-professional level, and involves getting the lasso on the calf within seconds after the calf runs and the horse leaves the gate. It is fast, it involves no risk to the rider (since she does not dismount her horse) and no risk to the calf. First, I did not know why I enjoyed watching these tournaments, but very quickly I came to the conclusion that it was the relationship between the women riders and the horse that made me think about the centuries old question psychologists and philosophers have wondered about “Why do women have a special relationship with horses?”

It may sound silly, but in my view, the rugged cowboy “lifestyle” was now transformed into a gentler one, although in both instances the roping skills were the same. What made a difference was the relationship male and female riders seemed to have with their horses. And that is the psychological interpretation of why women have a special relationship with these magnificently strong and large animals – it is believed that men in their impatience, rely on their force to train and ride horses, while women knowing they do not have a comparable physical strength to men, use their patience to convince a horse how to behave. There are multiple psychologists who actually proposed that women deal with horses the same way as they deal with men and children – by patiently convincing them.

So, I decided to paint a cowgirl’s portrait, showing a determined and competitive demeanour.

 

For this portrait, the canvas was a wild cottontail rabbit’s hide. It had the right shape for a head and torso painting, and I started by penciling out the contour. I was not sure how I would capture that determined and competitive demeanour, so I started with the western hat. After a short while the face and eyes found their shape and I used acrylic paint along with watercolour and pencil for shading.

Here was the first step:

Of course I needed a bolo tie, but wanted something appropriate to a cowgirl, a feminine touch of sorts. I collect butterfly carcasses and fallen feathers during my walks in the desert hoping to use them in different projects. I have used butterfly and moth wings as earrings in previous paintings and I like the effect they give. 

 A bolo tie has to be subtle, so I opted for a piece of the wing, keeping the rest for future work. Also, the feather needed to be cut down to fit the proportions of the hat. Note that I do not use a brush for painting – I improvise with what would allow me to achieve the strokes that fit the naturally porous and bumpy “canvas” surface. A letter opener blade and dental tools for detailed work are among my favorite tools:

The jacket is commonly blue denim for many riders, so I used broad strokes of oil paint using the cotton ear cleaner tips. I wanted the detail to remain with the face and hat as these were the theme I was pursuing.

Since I do not start with a detailed strategy of what to paint and what to use in the process, my work table is always cluttered with the options I may choose along the way. For many, such an environment may look messy, but I like letting the canvas dictate what to use, when and how.

 

Here is the final shape of this painting before I framed it. Will it convince my artist friend that a street photographer looks for a story in people, one that happens with little planning by the photographer?

I am sure she will let me know.

 

June 23, 2024

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2024

PS/ When I thought about the psychological interpretations as to why women have a special relationship with horses, and, now enjoying the Women’s Breakaway Roping competitions, I recalled a photo I took of a young lady twirling a hula hoop on a busy city square. I recalled waiting for the right moment to press the camera shutter that would make the hula hoop look like a lasso she threw on one of the passersby…