b'DID YOU KNOW, IN THE OLD WEST.By Lee Anderson, Old West Living Historian, Award Winning Author, and Old School HorsemanLee Anderson and his horse, Concho, are well known around the state doing presentations in schools, corporate events, and civic events.Learn more about them and his book on his website. historicaloldwest.orgI n the Old West, the horsesmustangs. The horse a cowboy rides today has been used on the ranches were notselectively bred, is 15 to 16 hands tall and is well 15 to 16 hands tall and 1000cared for all year. It gets proper nutrition, regular to 1200 pounds, fat, well-groomed, blue-bloodedfarrier visits, and veterinary care. A small one will quarter horses. They were wild mustangs that hadweigh 1000 pounds. They are also far better trained been captured and broke. sort of. They were 700than those of one hundred and fifty years ago.or 800 pounds and 13 or 14 hands tall as a result of hard living in the wild, poor nutrition, andT he height of a horse has historically always been inbreeding. They were turned loose on the rangemeasured from the ground to the top of its every fall and made it through the winter to springwithers because that is about the only place that a by the will of God and a lot of luck. An Old Westmeasurement wont vary. By extending all five fingers rancher very seldom hired a big man for cowboyflat and tightly parallel a person would lay one hand work because he would be too hard on those smallon the ground and flat against side of the hoof of aT he cost of raising a three-year-old steer on one of front leg. They then put one hand on top of the otherthe large open range ranches in the Old West was all the way up the front leg and to the top of theroughly $4.75 in 1886. To get that steer to Chicago withers counting the number of hands. However,cost about another $5.75, making the total about the fact that human hands can vary considerably$10.50.The average weight of a three-year-old, grass in width had always been an issue. So, sometimefed, Texas steer was about 950 pounds. The average early in the 20th century it was determined that thelow price per pound on the Chicago market was average human hand was four inches wide so fourthree cents. A little basic math shows a net profit inches was made the official standard measuringof $18 per steer. A herd of 5000 steers at $18 each unit for a hand when measuring the height of acomes to $90,000. The 12 to 14 cowboys that spent horse. However, even though a horse is now firstthree or four months getting them to market were measured in inches, the total is divided by four andpaid about $100 each bringing the ranchers profit still referred to in hands. Old habits die hard. down to a little more than $88,000. CEOs paying themselves an obscene amount of money isnt anything new. The 58th Annual Wickenburg Art ClubArtisans FairAt Stone Park164 E. Apache StreetFebruary 10th, 11th & 12th, 2023Fri & Sat: 9am5pmSun: 9am4pm Featuring the Original Work of Over 150Artists With Unique Works of ArtPLUSThe Library Fine Art ShowStone Park Librarywickenburgartclub.comArizonaRealCountry.com January 2023 9'