Ed Blanchard was known to family and friends as a wild, reckless cowboy
long before horsemen of the West recognized him as a noted maker of
cowboy spurs. But it was his years spent herding snorty cattle and cinching
his saddle on broncs that taught him his trade as both a cowboy and a spur
maker.
Jane Pattie has researched the times and added historical background,
and she has drawn on interviews she did with Blanchard for her earlier
book, Cowboy Spurs and Their Makers. But it is from New Mexico rancher
Tom Kelly, Blanchard's cousin, that she uncovered Blanchard's work in
the cattle business and how he learned the art of hammering hot steel
into the shape of spurs to fit a cowboy's boots.
Together, Pattie and Kelly tell a dual tale of old times and of change: the
story of spur making as experienced by one of its more prolific practitioners
and the story of cowboys in the early part of the twentieth century. Through
Blanchard's experiences, the authors trace the changes of Western life, from
horse to pickup truck, from hand-forged spurs to commercial manufacture.
Ranch life, the cowboy life, and metalworking in the American West are
interwoven through the book, as they were in the real life of Blanchard,
who emerges from these pages as a humorous, down-home regional
character readers will be glad to get to know.
_________________________________________________________
JANE PATTIE is an independent writer who has published numerous
articles on the American West and has written or contributed to ten books,
including Cowboy Spurs and Their Makers from Texas A&M University
Press. She lives in Aledo, Texas. TOM KELLY is a lifelong New Mexico
rancher and raconteur.
What people are saying about this book
"The author's crisp writing style, replete with humor and understatement,
captures the essence of the oral tradition and the cowboy way of
`spinning a yarn,' but without romanticizing the subject's life. A believable
human portrait, unobscured by the cowboy of legend, emerges as a
result."—B. Byron Price, Executive Director, Buffalo Bill Historical Center
Of Related Interest
